As White House presses for booster shots, Americans are slow to get them
An anemic turnout for booster shots in Baltimore underscores yet another test of the Biden administration’s pandemic strategy, as federal and local officials contend with dwindling public patience and diminishing funds for the virus response. Only about 15 million doses of the new shots have been administered nationally since their introduction at the beginning of September, representing less than 1 in 10 people who are eligible, and there are signs that many Americans are unaware of or simply uninterested in them. In a Kaiser Family Foundation survey last month, half of adults said they had heard little or nothing about the shots.
Stockton, Calif., police arrest suspect in serial killings
Police in California say they have arrested a man suspected of killing six men and wounding a woman in a series of shootings. Police say 43-year-old Wesley Brownlee of Stockton was stopped in a car around 2 a.m. Saturday. Police Chief Stanley McFadden says he was dressed in black, had a gun and appeared to be “out hunting” for another victim. Police have been searching for a serial killer who shot five men in the city since July. Police believe the same person killed a man in Oakland in April 2021 and wounded a woman in Stockton a week later. No motive has been released. It was not immediately clear whether Brownlee had an attorney.
Rising waters again force evacuations
in Australia
Two people have been killed, hundreds of homes inundated and thousands told to evacuate as flooding again battered Australia’s southeast coast. The country has seen record-breaking rainfall and relentless flooding, with some communities inundated multiple times. Sydney, on the east coast and the nation’s biggest city, had its wettest year on record this year. The states of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania have experienced flash flooding over the past week as torrential rain fell onto already saturated land, causing rivers to swell and overflow. Because of those conditions, flooding will continue to remain a risk for weeks, with even moderate rainfall posing a threat, authorities said.
11 Russian troops slain at shooting range as fighting rages
At least 11 Russian soldiers have been killed in a shooting incident that underlines the challenges posed by Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hasty mobilization. Saturday’s shooting at a firing range in Russia’s western Belgorod region came just as Ukrainian troops pressed an offensive to reclaim the areas in southern Ukraine illegally annexed by Moscow. As fighting raged, a missile strike also seriously damaged a key energy facility in Ukraine’s capital region. Following mounting setbacks, the Russian military has worked to cut off power and water in far-flung populated areas while also fending off Ukrainian counterattacks in occupied or partially occupied areas.
Blaze, shots heard from prison in Iran capital amid protests
A huge fire blazed at a notorious Iranian prison where political prisoners and anti-government activists are kept in the capital. Online videos and local media also reported gunshots in the area Saturday as nationwide protests entered a fifth week. Iran’s state-run IRNA says there were clashes between prisoners in one ward and prison personnel, citing a senior security official. The official is quoted as saying prisoners set fire to a warehouse full of prison uniforms, which caused the blaze. Later, a Tehran prosecutor said that “peace” had returned to the prison and that the violence was unrelated to recent protests in Iran. The protests have entered a fifth week, with demonstrations intensifying in some cities.
Rights group: 59 lawyers slain in 6 years in Philippines
A Philippine rights group says at least 133 lawyers have been killed in the country since the 1980s, nearly half of them in the last six years under former President Rodrigo Duterte. The National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers said Saturday that the harassment of lawyers and judges in the Philippines has continued under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who took office in June. Last year, the Supreme Court condemned in a rare public expression the rising number of killings and threats against lawyers and judges and asked lower courts, law enforcers and lawyers’ groups to provide information about such assaults in the last 10 years so it can take preemptive steps. Most of the killings are unsolved although activists blame state forces for dozens of the attacks.
By wire sources
