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Biden administration announces $600M to produce COVID tests and will reopen website to order them

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it is providing $600 million in funding to produce new at-home COVID-19 tests and is restarting a website allowing Americans to again order up to four free tests per household — aiming to prevent possible shortages during a rise in coronavirus cases that has typically come during colder months. The Department of Health and Human Services says orders can be placed at COVIDTests.gov starting Sept. 25, and that no-cost tests will be delivered for free by the United States Postal Service. Twelve manufacturers that employ hundreds of people in seven states have been awarded funding and will produce 200 million over-the-counter tests to replenish federal stockpiles for government use, in addition to producing enough tests to meet demand for tests ordered online, the department said. Federal officials said that will help guard against supply chain issues that sparked some shortages of at-home COVID tests made overseas duri...

Catholic priests bless same-sex couples in defiance of a German archbishop

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

BERLIN (AP) — Several Catholic priests held a ceremony blessing same-sex couples outside Cologne Cathedral on Wednesday night in a protest against the city’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki.Their protest was triggered by Cologne church officials’ criticism of a priest from Mettmann, a town near Duesseldorf, who in March had held a “blessing ceremony for lovers” — including same-sex couples.Officials from the Cologne archdiocese, which Mettmann belongs to, had reprimanded the priest afterward and stressed that the Vatican doesn’t allow blessings of same-sex couples, German news agency dpa reported.The blessing of same-sex couples on Wednesday was the latest sign of rebellion of progressive believers in Germany’s most populous diocese with about 1.8 million members.Several hundred people showed up for the outdoor blessing service for same-sex and also heterosexual couples. Waving rainbow flags, they sang the Beatles hit “All You Need Is Love,” d...

The fall equinox isn't what you think it is

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) -- Ask most people and they will tell you that the spring or fall equinox is the date when day and night are equal in length.That, however, is not actually the case.Day and night last for around the same time on the equinoxes, but it isn't exact.There is a term for when the two are exactly the same: equilux. Daylight saving time: Yes, Coloradans will still need to fall back in November What is the equinox, and when is it?The equinox is a very specific thing astronomically and happens on the same date and time no matter where you are.It is, put most simply, when the earth's axis is not tilted away or toward the sun.The earth experiences two equinoxes a year: the spring equinox, which marks the start of astronomical spring, and the fall equinox, which marks the start of astronomical fall. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up for alerts from the Pinpoint Weather team When the equinox happens is based on the equator, which is why it happens at the same time no matter where you a...

Police seek information on hit-and-run in NE Miami-Dade that left bicyclist dead

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

Police seek the public’s help in finding information regarding a fatal hit-and-run in Northeast Miami-Dade that left a woman dead. According to Miami-Dade Police, the crash unfolded on Sunday at 10:01 a.m. in the vicinity of Northeast 205th Terrace and Northeast 14th Avenue and claimed the life of 20-year-old Maria Araujo Muniz de Souza, who was riding her bicycle to work. The driver of the subject vehicle fled the scene without offering assistance or reporting the crash. The description of the subject vehicle is as follows: a gold, four-door Toyota Tundra, model years 2007-2013, with visible damage to the right front corner. Officials urge anyone with information about this fatal hit-and-run, the subject vehicle or its driver to contact MDPD Detective E. Diaz at 305-471-3292. Those wishing to remain anonymous can reach out to Miami-Dade County Crime Stoppers through various channels, including phone, 305-471-TIPS (8477) or 1-866-471-8477, the website www.CrimeStoppers305...

Nagorno-Karabakh catastrophe fires anger against Armenia’s leader

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

YEREVAN, Armenia — A crowd of protestors filed into the central square of the Armenian capital on Wednesday night, first just as small groups, mixing with the families eating ice creams on benches, but then as a wide sea of angry faces.Heavily armored riot police formed an iron cordon around the government building, its windows already smashed by bricks thrown at a demonstration the night before. Chants went up in support of the ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh, where Azerbaijani troops launched a lightning offensive the day before. Others in the crowd — a few thousand strong — called for Armenia’s embattled prime minister, liberal reformer Nikol Pashinyan, to resign over the defeat and bloodshed.The supreme fear is that many of the 100,000 Armenians in the enclave will be driven out in ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijani forces. “The biggest problem is our prime minister because he’s doing nothing to save people’s lives and Azerbaijan is doing genocide,” said Van, a 36-year-o...

