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NFL

NFC has Brady,Bucs – but AFC isdeeper conferencePage 24

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MILITARY

Navy launching its 1stunmanned, AI systemstask force in Middle East Page 3

FACES

Documentary explorescomplicated friendshipbetween Ali, Malcolm X4

Dozens of Westerners leave Afghanistan on commercial flight ›› Page 8

The adaptations required of the U.S.

military for its irregular warfare

since 9/11 have created a risk that

American forces will lose in an

armed conflict against a major power, and now

the country must reacclimate to more tradi-

tional foes, some experts warn.

American combat after 9/11 did not feature

conventional warfare against massed units,

but instead pitted the U.S. and its allies against

small bands of insurgents lacking air forces,

navies or jamming technology of note. These

fighters could simply melt into the populace

after a clash.

As a result of battling guerrillas for almost

two decades, the skills the U.S. needs to fight a

major power with modern technology have

atrophied, government officials and analysts

say.

“You have whole generations of soldiers

with firsthand experience in fighting wars that

probably won’t look very much like the wars

you’d be fighting in the future,” said Karl P.

Mueller, a senior political scientist at the Rand

Corp.

CONNOR MENDEZ/U.S. Army

U.S. Special Forces soldiers look for enemy fighters on a mountainside during a firefight in Afghanistan’s Laghman province in 2016. After twodecades of fighting guerrillas, experts say the American military needs to prepare for battle against a major power with modern technology.

Change on the horizonThe US military adapted for the war on terror. Now it has to change again, experts say

BY J.P. LAWRENCE

Stars and Stripes

20 YEARS AFTER 9/11

RELATED

9/11 took America’s eyeoff China’s emergencePage 7

SEE CHANGE ON PAGE 6

KUWAIT CITY — Defense Sec-

retary Lloyd Austin said Thursday

the al-Qaida extremist group that

used Afghanis-

tan as a staging

base to attack the

United States 20

years ago could

attempt to regen-

erate there fol-

lowing an Amer-

ican withdrawal

that has left the

Taliban in power.

Austin spoke to a small group of

reporters in Kuwait City at the

conclusion of a four-day tour of

Persian Gulf states. He said the

United States is prepared to pre-

vent an al-Qaida comeback in Af-

ghanistan that would threaten the

United States.

“The whole community is kind

of watching to see what happens

and whether or not al-Qaida has

the ability to regenerate in Af-

ghanistan,” he said. “The nature of

al-Qaida and (Islamic State) is

they will always attempt to find

space to grow and regenerate,

whether it’s there, whether it’s in

Somalia, or whether it’s in any oth-

er ungoverned space. I think that’s

the nature of the organization.”

The Taliban had provided al-

Qaida with sanctuary while it

ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to

2001. The U.S. invaded and over-

threw the Taliban after it refused

to turn over al-Qaida leaders fol-

lowing the Sept. 11, 2001, attack on

the United States. During the

course of the 20-year U.S. war, al-

Qaida was vastly diminished, but

questions have arisen about its fu-

ture prospects with the Taliban

back in Kabul.

Austin saysal-Qaida mayseek comebackin Afghanistan

BY ROBERT BURNS

Associated Press

SEE AUSTIN ON PAGE 6

Austin

• S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Friday, September 10, 2021

BUSINESS/WEATHER

United Airlines says that more

than half its employees who we-

ren’t vaccinated last month have

gotten their shots since the com-

pany announced that vaccines

would be required.

The airline’s 67,000 U.S.-

based employees face a Sept. 27

deadline for getting vaccinated.

United said Wednesday, howev-

er, that employees whose bids

for exemptions based on medi-

cal reasons or religious beliefs

are denied will get five more

weeks to get vaccinated.

After that, the airline said,

they will face termination or un-

paid leave.

Workers who routinely come

in contact with passengers, such

as flight attendants, gate agents

and pilots, and whose exemp-

tions are approved will face in-

definite unpaid leave starting

Oct. 2. They won’t be allowed

back on the job until the pan-

demic “meaningfully recedes,”

according to one of the memos.

Employees who rarely deal

with passengers — examples in-

clude baggage handlers and me-

chanics — and whose exemp-

tions are approved will also be

put on leave, but only until the

airline comes up with a plan for

weekly testing and mandatory

mask-wearing for them.

Headquarters employees

whose exemptions are approved

will be placed on leave until

United decides on safety mea-

sures, including whether the

person needs to come into the of-

fice.

United lays out rules as vaccine requirement loomsAssociated Press

Bahrain96/93

Baghdad101/78

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Riyadh101/78

Kandahar

Kabul

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71/60

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Rota73/62

Morón90/62 Sigonella

78/64

Naples81/66

Aviano/Vicenza76/55

Pápa77/53

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Brussels68/63

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DrawskoPomorskie

75/54

FRIDAY IN EUROPE

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Tokyo71/68

Okinawa85/82

Sasebo78/74

Iwakuni77/74

Seoul78/67

Osan84/68

Busan77/71

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Military rates

Euro costs (Sept. 10) $1.15Dollar buys (Sept. 10) 0.8238British pound (Sept. 10) $1.35Japanese yen (Sept. 10) 108.00South Korean won (Sept. 10) 1140.00

Commercial rates

Bahrain(Dinar) .3770Britain (Pound) 1.3839Canada (Dollar) 1.2665China(Yuan) 6.4549Denmark (Krone) 6.2936Egypt (Pound) 15.7204Euro .8464Hong Kong (Dollar) 7.7779Hungary (Forint) 297.31Israel (Shekel) 3.2052Japan (Yen) 109.87Kuwait(Dinar) .3006

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South Korea (Won) 1168.91Switzerland (Franc) .9189Thailand (Baht) 32.68Turkey (NewLira) �8.4617

(Military exchange rates are those availableto customers at military banking facilities in thecountry of issuance for Japan, South Korea, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.For nonlocal currency exchange rates (i.e., purchasing British pounds in Germany), check withyour local military banking facility. Commercialrates are interbank rates provided for referencewhen buying currency. All figures are foreigncurrencies to one dollar, except for the Britishpound, which is represented in dollarstopound, and the euro, which is dollarstoeuro.)

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Friday, September 10, 2021 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • PAGE 3

WASHINGTON — The Navy

will launch its first task force dedi-

cated to unmanned systems and

artificial intelligence in the Mid-

dle East on Thursday as the U.S.

military continues to shift its

counterterrorism forces within

the region, the service announced.

Naval Forces Central Com-

mand will oversee Task Force 59,

which will concentrate unmanned

and AI capabilities from across

the Navy and roll them out for sail-

ors to use in a real-world, complex

setting, said Vice Adm. Brad

Cooper, the commander of NAV-

CENT and 5th Fleet.

“We need to get unmanned sys-

tems out into the fleet into the

hands of operators, so this is ex-

actly what we’re doing here at

NAVCENT with Task Force 59,”

he said Wednesday.

Cooper declined to say whether

the new task force would be in-

volved with counterterrorism

missions, though he said NAV-

CENT has “been very involved

with Afghanistan from a [noncom-

batant evacuation] standpoint.”

The establishment of the Navy

task force in the Middle East

comes as the United States boosts

its reliance on unmanned capabil-

ities in the region after withdraw-

ing all American forces from Af-

ghanistan last week and ending 20

years of military involvement in

the country.

U.S. Central Command has said

it will continue to conduct “over-

the-horizon” counterterrorism

strikes in Afghanistan if needed.

That included two drone strikes

on Islamic State fighters in Kabul

in the final days of U.S. evacuation

efforts from the city.

The Task Force will employ

some technologies that have not

yet been used in daily operations.

The idea is to evaluate the systems

in a real-world setting, which “is

exactly what will help us acceler-

ate the technology development

and integration across the fleet,”

Cooper said.

“This effort is really to get the

unmanned systems in the hands of

the operators so they can put it

against real problems and deter-

mine whether it helps solve those

problems and if it doesn’t, perhaps

we should look for [other op-

tions,]” he said.

Task Force 59 will integrate the

Navy’s arsenal of aerial, surface

and undersea drones and AI sys-

tems “as a means to do two things:

enhance our maritime domain

awareness and to increase our de-

terrence,” Cooper said.

Among those unmanned and AI

technologies are those used in the

Pacific Fleet’s Unmanned Battle

Problem 21, a weeklong exercise

in April that tested manned and

unmanned capabilities in invent-

ed scenarios, Cooper said.

The initiative comes as the Pen-

tagon pushes to further integrate

AI and unmanned capabilities into

the forces as it focuses on con-

fronting near-peer adversaries

such as China. In its 2022 budget,

the Defense Department request-

ed $112 billion for development,

testing and evaluation — its large-

st-ever request for the category

that includes AI and autonomous

systems development.

“Beijing already talks about us-

ing AI for a range of missions,

from surveillance to cyberattacks

to autonomous weapons,” De-

fense Secretary Lloyd Austin told

the National Security Commission

on Artificial Intelligence in July.

“China’s leaders have made clear

they intend to be globally dom-

inant in AI by the year 2030.”

Primarily, the drones and AI

systems will be used to offer a

more complex picture of the sur-

rounding environment, from

above and below the surface,

Cooper said.

“An unmanned surface vessel

nested with five or six or 10 other

unmanned surface vessels pa-

trolling a certain area in this re-

gion offers us the ability to see

what’s happening in that region

and would obviously deter malign

activity that would happen there,”

he said.

The 5th Fleet region, which

spans from the Red Sea to parts of

the Indian Ocean, offers benefits

to testing the equipment in oper-

ational settings as “the waterways

are ripe for real-world evaluation”

with its 5,000 miles of coastline

and “three critical choke points,”

including the Strait of Hormuz,

the only passage from the Persian

Gulf to the open ocean, and the

Suez Canal, which connects the

Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea,

Cooper said.

“I think that environment really

suits us well to experiment and

move faster,” he said. “Our belief

is if the new systems can work

here, they can probably work any-

where else.”

Navy to start unmanned, AI systems task forceBY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @CaitlinDoornbos

SHANNON RENF/U.S. 3rd Fleet

An MQ9 Sea Guardian unmanned maritime surveillance aircraftsystem flies over littoral combat ship USS Coronado in April.

$2.5 million in damages or de-

stroys an aircraft, according to the

report. It was also the first fatal

Navy aviation crash of 2021,

though two crew members were

seriously injured Aug. 19 in a

TH-57 Sea Ranger crash at Naval

Air Station Whiting Field in Santa

Rosa, Fla., according to the report.

WASHINGTON — A Navy hel-

icopter’s rotor struck the flight

deck after landing on the aircraft

carrier USS Abraham Lincoln,

causing the crash that killed five

sailors last week, according to a

Naval Safety Center report.

An MH-60S Knighthawk had

just touched down aboard the

Abraham Lincoln on Aug. 31 when

it “experienced side-to-side vibra-

tions causing the main rotor to

strike [the] flight deck,” accord-

ing to the report.

The helicopter then fell over the

side of the carrier and into the

ocean off the coast of San Diego,

according to the report. One sailor

was rescued, but five others —

Petty Officer 2nd Class James P.

Buriak, Petty Officer 2nd Class

Sarah F. Burns, Lt. Bradley A.

Foster, Lt. Paul R. Fridley and

Petty Officer 3rd Class Bailey J.

Tucker — were never recovered.

The Navy and Coast Guard

searched for the missing crew

members for four days before de-

claring them dead Saturday. The

sailors were assigned to Helicop-

ter Sea Combat Squadron 8, ac-

cording to the Navy.

Five other Abraham Lincoln

sailors were injured in the inci-

dent, but the Navy has not re-

leased further detail about how

they were hurt. Two were taken to

San Diego for treatment while the

others were treated on board for

minor injuries, the service said

Sept. 1.

The crash was the Navy’s 10th

“aviation class-A mishap” this

year, which the service defines as

one that causes a fatality or per-

manent total disability, more than

Navy: Helicopter’s rotor struck USS Lincoln flight deck, causing crashBY CAITLIN DOORNBOS

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @CaitlinDoornbos

MILITARY

CAMP HUMPHREYS — A bi-

partisan pair of U.S. lawmakers

said Thursday that the alliance

with South Korea remains strong,

despite fears that the U.S. with-

drawal from Afghanistan signals

weakened resolve on the Korean

Peninsula.

Reps. Ami Bera, D-Calif., and

Young Kim, R-Calif., gave their

assessment of the alliance with

South Korea during a virtual pan-

el discussion hosted by the Center

for Strategic and International

Studies in Washington, D.C.

Bera, a co-chair of the biparti-

san Congressional Study Group on

Korea, advised policy watchers

not to read too deeply into Presi-

dent Joe Biden’s decision to with-

draw from Afghanistan.

“Korea is a totally different

country — it’s one of the most de-

veloped democracies in the

world,” he said. “It’s certainly a

developed economy. We have a

long geopolitical, strategic rela-

tionship and our security commit-

ments are extremely important to

members of Congress in a bilater-

al way.”

Kim, who is one of the first Ko-

rean American women elected to

Congress and a study group mem-

ber, said the abrupt U.S. with-

drawal from Afghanistan raises

valid questions, but the nation’s

long-term commitment to South

Korea is stronger and friendlier

than ever.

“We are there as a deterrence to

any potential conflict in the Ko-

rean Peninsula,” she said. “We

will be there … to lend our voice

and be your advocate. And please,

trust us. The United States can

lead, and we will lead once again,

and show that we can come out of

those difficult challenges.”

Roughly 28,500 U.S. troops are

stationed in South Korea, most of

them at Camp Humphreys, the

largest U.S. military base over-

seas and headquarters for U.S.

Forces Korea.

The USFK mission is to “deter

aggression and if necessary, de-

fend [South Korea] to maintain

stability in Northeast Asia,” ac-

cording to the command’s web-

site.

South Korea is technically still

at war with North Korea despite

the lapse in armed conflict. The

Korean War ended with an armi-

stice agreement in 1953, not a

peace treaty.

Former President Donald

Trump threatened to withdraw

U.S. troops from South Korea dur-

ing his tenure, saying Seoul’s

share of the cost to station Amer-

ican forces in the country was not

enough. Trump reportedly de-

manded South Korea spend $5 bil-

lion for the U.S. military presence,

an offer Seoul rebuffed.

Biden’s administration recently

agreed to a new Special Measures

Agreement in which South Korea

contributes roughly $1 billion for

U.S. troops and South Korean ci-

vilian workers on military bases.

Kim described South Korea as

“one of our most important allies”

and said the U.S. “must treat them

like the strong partner that they

are.”

South Korea was the U.S.’ sixth-

largest trading partner in 2020, af-

ter $127 billion in products flowed

between the two nations, accord-

ing to the U.S. Trade Representa-

tive.

The Department of Commerce

estimates the allies’ trade rela-

tionship generated around

256,000 jobs in 2019.

US lawmakers: Afghan withdrawal not relevant to S. Korea BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @choibboy


PACIFIC

North Korea’s midnight military parade

celebrating 73 years since the nation’s

founding Thursday appeared to lack the

display of new weaponry that frequently

causes friction with South Korea and the

United States.

North Korean troops were pictured in the

Thursday’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper

parading through Kim Il Sung Square in

the center of Pyongyang, the capital, as

thousands of attendees cheered. Leader

Kim Jong Un, wearing a beige suit, over-

saw the event from a balcony and was seen

ceremoniously waving at marching troops.

Based on images published in the state-

run publication, the regime did not appear

to showcase new weaponry, such as a bal-

listic missile, as it has in past parades. How-

ever, North Korea did parade its artillery

systems, traditional cavalry units, dogs and

people wearing hazardous materials suits.

North Korea’s state-run televised broad-

casting agency had yet to show the parade

on Thursday afternoon, and a complete

line-up of the showcased weapon systems

was not immediately known.

The newspaper also reported that “es-

cort planes” and fighter jets flew over the

city square, and parachutists descended

from the sky waving their country’s flag.

Initial reports suggest the regime may

have “wanted to tone down … at least for a

moment,” as the U.S. and South Korea de-

velop a strategy for North Korea, said Yoo

Hoyeol, professor emeritus of North Ko-

rean studies at Korea University.

The U.S. envoy for North Korea is ex-

pected to meet with his counterparts from

South Korea and Japan as soon as next

week in Tokyo, according to multiple news

reports. Special envoy Sung Kim in August

said he was willing to meet with North Ko-

rean representatives “anywhere and at any

time,” and that the U.S. “does not have hos-

tile intentions.”

“At this time, the coronavirus is still a

problem in this region and there is no rea-

son for him to hurry up” and provoke South

Korea and the U.S., Yoo told Stars and

Stripes on Thursday. Kim “wants to see

what happens in South Korea and the U.S.

— North Korea still has time to make prep-

arations.”

Despite North Korea reporting no coro-

navirus cases and rejecting millions of Chi-

nese-made vaccines, analysts believe the

country has been severely affected by the

pandemic and in need of aid, particularly in

the form of eased sanctions.

Soo Kim, a policy analyst for Rand Corp.

and an adjunct instructor at American Uni-

versity, told Stars and Stripes on Thursday

that the parade did not appear to be a major

milestone for the regime. She added it may

have merely been an obligatory event con-

ducted with “minimal effort.”

North Korea is expected to hold another

parade celebrating the ruling party’s

founding on Oct. 10, a more significant an-

niversary than the country’s founding, Yoo

said.

South Korea’s Ministry of National De-

fense in a text message to Stars and Stripes

on Thursday said it was “carefully” mon-

itoring the parade and that the country’s in-

telligence services were “conducting a de-

tailed analysis … in close coordination with

the U.S. intelligence authorities.”

Rodong Sinmun

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un attends a military parade in Pyongyang earlyThursday.

North Korea holds low-keymidnight military parade

BY DAVID CHOI

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Chang contributed to [email protected] Twitter: @choibboy

TOKYO — A Japanese court

has summoned North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un to answer

for alleged human rights abuses

five plaintiffs say they suffered

after moving to North Korea un-

der a government repatriation

program.

The plaintiffs defected to Ja-

pan and filed a civil suit three

years ago in Tokyo District

Court seeking about $909,000

each for the abuse they suffered,

their lawyer Kenji Fukuda said

at a news conference Wednes-

day.

The court on Aug. 16 ordered

Kim to appear at the first hear-

ing in the case on Oct. 14, Fukuda

said.

Kim is not expected to show

up, but this is the first time a Ja-

panese court has summoned a

North Korean government offi-

cial to appear, Fukuda said.

He said the court order sets

aside any claim for Kim of sover-

eign immunity.

The five allege that North Ko-

rean government propaganda

deceived them into joining a re-

patriation program by describ-

ing the communist country as a

“paradise on Earth,” Fukuda

said.

The plaintiffs also claim “state

abduction” by the North, which

would not permit them to leave

the country, and “obstruction of

departure” for keeping their

families in North Korea against

their will.

Over 93,000 Koreans and their

families living in Japan moved

to North Korea under the repa-

triation program between 1959

and 1984, urged by the North Ko-

rean government to resettle

there, according to Fukuda.

North Korea promised free

housing, medical care and edu-

cation, he said.

“Of course, they realized soon

after they arrived in North Ko-

rea that it was a false advertise-

ment,” Fukuda said, “and that it

is not a ‘paradise on Earth.’”

N. Koreanleader calledto Japan inrights cases

BY HANA KUSUMOTO

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @HanaKusumoto

A top Navy official and the editor of a Chinese state-

run newspaper traded digital quips Thursday, a day af-

ter a Navy destroyer cruised past a disputed reef in the

South China Sea.

Navy Chief of Information Rear Adm. Charlie Brown

and Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin got into the

back-and-forth on Twitter over the USS Benfold’s pass

within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef in the Spratly

Islands.

“Hopefully when Chinese warships pass through the

Caribbean Sea or show up near Hawaii and Guam one

day, the US will uphold the same standard of freedom

of navigation,” Hu tweeted. “That day will come soon.”

Brown responded with recent examples of the Chi-

nese navy sailing near U.S. waters, including a Septem-

ber 2015 incident in which the Chinese sailed within 12

miles of the Alaskan coast.

“The [U.S. Navy] sails around the world in accord-

ance with international law. All countries benefit from

freedom of navigation in accordance with international

law,” Brown tweeted. “Unfortunately, not all who ben-

efit from freedom of navigation would extend that

same freedom to others.”

The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson’s strike group

was also present in the South China Sea on Wednesday

and held exercises there Monday, according to the Na-

vy.

China has built up Mischief Reef and constructed un-

derground storage, radar and communications arrays

and other improvements, according to the Asia Mari-

time Transparency Initiative. The U.S. does not recog-

nize any territorial claim to the reef, according to a 7th

Fleet statement Wednesday.

