Free Republic

Nearly 1 in 10 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. are from the BA.2.86 variant, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated Monday, nearly triple what the agency estimated the highly mutated variant's prevalence was two weeks ago. Among the handful of regions with enough specimens reported from testing laboratories, BA.2.86's prevalence is largest in the Northeast: 13.1% of cases in the New York and New Jersey region are blamed on the strain. Monday's figures mark the first time BA.2.86's prevalence has surged enough to be listed as a standalone variant on the CDC's estimates. Scientists first warned of...

RIYADH (AFP) - Saudi Arabia announced that it was increasing its aid to victims of the Asian tsunami disaster to 30 million dollars and would organize a telethon to raise more funds. Given that the scale of the disaster and damage "has surpassed all expectations, royal orders have been issued to increase Saudi Arabia's aid to the victims from 10 million dollars to 30 million dollars," the official SPA news agency reported. SPA reported earlier that King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, whose oil-rich country initially pledged 10 million dollars in emergency funds for the victims,...

<p>July 26, 2002 -- EVEN from his home in Sarasota, Fla., three seasons removed from Mets' telecasts, Tim McCarver's prescience as a Met analyst is eerie.</p> <p>So it should've come as no surprise that Met call-up Marco Scutaro's first big league hit would be a triple, or that it would happen this past Monday night, or that afterward, on "Kiner's Korner," Scaturo would tell Ralph Kiner, McCarver's 16-year boothmate, that his job is to "Run hard to first base, play hard every game."</p>