Teenager stabbed in the buttocks during Sydney brawl

Police are hunting a man who allegedly stabbed a teenager in a brawl near Sydney's CBD overnight.

The fight broke out around midnight as police say a large group of people left a party boat that docked opposite the Star Casino on Pirrama Road, Pyrmont.

The 18-year-old victim was treated for three stab wounds to his buttocks before being taken to St Vincent's Hospital for surgery.

A crime scene was set up and police have appealed for the public to help identify a man who may be able to help with their investigations.

He is described as being of Mediterranean/Middle Eastern appearance and aged in his mid-20s.

Read More

Eight injured as boat explodes on Hawkesbury River at Brooklyn

Eight people have suffered injuries, including four in a critical condition, after a boat exploded on the Hawkesbury River in Sydney's north on Sunday afternoon.

The vessel erupted in flames at a marina off Dangar Road at Brooklyn just after 5pm.

NSW Ambulance said 12 crews were dispatched to the scene along with a specialist medical team, a Toll Ambulance Rescue Helicopter and a Westpac Ambulance Rescue Helicopter.

Four patients were taken to Royal North Shore Hospital in a critical condition, two to Westmead Hospital in a serious condition, and two didn't require transportation.

Read More

'Troublemaker for the next surge': Top doctor warns of new COVID-19 virus killing the young in their thousands

As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out around the world, a top doctor is warning of a new virus strain that is killing the young in their thousands.

Brazil is swamped by new virus cases, with a warning to Australia that this variant is far more dangerous than anything seen before.

The new variant has overwhelmed the country to the point gravediggers are exhuming old tombs to make space for the more than 300,000 dead.

"The entire country has no ICU beds left. The deaths are soaring exponentially … like through the roof," Dr Eric Liang Feigl-Ding, an epidemiologist from Harvard, told 9News.

Dr Feigl-Ding was one of the first epidemiologists to raise the alarm that COVID-19 was heading towards a pandemic in January 2020.

Read More

Piney Point Live Updates: Full breach could send 'as much as a 20-foot wall of water' surging out

At the press conference with Gov. Ron DeSantis, Manatee County Acting Administrator Scott Hopes said that if there is a full breach of the walls at the damaged Piney Point reservoir, models show that "as high as a 20-foot wall of water" could surge into the area.

"So if you are in an  evacuation area and you have not heeded that, you need to think twice and follow the orders," Hopes said.

When asked about the Manatee County Jail near Piney Point being affected by potential flooding, Hopes said that current models show only 1-5 feet of water that could affect the jail.

Read More 

Gov. Ron DeSantis diverts COVID-19 vaccine from Manatee and other counties to FEMA sites

Gov. Ron DeSantis diverts COVID-19 vaccine from Manatee and other counties to FEMA sites

11,000 doses will instead go to FEMA sites, which will remain open through May 

The state of Florida has diverted 11,000 doses of the COVID vaccine slated for Manatee County to federal vaccination sites.

The move comes just days before the county is due to ramp up vaccinations to include any adult who wants it.

Along with Manatee, the state stopped this week’s shipment of COVID-19 vaccine shots to nearly four dozen county and local sites, Department of Health records show – the same week Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he would extend the life of four federal vaccination sites.

Support Local Journalism:Get an unlimited digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.

Read More

Yacht clubs, golf courses, gated communities: Florida’s pop-up vaccine clinics raise ethical concerns

When Florida threw open the door for seniors to get COVID-19 vaccines, hundreds camped out overnight, some bundled up in lawn chairs in the January cold to score a shot. 

Thousands more waited in digital lines for their number to come up in county-run vaccine pools.

But for some lucky Floridians, getting a vaccine was as easy as hopping in their golf carts and rolling down to the clubhouse.

Read More

'Antithetical to the Gospel': Ex-Arkansas Gov. Huckabee slammed for racist tweet in attack on MLB, corporations

Former Arkansas governor and Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee came under criticism Saturday for a tweet attacking Major League Baseball and several corporations that many found bigoted and insensitive.

"I’ve decided to 'identify' as Chinese. Coke will like me, Delta will agree with my 'values' and I’ll probably get shoes from Nike & tickets to @MLB games. Ain’t America great?" Huckabee wrote.

Huckabee's tweet, which he published amid a year of rising hate crimes against Asian Americans, was quickly condemned as racist, as many Asian Americans and anti-hate speech advocates have pointed to anti-Chinese rhetoric as a key driver in rising anti-Asian hate in the U.S.

  

Read More

Will Biden cancel student loan debt? As college costs spiral, here's what he's considering

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration entered the White House with an eye toward relieving the strain of student loan debt, particularly amid the added financial burden of the coronavirus pandemic.

On day one in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order extending a pause student federal loan payments enacted by the previous administration as part of COVID relief. Progressive activists and lawmakers have urged the president to go further and cancel student loan debt, but he has said firmly that he does not believe he has the authority to do so by executive order.

  

Read More