The Chinese military also denounced the Benfold’s

presence near the reef, according to the official China

Military website on Wednesday. The Benfold entered

the area without permission and was tracked, moni-

tored and warned away by “air and naval forces” of

Southern Theater Command, the site said.

Beijing has “indisputable sovereignty” over the is-

lands, according to command spokesman Col. Tian

Junli, the site reported. The U.S. is the “biggest de-

stroyer” of peace and regional stability, according to

Tian’s statement.

The 7th Fleet responded Wednesday by saying the

Benfold operated according to international law. It

called Beijing’s statement “the latest in a long string” of

actions intended to misrepresent the Navy’s oper-

ations.

Reef transit

draws barbs

on TwitterChinese journalist’s quip on Benfold’spass spurs Navy official to respond

BY ALEX WILSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]


Whitaker served with the Loui-

siana Guard’s Company E, 199th

Brigade Support Battalion, 769th

Brigade Engineer Battalion in Ba-

ton Rouge. She joined the Guard in

February 2019 as an automated lo-

gistical specialist, according to the

Louisiana Guard.

She was recently attached to the

2nd Battalion, 156th Infantry Re-

giment, 256th Infantry Brigade

Combat Team.

Whitaker’s awards and decora-

tions include the Army Commen-

dation Medal, National Defense

Service Medal and Army Service

Ribbon.

She is survived by her mother

and father.

A drunken driving accident in

Texas involving three National

Guard members left one soldier

dead, another injured and the

third facing a manslaughter

charge, according to law enforce-

ment and military officials.

All three Guard members were

serving on the federal mission at

the southwest U.S. border with

Mexico, according to military offi-

cials.

Spc. Nashyra S. Whitaker, 23,

died at the scene of the single-ve-

hicle accident that occurred at

about 2:15 a.m. Sunday in McAl-

len, Texas, said Lt. Joel Morales,

spokesman for the McAllen Police

Department. Whitaker was a

member of Louisiana National

Guard.

Georgia Guard member Bianca

Farmer, 24, was driving the vehi-

cle on North 23rd Street when she

crashed into a utility pole, he said.

Claude Cecile Berry, the third

passenger in the vehicle and also a

member of the Georgia Guard,

was taken to the hospital where his

arm was ampu-

tated, according

to The Monitor, a

McAllen news-

paper.

Farmer was

charged and ar-

raigned on

charges of intox-

icated man-

slaughter, intox-

icated assault and driving while

intoxicated with bond set at

$190,000, Morales said. She was

booked into Hidalgo County De-

tention Center on Sunday and re-

leased Wednesday, according to

online jail records.

U.S. Northern Command con-

firmed Farmer and Berry are

members of the Georgia Guard.

But officials for the Georgia

Guard declined to provide addi-

tional information about the sol-

diers.

The Defense Department has

authorized 3,000 troops to serve

along the southwest border to as-

sist U.S. Customs and Border Pro-

tection through September 2022.

The troops filling the mission are a

mix of active-duty service mem-

bers and National Guard person-

nel.

“For the safety of service mem-

bers deployed in support of the

southwest border mission, poli-

cies have been in place since Ja-

nuary 2021 that limit alcohol con-

sumption. These policies are typ-

ical of those implemented for ser-

vice members during

deployments,” said Eduardo Nati-

vidad, spokesman for Joint Task

Force North, which oversees the

southwest border mission.

On Sunday, following the fatal

accident, zero tolerance for violat-

ing the alcohol policy went into ef-

fect, he said.

Louisiana National Guard soldierkilled in drunken driving accident

BY ROSE L. THAYER

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @Rose_Lori

Louisiana National Guard

Spc. Nashyra Whitaker, 23, of the Louisiana National Guard diedSunday in a drunken driving accident in McAllen, Texas.

Farmer

TOKYO — The Japanese gov-

ernment Thursday extended a

coronavirus state of emergency in

19 prefectures, including Tokyo, to

relieve an overburdened health

care system, despite falling case

numbers.

Tokyo reported another 1,675

people had tested positive for cor-

onavirus Thursday, 1,424 fewer

than one week ago, and continuing

adeclining trend now 18 days long,

according to public broadcaster

NHK and metro government data.

Seriously ill patients in the city

number 251, NHK reported.

Tokyo has been under this latest

state of emergency since July 12.

Meanwhile, Marine Corps Air

Station Iwakuni reported one new

coronavirus case, an individual al-

ready in restricted movement, ac-

cording to a news release Thurs-

day.

Also Thursday, John O. Arnn

Elementary School, at Camp Za-

ma’s Sagamihara Housing Area,

had one person associated with the

school test positive, according to a

message Principal Edwin Munoz

posted on Facebook. Camp Zama,

28 miles southwest of central To-

kyo, is the headquarters for U.S.

Army Japan.

The middle school at Camp Za-

ma reported two people had con-

tracted the coronavirus there

Sept. 1 and Monday. The school

did not close and no classes were

interrupted, according to messag-

es from Principal Henry LeFebre.

Apanel of Japanese experts rec-

ommended extending to Sept. 30

the emergency scheduled to end

Sunday in 19 prefectures, accord-

ing to Japanese media. Prime

Minster Yoshihide Suga an-

nounced the extension Thursday

evening.

Japan reported another 12,411

coronavirus infections and 90

deaths Wednesday, according to

the Johns Hopkins Coronavirus

Resource Center on Thursday.

Nishimura Yasutoshi, the min-

ister in charge of the coronavirus

response, said that of the 21 pre-

fectures under the existing emer-

gency, only the health care sys-

tems in Miyagi and Okayama pre-

fectures have seen relief, accord-

ing to NHK.

Of 12 other prefectures under a

quasi-emergency, six will be can-

celed, while the remainder will be

extended until Sept. 30, according

to NHK.

Under the emergency, resi-

dents are asked to refrain from un-

necessary travel, telework when

they can and avoid large gather-

ings. Businesses are encouraged

to limit the number of people they

admit, and bars and restaurants

are to close early and refrain from

alcohol sales.

The government is planning to

ease some of those measures as

more of Japan’s population be-

comes vaccinated, according to a

Kyodo News report Thursday.

More than 49% of the population,

or 62 million people, are fully vac-

cinated, according to Johns Hop-

kins on Thursday.

South Korea updateU.S. Forces Korea said another

17 people tested positive for CO-

VID-19 since Aug. 31, according to

a news release Thursday.

Six people had developed symp-

toms of the disease: a service

member at Camp Hovey; a service

member at Camp Casey; two fam-

ily members and one South Ko-

rean contractor at Camp Hum-

phreys; and one South Korean em-

ployee at Yongsan Garrison, ac-

cording to USFK.

Contact tracing discovered an-

other seven patients: two service

members at Humphreys; one ser-

vice member, a Defense Depart-

ment civilian employee and two

family members at Daegu; and

one family member at Osan Air

Base.

South Korea reported another

2,018 new cases: 660 in Seoul and

639 in Gyeonggi province, where

Osan and Humphreys are located,

the Korea Center for Disease Con-

trol and Prevention reported

Thursday.

More than 37% of the South Ko-

rean population, or 19.1 million

people, are fully vaccinated, ac-

cording to KDCA.

Japanese government poised to extend COVID-19 state of emergencyBY JOSEPH DITZLER

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporter Yoo Kyong Changcontributed to this [email protected] Twitter: @JosephDitzler

Stethem, both of which left for

modernization.

The Dewey will join Task Force

71, Destroyer Squadron 15, a sur-

face warfare command based out

of Yokosuka that also serves as the

sea combat command for the Ro-

nald Reagan Carrier Strike

Group, according to the Navy.

“Dewey is an excellent addition

to our forward-deployed team,”

said Task Force 71’s commander,

Capt. Chase Sargeant, in a

Wednesday news release. “De-

wey brings capability and lethal-

ity that enables U.S. 7th Fleet to

defend U.S. and like-minded na-

tions’ interests and supports a

rules-based international order

and free and open Indo-Pacific.”

The Dewey left San Diego on

Aug. 3 as part of the Carl Vinson

Carrier Strike Group, after which

it participated in the Navy’s

Large-Scale Exercise 2021.

Commissioned in 2010, the ship

has seen service in the Western

Pacific. In 2018, the Dewey sailed

alongside the Wasp Expedition-

ary Strike Group as part of its first

patrol of the Indo-Pacific region.

The Dewey also visited the

South Korean island of Jeju in

2017, one of several ships de-

ployed to the area that year amid

rising tensions with North Korea.

The destroyer is the third vessel

named after the former Navy ad-

miral George Dewey, who’s

known for a major 1898 victory in

Manila Bay during the Spanish-

American War.

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE,

Japan — The guided-missile de-

stroyer USS Dewey, formerly of

San Diego, pulled into its new

homeport Wednesday, the largest

U.S. naval base in the Far East.

The Arleigh Burke-class de-

stroyer is replacing the USS Cur-

tis Wilbur, 7th Fleet spokesman

Lt. Nicholas Lingo told Stars and

Stripes in an email Thursday. The

Curtis Wilbur left Yokosuka on

Aug. 18 for San Diego and a sched-

uled maintenance period.

Although the ship wasn’t greet-

ed by a formal welcoming party,

Yokosuka Command Master

Chief Robert Beachy was on the

pier to welcome his wife, Dewey

Command Master Chief Eliza

Rubic, said base spokesman Ran-

dall Baucom.

The Dewey is the third de-

stroyer to arrive at the naval base

in the past month. The USS Hig-

gins and USS Howard docked

Aug. 16 as replacements for the

USS McCampbell and the USS

Guided-missile destroyer joins Navy’s 7th FleetBY ALEX WILSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected] Twitter: @AlexMNWilson

MILITARY


Calls for reform began well be-

fore the U.S. war in Afghanistan

ended in a Taliban victory last

month, but the coming years will

most likely see a greater urgency

for changes in strategy and tac-

tics.

“The DOD is refocusing after

two decades of fighting insurgen-

cies to great-power competition,”

said Elizabeth Threlkeld, a South

Asia expert at the Stimson Center

in Washington. “That is going to

require a significant retooling in

the way the U.S. fights.”

Mueller said a war against Chi-

na or Russia would lead to deaths

and equipment losses on a scale

far beyond the worst days in Iraq

or Afghanistan, and he noted that

war games simulating a conflict

against Russia or China frequent-

ly end in decisive defeats for the

U.S.

While these war games are

meant to be difficult and test U.S.

military planners, they are not

overly pessimistic, he said.

The war declared on terrorism

after 9/11 altered nearly every as-

pect of the American approach to

combat.

Counterinsurgency efforts put

low-level military officers in

charge of economically develop-

ing areas amid conflict in the be-

lief that doing so would sway lo-

cals to support allied govern-

ments, which were often corrupt.

The U.S. also engaged in coun-

terterrorism, which encouraged

military leaders to rely on small

units of elite special operations

forces. These units could find and

kill enemies in shadowy oper-

ations with minimal public over-

sight.

Special operations forces have

“almost risen to the status of a

separate service,” said retired Lt.

Gen. Richard Mills, who com-

manded Marines in Helmand

province from 2010 to 2011. He

added that the past 20 years led to

vast changes in how the U.S. mil-

itary communicates on the battle-

field.

A World War II veteran could

walk into an average command

center of the 1990s, with its radios

and paper maps, and feel at home,

said Mills, who began his military

career in 1975. But modern com-

mand centers feature arrays of

screens sharing live battlefield

imagery captured by aerial

drones and beamed to high-rank-

ing leaders thousands of miles

away, Mills said.

This strategy, with its reliance

on elite forces backed up by air-

strikes and use of real-time com-

munications, would most likely

have to change against a techno-

logically advanced foe such as

China, analysts say.

“The main danger is that we

will assume dependable commu-

nications connectivity at all levels

of command for high data flows in

particular,” said Michael O’Han-

lon, a senior fellow at the Brook-

ings Institution, where he special-

izes in U.S. defense strategy.

Furthermore, the Taliban did

not have missiles able to sink air-

craft carriers and devastate air-

fields or the ability to shoot down

aerial refueling tankers and radar

surveillance planes. They were al-

so significantly outnumbered by

U.S., Afghan and NATO forces,

which enjoyed clear advantages

in firepower and battlefield mo-

bility.

The battle for the skies will be

the most striking difference be-

tween fighting insurgents and ma-

jor powers, Mueller said.

“We haven’t fought an enemy

that has had the ability to contest

our control of the air since 1972,”

he said, adding that even the

drones used over Afghanistan and

Iraq would be easily shot down

and that tactics will have to adapt.

The U.S. military sounded the

alarm on its “eroding” competi-

tive advantage in 2018, publishing

a National Defense Strategy that

said competition between large

states, not terrorism, is the pri-

mary national security concern.

In recent years, the military es-

tablished the Space Command,

developed organizations to pre-

pare for future wars and updated

its field manual to emphasize bat-

tlefields where enemies have

tanks, artillery, air forces, drones

and cyber capabilities.

The end of the war in Afghan-

istan will make it easier for the

U.S. to shift away from counter-

terrorism to threats like China

and Russia, but this could be a

mistake, said Brian Michael Jen-

kins, a senior adviser to the presi-

dent of the Rand Corp.

The skills honed over the past

20 years are still applicable, as

wars against China and Russia

would most likely include ele-

ments of irregular warfare, Jen-

kins said.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at

the nonprofit Foundation for De-

fense of Democracies and editor

of Long War Journal, said that any

change in how the U.S. fights will

require America’s military lead-

ers to honestly assess the past 20

years.

Over that period, American

military leaders created a culture

that was not inclined to reflect on

its strengths and weaknesses, but

instead focused on managing per-

ceptions, Roggio said.

“My biggest concern with the

U.S. military moving forward is

that these generals who have nev-

er had accountability will, let’s

face it, lose us the next war,” Rog-

gio said.

Change: Calls grow toshift combat approachFROM PAGE 1

U.S. Africa Command

The joint operations center at U.S. Africa Command headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Moderncommand centers feature arrays of screens with live drone imagery, which is beamed to highrankingleaders thousands of miles away.

[email protected] Twitter: @jplawrence3 �

sues.” Kirby offered no further ex-

planation but said Austin looked

forward to rescheduling.

Austin indicated that his visit

was postponed at the Saudis’ re-

quest. “The Saudis have some

scheduling issues; I can’t speak to

exactly what they were,” he said.

The Saudi stop notably was to

happen two days before the 20th

anniversary of the terrorist at-

tacks on the United States that

killed nearly 3,000 people. Fifteen

of the men who hijacked commer-

cial airliners and crashed them in-

to the twin towers of the World

Trade Center, the Pentagon and a

Pennsylvania field on Sept. 11,

2001, were Saudis, as was Osama

bin Laden, whose al-Qaida net-

work plotted the attack from its

base in Afghanistan. The attack

prompted the U.S. invasion that

became a 20-year war in Afghan-

istan.

U.S. relations with the Saudi

“We put the Taliban on notice

that we expect them to not allow

that to happen,” Austin said, refer-

ring to the possibility of al-Qaida

using Afghanistan as a staging

base in the future.

In a February 2020 agreement

with the Trump administration,

Taliban leaders pledged not to

support al-Qaida or other extre-

mist groups that would threaten

the United States. But U.S. offi-

cials believe the Taliban maintain

ties to al-Qaida, and many nations,

including Gulf Arab states, are

concerned that the Taliban’s re-

turn to power could open the door

to a resurgence of al-Qaida influ-

ence.

Austin has asserted that the U.S.

military is capable of containing

al-Qaida or any other extremist

threat to the United States ema-

nating from Afghanistan by using

surveillance and strike aircraft

based elsewhere, including in the

Persian Gulf. He also has ac-

knowledged that it will be more

difficult without U.S. troops and

intelligence teams based in Af-

ghanistan.

Austin and Secretary of State

Antony Blinken appeared togeth-

er in Qatar on Tuesday in a show of

U.S. gratitude for that Gulf state’s

help with the transit of tens of

thousands of Afghans and others

evacuated from Kabul. Blinken al-

so visited an evacuee transit site in

Germany, and Austin visited Bah-

rain and Kuwait.

Together, the Austin and Blin-

ken trips were meant to reassure

Gulf allies that President Joe Bi-

den’s decision to end the U.S. war

in Afghanistan in order to focus

more on other security challenges

like China and Russia does not

foretell an abandonment of U.S.

partners in the Middle East. The

U.S. military has had a presence in

the Gulf for decades, including the

Navy’s 5th Fleet headquarters in

Bahrain. Biden has not suggested

ending that presence, but he —

like the Trump administration be-

fore him — has called China the

No. 1 security priority, along with

strategic challenges from Russia.

Austin, a retired Army general,

has a deep network of contacts in

the Gulf region based in part on

his years commanding U.S. and

coalition troops in Iraq and later

as head of U.S. Central Command,

which oversees U.S. military op-

erations in the Middle East. This

week’s trip, however, was his first

to the Gulf since taking office in

January.

Austin had been scheduled to

visit Saudi Arabia on Thursday as

the final stop on his Gulf tour. But

on Wednesday evening his

spokesman, John Kirby, an-

nounced that the visit had been

dropped due to “scheduling is-

government have been strained at

times in the intervening years. In

2018, Crown Prince Mohammed

bin Salman oversaw an unprece-

dented crackdown against activ-

ists, rivals and perceived critics.

The year culminated in the grue-

some killing of Washington Post

contributing columnist and dis-

sident Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi

agents in the Saudi Consulate in

Turkey.

Earlier this month, Biden di-

rected the declassification of cer-

tain documents related to the 9/11

attacks, a gesture to victims’ fam-

ilies who have long sought the re-

cords in hopes of implicating the

Saudi government. Public docu-

ments released in the last two dec-

ades, including by the 9/11 Com-

mission, have detailed numerous

Saudi entanglements but have not

proved government complicity.

The Saudi government denies

any culpability.

Austin: Concerns of al-Qaida resurgence in Afghanistan on rise FROM PAGE 1

20 YEARS AFTER 9/11


In April 2001, a Chinese J-8

fighter jet collided with a U.S. Na-

vy EP-3 reconnaissance plane as it

flew near China’s southern island

province of Hainan.

The Chinese pilot died during

bailout, and the crippled Navy air-

craft made an emergency landing

on Hainan, where the 24 crew

members were detained and

questioned before being released

after an 11-day diplomatic stand-

off between Beijing and Washing-

ton.

The crisis was the first faced by

a recently sworn-in President Ge-

orge W. Bush, who during the 2000

presidential campaign had prom-

ised to deal with China as a com-

petitor rather than as a “strategic

partner.”

The Hainan episode sparked a

rethinking of the U.S.-China rela-

tionship by some administration

officials and lawmakers who be-

lieved the United States “should

keep military forces as a counter-

weight to rising [Chinese] power

in Asia … and work closely with

U.S. allies and friends along Chi-

na’s periphery in order to deal

with future assertiveness or dis-

ruption from Beijing,” the Con-

gressional Research Service said

in a report issued later that year.

“Certainly, there was a realiza-

tion in early 2001 that China was

the thing we had to worry about,”

said Gregory Poling, a senior fel-

low at the Center for Strategic and

International Studies think tank in

Washington, D.C., in a phone in-

terview Aug. 27.

“And then a few months later,

China was not the thing anybody

was worried about,” he said.

The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks by Is-

lamic jihadis on the World Trade

Center and Pentagon fixated

America on counterterrorism

and, soon after, counterinsurgen-

cy as the nation became em-

broiled in lengthy wars in Afghan-

istan and Iraq.

The Indo-Pacific and the chal-

lenge of an emerging and increas-

ingly forceful China were by no

means totally ignored in the years

since, but defense and Asia ex-

perts say that 9/11 and its after-

math sidetracked the U.S. in com-

peting with China and has left

America’s military at a disadvan-

tage moving forward.

‘Correcting the course’“Two decades of war in the Mid-

dle East not only distracted the

United States from rebalancing to

Asia, it also dangerously degraded

US military readiness and left the

Joint Force ill-equipped for the

kind of high-intensity military

competition that will characterize

great power competition with Chi-

na,” Ashley Townshend, a defense

expert for the United States Stud-

ies Centre at the University of

Sydney, wrote in an Aug. 26 email

to Stars and Stripes.

“Only in the last few years has

the Pentagon exited this era of

strategic distraction,” said

Townshend, who recently coauth-

ored the white paper “Correcting

the Course,” which called on Pres-

ident Joe Biden to make the region

his top strategic priority.

“But the costs to American pow-

er and influence in the Indo-Pacif-

ic will be enduring, necessitating

an even larger shift of attention

and resources away from the Eu-

rope and the Middle East to Asia

than would have been necessary a

decade ago.”

