June 7, 2021 4:17 am
Residents of the southern Chinese city of Guanzhou will not be able to leave unless they can show that it is absolutely necessary to do so, following an outbreak of COVID-19 that has sickened dozens of people. That rule and others issued by the city government take effect Monday. Guanzhou also is restricting indoor dining, conducting mass testing and banning residents in high-risk neighborhoods from leaving their homes. At least two districts in the city of 18 million people have been closed off entirely. The delta variant causing the Guangzhou cases is reportedly more infectious because those who have it are slower to display symptoms while carrying more virus particles.
June 7, 2021 4:17 am
Businesses in two of India’s largest cities are reopening as part of a phased easing of lockdown measures in several states now that the number of new coronavirus infections in the country is on a steady decline. On Monday, New Delhi, allowed businesses and shops to reopen with limited hours, and malls, movie theaters, restaurants and offices in Mumbai and reopened in areas where the positivity rate has fallen below 5%. After registering a daily peak of over 400,000 daily cases in May, new infections and deaths have declined nationwide. The government hopes the reopening can help resuscitate an economy that grew at only a 1.6% annual rate in the January-March quarter.
June 7, 2021 4:16 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – Bracing for political trouble, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has warned Democratic colleagues that June will “test our resolve.” As senators return Monday to consider infrastructure, voting rights and other difficult priorities, it is a crucial moment for his party in Congress. Six months into the party’s hold on Washington, with Joe Biden in the White House, the senators are under pressure to make gains on their campaign promises. Talks over an infrastructure package teeter and the Democrats’ other priorities are stacking up. Fed up, some senators want to change the Senate rules to make it easier to pass bills over Republican opposition.
June 7, 2021 4:14 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether the government can continue to require men alone, and not women, to register for the draft when they turn 18. The question of who has to register for the draft could be viewed as one with little practical impact. The last time there was a draft was during the Vietnam War, and the military has been all-volunteer since. But the requirement to register for the draft is one of the few remaining places where federal law treats men and women differently. The justices could say as soon as Monday whether they will hear a case involving the Military Selective Service Act.
June 7, 2021 4:12 am
PITTSBURGH — A 7-year-old boy was injured in a hit-and-run crash on Churchland Street in Pittsburgh on Sunday evening. Police said they were called for a report of a crash involving a pedestrian just before 7:30 p.m. Officers found the boy injured at the scene. He was taken to Children’s Hospital in stable condition. Investigators said they’re looking for a black, two-door, older model BMW they believe was involved. If you have any information, you’re asked to call the Zone 5 station at 412-665-3605 or Police Headquarters at 412-323-7800.
June 7, 2021 4:10 am
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A county official says state police executed a search warrant at a western Pennsylvania county election office. Cambria County Solicitor William Barbin told The (Johnstown) Tribune-Democrat that the Cambria County Election and Voter Registration Office “cooperated 100 percent” and provided the records requested Thursday. Barbin said the search was for nominating petitions for a candidate in a recent primary election. He added that the search was not necessarily targeted toward the candidate. A message seeking additional information was left with the state police.
June 7, 2021 4:08 am
OCEAN CITY, Md. (AP) – A woman who was impaled by a beach umbrella in Maryland three years ago has sued the town and umbrella business, claiming their negligence resulted in serious injuries. A lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court says Jill Mendygral, of Kingston, Pennsylvania, was lounging on the beach in Ocean City when an umbrella was swept up by gusts of wind and impaled her chest, according to the lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S. District Court. Rescuers cut off the end of the umbrella, leaving the tip in her chest until a Maryland State Police helicopter could transport her to a hospital. The lawsuit says Mendygral required surgery for the wound it left behind. It says she still has back pain and pelvic pain, numbness in her right arm and hand, and a range of mental health conditions.
June 7, 2021 4:06 am
As the second school year disrupted by the pandemic winds down, summer school plans are taking shape around the country. An influx of federal funding included in COVID-19 rescue legislation is letting districts broaden programming and offer spots to more students than ever before. The Biden administration is requiring states to pour at least $1.2 billion into summer enrichment programs. Districts also must reserve at least 20% of the windfall to address learning loss, which could include summer school, with a focus on students who have been most affected by the shift away from in-person learning.
June 6, 2021 7:51 am
VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday expressed sorrow over the discovery in Canada of the remains of 215 Indigenous students of church-run boarding schools but didn’t offer the apology sought by the Canadian prime minister. Francis, in remarks to faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square, called on political and church authorities to work to shed light on what he called “this sad affair” and to foster healing. Two days earlier, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he was deeply disappointed that the Vatican hadn’t offered an apology, and called on the church to take responsibility. From the 19th century until the 1970s, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend state-funded Christian schools, the majority of them run by Catholic missionary congregations, in a campaign to assimilate them into Canadian society. Ground-penetrating radar was used to confirm the remains of the children at the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Kamloops, British Columbia, last month. The school was Canada’s largest such facility and was operated by the Catholic church between 1890 and 1969. The Canadian government has admitted that physical and sexual abuse was rampant in the schools, with students beaten for speaking their native languages.
June 6, 2021 7:49 am
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The U.S. will give Taiwan 750,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, part of President Joe Biden’s move to share tens of millions of jabs globally, three American senators said Sunday, after the self-ruled island complained that China is hindering its efforts to secure vaccines as it battles an outbreak. Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, who made a three-hour stop in Taiwan with fellow Democrat Christopher Coons of Delaware and Republican Dan Sullivan of Alaska, said their visit underscores bipartisan U.S. support for the democratic island that Beijing claims as its own renegade territory. Taiwan faces a severe vaccine shortage and has geopolitical significance as a flashpoint in U.S.-China relations. Taiwan was included on a long list of places announced last week that would receive 25 million doses from the United States in what the Biden administration says is the first tranche of at least 80 million doses to be distributed globally. Most of the first tranche, including Taiwan’s, will be sent through COVAX, a U.N.-backed program to distribute vaccines to low and middle-income countries.
