Invasion of the body snatchers 1956

Two and a half years and billions of estimated infections into this pandemic, SARS-CoV-2’s visit has clearly turned into a permanent stay. Experts knew from early on that, for almost everyone, infection with this coronavirus would be inevitable. As James Hamblin memorably put it back in February 2020, “ You’re Likely to Get the Coronavirus .” By this point, in fact, most Americans have. But now, as wave after wave continues to pummel the globe, a grimmer reality is playing out. You’re not just likely to get the coronavirus. You’re likely to get it again and again and again. “I personally know several individuals who have had COVID in almost every wave,” says Salim Abdool Karim, a clinical infectious-diseases epidemiologist and the director of the Center for the AIDS Program of Research in South Africa, which has experienced five meticulously tracked surges, and where just one-third of the population is vaccinated . Experts doubt that clip of reinfection—several times a … [Read more...] about You Are Going to Get COVID Again … And Again … And Again

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and his top lawyers privately watched a key video of Black motorist Ronald Greene drawing his final breaths in his deadly 2019 arrest six months before prosecutors even knew the footage existed. While the Democratic governor has distanced himself from allegations of a cover-up in the explosive case by contending evidence was promptly turned over to authorities, an Associated Press investigation found that neither Edwards, his staff nor the state police he oversees acted urgently to get the crucial footage into the hands of those with the power to charge the white troopers seen stunning, punching and dragging Greene. The video shows a bruised and bloody Greene going limp and drawing his final breaths — critical moments and audio that are absent from other footage turned over. It wouldn't reach prosecutors until nearly two years after Greene’s May 10, 2019, death on a rural roadside near Monroe. Now three years have passed and still no … [Read more...] about Governor saw deadly arrest video months before prosecutors

Ukraine said on Friday its forces may need to retreat from their last pocket of resistance in Luhansk to avoid being captured by Russian troops pressing a rapid advance in the east that has shifted the momentum of the three-month-old war. A withdrawal could bring Russian President Vladimir Putin closer to his goal of capturing Ukraine’s Luhansk and Donetsk regions in full. His troops have gained ground in the two areas collectively known as the Donbas while blasting some towns to wastelands. Luhansk’s governor, Serhiy Gaidai, said Russian troops had entered Sievierodonetsk, the largest Donbas city still held by Ukraine, after trying to trap Ukrainian forces there for days. Gaidai said 90% of buildings in the town were damaged. ”The Russians will not be able to capture Luhansk region in the coming days as analysts have predicted,” Gaidai said on Telegram, referring to Sievierodonetsk and its twin city Lysychansk across the Siverskiy Donets River. ”We will have enough strength … [Read more...] about Ukraine Forces May Retreat from Luhansk as Russia Advances in the East, Says Kyiv

KRAMATORSK, Ukraine — Moscow-backed separatists pounded eastern Ukraine’s industrial Donbas region Friday, claiming the capture of a railway hub as concerns grew that besieged cities in the region would undergo the same horrors experienced by the people of Mariupol in the weeks leading up to the port’s capture. Ukrainian officials renewed their appeals for more sophisticated Western-supplied weaponry. Without it, they said, Ukrainian forces wouldn’t be able to stop Russia’s offensive. The fighting Friday focused on two key cities: Sievierodonetsk and nearby Lysychansk. They are the last areas under Ukrainian control in Luhansk, one of two provinces that make up the Donbas and where Russia-backed separatists have already controlled some territory for eight years. Authorities say 1,500 people in Sievierodonetsk have already died since the war’s start scarcely more than three months ago. “Massive artillery shelling does not stop, day and night,” Sievierodonetsk Mayor Oleksandr … [Read more...] about Ukraine fears repeat of Mariupol horrors elsewhere in Donbas

A black-and-white wedding photo lay among wood scraps and other debris in the aftermath of an airstrike in Kramatorsk, testament to happier times. A woman in Kharkiv knelt next to her husband’s body, surrounded by a pool of blood after he was killed by shelling. Another in Soledar washed dishes by the light of a single lamp in a basement used as a bomb shelter. Scenes from Ukraine captured by AP photographers this week showed that more than three months into the conflict, especially in the war-torn east, residents live in a world where death comes from above. Homes and buildings are in ruins in cities and towns, from Borodyanka, where a boy pedaled a toy vehicle in the shadow of shattered apartment blocks, to Mariupol , where children walked amid the rubble on a street. Recommended Russia’s invasion now making ‘palpable progress’, UK says - live What Rishi Sunak announced to tackle the cost of living crisis In Vilkhivka, near … [Read more...] about AP PHOTOS: In Ukraine, living in fear of death from above

DUBAI/ATHENS (Reuters) -Iranian forces seized two Greek tankers in the Gulf on Friday, shortly after Tehran warned it would take "punitive action" against Athens over the confiscation of Iranian oil by the United States from a tanker held off the Greek coast. "The Revolutionary Guards Navy today seized two Greek tankers for violations in Gulf waters," said a Guards statement, quoted by Iranian state news agency IRNA. It gave no further details and did not say what the alleged violations were. Greece's foreign ministry said an Iranian navy helicopter landed on Greek flagged vessel Delta Poseidon, which was sailing in international waters, 22 nautical miles from the Iranian shore, and took the crew hostage, among them two Greek citizens. It said a similar incident took place on another Greek-flagged vessel near Iran, without naming the ship, adding both actions violated international law and Greece had informed its allies, as well as complained to Iran's ambassador in Athens. … [Read more...] about Iran seizes two Greek tankers amid row over U.S oil grab