The shift away from a military

focused on counterinsurgency is

something the U.S. will grapple

with well into the future, Poling

said.

“The United States bled blood

and treasure for 20 years, in ways

that are not applicable to the thea-

ter that we now say is the foremost

threat,” he said. “We invested tril-

lions of dollars in upgrading land

forces and counterterror and

counterinsurgency forces that

have no applicability to the naval

and air theater that is the Pacific.

Who knows what our naval mod-

ernization could look like right

now had we not spent trillions of

dollars for 20 years on the Army?

“The budget fights and fights

over what the services will look

like are just now getting started,

when they should have started 20

years ago, given China’s naval

modernization.”

China closes military gapSome defense experts are less

gloomy in assessing the legacy of

the past two decades.

“I think the U.S. has done a lot of

things at the same time [as China]

because the defense budgets were

pretty good,” said Derek Reveron,

a professor at the Naval War Col-

lege in Rhode Island who special-

izes in national defense policy, in a

phone interview Aug. 24.

He pointed to the development

of the F-35 stealth fighter jet, litto-

ral combat ship, the Zumwalt-

class guided-missile destroyer

and the Gerald R. Ford-class air-

craft carrier — all suitable for a

large-scale conflict in a theater

such as the Pacific.

Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at

the American Enterprise Institute

where he focuses on U.S. defense

policy in Asia, is not convinced

those weapons systems are an en-

tirely apt or sufficient response to

the China challenge.

“I guess my view on this is that if

you look back 10 years, the U.S.

has spent — I’m going to ballpark

this — but probably two to three

times as much money on defense

as China has,” Cooper said in a

phone interview Aug. 26. “And yet

China is far closer to the United

States today in military capabili-

ties than it was a decade ago, de-

spite having spent a small portion

of what the U.S. spent in the last

decade.

“So, either we’re spending it on

the wrong thing or we’re manag-

ing so many different challenges

that we’re struggling to keep up

with what [Defense Secretary]

Lloyd Austin has called the ‘pac-

ing challenge’ of China.”

South China Sea inactionWhile the wars in Iraq and Af-

ghanistan siphoned off resources

from the Pacific, China expert

Mohan Malik does not regard that

as the core problem.

“More damaging were the fun-

damentally flawed assumptions

underlying Washington’s China

policy premised on turning Com-

munist China into a ‘responsible

stakeholder’ or ‘partner’ in the

U.S.-led liberal order,” said Malik,

avisiting professor at the UAE Na-

tional Defense College in Abu

Dhabi, in an Aug. 27 email to Stars

and Stripes.

The mindset largely prevailed

through Barack Obama’s admin-

istration, whose “inaction over the

construction and militarization of

artificial islands in the South Chi-

na Sea emboldened Beijing and

demoralized the United States’

friends and allies in the Pacific,”

Malik said.

But a more aggressive posture

regarding China is not always

helpful — or even possible, said

Srini Sitaraman, a professor at the

Center for Asia Pacific Studies in

Honolulu, in a phone interview

Aug. 24.

“Even if you had devoted more

military spending in regard to

China, I don’t know that it would

have made an enormous differ-

ence,” Sitaraman said. “What

would you have done? It’s not like

they’re firing bullets. In the South

China Sea, it’s [the Association of

Southeast Asian Nations] that has

to fight the battle. You can’t go to

war over it so really there’s not a

whole lot you can do with China in

terms of warfighting.”

Hesitancy hangoverRegardless of what military

threat China could pose in the

near future, the American public

might not be keen on jumping into

a new fray after exiting a conflict

dubbed the “forever war.”

“I think it’s natural that there is

what I would call a hesitancy han-

gover,” said Denny Roy, a senior

fellow at the East-West Center in

Honolulu who focuses on Pacific

security and China, in a phone in-

terview Aug. 24.

“This could have implications

for an elective U.S. military invol-

vement in Asia involving China;

take Taiwan or the South China

Sea as two good examples,” Roy

said, adding that such reluctance

would likely be more pronounced

in the public than among those

who plan for military contingen-

cies.

Cooper said the “restraints-ori-

ented crowd” now argues that the

Afghanistan experience is proof

that the U.S. is too focused on the

military and not enough on diplo-

macy. The 20-year war in Afghan-

istan came to an end Aug. 31 when

the final U.S. troops departed,

leaving the country in the control

of the Taliban.

“On the other hand, I think

there’s some evidence that the

American people see Afghanistan

as very, very different from the

challenges in Asia,” he said.

He points to polling released

Aug. 27 by the Chicago Council on

Global Affairs that found 52% of

Americans surveyed said they fa-

vored using American troops to

defend Taiwan if China invaded

the island, which the Communist

Party of China has long regarded

as a renegade province that must

be reunified with the mainland.

This is the highest level of such

support found since the council

began asking the question in 1982.

A lesson for ChinaRoy suggested that the U.S.

might not be the only superpower

to absorb the chastening lesson of

America’s failed effort to remake

Afghanistan through military

force.

For some Chinese, America’s

quagmire in Afghanistan carries

implications for one possible fu-

ture of China-Taiwan relations, he

said.

“That is, if China ever has to re-

sort to military force to try to im-

pose its will on Taiwan — when

the Chinese have, as they say, ‘ex-

hausted all peaceful methods’ of

resolving what they see as the

problem of Taiwan not being polit-

ically part of the People’s Repub-

lic of China — then China has to

think about not only the initial mil-

itary part. The United States, ar-

guably, won the war in Afghanis-

tan and Iraq, but then lost the na-

tion-building part.”

Likewise, China’s occupying

force could be faced with a “long,

smoldering, difficult-to-extin-

guish hatred” by the local popula-

tion, along with “insurgencies,

guerrilla wars, or a sullen militari-

ly occupied population that

doesn’t want to be militarily occu-

pied.”

‘Strategic distraction’BY WYATT OLSON

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @WyattWOlson

9/11 took America’s eye off Asiaas China hit its military stride

PIXABAY

Some defense and Asia experts say that 9/11 and its aftermath sidetracked the U.S. in competing withChina and has left America’s military at a disadvantage moving forward.

20 YEARS AFTER 9/11


KABUL, Afghanistan — Dozens

of foreigners, including Ameri-

cans, boarded a commercial flight

at Kabul airport on Thursday in the

first large-scale evacuation since

U.S. and NATO forces withdrew

from Afghanistan at the end of last

month.

The departure of some 200 West-

erners on a Qatar Airways flight to

Doha marked a significant break-

through in the bumpy coordination

between the U.S. and Afghanistan’s

new Taliban rulers.

The Taliban have promised to al-

low foreigners and Afghans with

valid travel documents to leave, but

a dayslong standoff over charter

planes at another airport had cast

some doubt on Taliban assurances.

Earlier in the day as the group

prepared to board, Qatari special

envoy Mutlaq bin Majed al-Qahta-

ni declared it a “historic day.”

“Call it what you want, a charter

or a commercial flight, everyone

has tickets and boarding passes,”

al-Qahtani said from the Kabul air-

port tarmac, adding that another

commercial flight would take off on

Friday. “Hopefully, life is becom-

ing normal in Afghanistan.”

A senior U.S. official, who spoke

on condition of anonymity because

they weren’t authorized to brief the

media, provided the number of

Westerners expected on board and

said that two very senior Taliban

officials had helped facilitate the

departure. The 200 includes Amer-

icans, green card holders and other

nationalities, the official said.

The flight represents the first to

depart from Kabul airport since

American forces left the country at

the end of August, their departure

accompanied by a frantic airlift of

tens of thousands of foreign citizens

and Afghans fleeing the Taliban.

The scenes of chaos, including Af-

ghans plunging to their deaths after

clinging to military aircraft that

was taking off and a suicide bomb-

ing that killed 169 Afghans and 13

U.S. service members, came to de-

fine the fraught end to America’s

two-decade war.

A foreign diplomat, likewise

speaking on condition of anonymity

because he wasn’t authorized to

brief the media, said another 200

foreigners, including Americans,

would depart in the next couple of

days.

It remains uncertain what the re-

sumption of international flights

over the next few days will mean

for the tens of thousands of Afghans

desperate to flee Afghanistan’s new

Taliban leaders over fears of what

their rule will hold.

Hundreds of other Afghans at

risk after the Taliban takeover be-

cause of their past work with Amer-

icans have gathered for more than

a week in the northern city of Ma-

zar-e-Sharif, waiting for permis-

sion to board privately chartered

evacuation flights out of the coun-

try.

Although the Taliban assured

the world they would let passen-

gers with valid travel documents

leave the country, many of those

stranded at the northern airport did

not have such papers.

Following the U.S.-led evacua-

tion of over 100,000 people from the

country in the wake of the troop

pullout, extensive damage at Kabul

airport has raised questions over

how soon the transport hub could

resume for regular commercial

flights. Technical experts from Qa-

tar and Turkey have been working

to restore operations.

Al-Qahtani told reporters that

the airport’s radar was now active

and covering some 70 miles after

U.S. forces left it inoperable. Au-

thorities were coordinating with

Pakistan as they tried to fix the area

control for the airspace, he added.

Some 200 foreigners board Kabul flightBY KATHY GANNON

Associated Press

markable gesture of compassion

and statesmanship,” Blinken said.

“They found a safe place to catch

their breath and many people ea-

ger to help them.”

Evacuees expressed “gratitude

for what we’ve done to get them

out of Afghanistan and support

them on their way to a new life,”

he said.

Some evacuees at Ramstein

have asked Germany for asylum.

Maas said the number was less

than 1% of those transiting

through Ramstein.

Some applicants have relatives

in Germany, he said. It’s not clear

whether they’ll be allowed to stay

in Germany while their cases are

reviewed.

Besides the Ramstein tour,

Blinken joined a virtual meeting of

officials from 22 countries as well

as NATO, the European Union

and the United Nations, to discuss

the way forward with the Taliban.

On Tuesday, the Taliban an-

nounced a new interim cabinet,

and the selections did not fulfill

the group’s vow to install a more

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Ger-

many — Secretary of State Antony

Blinken got an up-close look

Wednesday at Ramstein’s role in

one of the largest air evacuation

efforts in U.S. history, meeting

with American military personnel

and a couple of dozen Afghan eva-

cuees.

Blinken toured evacuee oper-

ations on base, and in an interview

with Stars and Stripes, called the

“small city on the tarmac … quite

extraordinary.”

During remarks at the officers’

club with German Foreign Minis-

ter Heiko Maas, Blinken thanked

Germany for its pivotal role in fa-

cilitating the evacuation of 124,000

people from Afghanistan in recent

weeks. Of that number, more than

34,000 transited through Ram-

stein on to the United States and

other destinations.

“The fact that Germany gener-

ously stepped up and offered to

serve as a temporary transit loca-

tion for Afghans at risk is a re-

moderate and inclusive govern-

ment this time around. Maas said

the makeup of the interim cabinet

“does not make us optimistic.”

Blinken said judgment will be

based on the cabinet members

and their actions.

“The Afghan people deserve an

inclusive government … one that’s

more broadly representative of

the Afghan people,” he said.

Future dealings, including the

need to provide Afghanistan with

humanitarian aid, are complicat-

ed by the installation of an all-

male interim government with no

outside political or ethnic minori-

ty representation.

Without a more representative

government, the country risks “in-

creased tension and violence and

even civil war,” Blinken said.

Both Blinken and Maas said the

humanitarian situation in Afghan-

istan is dire and must be ad-

dressed. About 50% of the Afghan

population is in need of some form

of assistance, Blinken said, citing

information from the U.N.

In the interview with Stars and

Stripes, Blinken said assistance

can be delivered directly to those

in need by nongovernmental orga-

nizations and U.N. agencies, not

through the government.

During remarks with Maas,

Blinken also called on the Taliban

to stop blocking charter flights

with Americans trying to leave Af-

ghanistan. There have been re-

ports that planes carrying Amer-

icans have been stuck at the air-

port in Mazar-e-Sharif.

The Taliban have claimed that

some of the passengers don’t have

the required documentation to de-

part.

Blinken said the U.S. is working

to solve the issue but has limited

options “without personnel on the

ground, without an airport with

normal security procedures in

place.”

MICHAEL ABRAMS/Stars and Stripes

Secretary of State Antony Blinken answers a question Wednesdayduring his visit to Ramstein Air Base, Germany.

Blinken thanks Germany forgiving evacuees safe haven

BY JENNIFER H. SVAN

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @stripesktown

SYDNEY — Australia’s SBS TV has

quoted a Taliban spokesperson as saying

that women’s sports — and women’s crick-

et specifically — will be banned by his

group in Afghanistan.

“In cricket, they might face a situation

where their face and body will not be cov-

ered. Islam does not allow women to be

seen like this,” the network quoted Ahma-

dullah Wasiq, the deputy head of the Tali-

ban’s cultural commission, as saying.

“It is the media era, and there will be

photos and videos, and then people watch

it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not al-

low women to play cricket or play the kind

of sports where they get exposed.”

Wasiq last month told SBS that the Tali-

ban would allow men’s cricket to continue

and that it has given approval for the men’s

national team to travel to Australia for a

test match in November.

But in a statement released Thursday,

Cricket Australia said it would not proceed

with the planned test starting Nov. 27 if

news reports of Taliban views on the wom-

en’s game were true.

“Driving the growth of women’s cricket

globally is incredibly important to Cricket

Australia,” the statement said. “Our vision

for cricket is that it is a sport for all and we

support the game unequivocally for wom-

en at every level.

“If recent media reports that women’s

cricket will not be supported in Afghanis-

tan are substantiated, Cricket Australia

would have no alternative but to not host

Afghanistan for the proposed test match

due to be played in Hobart.”

Australia’s Sport Minister Richard Col-

beck said earlier that the Taliban’s deci-

sion on women’s sport was “deeply con-

cerning” and he urged organizations such

as the International Cricket Council to

take action.

“Excluding women from sport at any

level is unacceptable,” Colbeck said in a

statement. “We urge international sport

authorities, including the International

Cricket Council, to take a stand against this

appalling ruling.”

Players from Afghanistan’s women’s

soccer team are among dozens of athletes

given visas to live in Australia and have

been undergoing quarantine due to the

COVID-19 pandemic.

Report finds Taliban has banned women’s sports in AfghanistanAssociated Press

AFGHANISTAN


fense Department personnel can be

taxed if they have motivations for

being in Germany beyond just their

jobs.

In Germany, unlike the case in

any other allied country where U.S.

forces are based around the world,

troops and civilian personnel are ex-

posed to liabilities if local tax offices

decide that a military member is not

in the country “solely” for work.

Being married to a German citi-

zen, sending a child to a German

school, extending tours or owning

property are among the factors that

German authorities have consid-

ered when deciding to impose pe-

nalties.

By contrast, DOD personnel in

other countries routinely marry lo-

STUTTGART — Secretary of

State Antony Blinken said this week

that he is unaware of a treaty dispute

that has exposed scores of U.S. mil-

itary personnel to hefty tax penal-

ties at the hands of German finance

authorities, but that he intends to

look into the matter.

“I’m sorry, not something that I’m

aware of, but I’d certainly invite you

to take that up with the embassy, if

they can work the issue and I’ll dou-

ble back and look into it,” Blinken

told Stars and Stripes following a

visit to Ramstein Air Base late

Wednesday. “Not something that

was on my radar.”

Blinken, who was in Germany to

discuss with allies evacuation ef-

forts in Afghanistan, oversees a

State Department in charge of re-

solving the disagreement over how

the NATO Status of Forces Agree-

ment should be interpreted.

The United States contends that

attempts by German authorities to

tax certain troops, Defense Depart-

ment civilians and contractors

amounts to a violation of a treaty de-

signed to make military pay off lim-

its to local tax collectors.

As a result of the situation, hun-

dreds of DOD personnel have been

issued tax penalties by German au-

thorities that in some cases have re-

ached into six figures. That is on top

of the American income tax they are

required to pay.

In June, Defense Secretary Lloyd

Austin personally raised his con-

cerns over the issue with his Ger-

man counterpart, Annegret

Kramp-Karrenbauer, during a

meeting at the Pentagon.

Other German officials, includ-

ing Foreign Minister Heiko Maas,

have also expressed interest in re-

solving the matter, which is at a

standstill one year after the U.S.

Embassy in Berlin lodged a formal

complaint over the issue.

It’s not clear why Blinken has

been in the dark about the dispute,

but more direct involvement from

the top American diplomat could

help nudge talks forward.

At issue is a contention by some

German finance offices that De-

cals or have extended tours without

threat of local income taxation.

These include Italy, Spain, the Unit-

ed Kingdom, Japan and South Ko-

rea.

Last year, there were nearly 400

cases involving SOFA status per-

sonnel in the greater Kaiserslautern

area alone. They included an Air

Force master sergeant who was tar-

geted for extending a tour and being

married to a German woman.

Teachers at military schools,

many of whom remain in their posi-

tions for years on end, could also be

at heightened risk.

Blinken, unaware of German tax penalties on US personnel, will get involvedBY JOHN VANDIVER

Stars and Stripes

Stars and Stripes reporter Jennifer H. Svancontributed to this [email protected]: @john_vandiver

WASHINGTON — In 2019, 6,261

veterans died by suicide — 399 few-

er than in 2018 and the fewest veter-

an suicides in a single year since

2007, according to new data re-

leased Wednesday by the Depart-

ment of Veterans Affairs.

The VA compiles its data on a two-

year lag and revealed for the first

time Wednesday the number of sui-

cides in 2019. The average number

of veteran suicides decreased

slightly from 17.6 each day in 2018 to

17.2 in 2019.

“This year’s report is notable for

some frankly unprecedented as-

pects of suicide prevention pro-

gress,” said Matthew Miller, execu-

tive director of the VA Suicide Pre-

vention Program.

The National Veteran Suicide

Prevention Annual Reports, re-

leased every September, are typi-

cally used by veteran services orga-

nizations and lawmakers to under-

stand the scope of the suicide crisis

plaguing the veteran community.

They’re used to gauge which legisla-

tive efforts should take priority and

provide critical oversight of the VA.

Because of the two-year lag, the

2021 report does not contain any da-

ta relevant to the coronavirus pan-

demic. The VA said in a statement

Wednesday that it has not yet ob-

served any increase in suicides

among VA patients because of the

pandemic.

Despite the decrease, suicide

among veterans remained dispro-

portionately high. The rate for vet-

erans in 2019 was 52.3% higher than

for other adults in the United States.

However, suicide rates fell more

sharply for veterans in 2019 than for

the rest of the adult population.

From 2018 to 2019, there was a 7.2%

decrease in the veteran suicide rate,

while the overall suicide rate fell by

only 1.8%.

The report breaks down the

method, as well as the gender, ages

and ethnicities of veterans who died

by suicide in 2019.

Veterans continue to use guns

more than any other means of sui-

cide. Firearms were used in 69.6%

of veteran suicides in 2018 and

70.2% in 2019. For the rest of the U.S.

population, firearms were used in

about 50% of suicides.

“Firearms remain by far the high-

est lethal means by which veteran

suicide occurs,” Miller said.

The VA just launched a 15-second

advertisement about the impor-

tance of safe storage of firearms.

The ad will run through September,

which is National Suicide Preven-

tion Awareness Month.

The report contains “five pillars

of hope,” Miller said, which are five

statistics that provide optimism in

the fight against veteran suicide.

The pillars include the falling sui-

cide rate and the more drastic de-

crease in suicides among veterans

than other Americans.

A decrease in the suicide rate for

female veterans is also reason for

optimism, according to the report.

There was a 13% decrease in suicide

among female veterans in 2019 —

the largest decrease in 17 years.

“It’s really difficult to talk about

success in the context of the overall

count … The VA will not stop and

will not be satisfied as long as one

veteran is dying from suicide,” he

said. “Hope is founded in life, and

for that reason we take some time

within the report — not to talk about

success — but to talk about hope

amidst this mission.”

[email protected]: @nikkiwentling

From 2018 to 2019, the suicide rates for veterans fell 7.2%, compared to a 1.8% drop for all U.S. adults.

Veteran suicides decreased in 2019,fewest in 12 years, VA data shows

BY NIKKI WENTLING

Stars and Stripes

MILITARY

Coronavirus vaccination rates

among service members are far

outpacing that of the U.S. popula-

tion as a whole, with just over 70%

of active-duty troops already fully

vaccinated against COVID-19, the

general in charge of a joint-forces

health agency said.

The high percentage of fully

vaccinated services members is

“particularly compelling (be-

cause) more than 80% of the ac-

tive-duty force is 35 or under,” Lt.

Gen. Ron Place, head of the De-

fense Health Agency, told Stars

and Stripes.

“And if you look across the rest

of America, it’s typically young

men and women who are more re-

luctant to be vaccinated,” he said.

