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FILE - Sunflowers in the Ukrainian Carpathians on July 28, 2021, in Mukachevo, Ukraine. (Photo by Pierre Crom/Getty Images) Sunflowers, the national flower of Ukraine, have emerged as a worldwide symbol of solidarity for the country and one of resistance for its people since Russia’s military invasion. Twitter users have been adding the sunflower emoji to their names.

month-long decline in COVID-19 infections, according to figures from the World Health Organization.In its weekly report on the pandemic issued late Tuesday, the U.N. health agency also said that deaths fell by 10%, continuing a drop in fatalities first seen last week.

COVID-19- related deaths, according to Waterloo Public Health.“Today we are reporting two deaths in our community related to COVID-19,” Dr. Hsiu-Li Wang, medical officer of health, stated.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told media on Wednesday that Russia must stop its war on Ukraine as the situation could get “much, much worse.” These remarks followed a vote at the United Nations General Assembly to diplomatically isolate Russia, in overwhelming response.

COVID-19 surges continue to intensify in locations such as Hong Kong, where Omicron variant activity got a later foothold, but cases and deaths continue to fall in most regions, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in its latest weekly update yesterday.

COVID-19 vaccine passport system a few days earlier than expected.Health Minister Christian Dubé made the announcement in a news release Wednesday, saying the decision comes after discussions with public health officials.The province will no longer require masks in the majority of public places starting in mid-April. The government did not give an exact date, but said it will give a notice of 10 days before the measure is lifted.Quebec also plans to nix masks on public transit, though at the earliest in May.

Today members of the Biden COVID-19 preparedness team addressed the nation unmasked and from the same room as they spoke about the country's move to a "new normal" stage of the pandemic, where COVID-19 is no longer a national emergency.

TAMPA, Fla. - As the Florida governor approached the lectern for a press conference in Tampa, there were a few students waiting while wearing masks.A handful of students from Middleton High School were in attendance for Gov. Ron DeSantis' announcement.

DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. - Man’s best friend needed some human help after getting stuck in a frozen pond Tuesday morning.South Metro Fire Rescue in Colorado said crews had to rescue the dog, named "Daisy," after she escaped from her owner’s backyard in Douglas County. The owners then called 911.RELATED: 'Hank the Tank,' Lake Tahoe bear, gets exonerated for many home break-insFirst responders released a video showing a firefighter wading through the icy water to attach a cable to Daisy’s leash. The firefighter then hoisted the dog out of the water.

Queen Elizabeth was diagnosed with COVID-19 on February 20 and luckily, it appears as if she has fully recovered after she was photographed for the first time in weeks.

PHOENIX, ARIZONA - FEBRUARY 17: Cain Velasquez reacts after his KO loss to Francis Ngannou of Cameroon in their heavyweight bout during the UFC Fight Night event at Talking Stick Resort Arena on February 17, 2019 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Josh H SAN JOSE, Calif. - Former UFC star Cain Velasquez is charged with shooting a semi-automatic gun into a Chevy Silverado carrying a 43-year-old man charged with molesting one of the former mixed martial arts champ's 4-year-old relatives at a daycare center, according to newly released court documents.One person was injured in the shooting, but it was not the person who'd allegedly abused Velasquez's relative. Velasquez, 39, of Gilroy, was formally arraigned on Wednesday with 10 counts of attempted murder and multiple gun assault charges in connection with an alleged act of vengeance.He's being accused of firing his .40-caliber handgun at Harry Goularte – charged with molesting a child – and ramming the truck that Goularte was in.

PHILADELPHIA - The School District of Philadelphia plans to make masks optional for students and faculty next week after the city dropped its indoor mask mandate on Wednesday. In a letter to families, Superintendent William Hite Jr. wrote that masks will be optional for students and faculty starting Wednesday, Mar.

SUPERIOR, Wis. (FOX 9) - As war rages in Europe and rising prices cause economic uncertainty in the U.S., President Joe Biden is visiting the Duluth-Superior region Wednesday for his first event after the State of the Union address.During a speech at the University of Wisconsin-Superior's student union, Biden will promote infrastructure spending and call on Congress to move forward with his stalled climate and child care agenda.The president, along with First Lady Jill Biden, landed in Duluth, Minn.

