Category: Breaking News

The last time Hong Kong held an election, at the height of anti-government protests in 2019, pro-democracy candidates scored their biggest victory ever, winning control of 17 out of 18 district councils.

This time, as the Chinese territory holds an election for its legislature, no one from a pro-democracy party is even running.

The election on Sunday is Hong Kong’s first since a dramatic overhaul of its electoral system that critics say is aimed at tightening Beijing’s grip on the legislature, known as the Legislative Council, and further silencing opposition figures. Many of the territory’s democratic politicians are already in

Harvard University announced Saturday that it will return to remote learning for the first few weeks of 2022 as infection concerns grow in the face of a new coronavirus variant.

The Ivy League institution told students and staff that it would spend the first three weeks of January returning to online courses as coronavirus infections increase locally and worldwide. Only students who were authorized to remain on campus or are given permission to return to campus should plan on coming back from winter break in that time.

“Public health experts anticipate the increase in COVID-19 cases to continue, driven by

From treetops to top of the pop charts.

Soaring past big names like Taylor Swift and Michael Buble, an album featuring 53 of Australia’s most endangered birds has flown to No. 3 in the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) album chart since its release on Dec. 3.

“Songs of Disappearance,” featuring, among others, the Indian Ocean Red-tailed Tropicbird and the Eastern Grey Plover, was beaten only by the British superstars Adele and Ed Sheeran.

The 54-track album was created to coincide with the release of a book, “The Action Plan for Australian Birds,” by Charles Darwin University (CDU) and BirdLife

SEATTLE — Washington state Sen. Doug Ericksen, a staunch conservative, has died at age 52.

Ericksen’s death Friday came weeks after he said he had tested positive for the coronavirus while in El Salvador, though his cause of death wasn’t immediately released. The state Senate Republican Caucus confirmed his passing Saturday.

Ericksen, a Ferndale Republican, reached out to Republican colleagues last month saying he had taken a trip to El Salvador and tested positive for COVID-19 shortly after he arrived. Reasons for his visit were unclear.

In a message to state House and Senate members, Ericksen asked for advice on

Each morning when Christina Preston enters the West Community Opportunity Center that serves Ohio’s Franklin County, she knows she and her staff are going to be flooded with calls and applications from people in desperate need of help.

Their despair could become even more acute next month as the national public health emergency comes to an end. That could lead to millions of people losing access to Medicaid and other benefits.

“We’re planning for it as best we can, but the way we’re looking at it right now is triage,” said Preston, director of the local jobs and family services

When Omar Rodriguez finishes chemotherapy in February, he will return to the hospital for a dose of an mRNA vaccine. But it won’t be for Covid-19.

Rodriguez, 47, of Edinburg, Texas, was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer this summer. He has already had surgery to remove the tumor, but even after chemotherapy, his doctor told him there’s still a 70 percent chance his cancer will return in the next five years.

Rodriguez will be among the first people in the U.S. to receive a novel, personalized vaccine that harnesses the same mRNA technology used in Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s Covid

Kangol Kid, a member of the legendary hip-hop group UTFO, has died after a battle with colon cancer. He was 55.

The family of Kangol Kid — whose real name is Shaun Shiller Fequiere — said in a statement that he died peacefully around 3 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in Manhasset, New York. He was diagnosed with cancer in February.

Kid was known for often sporting the popular Kangol headwear and being a member of UTFO, which stands for Untouchable Force Organization.

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The four-member group was known for 1980s

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Three days after Hurricane Ida slammed ashore on Aug. 29, leveling homes and knocking out power along the Louisiana coast, Craig Curley Sr. maneuvered through a packed crowd at Home Depot to reach the aisle with portable generators.

Curley,

Covid-19 hospitalizations are once again ticking upward after a lull in October and early November, with tens of thousands more Americans filling hospital beds across the country in the past four weeks.

The increase is particularly noticeable in the Rust Belt and the Southwest. As of Wednesday, Michigan’s population-adjusted rate is highest in the nation, followed by Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

States along the East Coast, from Massachusetts to North Carolina, are seeing the greatest percentage increase in hospitalizations in the past two weeks. More than 600 people are hospitalized with Covid in Connecticut as of Wednesday; that’s up from

SAN FRANCISCO — The mayor of San Francisco on Friday declared a state of emergency in the Tenderloin in an effort to bring down overdose deaths and violent crime in one of the city’s poorest and most drug-infested neighborhoods.

Mayor London Breed said at a news conference attended by the police chief and other public health personnel that rapid drug intervention is needed because about two people a day are dying of overdoses, mostly from fentanyl, in the Tenderloin and the city’s South of Market neighborhood.

The Tenderloin has long been an epicenter of homelessness and drug use, but city