Just under 53% of Americans

were fully vaccinated against the

virus as of Thursday, according to

the Our World in Data website.

Around 82% of troops have had

at least one coronavirus shot, and

infection rates in the military are

significantly lower than they are

across the general population,

Place said.

Service members have been

stepping forward to get the vac-

cine since before Defense Secreta-

ry Lloyd Austin released a memo-

randum Aug. 24 making vaccina-

tion mandatory for members of

the armed forces unless they have

a medical or administrative ex-

emption.

The Air Force and Navy have set

deadlines for active-duty mem-

bers, reservists and Guardsmen to

be fully vaccinated, and the Army

was expected to announce a time-

line soon. The Coast Guard has

said its members should aim to get

the shot “as soon as operations al-

low, starting immediately.”

Austin’s memo sparked a flurry

of calls on social media for service

members to seek exemptions, par-

ticularly if they have had CO-

VID-19. Some studies have found

that previous infection gives more

robust immunity against the ill-

ness caused by the coronavirus

than the vaccine does.

But Place said he did not expect

anything “unique about these ex-

emptions compared to others.”

“This is just another vaccine

that will go into that bucket of dis-

cussions about how leaders either

validate or not a particular exemp-

tion that a service member may

believe they are entitled to,” he

said.

Place also said there has been no

indication that service members

would leave the military in droves

over the vaccine mandate.

Service members have to get up

to 17 vaccines against infectious

diseases depending on what their

military occupation is, where they

are being deployed, and what their

mission requirements are.

Eight vaccines are required just

to get into boot camp, Defense De-

partment spokesman John Kirby

told reporters last month, before

the coronavirus vaccine was man-

dated. Once a vaccine has been

mandated, it becomes a lawful or-

der, he said.

Vaccination ratefor active-dutytroops tops 70%

BY KARIN ZEITVOGEL

Stars and Stripes

[email protected]: @StripesZeit


WASHINGTON — The summer

that was supposed to mark Ameri-

ca’s independence from COVID-19

is instead drawing to a close with

the United States more firmly un-

der the tyranny of the virus, with

deaths per day back up to where

they were in March.

The delta variant is filling hospi-

tals, sickening alarming numbers of

children and driving coronavirus

deaths in some places to the highest

levels of the entire pandemic.

School systems that reopened their

classrooms are abruptly switching

back to remote learning because of

outbreaks. Legal disputes, threats

and violence have erupted over

mask and vaccine requirements.

The U.S. death toll stands at more

than 650,000, with one major fore-

cast model projecting it will top

750,000 by Dec. 1.

“It felt like we had this forward,

positive momentum,” lamented

Katie Button, executive chef and

CEO at two restaurants in Ashe-

ville, N.C. “The delta variant wiped

that timeline completely away.”

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

More than six months into the U.S.

vaccination drive, President Joe Bi-

den held a White House party on Ju-

ly Fourth to celebrate the country’s

freedom from the virus, and other

political leaders had high hopes for

a close-to-normal summer.

Then the bottom fell out.

The summer wave was fueled by

the extra-contagious delta variant

combined with stark resistance to

vaccinations that formed along po-

litical and geographic lines, said Dr.

Sten Vermund, of the Yale School of

Public Health.

“The virus was more efficient in

spreading among the unvaccinated

so that you blunted the expected

benefit of vaccines,” Vermund said.

The crisis escalated rapidly from

June to August. About 400,000 CO-

VID-19 infections were recorded

for all of June. It took all of three

days last week to reach the same

number.

The U.S. recorded 26,800 deaths

and more than 4.2 million infections

in August. The number of monthly

positive cases was the fourth-high-

est total since the start of the pan-

demic.

The 2021 delta-driven onslaught

is killing younger Americans at a

much higher rate than previous

waves of the pandemic in the North-

east last spring, the Sun Belt in the

summer of 2020 and the deadly

winter surge around the holidays.

During the peaks of those waves,

Americans over 75 suffered the

highest proportion of death. Now,

the most vulnerable age group for

death is 50 to 64.

Overall, the outbreak is still well

below the all-time peaks reached

over the winter, when deaths

topped out at 3,400 a day and new

cases at a quarter-million per day.

The U.S. is now averaging over

150,000 new cases per day, levels

not seen since January. Deaths are

close to 1,500 per day, up more than

a third since late August.

Even before the delta variant be-

came dominant, experts say there

were indications that larger gather-

ings and relaxed social distancing

measures were fueling new cases.

“We had been cooped up for over

a year and everyone wanted to get

out,” said Dr. David Dowdy, an epi-

demiologist at the Johns Hopkins

Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“In the face of that kind of strong

change in behavior, even getting al-

most two-thirds of our adult popula-

tion vaccinated wasn’t enough.”

The COVID-19 vaccines remain

highly effective against hospitaliza-

tion and death, but many tens of mil-

lions of eligible Americans remain

unvaccinated. Nearly 40% of Amer-

icans 12 and older are not fully pro-

tected.

Yale’s Vermund sees reasons to

be cautiously optimistic about the

next few months. Cases in most

states appear to be plateauing and

are likely to decline in the fall, buy-

ing health authorities more time to

vaccinate adults and teenagers be-

fore flu season.

“If we can continue making pro-

gress between now and Thanksgiv-

ing, we may be able to substantially

blunt the coronavirus surge in flu

season,” Vermund said.

While the economy has been re-

bounding strongly over the past

several months, hiring slowed

sharply in August in a sign that the

variant is discouraging Americans

from flying, shopping or eating out.

And on Monday, unemployment

benefits — including an extra $300

a week from the federal govern-

ment — ran out for millions of

Americans.

Button, the North Carolina chef,

was feeling great heading into the

summer. Her team was mostly vac-

cinated in May and restrictions

were loosening. But the crisis soon

changed direction.

Button supports the mask man-

date that was recently reinstated in

her county but said her employees

are exhausted by having to enforce

it. And since she has no outdoor

seating, some diners have been less

comfortable coming in.

“It’s hard to take a step forward

and then take three steps back,” she

said.

Summer of hopeends in despairamid virus surge

Associated Press

GERALD HERBERT/AP

Medical staff move a COVID19 patient who died onto a gurney to hand off to a funeral home van at theWillisKnighton Medical Center in Shreveport, La., in August.

NATION

WASHINGTON — Law enforce-

ment officials concerned by the

prospect for violence at a rally in the

nation’s capital next week are plan-

ning to reinstall protective fencing

that surrounded the U.S. Capitol for

months after the Jan. 6 insurrection,

according to a person familiar with

the discussions.

Though no specific measures

have been announced, House

Speaker Nancy Pelosi hinted at her

weekly press conference Wednes-

day at extra safety precautions for

the Sept. 18 rally by saying: “We in-

tend to have the integrity of the Capi-

tol be intact.” Briefings for lawmak-

ers, including congressional lead-

ers, are expected in coming days.

The Capitol Police formally re-

quested the fence to the board that

oversees it, and it is likely to be ap-

proved, according to a House Dem-

ocratic aide who spoke on condition

of anonymity to talk about private

discussions.

Police plan toreinstall fencearound Capitol

Associated PressWASHINGTON — The number

of Americans seeking unemploy-

ment benefits fell last week to

310,000, a pandemic low and a sign

that the surge in COVID-19 cases

caused by the delta variant has yet to

lead to widespread layoffs.

Thursday’s report from the Labor

Department showed that jobless

claims dropped from a revised total

of 345,000 the week before. The

number of applications has fallen

steadily since topping 900,000 in

early January, reflecting the steady

reopening of the economy after the

pandemic recession.

But the spread of the delta variant

this summer has put renewed pres-

sure on the economy and the job

market. On Wednesday, the Feder-

al Reserve reported that U.S. eco-

nomic activity “downshifted” in Ju-

ly and August, in part because of a

pullback in dining out, travel and

tourism related to concerns about

the delta variant.

Still, the ongoing drop in applica-

tions for unemployment aid — six

declines in the past seven weeks —

makes clear that most companies

are holding onto their workers de-

spite the slowdown. That trend

should help sustain the economic

rebound through the current wave

of infections.

The pace of hiring, though, has

weakened — at least for now. Last

week, the government reported that

hiring slowed dramatically in Au-

gust, with employers adding just

235,000 jobs after having added

roughly a million in both June and

July. Hiring plummeted in industri-

es that require face-to-face contact

with the public, notably restaurants,

hotels and retail. Still, some jobs

were added in other areas, and the

unemployment rate actually drop-

ped to 5.2% from 5.4%.

The steady fall in weekly applica-

tions for unemployment benefits co-

incides with a scaling-back of aid for

jobless Americans. This week, more

than 8 million people lost all their

unemployment benefits with the ex-

piration of two federal programs

that covered gig workers and people

who have been jobless for more than

six months. Those emergency pro-

grams were created in March 2020,

when the pandemic first tore

through the economy.

That cutoff isn’t yet reflected in

the weekly jobless claims report.

The report’s data on the emergency

programs is delayed by two weeks.

As of Aug. 21, 8.8 million people

were receiving benefits from these

two programs.

An additional 2.6 million people

were receiving regular state unem-

ployment aid. These recipients have

just lost a $300-a-week federal un-

employment supplement, which al-

so expired this week.

Jobless claims at pandemiclow as US economy recovers

Associated Press

MARTA LAVANDIER/AP

Marriott human resources recruiter Mariela Cuevas, right, talks toLisbet Oliveros during a job fair at Hard Rock Stadium on Sept. 3 inMiami Gardens, Fla.


NATION

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden

on Thursday is toughening COVID-19 vac-

cine requirements for federal workers and

contractors as he aims to boost vaccina-

tions and curb the surging delta variant

that is killing thousands each week and

jeopardizing the nation’s economic recov-

ery.

Just weeks after he mandated federal

workers get a shot or face rigorous testing

and masking protocols, Biden will sign a

new executive order to require vaccination

for employees of the executive branch and

contractors who do business with the fed-

eral government, according to a person fa-

miliar with the matter.

The word comes ahead of the president’s

speech Thursday afternoon outlining a six-

pronged plan to address the latest rise in

coronavirus cases and the stagnating pace

of COVID-19 shots.

It wasn’t immediately clear if Biden’s or-

der includes exceptions for workers or

contractors seeking religious or medical

exemptions from vaccination. The person

spoke on the condition of anonymity to dis-

cuss Biden’s plans before they were publi-

cly released.

Biden is also expected to outline plans to

increase virus testing in schools, in an ef-

fort to keep them open safely, amid other

measures to show that his administration is

working to tackle the alarming rise in CO-

VID-19 cases, which Biden has blamed for

last month’s weaker-than-expected jobs

report. He’s warned the surge could fur-

ther imperil the nation’s economy as some

pandemic safety net protections expire.

Biden has encouraged COVID-19 vac-

cine requirements in settings like schools,

workplaces and university campuses, and

the White House hopes the strengthened

federal mandate will inspire more busi-

nesses to follow suit.

The Department of Veterans Affairs,

Department of Health and Human Servic-

es, the Indian Health Service, and the Na-

tional Institute of Health have previously

announced vaccine requirements for

much of their staffs, and the Pentagon

moved last month to require all service

members to get vaccinated.

More than 208 million Americans have

received at least one dose of a COVID-19

vaccine, and 177 million are fully vaccinat-

ed, but confirmed cases of the virus have

shot up in recent weeks to an average of

about 140,000 per day with on average

about 1,000 Americans dying from the vi-

rus daily, according to data from the Cen-

ters for Disease Control and Prevention.

An AP-NORC poll conducted in August

found 55% of Americans in favor of requir-

ing government workers to be fully vacci-

nated, compared with 21% opposed.

Most of the spread — and the vast major-

ity of severe illness and death — is occur-

ring among those not yet fully vaccinated

against the virus. So-called breakthrough

infections in vaccinated people occur, but

tend to be far less dangerous.

Federal officials are moving ahead with

plans to begin administering booster shots

of the mRNA vaccines to bolster protection

against the more transmissible delta varia-

nt of the virus. Last month Biden an-

nounced plans to make them available be-

ginning on Sept. 20, but only the Pfizer vac-

cine will likely have received regulatory

approval for a third dose by that time. Fed-

eral regulators are seeking additional data

from Moderna that will likely delay its

booster approval until October.

Officials are aiming to administer the

booster shots about eight months after the

second dose of the two-dose vaccines.

Biden to require federal workers to get vaccineBY ZEKE MILLER

Associated Press

EVAN VUCCI/AP

President Joe Biden speaks during an event to celebrate labor unions, in the East Roomof the White House, on Wednesday.


NATION

HOUMA, La. — The death toll

in Louisiana from Hurricane Ida

rose to 26 Wednesday, after health

officials reported 11 additional

deaths in New Orleans, mostly ol-

der people who perished from the

heat. The announcement was

grim news amid signs the city was

returning to normal with almost

fully restored power and a lifted

nighttime curfew.

While New Orleans was gener-

ally rebounding from the storm,

hundreds of thousands of people

outside the city remained without

electricity and some of the har-

dest-hit areas still had no water.

Across southeastern Louisiana,

250,000 students were unable to

return to classrooms 10 days after

Ida roared ashore with 150 mph

winds.

The latest deaths attributed to

Ida happened between Aug. 30

and Monday, but were just con-

firmed as storm-related by the Or-

leans Parish coroner, the Louisia-

na Department of Health said in a

statement. Nine of the New Or-

leans deaths — of people ages 64 to

79 — came from “excessive heat

during an extended power out-

age,” while the two others were

from carbon monoxide poisoning,

the department said.

More than a million people were

left without power, including the

entire city of New Orleans, when

Ida struck on Aug. 29. The state’s

largest power company, Entergy,

said it had expected to have elec-

tricity in the city restored to 90%

by Wednesday evening.

Meanwhile, the New Orleans

Police Department and Mayor La-

Toya Cantrell lifted an 8 p.m. to 6

a.m. curfew they had imposed two

days after the hurricane hit.

Across New Orleans and south-

eastern Louisiana, families are

still waiting to hear when their

children can return to school, as

districts assessed hurricane dam-

age. Prior to Ida, schools around

Louisiana had been open despite

widespread cases of COVID-19,

although under a statewide mask

mandate for all indoor locations.

“We need to get those kids back

with us as soon as we possibly

can,” said Superintendent of Edu-

cation Cade Brumley.

In New Orleans, School Super-

intendent Henderson Lewis Jr.

said damage to schools appeared

to be mostly minimal, but power

needs to be restored to all build-

ings, and teachers, staff and fam-

ilies need to return to the city to

get schools up and running.

“Now more than ever, our chil-

dren stand to benefit from the

comfort that structured and rou-

tine daily schooling can bring,”

Lewis said in a statement Wednes-

day. “So, let’s all come together to

reopen our schools quickly and

safely.”

Death toll from Ida rises to 26 in LouisianaAssociated Press

CHRIS GRANGER, THE TIMESPICAYUNE/AP

Roofing contractors install a temporary roof on a home in New Orleans East on Wednesday.

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. —

The interior of California was very

hot and dry Wednesday and the

forecast called for a risk of fire-

starting dry lightning as thousands

of firefighters already have their

hands full with wildland blazes that

have been burning for weeks.

A National Weather Service heat

advisory stretched down the Cen-

tral Valley and through inland

Southern California, with an exces-

sive heat warning extending east-

ward across the desert into Nevada.

The state energy grid operator

called for voluntary conservation

of electricity from 4-9 p.m. because

of expected high demand for air

conditioning. The alert ended with-

out any major power outages re-

ported but the conservation re-

quest was extended to 4-9 p.m.

Thursday.

A fire weather watch was issued

for Thursday evening through Fri-

day evening in much of the interior

of Northern California due to a

weather system that is expected to

bring a chance of thunderstorms

with lightning and erratic gusts.

“The combination of possible dry

lightning as well as strong winds

with the dry fuels could lead to crit-

ical fire weather conditions,” fore-

casters wrote.

Nearly 15,000 firefighters were

making progress on 14 major wild-

fires and several smaller new fires,

the California Department of For-

estry and Fire Protection said.

They include three of the state’s 20

largest fires on record.

In the northern Sierra Nevada

and southern Cascades region, the

second-largest fire in California

history has scorched nearly 1,441

square miles. The Dixie Fire was

59% contained but new evacuation

orders were issued for part of Shas-

ta County.

More than 1,280 structures have

been destroyed, including 688 indi-

vidual homes.

To the south in the Sierra near

Lake Tahoe, the nearly 340-square-

mile Caldor Fire remained 50%

contained. Firefighters have had

enough success against the state’s

15th-largest fire that residents of

the city of South Lake Tahoe were

allowed to return home last week-

end. With inspections 95% complet-

ed, nearly 1,000 structures have

been counted destroyed, including

776 single-family homes.

In the mountains of the far north

coast, the state’s 18th-largest fire

has ravaged more than 310 square

miles of the Shasta-Trinity Nation-

al Forest. The Monument Fire was

45% contained but remained a

threat to more than 10,500 structur-

es.

California has experienced in-

creasingly larger and deadlier

wildfires in recent years as climate

change has made the U.S. West

much warmer and drier over the

past 30 years.

Hot, dry air, possiblelightning raise fireworries in California

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota

Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced

Thursday that she has been treat-

ed for breast cancer that was

found in February and the treat-

ment “went well.”

Klobuchar, 61, tweeted that the

cancer was detected during a rou-

tine mammogram, and eventually

she had a lumpectomy to remove

it. She said she completed radi-

ation therapy in May amid a busy

hearing schedule, including one

treatment two days after her fa-

ther died. A checkup in August

found she was doing well. She told

ABC’s “Good Morning America”

that she’s “feeling much better”

now.

For Democrats, Klobuchar’s

health update was a fresh remind-

er of their fragile hold on the Sen-

ate, which they control by a single

vote. Klobuchar’s announcement

made no explicit statement on her

future, but said the cancer “gave

me renewed purpose to my work.”

Klobuchar said her cancer was

stage 1A, meaning it had not

spread beyond the breast. She said

she felt fortunate to have caught it

early because she had delayed her

mammogram because of the pan-

demic.

“Now they tell me that my

chances of getting cancer again

are the same as any other person,

which is great,” Klobuchar said on

ABC. “But I learned a lot through

this year … about the importance

of getting those exams and also the

gratitude for all others that sur-

rounded me and my family, my

husband.”

She also issued a plea for Amer-

icans not to delay their health

screenings and noted that thou-

sands of women have undetected

breast cancer. She said her advice

was to “get those screenings, go in,

get a mammogram, get whatever

health checkup that you should

normally be getting.”

Klobuchar is early in her third

term. She was first elected in 2006

and easily won reelection twice

against little-known opponents.

She’s the daughter of well-known

Minneapolis newsman Jim Klo-

buchar, who died in May, and

Rose, a schoolteacher who died in

2010. Her grandfather was an iron

miner in northern Minnesota.

Klobuchar long cultivated an

image as a straight-shooting,

pragmatist willing to work across

the aisle with Republicans, mak-

ing her one of the Senate’s most

productive members at passing

legislation.

Minnesota’s Klobucharsays she had cancer

Associated Press

J. SCOTT APPLEWHITE/AP

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, DMinn.,seen in a committee hearing onCapitol Hill in Washington in2019, says she is doing well.

VALDOSTA, Ga.— Rain was

pouring down on southeast Georgia

and coastal South Carolina as Min-

dy, now a tropical depression, made

its way across the state Thursday

morning.

The storm made landfall in St.

Vincent Island, Fla., on Wednesday

night. Mindy was expected to cause

as much as 6 inches of rainfall across

the Florida Panhandle and portions

of southern Georgia and South Car-

olina through Thursday morning,

the National Hurricane Center said.

Scattered flash, urban, and small-

stream floods were possible.

The storm on Thursday morning

was about 80 miles south southeast

of Valdosta, Ga., and moving north-

east at 20 mph with maximum sus-

tained winds of 35 mph, forecasters

said.

Florida’s Big Bend area was al-

ready saturated from rain dumped

by Hurricanes Elsa and Ida. Some

residents in low-lying Dixie County

have had to move out of their homes,

which were flooded before Mindy

brought more rain.

Tropical depression dumps rain over Ga.Associated Press


FACES

A new documentary aims to punch up viewers’ un-

derstanding of Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X’s

complicated friendship.

“Blood Brothers: Malcolm X & Muhammad Ali,”

now on Netflix, explores the short but significant

bond between the human rights activist and the

heavyweight champion boxer in ways viewers

haven’t seen before.

“There are so many books written about them,

publications and documentaries, really going into

each of these men’s lives separately, and while that’s

been incredible for the telling of history, I think we’ve

missed the significance of this relationship and the

importance of this relationship,” director Marcus A.

