Dispatches

Oct. 4

Torrential rainstorms fueled in part by Hurricane Joaquin triggered massive flooding across South Carolina and caused at least 19 deaths. As floodwaters breached nearly a dozen dams and closed hundreds of roads and bridges, residents scrambled to evacuate while others awaited rescue. Some parts of the Carolinas received more rain in three days than they typically get in an entire season.

Dems debate

Oct. 13

Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton defended her controversial email use and Planned Parenthood during the first Democratic debates on Oct. 13. Clinton’s relatively smooth debate performance may have saved her from a campaign slump against opponent Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), but a bumpy road remained: While insisting she didn’t break the law by using a private email address and server while secretary of state, Clinton faced a House committee hearing on Oct. 22 to investigate her response to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi in 2012. Meanwhile, Clinton attacked Republicans for opposing federal funding for Planned Parenthood. That same day, the abortion giant announced it would no longer accept “reimbursement” from medical researchers for the body parts of aborted children.

Broken chain

Oct. 3

Doctors Without Borders (or MSF for Médecins Sans Frontières) accused the United States of war crimes and called for an international inquiry into a U.S. airstrike in Kunduz, Afghanistan, that destroyed its hospital and killed 22 people. Gen. John F. Campbell, commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, said a decision “within the U.S. chain of command” led to the mistake, which the Pentagon is investigating. President Obama issued an apology for the attack, and the U.S. government announced it would make “condolence payments” to the victims’ families.

Clogged cars

Oct. 6

Traffic on Beijing’s 50-lane G4 Beijing-Hong Kong-Macau Expressway ground to a halt Oct. 6, creating a miles-long jam that clogged vehicles for hours. The culprit was a newly installed checkpoint forcing traffic to merge down to 20 lanes and creating a bottleneck as thousands of travelers headed home after the week-long National Day holiday. The skies over Beijing, meanwhile, remained ashen even though factories were closed and traffic had subsided during the vacation week. The heavy pollution resulted from clouds of smoke blowing hundreds of miles into the capital as farmers burned crop debris.