After spending a burst of early holiday spending in the fall that helped bolster the holiday season, Americans cut spending sharply in December due to product shortages, rising prices, and the arrival of omicron. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Friday that retail sales dropped 1.9% in December compared with 0.3% growth in November. Compared with
According to the Russian health ministry, a ‘very intense’ increase in the Omicron coronavirus could occur in the weeks to come. A Moscow official said that its health system would be mobilized to combat the growing number of infections. Russia has recorded 305 cases of Omicron so far in 13 regions, Anna Popova, a top
According to Baltimore police, a rash of violent incidents early Sunday morning left one man dead and two others seriously injured. A Baltimore police department news release says a man suffered “massive trauma” during an assault and was admitted to a hospital just before 6 a.m. on Sunday. A short time later, the man passed
People protested measures taken against unvaccinated people in Beirut on Saturday, saying individuals should have the freedom to choose whether or not to be immunized. Lebanon doesn’t require vaccinations, but authorities have recently begun cracking down on those who aren’t immunized and don’t carry PCR tests that are negative. About 300 people participated in a
It is encouraging to see an increase in American job seekers applying for unemployment benefits last week, but the rate remained low, suggesting a strong job market. The number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week rose by 7,000 to 207,000. Claims jumped more than 4,800 to just under 205,000 on a four-week average,
As a result of high levels of vaccination in the UK, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the right measures were being taken to tackle the COVID-19 outbreaks caused by the Omicron variation. According to him, continuing down the current path is the best way to move forward for the whole country. I believe the
At least 12 Yemeni troops were killed during an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition on allied Yemeni pro-government forces, Yemeni military officials said Friday. At least eight Yemeni soldiers were also wounded in the strike, which took place in Shabwa on Thursday. As they weren’t authorized to speak to the media, they spoke on condition
Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City, said Thursday that the city will ring in 2022 as planned in Times Square despite a record number of COVID-19 infections in the city and around the country. In his interview on NBC’s Today Show, de Blasio said: “New York City is fighting its way through this.
Bluebird bio Inc has announced that it will place its gene therapy trial for sickle cell disease on partial hold while they investigate the potential side-effect of persistent anaemia in one patient. Premarket trading on Bluebird shares was down 18% after the announcement.The FDA has imposed a partial suspension on the lovotibeglogene autotemcel gene therapy
The Stanislaus County Coroner’s Office has recognized the two 19-year-old Turlock men who died in a DUI crash in Ceres Saturday night as residents of Turlock.There are two young men being sought by police who apparently became lost while travelling east on West Whitmore Avenue around 8 p.m. DB: A Ford F350 pickup truck was
According to an official with the region’s authority, gunmen killed at least 31 people in central Mali when they attacked a civilian truck on Saturday according to an official with the region’s authority. Bandiagara is a town in the north of Mali where 50 villagers were killed this past week when their truck was attacked
Users of WhatsApp are used to expressing themselves without words. But in October 2018, the app rolled out sticker support for users which gave them an alternative way to express an emotion other than with emojis or GIFs. More recently a tip suggested that people may soon be able to create stickers from photos giving