Clarke told the Daily News.

“Through the process of making this film, it was a

lot of discovery and really trying to get to the core of

the relationship and bring it to the screen.”

The film focuses on the three-year stretch in the

1960s in which Ali and Malcolm X became close, and

the issues that led to them drifting apart.

At the time of their meeting, Ali — then known as

Cassius Clay — was already a world-famous boxer,

while Malcolm X was a highly influential figure in the

civil rights movement.

Malcolm X became a mentor to the boxer, who

changed his name after joining the Nation of Islam.

“Malcolm X and Muhammad Ali, for so many of us,

are (an) inspiration, they’re motivation, and really

what that comes from is their ability to speak out free-

ly against what they’re seeing around them,” Clarke

said. “Against oppression, against segregation,

which of course was rampant in the ’60s. So under-

standing the time period which kind of made these

men, what they grew up in and what they were see-

ing, is really important.”

Clarke believes the duo’s story continues to con-

nect with people after the protests against racial in-

justice that swept the United States and beyond fol-

lowing the 2020 death of George Floyd, an unarmed

Black man, while in police custody.

“What we’ve seen ... with the George Floyd protests

and the country kind of reaching its tipping point, I

think a lot of people in the younger generation and

even in my generation were looking back into the past

for guidance, and for advice, and for words of wisdom

for how to handle the atrocities that we’re seeing all

around us,” Clarke said.

“I think that quickly leads people to Malcolm X,

and subsequently also leads people to Muhammad

Ali, because these are two guys who made sacrifices

for what they believed in.”

NETFLIX

Human rights activist Malcolm X, left, and heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali are the subjects of thedocumentary “Blood Brothers,” now streaming on Netflix.

A complicated bondThe brief but significant friendship of Malcolm X andMuhammad Ali explored in new ‘Blood Brothers’ doc

BY PETER SBLENDORIO

New York Daily News

It’s all good, man! Bob Odenkirk

has returned to work on the AMC

drama “Better Call Saul” after

having a heart attack in July.

The Emmy-winning writer

tweeted the update Wednesday

morning, sharing a photo of him-

self having his character’s make-

up applied.

“Back to work on ‘Better Call

Saul’!” he wrote less than two

months after the health scare. “So

happy to be here and living this

specific life surrounded by such

good people.”

Odenkirk, who plays sleazy

criminal lawyer Saul Goodman

(née Jimmy McGill) on the

“Breaking Bad” prequel, tipped

his hat to makeup pro Cheri Mon-

tesanto for “making me not ugly

for shooting!”

In late July, the 58-year-old star

collapsed on the New Mexico set

of “Better Call Saul” while it was

in production on its sixth and final

season. Odenkirk was hospitalized

for a “heart-related incident,”

which he later clarified was a

blockage that caused a small heart

attack.

Days after the collapse, the ac-

tor tweeted that he would “take a

beat to recover” and thanked

AMC and Sony Television for

their “next level” support.

Bob Odenkirk returnsto ‘Better Call Saul’

Los Angeles Times

CHRIS PIZZELLO/AP

Bob Odenkirk poses for aportrait during the 2020 WinterTelevision Critics AssociationPress Tour in Jan. 2020 inPasadena, Calif.

Four months after reports con-

firmed their relationship, comedi-

an John Mulaney and actor Olivia

Munn are expecting their first

child together.

Mulaney, 39, casually revealed

the pregnancy Tuesday on “Late

Night with Seth Meyers,” during

which he also opened up about his

romance with Munn, 41, and his

recent relapse.

The comic’s announcement

comes four months after his di-

vorce from a “heartbroken” Anna

Marie Tendler, an artist to whom

he was married for nearly seven

years. Shortly after their split, dat-

ing rumors began to swirl around

him and Munn.

“I packed a lot into this ... is it

September now?” Mulaney told

Meyers on Tuesday. “I went to re-

hab in September [2020]. I got out

in October. I move out of my home

from my ex-wife. ...

“In the spring, I went to Los An-

geles and met and started to date a

wonderful woman named Olivia. I

got into this relationship that’s

been really beautiful with some-

one incredible ... and we’re having

a baby together. ... I was nervous

when I was about to say the news.”

ROY ROCHLIN/TNS

John Mulaney performs onstage at NRDC’s “Night of Comedy”Benefit in April 2019 in New York City.

John Mulaney, Olivia Munnexpecting their first child

Los Angeles Times

Country stars Chris Stapleton

and Eric Church will go toe-to-toe

with each other at this year’s

Country Music Association

Awards, with both vying in the

same five categories, including

entertainer of the year.

In nominations announced on

Thursday, Stapleton has nomina-

tions in male vocalist, album of the

year, single and song of the year,

and could take home additional

trophies as producer both on his

album and single. Church, who

put out a three-part album in April

collectively called “Heart & Soul,”

also earned five nominations.

They join Miranda Lambert,

Carrie Underwood and Luke

Combs as entertainer of the year

nominees.

The CMA Awards will air on

Nov. 10 on ABC.

Gabby Barrett had another

good year with the success of the

No. 1 hit country song “The Good

Ones,” and she earned four nomi-

nations for female artist of the

year, new artist, single and song of

the year.

Disgraced country star Morgan

Wallen, who was caught earlier

this year yelling a racial slur, still

got enough votes to secure a nomi-

nation in one of the top prizes, al-

bum of the year. Wallen’s “Dan-

gerous: The Double Album” spent

10 consecutive weeks on the top of

the all-genre Billboard 200 chart,

making it one of the best selling al-

bums of 2021.

Stapleton, Church vie for same 5 CMAsAssociated Press


Max D. Lederer Jr., Publisher

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John Rodriguez, Europe chief of staff

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Michael Ryan, Pacific chief of staff

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CIRCULATION

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stripes.com

OPINION

As the news shifts, many Americans

may think the Afghan War is over.

Not so. The searing scenes of Ka-

bul’s fall are having a powerful im-

pact on America’s global image, including the

abandonment of Afghan allies. Chinese and

Russian propaganda outlets are gleefully

trumpeting scenes of America’s “defeat.” NA-

TO allies who had troops in Afghanistan are

bitter that they were forced to leave Afghan

staff and their own nationals — because Presi-

dent Joe Biden didn’t consult them. And the fi-

nal U.S. defeat — set in motion by former Pres-

ident Donald Trump’s surrender treaty with

the Taliban and finalized by Biden’s exit —

raises questions about whom and what our

country is willing to fight for.

The Biden team needs to look far deeper

than the defensive justifications that the presi-

dent and top officials have been presenting in

public. Here are some of the questions I be-

lieve should top the list.

■ Why was the exit from Kabul so disas-

trous?

Whether or not you think Biden should have

pulled out U.S. troops, this question must be

dissected. White House efforts to spin the U.S.

military’s herculean last-minute efforts can-

not obscure the fact of Taliban victory. (And

GOP hysteria over the chaotic exit is totally

hypocritical given Trump’s aborted efforts to

schedule sudden pullouts before leaving of-

fice, and his disastrous U.S. pullout from the

Syrian border with Turkey.)

The evacuation chaos has fed a perception

by allies and enemies of U.S. incompetence

that started with Trump over COVID-19 fail-

ures, and has been advanced by conserva-

tives’ vaccine refusal and global warming de-

nial. Now the messy exit from Kabul is added

to the evidence list. How could U.S. intelli-

gence have failed so badly — when the string

of Taliban victories after Biden’s withdrawal

announcement in mid-April was so unrelent-

ing? Was this a case of White House willful

blindness (like George W. Bush in Iraq), or of

bureaucratic blundering?

Despite Biden’s praise of the 300,000-

strong Afghan army, the Defense Department

knew these numbers were inflated, and the ar-

my’s morale was crashing.

In 2009, I watched NATO trainers struggle

on the vast and desolate grounds of the Kabul

Military Training Center, at the outskirts of

the city. Seventy percent of the recruits

couldn’t read. And new Afghan soldiers told

me frankly that they hated M-16s because they

needed so much maintenance whereas Sovi-

et-era AK-47s were far more dependable.

Washington trained an army to U.S. stan-

dards, including an air force that needed U.S.

maintenance. U.S. military officials warned

repeatedly that the Afghan air force — critical

to support its ground troops — would collapse

if Washington pulled all troops out.

Surely the State Department and the Na-

tional Security Council knew these facts, yet

the White House was caught flat-footed by the

Taliban as we exited. Why?

■ What are Americans now prepared to

fight for?

“This decision about Afghanistan is not just

about Afghanistan. It’s about ending an era of

major military operations to remake other

countries,” Biden told Americans last week.

Fair enough. Clearly, nation-building, and de-

mocracy-building, haven’t gone well in Iraq,

Afghanistan and elsewhere.

But has the White House faced the conse-

quences of that admission? The president

champions democratic values in contrast to

the authoritarianism of China and Russia.

How does this square with abandoning the Af-

ghan women activists, journalists and human

rights workers who adopted those values?

And what about USAID, the American aid

agency that threw so much money into cultur-

ally inappropriate and corruption-ridden pro-

jects in Afghanistan. How will that be re-

formed?

■ Where and when will America be willing

to use military force in the future?

Any “over-the-horizon” efforts to prevent

the Taliban from hosting terrorist groups

aren’t likely to be successful: We now have no

U.S. or Afghan eyes on the ground, and the

nearest U.S. bases are many hours away.

And, after the fall of Kabul, our allies in Eu-

rope, the Mideast and Asia are asking whether

we still have their backs against Russia, Iran

and China. “They are so happy in Moscow,” I

was told by independent Russian journalist

Yevgenia Albats from Moscow. “State propa-

ganda media are claiming that America not

only lost the war but left everyone who trusted

them behind.”

China’s state media are also busy hammer-

ing on the trust issue, especially toward Tai-

wan. “How many lives of U.S. troops and how

many dollars would the U.S. sacrifice for the

Island of Taiwan?” asked China’s Global

Times. “The U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Af-

ghanistan … has dealt a heavy blow to the

credibility and reliability of the U.S.”

In Singapore in late August, Vice President

Kamala Harris accused China of “intimida-

tion” in the South China Sea and asserted that

the U.S. “stands with our allies and our part-

ners.” Does it? Seoul, Tokyo and Taipei need

reassurance, along with South Asian allies.

■ Can America rebuild its image?

For moral and geopolitical reasons, the

White House needs to demonstrate that it

won’t abandon American citizens and allies in

Afghanistan. They are now virtual hostages,

and the Taliban will demand economic prizes.

But who trusts an ally who leaves its friends

and citizens behind?

The White House also needs to remove its

blinders, and face the causes and consequenc-

es of the Kabul debacle. Only then can it begin

to convince the world this was not one more

step toward America’s inevitable decline.

What is America prepared to fight for now?BY TRUDY RUBIN

The Philadelphia Inquirer

Trudy Rubin is a columnist and editorial-board member for ThePhiladelphia Inquirer.

At the end of World War II, Winston

Churchill suggested the arch

leading into the bomb-stricken

House of Commons be rebuilt

with stone scarred by the war. He hoped it

would be a reminder to future generations of

the fortitude and sacrifice of those who

fought and the families who stood behind

them.

As the global war on terrorism reaches its

20th year this Sept. 11, the United States

needs a place to honor its sacred war dead.

Calls to the Department of Veterans Affairs’

Veterans Crisis Line have surged since the

United States left Kabul. Veteran service or-

ganizations have responded with concern,

putting out letters, op-eds and videos remind-

ing veterans that their service made a differ-

ence.

Yet there is no national memorial to the

global war on terrorism. No eternal reminder

of the brave women and men who gave their

lives for their country. No place to collective-

ly honor the troops, veterans, families and

friends who remain. We cannot wait 50 years

to break ground on a memorial for this war.

Legislation to secure a prominent location

on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for

a National Global War on Terrorism Memo-

rial is stalled in Congress, though there is

some reason for optimism. The For Country

Caucus, a bipartisan group of veterans in the

House of Representatives, has called on

President Joe Biden to support H.R. 1115, the

Global War on Terrorism Memorial Location

Act, the final hurdle to authorize construction

of the memorial.

In addition, many outside groups, includ-

ing the Global War on Terrorism Memorial

Foundation, Gold Star families and veteran-

led groups such as With Honor Action, have

been working for years for a National Global

War on Terrorism Memorial on the National

Mall. The legislation before the House has

widespread bipartisan support, with more

than 100 co-sponsors. Congress should listen

to those voices and pass it into law this year,

and Biden should put his public support be-

hind a National Global War on Terrorism

Memorial.

Like the other wars memorialized on the

National Mall — World War II, the Korean

War and the Vietnam War — the global war

on terrorism is the war of a generation. Born

from the tragic events of Sept. 11, the war on

terrorism is now America’s longest war,

touching young women and men who were

not yet born on that harrowing day.

We lost more than 7,000 troops during mil-

itary operations in the past two decades.

Each left behind family, friends and fellow

service members who deserve a place to re-

member them. And each of these service

members should be held up as a reminder for

generations to come of the bravery and sacri-

fice this war required. Their memories

should be enshrined next to the memorials

for other brave women and men who gave

their lives defending this nation since its

founding, because their sacrifices are just as

significant.

The National World War II Memorial was

completed almost 60 years after the conflict

ended. A 20-year-old World War II veteran

returning home would have visited the me-

morial at 80 years old. Most never made it

there. We must give friends, families and vet-

erans a place to gather, throughout their life-

times, with the spirits and memories of all

those they lost.

In these days after the exit of the last Amer-

ican service member from Afghanistan and

before the 20th anniversary of Sept. 11, the

president and the Congress have an opportu-

nity and an obligation to get this done.

We must memorialize the fallen in this warBY ROBERT M. GATES, LEON E.

PANETTA, CHUCK HAGEL, ASH CARTER,JIM MATTIS AND MARK T. ESPER

Special to The Washington Post

Robert M. Gates, Leon E. Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, JimMattis and Mark T. Esper are the six surviving secretaries ofdefense who led the Defense Department during the past 20years of the global war on terrorism.


ACROSS

1 Tax prep pro

4 Expose

8 Richard of

“Chicago”

12 Bruins legend

13 Barbecue order

14 Asia’s — Sea

15 Superfast

17 Defeat

18 D-Day carriers

19 Foot warmers

20 Sleepy mammal

22 Taxi alternative

24 Not taped

25 Mysterious

29 Gorilla

30 Wimbledon

surface

31 Green prefix

32 Uncivilized

34 Russian ruler

35 Org.

36 Enthusiast

37 Aviary sound

40 Albacore, e.g.

41 Street edge

42 Curry powder

spice

46 Mr. Stravinsky

47 Oklahoma tribe

48 — -Magnon

49 TV’s “Warrior

Princess”

50 Wizard’s prop

51 Bad spell

DOWN

1 URL suffix

2 Season opener?

3 Avid

museumgoer

4 Soup stock

5 Broadcasts

6 Hitter’s stat

7 Computer key

8 Aplenty

9 Idle of Monty

Python

10 Poolroom prop

11 Lodge members

16 Noble Italian

family

19 Collections

20 Thick chunk

21 “Break My Heart”

singer Dua

22 Track star Bolt

23 Pear type

25 Messes up

26 Scientist’s work

27 Optimist’s credo

28 String

30 React in horror

33 Diva Streisand

34 Fork part

36 Was livid

37 Roman 209

38 Ginormous

39 Pressing need

40 1982 sci-fi film

42 Road rescue

43 Actress Hagen

44 Hot temper

45 “Friends” cast

member

Answer to Previous Puzzle

Eugene Sheffer CrosswordFra

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Dilbert

Pearls B

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SCOREBOARD

ScheduleFriday’s games

SOUTHKansas (10) at Coastal Carolina (10)NC A&T (01) at Duke (01)

FAR WESTNorth Dakota (10) at Utah St. (10) UTEP (20) at Boise St. (01)

Saturday’s gamesEAST

W. Kentucky (10) at Army (10)Stony Brook (01) at Colgate (01)Georgetown (00) at Delaware St. (10)Merrimack (10) at Holy Cross (10)Rutgers (10) at Syracuse (10)CCSU (01) at Wagner (01)Purdue (10) at Uconn (02)Ball St. (10) at Penn St. (10)Air Force (10) at Navy (01)Boston College (10) at Umass (01)LIU Brooklyn (01) at West Virginia (01)Towson (10) at New Hampshire (10)Monmouth (NJ) (01) at Fordham (01)St. Francis (Pa.) (01) at Delaware (10)Bucknell (01) at Villanova (10)NC Central (10) at Marshall (10)Rhode Island (10) at Albany (NY) (01)Sacred Heart (10) at Bryant (01)Howard (01) at Maryland (10)

SOUTHIllinois (11) at Virginia (10)South Carolina (10) at East Carolina

(01) Kennesaw St. (10) at Georgia Tech (01)Pittsburgh (10) at Tennessee (10) Norfolk St. (01) at Wake Forest (10)Alabama St. (10) at Auburn (10) Florida (10) at South Florida (01)Morgan St. (01) vs. Tulane (01) at Bir

mingham, Ala.Middle Tennessee (10) at Virginia Tech

(10)Lehigh (01) at Richmond (10)Charleston Southern (00) at The Citadel

(01)Union (Ky.) (00) at Morehead St. (01)Furman (10) at Tennessee Tech (01)UAB (10) at Georgia (10)Georgia Southern (10) at FAU (01)Mercer (10) at Alabama (10)Maine (01) at James Madison (10)Fort Lauderdale (00) at Presbyterian

(10)SC State (01) at Clemson (01)Lafayette (01) at William & Mary (01)Fort Valley St. (00) at Florida A&M (01)Ave Maria (00) at Stetson (10)GardnerWebb (01) at Charlotte (10)Elon (01) at Campbell (01)BethuneCookman (01) at UCF (10)Nicholls (01) at LouisianaLafayette

(01)Hampton (10) at Old Dominion (01)Appalachian St. (10) at Miami (01)Miles (01) at Southern U. (01)Tennessee St. (01) vs. Jackson St. (10)

at Memphis, Tenn.Chattanooga (01) at North Alabama

(01)Grambling St. (10) at Southern Miss.

(01)SE Louisiana (10) at Louisiana Tech

(01)Samford (10) at UT Martin (01)Texas State (01) at FIU (10)NC State (10) at Mississippi St. (10)Northwestern St. (01) at Alcorn St. (01)Liberty (10) at Troy (10)E. Kentucky (10) at Louisville (01)Shaw (00) at Davidson (01)Georgia St. (01) at North Carolina (01)VirginiaWise (00) at ETSU (10)Austin Peay (10) at Mississippi (10)Missouri (10) at Kentucky (10)McNeese St. (01) at LSU (01)Jacksonville St. (01) at Florida St. (01)

MIDWESTVMI (10) at Kent St. (01)Indiana St. (10) at Northwestern (01)Oregon (10) at Ohio St. (10) Miami (Ohio) (01) at Minnesota (01) Youngstown St. (10) at Michigan St.

(10) E. Illinois (02) at Dayton (00)St. Thomas (Minn.) (00) at Michigan

Tech (00)Wyoming (10) at N. Illinois (10)N. Arizona (01) at South Dakota (01)Duquesne (01) at Ohio (01)Toledo (10) at Notre Dame (10)Robert Morris (00) at Cent. Michigan

(01)Temple (01) at Akron (01)Buffalo (10) at Nebraska (11)Murray St. (10) at Cincinnati (10)Valparaiso (01) at N. Dakota St. (10)

South Alabama (10) at Bowling Green(01)

Iowa (10) at Iowa St. (10)Illinois St. (10) at W. Michigan (01)DePauw (00) at Butler (01)Lindenwood (Mo.) (00) at S. Dakota St.

(10)E. Michigan (10) at Wisconsin (01)S. Illinois (10) at Kansas St. (10)Idaho (10) at Indiana (01)Washington (01) at Michigan (10)Cent. Arkansas (01) at Missouri St. (01)

SOUTHWESTTulsa (01) at Oklahoma St. (10) California (01) at TCU (10)Lamar (10) at UTSA (10)Houston (01) at Rice (01)Texas (10) at Arkansas (10)Louisiana College (00) at Abilene Chris

tian (01)North Texas (10) at SMU (10)SE Missouri (01) at Sam Houston St.