NEW DELHI :

United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to reprimand Russia over its invasion of Ukraine and demanded that Moscow stop fighting and withdraw its military forces, an action that aims to diplomatically isolate Russia at the world body.The resolution, supported by 141 of the assembly’s 193 members, ended a rare emergency session called by the UN Security Council and as Ukrainian forces battled on in the port of Kherson in the face of air strikes and a devastating bombardment that forced hundreds of thousands of people to flee.The text of the resolution “deplores” Russia’s “aggression against Ukraine.” The last time Security Council convened an emergency session of the General Assembly was in 1982, according to UN website.Thirty-five members including China abstained and five countries including Russia, Syria and Belarus voted against the resolution. While General Assembly resolutions are non-binding, they carry political weight.Russia has destroyed critical infrastructure, including drinking water and gas for millions of people and appeared to be preparing to increase the brutality of its campaign against Ukraine, U.S.

Adult COVID-19 patients who had an in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) were 35% less likely to receive potentially life-saving defibrillation without delay and survive to hospital release, according to a study today in JAMA Network Open.

COVID-19 vaccines at Toronto Public Library (TPL) branches as the city launches its Read and Vax campaign.In a press release issued Wednesday, the city said the campaign will bring COVID-19 vaccine clinics to many TPL branches beginning on Wednesday and extending until March 16. COVID-19: Toronto District School Board receives 1st shipment of medical masks for students The city says 22 vaccine clinics will be held over two weeks in 12 TPL branches across Toronto.The release said the campaign is “part of Team Toronto’s continued equity-focused, hyper-local mobile strategy to make COVID-19 vaccines as accessible and convenient as possible and to bring vaccines to where residents live, work, play, study and read.”According to the release, Toronto Public Health has selected libraries in “specific neighbourhoods” in order to “remove barriers” and bring vaccines to residents in areas or settings that have low vaccination coverage, and to those who are at high risk of contracting the virus.“Locations were chosen to facilitate easy access in places that are part of Torontonians’ everyday lives,” the release reads.

gathering restrictions implemented by the provincial government during the COVID-19 pandemic, deciding that their health benefits had outweighed the impact on religious freedom.The challenge was put forward by the Church of God in Aylmer and Trinity Bible Chapel in Waterloo, both of which have faced a variety of charges, including findings of contempt, for repeatedly defying restrictions.Superior Court Justice Renée Pomerance’s written decision can be read in full on the website for the Canadian Legal Information Institute.

Last Wednesday, LHSC was caring for 51 COVID-19 inpatients with eight in adult ICU. There are five or fewer COVID-19 inpatients in Children’s Hospital with five or fewer in pediatric critical care, down from six inpatients with five or fewer in critical care a week ago.LHSC says of its 42 COVID-19 inpatients, 14 are being treated for COVID-19, while 28 are being treated with COVID-19, meaning they were admitted for a different reason and were found to have an incidental COVID-19 infection.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia police have identified the juvenile shot and killed by plain-clothed officers on Tuesday night. According to police, four officers assigned to the South Task Force were in an unmarked car in the area of 18th and Johnston Streets as part of an ongoing investigation. Police say the officers saw two males standing on the corner of 18th and Barbara Streets. One was allegedly wanted for questioning as part of the investigation. Authorities say officers turned on their police lights and drove down the street when they heard gunfire and the glass from the rear passenger window shattered. Two officers got out of the car and fired their weapons at the juvenile, shooting him in the upper right side of his back, police say.

The Fitbit Ionic smartwatches are pictured in a provided image. (Credit: U.S.

