Former U.S. Congresswoman Carrie Pittman Meek, the first Black person to represent Florida in Congress since the post-Civil War Reconstruction and a fierce advocate for South Florida’s Black communities, Haitian immigrants and the working poor, died Sunday at her home in Miami after a long illness, her family said. She was 95.

Meek, said her...Read more

New York City may already be seeing signs of a winter spike in COVID-19 even though holiday travel, gatherings and colder weather are just getting started.

The city’s positive test rate rose to a two-month high as hospitals admitted more than 100 new virus patients on Friday, contributing to a 25% jump in hospitalizations in just two weeks. ...Read more

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government will push to repeal controversial farm laws when parliament reconvenes Monday to quell protests from a crucial vote bank that show little sign of abating with key state elections due next year.

As lawmakers debate this bill and other legislation, including a ban on private cryptocurrencies ...Read more

Tougher U.K. pandemic rules are set to take effect this week as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government seeks to buy scientists “precious weeks” to determine the risks posed by COVID-19’s omicron strain.

All travelers arriving in the U.K. starting at 4 a.m. on Nov. 30 must take a PCR coronavirus test on or before the second day of ...Read more

The World Health Organization is urging caution after two South African health experts, including the doctor who first sounded the alarm about the omicron variant, indicated that symptoms linked to the coronavirus strain have been mild so far.

The initial reported infections were among university students, the WHO said, adding that younger ...Read more

COVID-19’s omicron variant appears to be more transmissible, reinforcing the need for Americans to get vaccinations or booster shots, U.S. health officials said.

Omicron “is a clarion call” for people to be vaccinated, Anthony Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Infections in ...Read more

NEW YORK — A New York state trooper opened fire when he was struck by a vehicle on the Triborough Bridge on Sunday, officials said.

The trooper was struck on the bridge that connects Manhattan with Queens and the Bronx just before 1 p.m., according to a state police statement. Nobody was struck when he opened fire in response, but an Acura ...Read more

Virgil Abloh, the trailblazing fashion designer who came up on the streets of Chicago and peaked as the artistic director for Louis Vuitton’s men’s line, died Sunday.

He was 41.

Known as one of the most influential designers of his generation, Abloh had been battling cancer “privately for several years” before succumbing to the disease...Read more

WASHINGTON — Former advisers to President Joe Biden said travel restrictions will do little to stop the spread of new COVID-19 variants, and the U.S. and other nations would be better off increasing vaccine deliveries to Africa.

Biden last week imposed a broad entry ban on people who have been in South Africa and seven nearby countries, ...Read more

CHICAGO — Thirty-three months, one mayor and two police superintendents ago, before Chicago joined a nationwide reckoning on race and suffered through a deadly pandemic, the city’s attention was captivated by one man.

Jussie Smollett.

The alleged racial and homophobic attack on the then-“Empire” actor on a frigid night in January 2019 ...Read more

NEW YORK — A man’s body parts were found scattered across a stretch of the Long Island Expressway in Queens and authorities are unsure if he was struck by a hit-and-run driver or if his dismembered corpse was dumped there, police sources said Sunday.

When officers arrived at the scene near the Meadow Lake Bridge about 3:30 p.m. Saturday ...Read more

NEW YORK — A man’s body parts were found scattered across a stretch of the Long Island Expressway in Queens and authorities are unsure if he was struck by a hit-and-run driver or if his dismembered corpse was dumped there, police sources said Sunday.

When officers arrived at the scene near the Meadow Lake Bridge about 3:30 p.m. Saturday ...Read more

NEW YORK — The first woman to say she was assaulted by Jeffrey Epstein is bracing for a moment she’s long dreaded: the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell.

Opening arguments begin Monday in the closely watched trial of Maxwell, the Oxford-educated British socialite accused of serving as Epstein’s chief recruiter. But Maria Farmer, who in 1996 ...Read more

NEW YORK — Victims of sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein are finally getting their day in court. The long-awaited trial of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell begins Monday in Manhattan.

Prosecutors allege that Maxwell, 59, was a central figure in Epstein’s sex criminal enterprise, helping him recruit and sexually abuse girls in the late 1990s ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Amid growing concerns about the new omicron variant, Los Angeles County health officials are urging the public to wear masks in indoor public settings and at outdoor “mega events” and be vaccinated as the best way to protect against another winter surge.

The variant, first identified in South Africa amid a spike in ...Read more

COVID-19’s omicron variant appears to be more transmissible, reinforcing the need for Americans to get vaccinations or booster shots, U.S. health officials said.

Omicron “is a clarion call” for people to be vaccinated, Anthony Fauci, who is President Joe Biden’s top medical adviser, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Infections in ...Read more