Massachusetts

USA: Markey defeats Kennedy III in Massachusetts’ Senate primary

BOSTON (AP) — U.S. Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts defeated U.S. Rep. Joe Kennedy III in Tuesday’s hard-fought Democratic primary, harnessing support from progressive leaders to overcome a challenge from a younger rival who is a member of America’s most famous political family.

It was the first time a Kennedy has lost a race for Congress in Massachusetts.

USA: Large antibody study offers hope for virus vaccine efforts

(AP) --- Antibodies that people make to fight the new coronavirus last for at least four months after diagnosis and do not fade quickly as some earlier reports suggested, scientists have found.

Tuesday’s report, from tests on more than 30,000 people in Iceland, is the most extensive work yet on the immune system’s response to the virus over time, and is good news for efforts to develop vaccines.

‘Too many are selfish’: US nears 5 million virus cases

BOSTON (AP) — Fourth of July gatherings, graduation parties, no-mask weddings, crowded bars — there are reasons the U.S. has racked up more than 155,000 coronavirus deaths, by far the most of any country, and is fast approaching an off-the-charts 5 million confirmed infections, easily the highest in the world.

Accused Ghosn escape plotters too much flight risk for bail: U.S. judge

BOSTON (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Friday two Massachusetts men pose too great of a risk of flight to be released on bail given “spectacular” allegations that they helped orchestrate former Nissan Motor Co Chairman Carlos Ghosn’s escape from Japan.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald Cabell said U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Michael Taylor and his son, Peter Taylor, had also failed to show they would likely succeed in fighting the charges underlying Japan’s recent request for their extradition.

USA: Harvard, MIT sue to block ICE rule on international students

BOSTON (AP) — Colleges and universities pushed back Wednesday against the Trump administration’s decision to make international students leave the country if they plan on taking classes entirely online this fall, with Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology filing a lawsuit to try to block it, and others promising to work with students to keep them on campus.

USA: Interfaith group: No Buddhist or Hindu statues in nightclubs

BOSTON (AP) — America’s nightclubs are largely closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, but that isn’t stopping an interfaith coalition from launching a campaign to stop what organizers call the “disrespectful” use of sacred Buddhist and Hindu statues as decor.

Representatives of the Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Jewish and Christian traditions have formed an improbable alliance to end the practice, starting with upscale clubs in Boston and other cities that are managed by Beverly Hills, California-based Live Nation Entertainment.

America's original sin: Floyd death prompts historical soul-searching

13 June 2020; AFP: Confederate monuments are coming down and statues of Christopher Columbus are being toppled as Americans grapple with the ghosts of the country's racial history in the wake of George Floyd's death.

"It seems like maybe we've hit a tipping point in the retelling of the narrative of who we are as an American people," said David Farber, a history professor at the University of Kansas.

US adds new sanction on Chinese tech giant Huawei

BOSTON (AP) — The U.S. government imposed new restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei on Friday, severely limiting its ability to use American technology to design and manufacture semiconductors produced for it abroad.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Friday that the move aims to prevent Huawei from making a run around existing U.S. sanctions.

“There has been a very highly technical loophole through which Huawei has been able to in effect use U.S. technology,” Ross told Fox Business. “We never intended that loophole to be there.”

USA: Nearly 70 dead in ‘horrific’ outbreak at veterans home

(AP) --- Nearly 70 residents sickened with the coronavirus have died at a Massachusetts home for aging veterans, as state and federal officials try to figure out what went wrong in the deadliest known outbreak at a long-term care facility in the U.S.

While the death toll at the state-run Holyoke Soldiers’ Home continues to climb, federal officials are investigating whether residents were denied proper medical care and the state’s top prosecutor is deciding whether to bring legal action.

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