PHILADELPHIA - The Philadelphia Police Department announced the arrests of three suspects allegedly connected to the murder of a veteran and multiple carjackings across the city. On February 6, 60-year-old George Briscella was gunned down during a carjacking outside of his mother's house in Rhawnhurst. Weeks later, on February 22, Philadelphia police announced the arrest of 28-year-old Jonathan Akubu on charges of murder, aggravated assault, arson and carjacking connected to Briscella's murder, murder of 28-year-old Aiah Gbessay, and several carjackings. Police believed Akubu was the leader of a carjacking ring linked to dozens of crimes in the city. A police source told FOX 29's Kelly Rule that Akubu could be linked to over 40 carjackings.As the number of carjackings continue to surge in Philadelphia, police have announced the arrest of Jonathan Akubu in connection with at least five incidents.

A retrospective study of 17 COVID-19 survivors with lingering symptoms reveals that 10 (59%) had nerve damage, which the researchers said could have been triggered by potentially treatable infection-related immune dysfunction.In the study, published yesterday in Neurology:

COVID-19 outbreaks in the province.In a tweet Tuesday, federal emergency preparedness minister Bill Blair said the province had requested assistance, and that Canadian Red Cross personnel have been deployed to help Manitoba deal with the pandemic.Our health care system is still feeling the strain of COVID-19. In response to a Request for Federal Assistance from @MBGov, @redcrosscan personnel will deploy to help manage COVID-19 outbreaks in the province.— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) March 1, 2022 Manitoba asks feds to send ICU nurses amid worsening COVID-19 health care crisis According to a spokesperson from the province, that help comes in the form of three Red Cross nurses currently working out of Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg, who will continue to do so until mid-March.“This is simply a request for continued support of human health resources (nurses) to augment Manitoba’s COVID-19 response,” the spokesperson said.“While Manitoba’s COVID-19 case counts and hospitalization numbers continue to trend downwards, Manitoba’s ICU and acute care centres continue to be a few weeks behind those trends.“We appreciate the assistance from the federal government as we continue to add capacity in our health system to ensure Manitobans get the care they need, for COVID and other medical matters.”Red Cross spokesperson Jason Small said this is a continuation of support for Manitoba that began in late December.“We have had up to eight nurses working in support of the response,” he said.“At the moment, we have the three who have been extended for an additional two weeks.

At least five superyachts owned by Russian billionaires were anchored or cruising on Wednesday in Maldives, an Indian Ocean island nation that does not have an extradition treaty with the United States, ship tracking data showed.

Police are searching for this suspect who allegedly is connected to Anti-Semitic graffiti in Wilmington, Delaware.  WILMINGTON, Del. - Police in Delaware’s biggest city are investigating the vandalism of multiple locations and asking the public's health for assistance in identifying a suspect.

Joe Biden announced Tuesday night in his State of the Union address that the U.S. is banning Russian flights from its airspace in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine.The move follows similar action by Canada and the European Union this week.

ORLANDO, Fla. - The Florida Senate is expected to pass legislation on Wednesday named in honor of a murdered Orlando college student. "Miya's Law" aims to improve apartment safety, in part, by requiring background checks for apartment building employees.DOWNLOAD: FOX 35 NEWS APP | FOX 35 STORM TEAM WEATHER APPSUBSCRIBE: FOX 35 NEWSLETTER | FOX 35 Orlando on YouTube FOLLOW: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter  Miya Marcano, 19, was reported missing after she did not board a scheduled flight from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale on Friday, Sept.

FILE - President Joe Biden speaks on the January jobs reports during an event in the State Dining Room of the White House February 4, 2022 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) The strategy comes on the heels of Biden's State of the Union address, in which he repeated that the U.S.

COVID-19 Wednesday afternoon.Dr. Jazz Atwal will speak to media at 12:30 p.m.

If you are symptomatic or a household contact, you can now order rapid antigen tests (RATs) through the newly launched RAT requester site. 

Prince Charles has given an update on the Queen’s health.

COVID-19 pandemic after the province reported 20 additional fatalities Wednesday.Hospitalizations related to the health crisis plummeted. The total stood at 1,381, a drop of 58 compared with the previous day.