(10)Memphis (10) at Arkansas St. (10)W. Carolina (01) at Oklahoma (10)Stephen F. Austin (10) at Texas Tech

(10)N. Colorado (01) at Houston Baptist

(01)Texas Southern (01) at Baylor (10)Fort Lewis (00) at Tarleton St. (01)Prairie View (10) at Incarnate Word

(01)FAR WEST

Texas A&M (10) vs. Colorado (10) atDenver

Cent. Washington (00) at E. Washington(10)

UC Davis (10) at San Diego (01)Portland St. (01) at Washington St. (01)New Mexico St. (02) at New Mexico (10)Drake (10) at Montana St. (01)W. Illinois (01) at Montana (10)N. Iowa (01) at Sacramento St. (10)Vanderbilt (01) at Colorado St. (01)San Diego St. (10) at Arizona (01)Weber St. (01) at Dixie St. (01)Cal Poly (10) at Fresno St. (11)Utah (10) at BYU (10)UNLV (01) at Arizona St. (10)Stanford (01) at Southern Cal (10)Idaho St. (01) at Nevada (10)Hawaii (11) at Oregon St. (01)

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Wednesday’s transactionsBASEBALL

Major League BaseballAmerican League

NEW YORK YANKEES — Recalled RGPLuis Gil from Scranton/WilkesBarree (TripleA East). Optioned RHP Brooks Kriske toScranton/WilkesBarre.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS — Recalled RHPMiguel Romero from Las Vegas (TripleAWest). Optioned LHP A.J. Puk to Las Vegas,retroactive to Sept. 7.

TAMPA BAY RAYS — Placed RH RandyArozarena on the paternity list. OptionedRHP Louis Head to Durham (TripleA East).Recalled CF Josh Lowe from Durham. Designated RHP David hess for assignment.Reinstated 1B JiMan Choi and RHP MattWisler from the 10day IL. Promoted general manager Erik Neander to president ofbaseball operations and agreed to termswith him on a multiyear contract extension.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS — Reinstated RHPJulian Merryweather from the 60day IL.Optioned RHP Bryan Baker to Buffalo (TripleA East). Placed LHP Anthony Kay onthe reserve/COVID19 IL.

National LeagueARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS — Released

RHP Seth Frankoff.CHICAGO CUBS — Placed OF Michael

Hermosillo on the 10day IL. Selected thecontract of OF Nick Martini from Iowa (TripleA East) and signed him to a majorleague contract. Sent 2B Andrew Romineoutright to Iowa.

COLORADO ROCKIES — Recalled INF Colton Welker and RHP Antonio Santos fromAlbuquerque (TripleA West). ReinstatedRHP Jon Gray from the 10day IL. PlacedRHP Chi Chi Gonzalez on the 10day IL.Placed RHP Robert Stephenson on the paternity list. Optioned INF Joshua Fuentesto Albuquerque.

MIAMI MARLINS — Recalled 1B LewinDiaz from Jacksonville (TripleA East).Placed 1B Jesus Aguilar on the 10day IL.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES — TransferredRHP Zach Eflin from the 10day injured listto the 60day IL.

ST. LOUIS CARDINALS — Sent RHP Brandon Dickson outright to Memphis (TripleA East).

WASHINGTON NATIONALS — Sent 2BJordy Mercer to Harrisburg (DoubleANortheast) on a rehab assignment.

BASKETBALLNational Basketball Association

CHICAGO BULLS — Signed Fs Tyler Cook,Alize Johnson and Stanley Johnson, andGs Matt Thomas and Ethan Thompson.

FOOTBALLNational Football League

ATLANTA FALCONS — Placed CB KendallSheffield on injured reserve. Waived PDom Maggio from injured reserve with aninjury settlement.

BALTIMORE RAVENS — Signed RB Trenton Cannon. Placed RB Justice Hill on injured reserve. Released S Jordan Richards.Signed RB Le’Veon Bell and DT ReginaldMckenzie to the practice squad.

BUFFALO BILLS — Released DT TreyvonHester from injured reserve with an injurysettlement.

CHICAGO BEARS — Signed DTs MargusHunt and Damion Squard to the practicesquad. Released DT Auzoyah Alufohai andRB Artavis Pierce from the practice squad.

DALLAS COWBOYS — Activated WRNoah Brown from the reserve/COVID19list.

DENVER BRONCOS — Signed CB SaivionSmith to the practice squad.

HOUSTON TEXANS — Placed K Ka’imiFairbairn on injured reserve. Signed WRDanny Amendola. Released LB Hardy Nickerson from the practice squad. Signed CBCre’Von LeBlanc to the practice squad.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS — Signed OLBAaron Patrick to the practice squad. Released K/P Kaare Vedvik from the practicesquad.

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS — Waived LSCole Mazza from injured reserve with aninjury settlement.

MIAMI DOLPHINS — Signed T Bobby Hartto the practice squad. Placed T Adam Pankey on the practice squad injured reserve.

MINNESOTA VIKINGS — Signed RT BrianO’Neill to a multiyear contract extension.Waived OG Dru Samia from injured reserve with a injury settlement.

NEW YORK GIANTS — Signed DB NateEbner.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES — Signed CB MacMcCain III.

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Signed LB NateGerry to the practice squad. Released OLCorbin Kaufusi from the practice squad.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS — Signed LB Tanner Muse to the practice squad.

TENNESSEE TITANS — Activated C BenJones and G Nate Davis from the reserve/COVID19 list. Signed S Bradley McDougald, C Corey Levin and DB Chris Jones tothe practice squad.

WASHINGTON FOOTBALL — Signed EvinKsiezarczyk to the practice squad.

HOCKEYNational Hockey League

CALGARY FLAMES — Signed F Brad Richardson to a oneyear contract.

SOCCERMajor League Soccer

MLS DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE —Found New York City FC MF Maxi Moralezguilty of failure to leave the field in a timely manner in the match against NashvilleSC on Sept. 3 and fined him an undisclosedamount for his actions. Found Nashville SCMF Dax McCarty guilty of failure to leavethe field in a timely manner in the matchagainst NYCFC on Sept. 3 and fined him anundisclosed amount for his actions. FoundSporting Kansas City MF Roger Espinozaguilty of failure to leave the field in a timely and orderly manner in the matchagainst LAFC on Sept. 3 and fined him anundisclosed amount for his action sandEspinoza has been issued a separate undisclosed fine for exhibiting inappropriatebehavior following his red card. Foundboth Nashville SC and New York City FC inviolation of the Mass Confrontation Policyin their match on Sept. 3 and Nashville andNYCFC have been issued a warning fortheir first violation of the league’s policythis season. Due to their role in the massconfrontation, NYCFC players F ValentinCastellanos, D Anton Tinnerholm and MFJesus Medina each have been fined an undisclosed amount for their actions in inciting and/or escalating a mass confrontation. Found Nashville SC’s Fs Jhonder Cadiz and Ake Loba, Ds Jalil Anibaba and AlexMuyl in violation of the league’s policy regarding entering the field of play and finedall four an undisclosed amount for theiractions in the match against NYCFC onSept. 3. Additionally, Cadiz has been issued a onematch suspension and is noteligible to play in Nashville’s next regularseason game on Sept. 11 against CF Montreal. Found Nashville SC D/F Daniel Lovitzin violation of the league’s policy regarding hands to the face, head, or neck of anopponent and fine him undisclosed fineamount for his actions against NYCFC onSept. 3. Found New York City FC F ValentinCastellanos in violation of the league’spolicy regarding hands to the face, head,or neck of an opponent and has fined himan undisclosed amount for his actionsagainst the Nashville SC on Sept. 3. FoundNew England Revolution D Henry Kesslerguilty of simulation/embellishment in thematch against Philadelphia Union on Sept.3 and fined him an undisclosed amount forhis action.

MLS INDEPENDENT REVIEW PANEL — Denied Nashville SC’s appeal of the red cardissued to MF Dax McCarty in the matchagainst NYCFC on Sept. 3 and McCarty isnot eligible to play in Nashville’s next regular season game on Saturday, Sept. 11against CF Montréal as he serves a onematch suspension for the red card.

DEALS

U.S. OpenWednesday

At USTA Billie Jean King National TennisCenter

New YorkSurface: Hardcourt outdoor

Men’s SinglesQuarterfinals

Alexander Zverev (4), Germany, def.

Lloyd Harris, South Africa, 76 (6), 63, 64.

Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, def. Matteo

Berrettini (6), Italy, 57, 62, 62, 63. Women’s Singles

QuarterfinalsEmma Raducanu, Britain, def. Belinda

Bencic (11), Switzerland, 63, 64. Maria Sakkari (17), Greece, def. Karolina

Pliskova (4), Czech Republic, 64, 64. Women’s Doubles

QuarterfinalsGabriela Dabrowski, Canada, and Luisa

Stefani (5), Brazil, def. Lucie Hradecka andMarie Bouzkova (15), Czech Republic, 64,46, 61.

Caty McNally and Coco Gauff (11), United States, def. Hsieh Suwei, Taiwan, andElise Mertens (1), Belgium, 63, 76 (1).

Alexa Guarachi Mathison, Chile, and Desirae Krawczyk (7), United States, def.Monica Niculescu and ElenaGabrielaRuse, Romania, 67 (5), 62, 63.

Mixed DoublesSemifinals

Marcelo ArevaloGonzalez, El Salvador,and Giuliana Olmos, Mexico, def. Max Purcell, Australia, and Dayana Yastremska,Ukraine, 46, 64, 106.

TENNIS

PRO BASKETBALL

WNBA

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

xConnecticut 22 6 .786 —

xChicago 15 14 .517 7½

New York 11 18 .379 11½

Washington 10 18 .357 12

Atlanta 7 21 .250 15

Indiana 6 21 .222 15½

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L Pct GB

xLas Vegas 21 8 .724 —

xSeattle 20 10 .667 1½

xPhoenix 19 10 .655 2

xMinnesota 18 10 .643 2½

Dallas 12 17 .414 9

Los Angeles 10 18 .357 10½

Wednesday’s games

Phoenix 76, Atlanta 75Las Vegas 102, Minnesota 81

Thursday’s game

Connecticut at Los Angeles

Friday’s games

Atlanta at WashingtonIndiana at Minnesota

Saturday’s games

New York at DallasConnecticut at Phoenix

PRO SOCCER

MLS

EASTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

New England 16 4 4 52 45 28

Orlando City 10 4 8 38 33 26

Nashville 9 2 11 38 37 21

NYCFC 10 7 4 34 37 22

Philadelphia 8 7 8 32 28 24

CF Montréal 8 7 7 31 30 27

D.C. United 9 10 3 30 35 32

Columbus 7 10 6 27 27 32

Atlanta 6 7 9 27 25 28

Inter Miami CF 7 9 5 26 22 31

Chicago 6 11 5 23 24 33

New York 6 10 4 22 23 25

Cincinnati 3 10 8 17 21 38

Toronto FC 3 13 6 15 26 47

WESTERN CONFERENCE

W L T Pts GF GA

Seattle 12 4 6 42 35 19

Colorado 12 4 5 41 31 20

Sporting KC 11 5 7 40 37 26

LA Galaxy 11 8 3 36 35 35

Minnesota 8 6 7 31 24 24

Portland 9 10 3 30 31 39

Real Salt Lake 8 8 6 30 34 29

Vancouver 7 7 8 29 29 32

LAFC 7 9 6 27 32 31

San Jose 6 8 8 26 24 30

FC Dallas 6 10 7 25 32 36

Austin FC 5 13 4 19 21 31

Houston 3 10 10 19 24 36

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s games

Orlando City at Atlanta Portland at Vancouver

Saturday’s games

LA Galaxy at Colorado Minnesota at Seattle D.C. United at New York New York City FC at New England Toronto FC at Cincinnati Columbus at Miami Nashville at CF Montréal Austin FC at Houston Chicago at Sporting Kansas City San Jose at FC Dallas

Sunday’s game

Real Salt Lake at Los Angeles FC

NWSL

W L T Pts GF GA

Portland 10 4 2 32 24 11

North Carolina 8 4 5 29 22 9

Reign FC 9 7 2 29 24 19

Orlando 6 5 7 25 21 20

Chicago 7 7 4 25 19 22

Washington 6 5 5 23 19 18

Gotham FC 5 5 7 22 17 15

Houston 6 7 4 22 19 22

Louisville 4 8 5 17 14 24

Kansas City 2 11 5 11 9 28

Note: Three points for victory, one pointfor tie.

Friday’s games

Gotham FC at Kansas CityChicago at Houston

Saturday’s game

Louisville at OrlandoSunday’s games

Reign FC at WashingtonPortland at North Carolina

NFL schedule

Thursday’s game

Dallas at Tampa Bay

Sunday’s games

Arizona at TennesseeJacksonville at HoustonL.A. Chargers at WashingtonMinnesota at CincinnatiN.Y. Jets at CarolinaPhiladelphia at AtlantaPittsburgh at BuffaloSan Francisco at DetroitSeattle at IndianapolisCleveland at Kansas CityDenver at N.Y. GiantsGreen Bay at New OrleansMiami at New EnglandChicago at L.A. Rams

Monday’s game

Baltimore at Las Vegas

Thursday, Sept. 16

N.Y. Giants at Washington

NFL Injury ReportThe National Football League injury re

port, as provided by the league (DNP: didnot practice; LIMITED: limited participation; FULL: Full participation):

SUNDAYARIZONA CARDINALS at TENNESSEE TI-

TANS — ARIZONA: LIMITED: TE Darrell Daniels (toe). FULL: LB Dennis Gardeck(knee). TENNESSEE: DNP: WR A.J. Brown(knee). LIMITED: CB Chris Jackson(hamstring), LB David Long (hamstring).

CHICAGO BEARS at LOS ANGELES RAMS— CHICAGO: Practice Not Complete. LOSANGELES RAMS: Practice Not Complete.

CLEVELAND BROWNS at KANSAS CITYCHIEFS — CLEVELAND: DNP: DE JadeveonClowney (illness), T Michael Dunn (back).LIMITED: WR Odell Beckham (knee), SGrant Delpit (hamstring), S Ronnie Harrison (ankle), WR Rashard Higgins (hamstring), CB Troy Hill (hamstring), C J.C. Tretter(knee), CB Greedy Williams (groin). FULL:LB Sione Takitaki (hamstring). KANSASCITY: Practice Not Complete.

DENVER BRONCOS at NEW YORK GIANTS— DENVER: DNP: OLB Bradley Chubb (ankle). LIMITED: TE Noah Fant (knee). FULL:OLB Von Miller (ankle), TE Albert Okwuegbunam, WR Courtland Sutton (knee). NEWYORK: DNP: TE Evan Engram (calf). LIMITED: RB Saquon Barkley (knee), WR KennyGolladay (hamstring), LB Justin Hilliard(foot), CB Adoree’ Jackson (ankle), CB JoshJackson (calf), TE Kyle Rudolph (foot), DTDanny Shelton (neck), TE Kaden Smith(knee), T Andrew Thomas (ankle), WR Kadarius Toney (hamstring).

GREEN BAY PACKERS at NEW ORLEANSSAINTS — GREEN BAY: DNP: S Vernon Scott(hamstring). LIMITED: DT Tyler Lancaster(back), LB Za’Darius Smith (back). NEWORLEANS: DNP: CB Ken Crawley (hamstring).

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS at HOUSTONTEXANS — JACKSONVILLE: DNP: CB TreHerndon (knee). LIMITED: CB Tyson Campbell (calf). HOUSTON: DNP: CB LonnieJohnson (thigh), QB Deshaun Watson (notinjury related—personal matter). LIMITED: DT Maliek Collins (knee), DE WhitneyMercilus (thigh), LB Kevin PierreLouis(thigh).

LOS ANGELES CHARGERS at WASHING-TON FOOTBALL TEAM — LOS ANGELESCHARGERS: Practice Not Complete.WASHINGTON: DNP: WR Curtis Samuel(groin).

MIAMI DOLPHINS at NEW ENGLAND PA-TRIOTS — MIAMI: LIMITED: T Liam Eichenberg (thigh), WR Preston Williams (foot).FULL: RB Salvon Ahmed (back), S ClaytonFejedelem (shoulder), WR DeVante Parker(shoulder), LB Elandon Roberts (knee), WRAlbert Wilson (quadricep). NEW EN-GLAND: LIMITED: WR Nelson Agholor (ankle), T Yodny Cajuste (hamstring), S JalenMills (ankle).

MINNESOTA VIKINGS at CINCINNATIBENGALS — MINNESOTA: Practice NotComplete. CINCINNATI: Practice Not Complete.

NEW YORK JETS at CAROLINA PANTHERS— NEW YORK JETS: DNP: S Sharrod Neasman (hamstring). LIMITED: RB La’MicalPerine (foot). FULL: T Mekhi Becton (concussion). CAROLINA: DNP: WR Shi Smith(shoulder).

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES at ATLANTA FAL-CONS — PHILADELPHIA: LIMITED: G Brandon Brooks (knee), G Landon Dickerson(knee), S Rodney McLeod (knee), LB Davion Taylor (calf). ATLANTA: LIMITED: LBBrandon Copeland (hamstring).

PITTSBURGH STEELERS at BUFFALOBILLS — PITTSBURGH: DNP: DE Tyson Alualu (elbow). LIMITED: C Kendrick Green(thumb), LB Alex Highsmith (groin). BUF-FALO: DNP: DT Star Lotulelei (calf). LIMITED: CB Taron Johnson (hand), WR Emmanuel Sanders (foot). FULL: WR IsaiahMcKenzie (shoulder), DT Harrison Phillips(knee).

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS at DETROIT LI-ONS — SAN FRANCISCO: Practice Not Complete. DETROIT: LIMITED: DE MichaelBrockers (shoulder), T Taylor Decker (finger), DT Levi Onwuzurike (hip), CB A.J.Parker (shoulder), DE Nicholas Williams(elbow). FULL: TE T.J. Hockenson (shoulder), RB D’Andre Swift (groin).

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS at INDIANAPOLISCOLTS — �SEATTLE: Practice Not Complete.INDIANAPOLIS: DNP: G Quenton Nelson(foot, back), CB Xavier Rhodes (calf). LIMITED: WR Parris Campbell (Achilles), T EricFisher (Achilles), G Danny Pinter (foot), DEKemoko Turay (groin). FULL: QB CarsonWentz (foot).

MONDAYBALTIMORE RAVENS AT LAS VEGAS

RAIDERS — �Not reported.

PRO FOOTBALL


COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Oregon freshman line-

backer Justin Flowe is

so pumped to play for

the Ducks that some-

times he has to remind himself to

slow down a bit.

Flowe had 14 tackles and a

forced fumble in his first career

start and was named the Pac-12

Freshman of the Week following

Saturday’s 31-24 season-opening

victory over Fresno State.

But this week it gets consider-

ably more serious for Flowe and

the rest of Oregon’s defense as

the No. 12 Ducks (1-0) travel to

Columbus to play No. 3 Ohio

State. Ohio Stadium is expected to

return to its full pre-coronavirus

capacity of more than 100,000.

Flowe, a five-star recruit out of

Chino, Calif., was everywhere

against the Bulldogs after weak-

side linebacker Dru Mathis in-

jured his left leg in the first quar-

ter. Mathis will not be available

against the Buckeyes.

But Flowe’s excitement — he

said playing for fans for the first

time at Autzen Stadium was “un-

real” — led to a penalty for a late

hit on Fresno State quarterback

Jake Haener.

“I just feel like in certain sit-

uations, I always play aggressive,

and sometimes I’ve got to hold off

a little bit,” he said. “But my

game is just go, go go. I just want

to do what I can do to help the

team and I just go and I bring that

passion.”

A key moment for Flowe came

in the fourth quarter when he

forced Haener to fumble and

teammate Jordan Happle reco-

vered. That led to a field goal that

tied the game at 24.

“I just know the quarterback

likes to scramble,” said Flowe.

“So when I saw him scramble, I

just took off. I knew what I had to

do. I knew I had to go in and get

the ball out, so I just came in and

got the ball out.”

Oregon quarterback Anthony

Brown won the game with a 30-

yard scramble into the end zone.

Flowe’s tackles were the most

for an Ducks freshman since Troy

Dye had 14 in an early season

game in 2016. He is the first Ore-

gon player since 2007 with at

least 14 tackles and a forced fum-

ble in the same game.

“He’s a game-changer,” Ducks

coach Mario Cristobal said. “The

guy had almost 15 tackles. All

over the field. Plays with incred-

ible passion, forcing turnovers,

really aggressive.”

While it was a win, it certainly

was not the blowout some expect-

ed and, as a result, Oregon drop-

ped a spot in the AP Top 25 this

week. At times the offense stalled

and the defense was hurt by the

loss of Mathis and also an injury

to defensive end Kayvon Thibo-

deaux, widely considered a Heis-

man contender going into the sea-

son.

Thibodeaux is day-to-day head-

ing into Saturday’s game.

Even with Thibodeaux, the

Ducks’ defense will be tested by

the Buckeyes. In their season-

opening 45-31 win over Minneso-

ta, freshman quarterback CJ

Stroud threw for 294 yards and

four touchdowns. Ohio State had

495 yards in total offense.

