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by Michel COMTE Agence France-Presse MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) – Award-winning Canadian filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallee has died at age 58, his publicist announced, shocking the industry and admirers who hailed him on Monday as a creative force. Vallee took on compelling projects in multiple genres, from his work on “Dallas Buyers Club,” an unflinching look at the AIDS crisis, to the small-screen HBO adaptation of “Big Little Lies,” and was widely acknowledged as an exceptional talent. […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) – Bodycam footage of the “chaotic” police shooting of a teenager in a crowded California department store was expected to be released Monday, as criticism swelled that officers were all-too-ready to open fire. Fourteen-year-old Valentina Orellana-Peralta was trying on clothes in a changing room when a stray bullet came through the wall and hit her, killing her instantly. Valentina was shopping in a Los Angeles store with her mother in […]
A powerful winter storm battered the western United States Monday, dumping much-needed snow on the drought-parched mountains of California, but causing travel misery over a wide area. Three feet (one meter) of snow had fallen in 24 hours on parts of the Sierra Nevada range, taking December’s total to a record-breaking 16 feet, and bolstering the badly depleted snowpack that feeds the region’s reservoirs. “We were definitely not expecting a wet winter,” said Dr. Andrew […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US health authorities on Monday halved the recommended isolation time for people with asymptomatic Covid-19 infections from 10 to five days, with a surge of cases causing travel chaos and threatening wider social disruption. “The Omicron variant is spreading quickly and has the potential to impact all facets of our society,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s director Rochelle Walensky said in a statement announcing the change. “These updates […]
by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Joe Biden on Monday said some US hospitals could be “overrun” by Covid cases, but the country is generally well prepared to meet the latest surge and Americans need not panic. Biden spoke as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of Covid-19 continued to punch holes in airlines’ busy Christmas holiday schedules, prompting lead White House medical advisor Anthony Fauci to suggest that a vaccine mandate for […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — With Omicron cases on the rise, New York health officials have reported an increase in hospitalized children, as the White House promised Sunday to quickly resolve the United States’ Covid-19 test shortage. The New York State Department of Health warned “of an upward trend in pediatric hospitalizations associated with Covid-19,” in a statement Friday. In New York City, it “identified four-fold increases in Covid-19 hospital admissions for children 18 and […]
World number 14 Denis Shapovalov has tested positive for Covid-19 after arriving in Sydney, he said Sunday, highlighting the virus threat to the Australian Open. The 22-year-old was among the first players to enter Australia ahead of the ATP Cup teams event from January 1, where he was supposed to be playing for Canada, and with the first Grand Slam of the year three weeks away. He said on Twitter he was experiencing mild symptoms […]
More than 6,000 flights have been cancelled worldwide over the long holiday weekend and thousands more were delayed, a tracking website reported Saturday, as the highly infectious Omicron variant brings holiday hurt to millions. Compounding the travel chaos in the United States, severe weather in the country’s west is due to wreak havoc on roadways and other routes there although it may well bring a white holiday weekend to northwest cities Seattle and Portland. According […]
by Pierre CELERIER The world’s most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth, after several delays caused by technical hitches. The James Webb Space Telescope, some three decades and billions of dollars in the making, left Earth enclosed in its Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. “What an amazing day. It’s truly Christmas,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, head of […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York’s famous New Year’s Eve celebration in Times Square will be drastically scaled back due to the pandemic, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday, as the Omicron variant fuels a “staggering” surge in Covid cases. Typically some 58,000 New Yorkers gather to watch a giant ball drop marking the arrival of a new year, but next week the capacity will be reduced to 15,000, with each attendee required […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Fifty-five people have tested positive for Covid-19 aboard a Royal Caribbean International cruise ship that set sail Saturday from the southeastern US state of Florida, the company said. The infections on the “Odyssey of the Seas” involved passengers and crew members, even though 95 percent of the people on board were vaccinated against the coronavirus, Royal Caribbean said late Wednesday. Out of an abundance of caution the ship did not […]
National Hockey League players will not compete in February’s Beijing Winter Olympics in the wake of 50 NHL games being postponed over Covid-19 issues, according to multiple reports Tuesday. ESPN, the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today and other newspapers cited unnamed sources in saying the league and the NHL Players Association had reached agreement not to send talent to China. Without the NHL’s elite millionaire stars, national teams at the Olympics will likely resemble […]