Ed Miliband says he regrets Russell Brand interview

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

LONDON — Ed Miliband, the former leader of the British Labour Party, expressed regret for a 2015 interview he did with comedian Russell Brand.Speaking at the launch party for POLITICO’s U.K. energy and climate change coverage, the now shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero said at the time he felt “duty bound” to challenge Brand, who had been encouraging young people not to vote.Brand has been accused of rape and sexual assaults by women between 2006 and 2013, according to a Sunday Times investigation published at the weekend. The Metropolitan Police has also received a report of an alleged sexual assault in 2003 following the newspaper’s reporting. Brand denied the claims, saying his relationships were “always consensual.” Miliband said, “My solidarity is with the women who have come forward to tell their stories.”Asked about his appearance on Brand’s YouTube series “The Trews” before the 2015 general election...

Ukraine and Russia agree on one thing: The UN is a mess.

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed the United Nations’ ineffectiveness in the face of Russia’s war on Kyiv in a tension-filled special session of the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.And that was just the start of what was likely to be a multi-hour meeting with plenty of diatribes and ripostes. Among the expected attendees: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, a top aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.Several heads of state and government — some from allies of Ukraine but others neutral — are also planning to speak. Among the chief diplomats on the schedule is Secretary of State Antony Blinken.Zelenskyy, dressed in his standard green military fatigues, urged the Security Council to suspend Russia’s veto power as a permanent member of the body in light of Russia’s actions during the war and bashed the U.N.’s failures to uphold its values amid the war.“Ukrainian soldiers now are doing at the expense of their blood what the U.N. Security Council should do by its ...

Two people rushed to hospital following water rescue in Salisbury

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

At least two people were transported to the hospital after a rip current at a beach in Salisbury prompted an emergency water rescue midday Wednesday, witnesses said.A witness said the incident began after a teenager screamed for help in the ocean at Salisbury Beach. The father of the children in the rip current then ran into the water to help his son.“The little boy was saying to the two men, ‘I don’t want to die, I don’t want to die,’” Dinatale said. “The father goes running in, and now he’s with his son, but now he’s screaming, ‘help me, help me.’”Robin Dinatale, who called 911, said then two men on the beach ran into help. “There were two guys on the beach, really nice guys, and they immediately ran in the water,” Dinatale said.They were able to get the teenager to land, but one of the rescuers was exhausted and injured. “He said, ‘I have no breath, I can’t breathe, I’m so exhausted, I can’t move,’ so he was just lying there,” Dinatale said. “They all ...

Freetown man accused of beating woman to death with hammer appears in court

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

A Freetown man accused of beating a woman to death with a hammer appeared in court Wednesday, hours after officials said police found him hiding in a shed and arrested him. Matthew Lucas, 54, pleaded not guilty as prosecutors laid out new details in the case.The Bristol County District Attorney’s office in a prior statement said local police first responded to a scene on Chace Road between Pocasset Lane and Marie’s Way shortly before 4:30 a.m. Wednesday morning and found 44-year-old Heidi Chace dead in her home. The DA’s office said authorities identified Lucas as a suspect “after some investigation” and later found him hiding in a shed off nearby Burns Road around 8:40 a.m. Prosecutors on Wednesday afternoon said Lucas had been in a relationship with Chace and lived with her. Prosecutors said Lucas used a hammer in the alleged murder.“I knew my dad had issues but I didn’t think he would kill somebody,” Lucas’ daughter said outside the courthouse in Fall River.Lucas has a ...

Migrant crossings along the southern US border are rising, reaching more than 8,000 apprehensions

Published Tue, 18 Feb 2025 19:57:10 GMT

(CNN) — Migrant crossings along the United States’ southern border are rising, reaching more than 8,000 apprehensions on Monday, according to a Department of Homeland Security official, straining federal resources and overwhelming already-crowded facilities.In May, ahead of the expiration of the Covid-era restriction known as Title 42, US Customs and Border Protection encountered more than 8,000 people daily and had around 25,000 migrants in custody, raising alarm within the Biden administration.But after Title 42 expired, numbers dropped dramatically – with daily border arrests hovering around 3,500 – as the administration levied consequences against those who crossed the border illegally.But crossings are ticking up again amid ongoing mass migration across the Western hemisphere.The latest number of daily encounters paints a grim outlook for the fall as President Joe Biden ramps up his reelection campaign and Republicans continue to hammer the administration over its han...