Flowe, a second-year freshman

who played in just one game last

year because of injury, will need

to be disciplined, while keeping

his “go, go, go.”

“Against an offense like Ohio

State, you have to be on point —

you have to be from a discipline

standpoint, execution stand-

point,” Cristobal said. “You can’t

have any busts. They’ll expose

you. They showed that. Ohio

State’s ability to make big plays is

a complete reflection of how pre-

cise they are in what they do.”

ANDY NELSON/AP

Oregon linebacker Justin Flowe, left, moves in on Fresno State wide receiver Keric Wheatfall during lastweek’s game in Eugene, Ore. Flowe had 14 tackles and a forced fumble in his first career start.

Buckeyes pose challengefor Flowe, Ducks defense

BY ANNE M. PETERSON

Associated Press No. 12 Oregon (1-0)

at No. 3 Ohio State (1-0)AFN-Atlantic

6 p.m. Saturday CET1 a.m. Sunday JKT

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The

Southeastern Conference is mov-

ing away from early season cup-

cakes. It’s been years in the mak-

ing and probably long overdue.

The powerhouse league still has

a few teams lagging in the sched-

uling department, seemingly not

quite ready to go all in for compet-

itive reasons. But beefing up

schedules is clearly on the horizon

for everyone, especially once the

SEC adds Oklahoma and Texas.

“You can’t just open the gates

and give people a 12-inch piece of

wood to sit on anymore,” Florida

athletic director Scott Stricklin

said.

Stricklin called the shift in phi-

losophy “market driven,” pointing

to fans, players and television

partners wanting better matchups

on a weekly basis.

It’s hardly unique to the SEC, es-

pecially since strength of schedule

plays a role in determining which

teams make the College Football

Playoff. And with the CFP eyeing

expansion, there’s even more rea-

son for some of the nation’s top

programs — those expecting to vie

for coveted playoff spots — to add

more challenging games.

While fans may have gotten

spoiled watching last season’s all-

SEC slate of games because of CO-

VID-19 concerns, it would be hard

to complain about much of the

league’s 2021 schedules.

Top-ranked Alabama thumped

Miami. No. 2 Georgia edged Clem-

son. Mississippi routed Louisville.

LSU lost at UCLA. And that was

just Week 1.

This weekend’s slate includes

Pittsburgh-Tennessee, Colorado-

Texas A&M, Texas-Arkansas and

North Carolina State-Mississippi

State.

And then Auburn plays at Penn

State and Vanderbilt hosts Stan-

ford in Week 3, followed by Mis-

souri at Boston College.

“It means a lot for confidence,”

Georgia coach Kirby Smart said.

“Confidence can help. Can over-

confidence hurt? Yes, but there’s a

line there. The experience of the

environment is what I value. Win,

lose, or draw, the experience of

that environment was going to

make us better, and that is what I

gain from it.

“Does it give some of the players

more confidence? Yes, it gives

them more confidence. It does, but

it better not give them overconfi-

dence because humility is one

week away.”

Alabama and LSU have led the

league’s push to strengthen sched-

ules. The Crimson Tide have

opened each of the last 10 seasons

with a Power Five opponent — and

won them all. The Tigers, mean-

while, have scheduled similarly

for nine straight years.

The rest of the league is catching

up.

“One of the harder things to do is

to judge what the future of college

football is going to be,” said Flor-

ida coach Dan Mullen, who is en-

tering his 17th year in the SEC. “If

you look and say, ‘OK, six years

ago, we’re going to have a playoff

and this is how they’re going to

judge it and evaluate the playoff.’

It’s hard to judge that in the future,

that far.

“And scheduling is tough. As

you call people, there are a lot of

people who are booked out way in-

to the future. And then you get into

the issue of how is the SEC sched-

ule going to work four and five and

six years ago from now? I know

what our position is right now as a

league.”

Adding Oklahoma and Texas

should change everything. The

SEC is expected to revamp its

scheduling model once the Big 12

juggernauts arrive, whether it’s in

2025 as currently planned or soon-

er, in hopes of everyone playing

each other more often.

SEC moving awayfrom cupcake foes

BY MARK LONG

Associated Press

AP sports writers Brett Martel, Charles Odum,Teresa Walker and John Zenor contributed.

JOHN BAZEMORE / AP

Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams, left, scores a touchdownagainst Miami last week in Atlanta. Alabama won 4414.


SOCCER/US OPEN

SAN PEDRO SULA, Honduras

— The United States was skidding

to another World Cup qualifying

failure when Antonee Robinson en-

tered, quickly tied the score and

celebrated with a backward somer-

sault.

The entire game soon flipped.

Ricardo Pepi put the U.S. ahead

in the 75th minute, Brenden Aaron-

son and Sebastian Lletget added

late goals and the U.S. rolled past

Honduras 4-1 Wednesday night.

“I think it’s really important that

we did that just to show everyone

that at times it’s going to be a hard

qualifying process, but we’re ready

for the challenges that’ll come

ahead,” Robinson said. “We can re-

spond to anything.”

Pepi had a goal and two assists in

his debut, and the Americans ex-

haled after a tumultuous week of

injuries, positive COVID-19 tests

and a huge disciplinary issue. They

won for just the second time in 41

qualifiers in which they trailed at

halftime (six draws).

Coach Gregg Berhalter held a

team meeting before the match and

told players that opening draws at

El Salvador and at home against

Canada “wouldn’t have doomed

the qualifying.” U.S. goalkeeper

Zack Steffen, defender Sergiño

Dest and midfielder Gio Reyna had

gotten hurt, Steffen tested positive

for COVID and midfielder Weston

McKennie was sent home by Ber-

halter for violating team COVID

protocols.

Berhalter thought the talk

helped players begin to relax.

“Despite all this crap that hap-

pened in these last couple days, the

guys’ spirits were extremely high,”

he said.

Still, Brayan Moya put 63rd-

ranked Honduras ahead in the 27th

minute, breaking free of George

Bello and heading a cross from Die-

go Rodríguez past goalkeeper Matt

Turner after John Brooks lost the

ball.

That put the 10th-ranked Amer-

icans in a daunting position: They

had given up the first goal in 33 pre-

vious road World Cup qualifiers,

winning two, losing 26 and tying

five.

Berhalter told players at half-

time they had to change more than

formation.

“We need to compete, and that

was something I was disappointed

with,” he recalled saying. “When

they scored, instead of seeing that

reaction that we’re used to, I think

their heads went down a little bit.”

And to make the challenge grea-

ter, Christian Pulisic injured his

left ankle early in the second half,

tried to continue and fell in a heap

during a sprint a few minutes later.

He was replaced in the 62nd min-

ute.

“When Christian goes down, it’s

always like, mmm, you take like a

deep breath because he’s our best

player,”Aaronson said.

Pepi, who scored the winning

penalty kick in last month’s Major

League Soccer All-Star Game

against Liga MX, at 18 years, 242

days became the second-youngest

American to appear in a qualifier

behind Pulisic at 17 years, 193 days

in March 2016.

The Dallas forward chose to play

for the U.S. over Mexico, the 65th

player to appear for the Americans

since the October 2017 loss at Trini-

dad and Tobago ended a streak of

seven straight World Cup appear-

ances. He was the 42nd since Ber-

halter was hired in December 2018.

“I feel like he had confidence in

me,” Pepi said, “so I just went out

there and do my thing.”

Berhalter made five lineup

changes, inserting Pepi, Bello,

Mark McKenzie and James Sands

for their qualifying debuts and

bringing back Josh Sargent, who

started the opener. They were part

of a lineup that averaged the young-

est ever for the U.S. in a qualifier at

23 years, 85 days, one that had Pu-

lisic, Tyler Adams and Kellyn

Acosta in a 3-5-2 formation, with

Adams playing wide on the right

rather than defensive midfield.

MOISES CASTILLO/AP

Ricardo Pepi, left, celebrates scoring the United States’ second goalagainst Honduras during a qualifying match for the World Cup in SanPedro Sula, Honduras, on Wednesday.

Robinson, Pepi helpUS flip on Honduras

BY RONALD BLUM

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Never fazed, rarely flummoxed,

Novak Djokovic is so collected in best-of-five-set

matches — even when falling behind, as he has done

repeatedly at the U.S. Open.

No opponent, or the prospect of what’s at stake, has

been too much to handle. Not yet, anyway. And now

he’s two wins away from the first calendar-year

Grand Slam in men’s tennis since 1969, along with a

men’s-record 21st major championship overall.

Djokovic ceded the opening set for the third con-

secutive match at Flushing Meadows — and ninth

time at a major in 2021 — but again it didn’t matter,

because he quickly corrected his strokes and beat No.

6seed Matteo Berrettini 5-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in a quarter-

final that began Wednesday night and concluded af-

ter midnight Thursday.

During his on-court interview, Djokovic cut off a

question, sensing where it was headed, and said: “Do

not ask me anything about history. I know it’s there.”

As he came back and improved to 26-0 in Grand

Slam play this season, Djokovic found every angle,

thwarted every big Berrettini shot and was so locked

in he dove and dropped his racket during one ex-

change yet scrambled, rose and reinserted himself in

the point. He lost it, but the message to his foe was un-

mistakable, essentially amounting to, “I will do what-

ever it takes.”

After 17 unforced errors in the first set, Djokovic

made a total of 11 the rest of the way.

“The best three sets I’ve played in the tournament,

for sure,” he said.

When Berrettini made one last stand, holding a

break point while trailing 4-2 in the third set, Djokovic

steadied himself. He let Berrettini put a backhand in-

to the net, then conjured up a 121 mph ace and a fore-

hand winner down the line to hold, then pointed his

right index finger to his ear — one of many gestures

asking the 20,299 in the Arthur Ashe Stadium stands

for noise.

Four minutes later, that set was his. And 42 minutes

later, the match was.

“He has this ability — and probably that’s why he’s

the best ever — just to step up his game, his level, all

the time,” said Berrettini, who also lost to Djokovic af-

ter taking the first set of the Wimbledon final.

“Doesn’t matter how well I play, he just plays better.”

Djokovic already earned trophies on the Australian

Open’s hard courts in February, the French Open’s

clay courts in June and Wimbledon’s grass courts in

July.

Djokovic has added five victories on the U.S.

Open’s hard courts and now faces 2020 runner-up

Alexander Zverev in Friday’s semifinals. If Djokovic

can win that match and Sunday’s final, he will join

Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) as

the only men to claim all four major tennis singles tro-

phies in one season. (Three women have done it, most

recently Steffi Graf in 1988; Serena Williams’ bid in

2015 ended in the U.S. Open semifinals).

One more Slam title also will break the career mark

Djokovic shares with rivals Roger Federer and Ra-

fael Nadal.

Zverev goes into the semifinals on a 16-match win-

ning streak, including a 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 semifinal triumph

against Djokovic en route to the gold medal at the To-

kyo Olympics.

“I’m pumped,” Djokovic said, looking ahead to

what awaits. “The bigger the challenge, the more glo-

ry in overcoming it.”

The other men’s semifinal is No. 2 Daniil Medve-

dev, a two-time major finalist, against No. 12 Felix Au-

ger-Aliassime. They won their quarterfinals Tues-

day.

The No. 4-seeded Zverev, a 24-year-old German,

advanced Wednesday afternoon by beating Lloyd

Harris 7-6 (6), 6-3, 6-4.

The women’s semifinals don’t feature similarly

ranked players.

Emma Raducanu,

an 18-year-old from Britain, is the first qualifier in

the professional era to reach the U.S. Open semifi-

nals. And she hasn’t even dropped a set yet.

Showing off the shots and poise of someone more

experienced, the 150th-ranked Raducanu became the

second unseeded teen in two days to secure a spot in

the final four, eliminating Tokyo Olympics gold med-

alist Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4 in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Not bad for someone ranked outside the top 350 in

June after going about 1½ years without a match — in

part because of the coronavirus pandemic, in part be-

cause her parents wanted her to finish high school.

“I’m not here to chase any records right now,” said

Raducanu, only the third woman not ranked in the top

100 to make it this far at the U.S. Open and only the

fourth qualifier to advance to the semifinals at any

major tournament since the Open era began in 1968.

“I’m just taking care of what I can do (in) the mo-

ment.”

Raducanu has won all 16 sets she has contested

through eight matches in New York — three during

the qualifying rounds and another five in the main

draw. On Thursday, she will face No. 17 seed Maria

Sakkari of Greece, a semifinalist at this year’s French

Open.

Sakkari won 22 consecutive points she served in

one stretch and beat No. 4 Karolina Pliskova, a two-

time major runner-up, 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday night to

follow up her victory over 2019 U.S. Open champion

Bianca Andreescu in the previous round.

“I’m impressed,” Sakkari said with a smile during

her on-court interview when she was informed of that

serving streak. “I trusted my serve, but now I’m going

to trust it even more.”

The other women’s semifinal will be 19-year-old

Leylah Fernandez of Canada against No. 2 seed Aryna

Sabalenka of Belarus.

Djokovic tops Berrettini,nears calendar-year Slam

FRANK FRANKLIN II/AP

Novak Djokovic reacts after scoring a point againstMatteo Berrettini during the quarterfinals of theU.S. Open on Thursday in New York.

BY HOWARD FENDRICH

Associated Press


MLB

American League

East Division

W L Pct GB

Tampa Bay 88 52 .629 _

Boston 80 62 .563 9

New York 78 61 .561 9½

Toronto 76 62 .551 11

Baltimore 45 93 .326 42

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Chicago 80 59 .576 _

Cleveland 68 69 .496 11

Detroit 66 75 .468 15

Kansas City 62 77 .446 18

Minnesota 62 77 .446 18

West Division

W L Pct GB

Houston 81 58 .583 _

Seattle 76 64 .543 5½

Oakland 75 64 .540 6

Los Angeles 69 71 .493 12½

Texas 51 88 .367 30

National LeagueEast Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 73 65 .529 _

Philadelphia 71 68 .511 2½

New York 70 70 .500 4

Miami 58 81 .417 15½

Washington 58 81 .417 15½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Milwaukee 86 55 .610 _

Cincinnati 74 67 .525 12

St. Louis 70 68 .507 14½

Chicago 65 76 .461 21

Pittsburgh 50 90 .357 35½

West Division

W L Pct GB

San Francisco 90 50 .643 _

Los Angeles 88 52 .629 2

San Diego 74 65 .532 15½

Colorado 63 77 .450 27

Arizona 45 95 .321 45

Wednesday’s games

Seattle 8, Houston 5Texas 8, Arizona 5Minnesota 3, Cleveland 0Detroit 5, Pittsburgh 1Boston 2, Tampa Bay 1Baltimore 9, Kansas City 8Toronto 6, N.Y. Yankees 3San Diego 8, L.A. Angels 5Oakland 5, Chicago White Sox 1San Francisco 7, Colorado 4Miami 2, N.Y. Mets 1, 10 inningsSt. Louis 5, L.A. Dodgers 4Chicago Cubs 4, Cincinnati 1, 10 inningsWashington 4, Atlanta 2Milwaukee 4, Philadelphia 3

Thursday’s games

Chicago White Sox at OaklandMinnesota at ClevelandKansas City at BaltimoreToronto at N.Y. YankeesL.A. Dodgers at St. LouisN.Y. Mets at MiamiColorado at PhiladelphiaWashington at Atlanta

Friday’s games

Toronto (Ray 11-5) at Baltimore (Ellis1-0)

Milwaukee (Houser 8-6) at Cleveland(Morgan 2-6)

N.Y. Yankees (Montgomery 5-5) at N.Y.Mets (Walker 7-9)

Tampa Bay (Wacha 3-4) at Detroit (Boyd3-8)

Boston (Houck 0-3) at Chicago White Sox(TBD)

Kansas City (Lynch 4-4) at Minnesota(TBD)

L.A. Angels (TBD) at Houston (Valdez 9-5)Texas (Otto 0-0) at Oakland (Blackburn 0-2)Arizona (Bumgarner 7-9) at Seattle

(Gonzales 7-5)San Francisco (TBD) at Chicago Cubs

(Hendricks 14-6)Washington (Gray 0-2) at Pittsburgh

(Brault 0-3)Colorado (Márquez 11-10) at Philadel-

phia (TBD)Miami (Rogers 7-6) at Atlanta (Anderson 6-5)Cincinnati (Mahle 11-5) at St. Louis (Les-

ter 5-6)San Diego (Musgrove 10-8) at L.A. Dodg-

ers (Urías 16-3)Saturday’s games

Texas at OaklandToronto at Baltimore, 2Milwaukee at ClevelandTampa Bay at DetroitBoston at Chicago White SoxKansas City at MinnesotaL.A. Angels at HoustonN.Y. Yankees at N.Y. MetsArizona at SeattleSan Francisco at Chicago CubsColorado at PhiladelphiaWashington at PittsburghCincinnati at St. LouisMiami at AtlantaSan Diego at L.A. Dodgers

Scoreboard

BOSTON — Hunter Renfroe hit a two-run

homer in the eighth inning and threw out Joey

Wendle trying for a triple from deep center

field for the final out of the ninth as the Boston

Red Sox beat the Tampa Bay Rays 2-1

Wednesday night.

Renfore’s big bat and strong arm helped the

Red Sox avoid a three-game sweep against the

AL East-leading Rays.

He drove a hanging slider from JT Chargois

(5-1) over the Green Monster in left field just

after Boston had fallen behind in what had

been a scoreless tie through the first seven in-

nings.

The Red Sox pulled within nine games of

Tampa Bay for the division lead.

Garrett Richards (7-7) got the win, and Han-

sel Robles picked up his 12th save.

Blue Jays 6, Yankees 3: Vladimir Guerrero

Jr. hit his 41st homer, and visiting Toronto

knocked slumping New York out of the AL’s

top wild-card spot.

The Yankees have lost five straight and nine

of 11 since winning 13 in a row. This latest de-

feat dropped them a half-game behind Boston

for the first wild-card slot.

Padres 8, Angels 5: Yu Darvish threw six

strong innings for host San Diego, and Adam

Frazier had two hits and three RBIs during the

team’s eight-run second inning.

The Padres took a one-game lead over Cin-

cinnati for the NL’s second wild card. The

Reds lost 4-1 at the Chicago Cubs.

Athletics 5, White Sox 1: Matt Chapman

homered and Frankie Montas pitched seven

sparkling innings, helping host Oakland snap a

four-game losing streak.

Montas (12-9) allowed one run and six hits

in his third straight win. He got some help

from his defense, with the A’s turning inning-

ending double plays in three of the first four

frames.

Giants 7, Rockies 4: LaMonte Wade Jr. and

Evan Longoria each had two RBIs during San

Francisco’s four-run rally in the ninth inning

in a win at Colorado.

The streaking Giants (90-50) won their

fourth straight and became the first team in

the majors to win 90 games.

Cardinals 5, Dodgers 4: Adam Wainwright

pitched into the ninth inning, Yadier Molina

homered and host St. Louis stopped a four-

game slide.

Tyler O’Neill also connected for the Cardi-

nals, and Edmundo Sosa had an RBI single.

Cubs 4, Reds 1 (10): Jason Heyward hit a

three-run homer in the 10th inning to send

host Chicago to its eighth victory in nine

games.

Ian Happ homered for the third straight

game, extending his hitting streak to a career-

high nine games and helping the Cubs win

their third consecutive series.

Brewers 4, Phillies 3: Eduardo Escobar hit

a tiebreaking solo homer for host Milwaukee

in the sixth inning.

Nationals 4, Braves 2: Juan Soto crushed a

go-ahead homer in the seventh inning, and

Washington relied on its bullpen after Sean

Nolin’s first-inning ejection in a win at Atlanta.

Twins 3, Indians 0: Joe Ryan carried a per-

fect game into the seventh inning of his second

big league appearance, leading Minnesota to

the victory at Cleveland.

Mariners 8, Astros 5: José Marmolejos hit

a tiebreaking two-run single for visiting Seat-

tle with two outs in the ninth inning, and J.P.

Crawford padded the lead with a two-run

homer in a win at Houston.

Rangers 8, Diamondbacks 5: Nathaniel

Lowe had three hits, Jose Trevino drove in

three runs and visiting Texas matched a sea-

son high with its fourth straight win.

Orioles 9, Royals 8: Kelvin Gutierrez hit a

tying two-run single in host Baltimore’s nine-

run eighth inning.

Tigers 5, Pirates 1: Miguel Cabrera and

Robbie Grossman each had four hits, helping

Detroit avoid a series sweep at Pittsburgh.

