Albert Wagner 
NEW YORK – “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” the once wildly popular mobile game that helped catapult her to stardom and wealth, is shutting down after nearly a decade. The game let players mirror Kardashian’s life by creating an avatar that works to achieve virtual A-list status by climbing the social ladder. Free to download, … Read more
The race for the White House officially begins in less than two weeks, and despite some prolonged jockeying over the election calendar, the long primary season will once again begin in Iowa with a caucus process that has served as the lead-off voting event since the 1970s. While Iowa has played an outsize role in … Read more
An assertion by Florida’s politically appointed surgeon general that Covid-19 vaccines can contaminate human DNA has been dismissed as “scientific nonsense” by public health experts, who say he is putting lives at risk by wanting to block distribution. Dr Joseph Ladapo, who was handpicked by the state’s far-right governor and fellow vaccine-skeptic, Ron DeSantis, to … Read more
NEW YORK – A winter weather system moving through the U.S. is expected to wallop the East Coast this weekend with a mix of snow and freezing rain from the southern Appalachians to the Northeast — although it’s too early to say exactly which areas will get what kind of precipitation and how much. … Read more
LONDON – The longest planned strike in the history of Britain’s state-funded National Health Service entered its second day of six on Thursday with doctors in England at loggerheads with hospitals over requests for some to leave the picket line to cover urgent needs during one of busiest times of year. The strike … Read more
COPENHAGEN, Denmark – Extremely cold temperatures compounded by gale-force winds and snow wreaked havoc across the Nordic region Thursday, leaving thousands without power while others braved the cold for hours stuck in their cars along clogged highways. Heavy rains in Germany, France and the Netherlands again caused floods in regions that have seen … Read more
SYDNEY – With fangs that could pierce a human fingernail, the largest male specimen of the world’s most poisonous arachnid has found a new home at the Australian Reptile Park where it will help save lives after a member of the public discovered it by chance. The deadly Sydney funnel-web spider dubbed “Hercules” was found … Read more
MONTREAL – A small group of leaders of Canadian charities in the environment, conservation, and animal protection sectors are taking home compensation packages equivalent to, and in some cases higher than, the salaries of provincial premiers. An analysis by The Canadian Press identified 17 charities whose top executive drew annual compensation that was … Read more
People with long Covid who feel tired, unwell and in pain for lengthy periods after exercise should avoid intense workouts, researchers have said. Long Covid is thought to affect tens of thousands of people in the UK alone and a problem many experience is a worsening of symptoms for weeks after a single bout of … Read more
WASHINGTON – A U.S. Department of Education policy adviser appointed by the Biden administration quit Wednesday to protest the administration’s crucial military support of Israel’s war in Gaza and its handling of the conflict’s repercussions at home and abroad. Tariq Habash, a Biden administration appointee who had worked in the education department to … Read more
