Stop – the crazy world
(DUBAI, United Arab Emirates) — Small groups of pilgrims performed one of the final rites of the Islamic hajj on Friday as Muslims worldwide marked the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday amid a global pandemic that has impacted nearly every aspect of this year’s pilgrimage and celebrations. The last days of the annual pilgrimage…
(WASHINGTON) — There’s no end in sight to the coronavirus pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci and other top government health experts will tell Congress on Friday. “While it remains unclear how long the pandemic will last, COVID-19 activity will likely continue for some time,” Fauci, along with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Dr. Robert…
(HONG KONG) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said Friday that the government will postpone highly anticipated legislative elections, citing a worsening coronavirus outbreak in the semi-autonomous Chinese city. The Hong Kong government is invoking an emergency regulations ordinance in delaying the elections. Lam said the government has the support of the Chinese government in…
(HANOI, Vietnam) — Vietnamese state media reported on Friday the country’s first ever death of a person with the coronavirus as it struggles with a renewed outbreak after 99 days without any cases. The Thanh Nien newspaper said a 70-year-old man died after contracting the disease while being treated for a kidney illness at a…
(NEW YORK) — The judge presiding over the criminal case against a British socialite charged with recruiting teenage girls for financier Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse said Friday that her attorneys are not permitted to publicly identify accusers even if they’ve spoken in a public forum. “Not all accusations or public statements are equal,” U.S.…
(BEIJING) — China is celebrating the completion of its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System that could rival the U.S. Global Positioning System and significantly boost China’s security and geopolitical clout. President Xi Jinping, the leader of the ruling Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, officially commissioned the system Friday at a ceremony at the Great…
(LOS ANGELES) — Actor Bryan Cranston said he contracted and recovered from COVID-19 and has donated his plasma because it contains antibodies. The actor best known for playing Walter White on AMC’s “Breaking Bad” made the announcement in a video posted to Instagram on Thursday. Cranston, 64, did not say exactly when he got infected…
She’s trying to topple a political superstar, but Judith Collins says she isn’t daunted. The new leader of New Zealand’s opposition National Party — nicknamed “Crusher Collins” after her spell as a hard-line police minister — will need all her resolve to beat Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in the Sept. 19 election. “It’s an extremely…
Senate Republicans moved forward with a plan to set up votes on extending lapsed supplemental unemployment insurance with President Donald Trump’s endorsement, as talks on a broader pandemic relief package made little progress. The GOP gambit is almost certain to fail in the face of opposition from Democrats in the Senate and House, who say…
(SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico) — New Hurricane Isaias kept on a path early Friday expected to take it to the U.S. East Coast by the weekend as it approached the Bahamas, parts of which are still recovering from the devastation of last year’s Hurricane Dorian. Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph)…