Renfroe’s HR sends Red Sox past Rays

WINSLOW TOWNSON/AP

Boston’s Kyle Schwarber, Bobby Dalbec andChristian Vazquez, from left, dump wateronto teammate Hunter Renfroe after theteam’s 21 win over Tampa Bay.

Associated Press

ROUNDUP

MIAMI — Bryan De La Cruz

had three hits, including a game-

winning single off the center-field

fence in the bottom of the 10th in-

ning that gave the Miami Marlins

a 2-1 victory over the New York

Mets on Wednesday night.

Miami starter Sandy Alcantara

struck out a career-best 14 and al-

lowed one run in nine innings. The

right-hander gave up four hits,

walked one and hit a batter with a

pitch. His 114 pitches also were a

career high.

“Everything was good today —

my four-seam, two-seam, slider,

changeup,” Alcantara said. “I had

a great combination working.”

Automatic runner Jazz Chish-

olm Jr. advanced to third on Mag-

neuris Sierra’s sacrifice bunt

against reliever Edwin Díaz (5-6)

in the 10th. Jesús Sánchez struck

out before De La Cruz drilled

Díaz’s pitch over the head of cen-

ter fielder Albert Almora Jr.

With two outs and first base

open, New York manager Luis Ro-

jas made the questionable deci-

sion to let Díaz face De La Cruz,

who raised his batting average to

.342, rather than walk him and

pitch instead to lefty-swinging Le-

win Díaz, a .108 hitter.

“We always like Díaz. You trust

your closer there in a matchup

righty-righty,” Rojas said. “The

one thing that gets Díaz in trouble

is his command. We’ve seen that.

We went with the matchup and

trusted Díaz to get De La Cruz in

that situation.”

For De La Cruz, the game-win-

ning hit helped overcome his pre-

vious at-bat, when he grounded in-

to a double play to end the eighth.

“I didn’t come through in the

eighth and I had to come through

in that moment,” De La Cruz said.

“I was just looking for the best

pitch, and make contact.”

De La Cruz lifts Marlins in 10thMets’ center fielder hitsgame-winning single inwin over New York Mets

Associated Press

WILFREDO LEE/AP

Miami Marlins right fielder Jesus Sanchez makes a diving catch on a ball by New York Mets’ Pete Alonsoduring the fourth inning of the Marlins’ 21 win Wednesday in Miami.


BASEBALL HALL OF FAME/GOLF

COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. — Derek Jeter was simply

Derek Jeter on his special day — smooth as silk.

On a Wednesday afternoon that turned cloudy with

the temperature in the 70s and a few sprinkles in the air

and adoring fans chanting his name, the former New

York Yankees star shortstop and captain was inducted

into the Baseball Hall of Fame after a long wait necessi-

tated by the pandemic.

Greeted by raucous cheers in a crowd estimated at

20,000 that included NBA luminaries Michael Jordan

and Patrick Ewing, several of his former teammates,

and Hall of Fame Yankees manager Joe Torre on the

stage behind him, Jeter took his turn after fellow induc-

tees from the class of 2020 Ted Simmons, Larry Walker

and the late Marvin Miller were honored. Jeter was

touched by the moment and acknowledged how differ-

ent the ceremony seemed in the wake of the recent

deaths of 10 Hall of Famers.

“I’m so honored to be inducted with you guys and

linked to you forever,” he said. “The Hall of Fame is

special because of those who are in it. We’ve lost way

too many Hall of Famers over the last 20 months. These

are all Hall of Famers who would have or could have

been here, so for that reason it’s not the same.”

The ceremony was delayed a year because of the

coronavirus pandemic and it didn’t matter much to

Walker, the second Canadian elected to the Hall of

Fame. He gave up hockey when he was 16 to focus on

baseball. He was selected in his 10th and final year on

the writers’ ballot after a stellar career with Montreal,

Colorado and St. Louis that included 383 homers and

three batting titles.

“It’s taken a little longer to reach this day (but) for all

your support I’ve received throughout the years from

my home country, I share this honor with every Cana-

dian,” said Walker, who retired in 2005. “I hope that all

you Canadian kids out there that have dreams of play-

ing in the big leagues, that see me here today gives you

another reason to go after those dreams. To my adopt-

ed home, the United States, I thank you for allowing

this Canadian kid to come into your country to live and

play your great pastime. I think we’re all pretty fortu-

nate to have two amazing countries side by side.”

The 72-year-old Simmons, who starred in a 21-year

career with the St. Louis Cardinals, Milwaukee and At-

lanta, punctuated his speech to thank four pioneers of

free agency — Curt Flood, Catfish Hunter, Andy Mess-

ersmith and Marvin Miller — “who changed the lives

of every player on this stage today by pushing the

boundaries of player rights.”

“Marvin Miller made so much possible for every

major league player from my era to the present and the

future,” the former catcher said. “I could not be more

proud to enter this great hall with this great man. Even

though my path has been on the longer side, I wouldn’t

change a thing. However we get here, none of us ar-

rives alone. I’m no exception.”

Miller, who transformed baseball on the labor front

by building a strong players union and led the charge

for free agency in the mid-1970s, was honored posthu-

mously.

HANS PENNINK/AP

Hall of Fame inductees, from left, Derek Jeter, Donald Fehr accepting for the late Marvin Miller, LarryWalker and Ted Simmons hold their plaques at the induction ceremony Wednesday in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Delayed but not denied:Baseball honors inducteesFans turn out for Hall of Fame induction for Jeter, Simmons, Walker and Miller

BY JOHN KEKIS

Associated Press

HANS PENNINK/AP

Noel Stazko of East Meadow, N.Y., left, stands inline with a cardboard cutout of Derek Jeter whiletalking with Peter Didier, of Charlotte, N.C., at theBaseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The only experience that mat-

ters to Ryder Cup captain Steve

Stricker is how the youngest U.S.

team in history prepares for Whis-

tling Straits in a bid to win back

that shiny gold chalice.

Equipped with the most cap-

tain’s picks in Ryder Cup history,

Stricker added four more rookies

to his team on Tuesday to join the

six players who earned automatic

spots. His six selections included

obvious choices and, as always, a

few that could have gone either

way.

Among those left out was Pa-

trick Reed.

Stricker chose the next four

players in the Ryder Cup stand-

ings — Tony Finau, Xander

Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and

Harris English — along with Da-

niel Berger and Scottie Scheffler.

“We are looking to the best play-

ers to perform here at Whistling

Straits, and these six guys that we

picked we feel like fit Whistling

Straits to a T,” Stricker said.

Missing was Reed, who thrives

in team events with his bullish per-

sonality and great short game. He

has a 7-3-2 record in three previ-

ous Ryder Cups and is undefeated

in singles.

Reed, however, hasn’t seriously

contended in the 18 tournaments

he has played since his lone victory

at Torrey Pines. Of greater con-

cern to Stricker was his health.

Reed was hospitalized for five

days with pneumonia in his lower

lungs that made him fear for his

life, missing the final two qualify-

ing events. He returned at the Tour

Championship and tied for 17th in

actual score against a 30-man

field.

“That was a very, very difficult

call — kind of lost sleep over that

one,” Stricker said. “He’s a tre-

mendous competitor. He brings a

lot to match-play golf. His record

here at the Ryder Cup is pretty

darned good. ... It was just the un-

certainty of his health and really

the lack of play that led to our deci-

sion down the stretch.”

Stricker made it clear he wanted

players whose game suited Whis-

tling Straits — a course along the

bluffs of Lake Michigan that tends

to favor power — and said he want-

ed his players to know it well ahead

of the Sept. 24-26 matches.

All 12 players and their caddies

are expected for a two-day prac-

tice session over the weekend.

“My message from day one has

been to try to out-prepare the other

team,” he said.

The six picks join six who

earned automatic spots — Collin

Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Bry-

son DeChambeau, Brooks Koep-

ka, Justin Thomas and Patrick

Cantlay.

All are among the top 21 in the

world ranking. Six have never

played in a Ryder Cup. Eight are

still in their 20s, and the average

age (29) is the youngest ever for

the Americans.

“I think it’s a good time for a

younger influx of players,” said

Schauffele, the 27-year-old Cali-

fornian and Olympic gold medal-

ist.

Stricker said U.S. rookies have

compiled a 40-29-17 record in the

Ryder Cup dating to 2008.

Europe, which has won nine of

the last 12 dating to 1995 and is

coming off a sound victory in Paris,

does not finalize its team until after

this week’s BMW PGA Champion-

ship at Wentworth. Nine players

earn spots, and Padraig Harring-

ton has three captain’s picks.

The six rookies are the most for

an American team since 2008.

Rookie numbers: U.S.Ryder Cup team willinclude 6 newcomers

BY DOUG FERGUSON

Associated Press

PHOTOS BY JULIO CORTEZ/AP

Scottie Scheffler, above, andDaniel Berger, below, are two ofthe six rookies named Tuesdayfor the U.S. Ryder Cup team.


NFL

of the year.”

Adds Browns safety John Johnson III,

who jumped conferences this season, sign-

ing with Cleveland as a free agent after four

years with the Rams:

“You got some big-time contenders —

even just in this division alone. And then

you look at Buffalo and Kansas City and you

never know who else in that division with

Kansas City can come alive. Denver can

come alive, so I think it is pretty competi-

tive, and it’s a different game.”

A different game in every way, because

the continuing COVID-19 pandemic likely

will be a factor as the NFL plays a 17-game

regular season for the first time.

Vaccinated players have a distinct free-

dom advantage in how they can conduct

their lives — at least for now — compared to

the unvaccinated. More than 93% of the

players have gotten the vaccine, but it

doesn’t take much to cause an outbreak, as

the Titans and Cowboys witnessed during

the preseason.

“There’s people’s livelihoods at stake in

terms of people’s jobs,” Bills coach Sean

McDermott said late last month; Buffalo

has had one of the lowest vaccination rates

of the 32 teams. “Being able to count on peo-

ple is important, so when you’re going

through a week — if this were a real week —

and having the players out that we’ve had,

that makes it harder to win games that

way.”

Injuries, of course, will also be a key fac-

tor; they always are. One of the most da-

maging last season was the severe ankle in-

jury for Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott.

He’s been hampered by shoulder issues this

summer, so the spotlight Thursday night

was firmly on him when the Cowboys

kicked off the schedule at Tampa Bay.

Oh, that 44-year-old Tom Brady guy be-

hind center for the Buccaneers might grab

some attention, too.

Seven head coaches debut, with Urban

Meyer in Jacksonville the headliner follow-

ing his success — and wanderlust — in the

college game. Four of what figure to be the

worst teams in the league have new men in

charge: Nick Sirianni with the Eagles, Rob-

ert Saleh with the Jets, Dan Campbell with

the Lions, and the Texans’ David Culley, the

only African American to get one of the sev-

en openings. Arthur Smith takes over the

Falcons, Brandon Staley the Chargers.

The league plans to return to London for

games a year after moving those back to

U.S. home stadiums. Those matches have

Jets vs. Falcons and Dolphins vs. Jaguars in

October.

One more very noticeable — and notable

— scheduling item: The Super Bowl in Los

Angeles will be played later than ever, Feb.

13. That’s smack in the middle of the Winter

Olympics in Beijing.

By then, the AFC will have sorted out its

impressive collection of contenders. Don’t

be surprised if the conference winner finds

Brady and the Bucs or Aaron Rodgers and

the Packers as the opponent.

Power: Aside from Bucs andPackers, NFC lacks contendersFROM PAGE 24

JUSTIN REX/AP

Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady, at 44 years old, will attempt to guide Tampa Bayto a second straight Super Bowl victory. The Buccaneers are favorites in the NFC South.


NFL

BEREA, Ohio — Cleveland

Browns quarterback Baker May-

field spent his Labor Day weekend

in Montana bonding and relaxing

with teammates Odell Beckham Jr.,

Jarvis Landry and Austin Hooper

and their families in the shadow of

the Rocky Mountains.

This week’s destination won’t be

so serene.

The Browns are on their way

back to Kansas City’s rowdy Arro-

whead Stadium, where Cleveland’s

2020 season ended with a division-

al-round playoff loss and where its

2021 season — one with Super Bowl

hopes — starts.

In January, Arrowhead had only

17,000 fans due to COVID-19 proto-

cols. On Sunday, it will be at full-

throated capacity, 76,000 strong.

“I can only imagine how loud it’s

going to be,” Mayfield said.

It’s an imposing opener for the

Browns, who went toe to toe with

the two-time defending AFC cham-

pions on Jan. 17 before falling 22-17

in a game that wasn’t decided until

Chiefs backup quarterback Chad

Henne converted a fourth-down

pass to Tyreek Hill with just over a

minute left.

As it has tried to look forward,

Cleveland has been forced to relive

a loss that lingers and also provided

offseason motivation.

“I just hold onto the feeling of how

I felt, and the team did the same

thing after that game,” said running

back Nick Chubb, who said he felt

he could have done more. “We

knew how we felt and we didn’t

want to experience it anymore.

Overall it was a great learning expe-

rience for us.”

The Browns aren’t viewing this

season opener as a chance for pay-

back as much as a first step toward

their ultimate goal.

After ending what had been the

NFL’s longest playoff drought and

then winning a postseason game for

the first time since 1994, Cleveland

is a legitimate contender to win it

all.

The Browns have been lumped

with the Bills, Titans, Colts and Dol-

phins as teams considered capable

of dethroning Kansas City, which is

seeking its third straight confer-

ence crown.

“The gold standard,” Mayfield

said when asked about facing the

Chiefs in Week 1. “They’ve been the

top of the top in the AFC for the past

decade or so. They’re highly com-

petitive, so it’s good for us to play

somebody like that.”

Quarterback Patrick Mahomes,

his profusion of playmakers and an

underrated KC defense will pro-

vide an early measuring stick.

Cleveland recovered from a 38-6

thumping by Baltimore in the 2020

opener to go 11-5 and earn a wild-

card berth. Then, after upsetting

Pittsburgh on the road, the Browns

were in position to dethrone the

Chiefs.

But a sluggish start, a fumble by

wide receiver Rashard Higgins at

the goal line and the inability to stop

the 36-year-old Henne, who had re-

placed an injured Mahomes,

doomed the Browns.

Along with the Chiefs, and all the

problems they create with the inim-

itable Mahomes, Hill’s blazing

speed and tight end Travis Kelce’s

knack for big plays, the Arrowhead

din can unglue teams.

The Browns have been blasting

artificial crowd noise during their

practices for two weeks. But noth-

ing can replicate taking the field at

Arrowhead.

Mayfield said preparation will be

key to managing in the angry red

sea of spectators.

“We have to know our game plan

inside and out to where if a guy does

not hear complete calls, they know

exactly where to fill in the pieces,”

he said. “We just have to be great at

communication, getting lined up

quick to where we have to change or

fix something and we can do it effi-

ciently.

“It is not like we are going to be

shocked by the environment. We

know exactly what we are stepping

into. We just have to do our job.”

CHARLIE RIEDEL/AP

Cleveland Browns cornerback M.J. Stewart Jr., foreground, reacts on the field after a 2217 divisionalplayoff loss to the Chiefs on Jan. 17 in Kansas City.

Browns returning torowdy KC for opener2021 Season begins for Cleveland in the same place where it ended last season

BY TOM WITHERS

Associated Press Cleveland Browns

at Kansas City ChiefsAFN-Sports

10:25 p.m. Sunday CET5:25 a.m. Monday JKT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Ste-

fon Diggs no longer needs to worry

about whether he’ll be accepted in

Buffalo.

If the record-setting production

the receiver put up last year in his

first season with the Bills wasn’t

enough, whatever lingering appre-

hensions Diggs might have had

were put to rest Tuesday, when he

arrived for practice and learned he

had been voted one of team’s eight

captains.

“I was kind of taken back a little

bit because I’ve never been in that

role,” Diggs said, noting he doesn’t

recall ever earning that distinction

even in high school, where the best

player is named captain usually by

default.

“It means even more now just as

far as being acknowledged by your

peers,” he added, with Buffalo pre-

paring to open its season hosting

Pittsburgh on Sunday. “The fact

that they trust you in the biggest

moments and they trust you on a

daily basis that you’re going to do

the right thing on and off the field,

yeah, I was happy.”

Numbers, apparently, don’t

mean everything for a player com-

ing off a season in which he became

Buffalo’s first to lead the NFL in

yards receiving (1,535) and catches

(127).

What mattered just as much to

Diggs was validation in pursuing

his fresh start upon being acquired

by Buffalo in a trade with Minneso-

ta. Even before learning of the

trade, Diggs had begun a concerted

effort to break from his past — he

referenced reading “Leadership

For Dummies” — to evolve from

the mercurial player he was during

his first five seasons with the Vik-

ings.

There were times he’d sulk be-

cause of a lack of targets, leading to

a rift between Diggs and quarter-

back Kirk Cousins. He was disci-

plined by Minnesota for skipping

practice following a loss and amid

speculation he wanted out a month

into the 2019 season.

Diggs worried his reputation for

being a diva would follow him to

Buffalo by saying, “I was scared to

be the red-headed stepchild.”

His concerns couldn’t have been

further from the truth in how his

new teammates, starting with

quarterback Josh Allen, immedi-

ately embraced him.

“I tell him all the time, he’s my fa-

vorite No. 1 receiver I’ve played

with,” said fellow receiver Cole

Beasley, who played alongside Dez

Bryant and Amari Cooper during

his first seven seasons in Dallas.

“I love everything about the guy.

He’s been nothing but spectacular

since he’s been here on and off the

field,” Beasley added. “I don’t

know why he would think he would

be a stepchild here. He came right

in and fit right in.”

Coordinator Brian Daboll put

aside any preconceived notions

about Diggs upon his arriva.

“I love the guy, I love the player,

but really it was more about rela-

tionship and getting to know one

another, building a level of trust,”

Daboll said.

“He’s a man of integrity and loy-

alty,” he added. “He bonded well

with the coaching staff and the

players, and we let him be him.

Then his talent took over and he’s

got some high energy out there that

a lot of the guys feed off of, so I can

see why he was voted captain.”

ELISE AMENDOLA/AP

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs became the first Buffalo Bills widereceiver to lead the league in yards receiving and catches last seasonand was named one of the team’s captains this season.

Being named one ofBills captains isvalidation for Diggs

BY JOHN WAWROW

Associated Press Pittsburgh Steelers

at Buffalo BillsAFN-Sports

7 p.m. Sunday CET2 a.m. Monday JKT

“You want the road to the Super Bowl, the road to where we want to get to, to be as hard as possible. ...We have to go out here every single day and work as hard as we can and not take any days for granted.”

Kevin Byard

Tennessee Titans Safety

PAGE 24 • S T A R S A N D S T R I P E S • Friday, September 10, 2021

SPORTSTwo wins from history

Djokovic improves to 26-0 this seasonin Grand Slam play ›› US Open, Page 19

Wait for Hall of Fame induction over for Jeter, others ›› MLB, Page 21

It’s almost as if the NFL is emulating college football

heading into the 2021 season. Yes, the Buccaneers

are the defending champions and the Packers de-

servedly have title aspirations.

The rest of the NFC, well, it looks more like Conference

USA in comparison to the AFC, the professional version

of the SEC. It is that lopsided.

Consider the likes of the Chiefs, Bills, Ravens, Browns,

Steelers, Titans, Colts, Dolphins, Patriots and Chargers.

All have their supporters as Super Bowl contenders, with

Kansas City, Buffalo, Baltimore and Cleveland ahead of a

packed field.

On the other side, it’s a different story.

It’s difficult to take any team in the NFC East or North

(aside from Green Bay) seriously. While the NFC West is

strong and will be tightly contested, the Rams, Seahawks,

49ers and Cardinals have major questions that the Bucs,

who brought back virtually everyone — a rare feat for a

Super Bowl winner — and the Packers pretty much al-

ready have answered.

“You want the road to the Super Bowl, the road to

where we want to get to, to be as hard as possible,” says

Titans safety Kevin Byard. “I think that’s something we

can be proud of, and it also keeps us on our toes to let us

know, ‘Hey there’s a lot of competition out there for the

AFC championship or just the Super Bowl.’ We have to go

out here every single day and work as hard as we can and

not take any days for granted. Because at the end of the

day ... it’s a crowded race, it’s kind of like a horse race ...

You got to keep going on.

“It’s not one of those deals where you can get ahead

early and think you can slack off. No, every single day we

have to put the work in and not necessarily really get

caught up on who’s 5-0 early in the year, just keeping our

heads down working and we’ll see where we’re at the end

Imbalance of powerBucs may be champs, but NFC just doesn’t measure up to deeper, more talented AFC

BY BARRY WILNER

Associated Press

SEE POWER ON PAGE 22

NFL

MILITARY FACES NFL NFC has Brady, Bucs – but AFC is

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