Bank of Canada has hiked its key interest rate to 0.5 per cent, the first step of a series of signalled increases amid economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.The overnight rate target will rise 25 basis points, the central bank announced Wednesday, up from the floor of 0.25 per cent it held for much of the pandemic.In a statement accompanying the decision, the Bank of Canada said the war in Ukraine is “a major new source of uncertainty” that is driving prices higher on oil and other commodities.“This will add to inflation around the world, and negative impacts on confidence and new supply disruptions could weigh on global growth. Financial market volatility has increased.

Russia renewed its assault Wednesday on Ukraine’s second-largest city in a pounding that lit up the skyline with balls of fire over populated areas, even as both sides said they were ready to resume talks aimed at stopping the new devastating war in Europe.The escalation of attacks on crowded cities followed an initial round of talks between outgunned Ukraine and nuclear power Russia on Monday that resulted in only a promise to meet again. It was not clear when new talks might take place — or what they would yield.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia 76ers fans will be able to trade in their masks for a replica-James Harden beard on Wednesday night when he makes his home debut. Philadelphia officials on Wednesday announced that COVID-19 numbers had improved enough to warrant a move to their All Clear response level. In that response level, masks are no longer required in most indoor settings. The Wells Faro Center, Philadelphia Flyers, and Philadelphia 76es responded by adding that guests would no longer be required to wear masks in the arena. "Today’s announcement is an important step forward for our city and comes at an exciting time for our fans," said Chris Heck, President of the Philadelphia 76ers.

PHILADELPHIA - The controversy surrounding potentially opening safe injection sites in Philadelphia is once again heating up as Mayor Jim Kenney continues to lend his support to the movement and those opposed have planned protests. The last time a safe injection site was proposed in Philadelphia – about two years ago- a federal appeals court ruled against it. Since then, New York became the first city in the country to open such a site last year. Officials there say the site has already stopped more than 100 overdoses. Mayor Kenney spoke with FOX 29’s Steve Keeley late last month and reiterated that he’s seen such operations work in Canada – in both Toronto and Vancouver.

File photo. (Credit: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg via Getty Images) President Joe Biden says Americans will be able to order more free COVID-19 tests starting next week."If you already ordered free tests, tonight, I am announcing you can order another group of tests," Biden said during his State of the Union address on Tuesday night.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A North Carolina man says he was scammed out of thousands of dollars by a stranger who used a mobile payment app after borrowing his cell phone to make what he thought was an emergency phone call.Download the FOX 5 DC News App for Local Breaking News and WeatherAccording to an online report on MyFOX8.com, Rob Gilliam lent his phone to a man outside a Charlotte, North Carolina bar last week after the person claimed there was an emergency, and he needed to reach his sister.Gilliam said the man first made a phone call but said he was having connection problems and needed to text his sister a message instead.NEW TAX RULE REQUIRES PAYPAL, VENMO, CASH APP TO REPORT ANNUAL BUSINESS PAYMENTS EXCEEDING $600That's when Gilliam said the man used the Venmo mobile payment app to send himself nearly $4,500 in an interaction the took only minutes, according to the report. The incident happened Friday, but Gilliam didn't realize the money was gone until Sunday.

sent into Ukraine to hunt down and assassinate President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was "eliminated" by security forces, a top Kyiv defense official told national media.Secretary of the National Security and Defence Council Oleksiy Danilov reportedly told the Ukraine 24 TV channel that defense forces countered two death squads sent after Zelenskyy on Tuesday, according to a translation of his remarks.He said Ukrainian forces got intelligence about a planned attack on Zelenskyy and destroyed an elite Chechen unit. "The special operation that was to be carried out directly by the Kadyrovites to eliminate our president is fully known to us today, and I can say that we received information from representatives of the FSB, who today have no desire to take part in this bloody war," he said. Ramzan Kadyrov is the leader of the Chechen Republic, which is a semiautonomous part of Russia. He is an ally of Vladimir Putin, and his commandos are considered fierce, highly skilled fighters.

PHILADELPHIA - Philadelphia officials dropped the city's mask mandate for indoor spaces Wednesday morning after moving the city to the All Clear COVID-19 tier.  FOX 29's Jeff Cole first broke the news on Twitter. The announcement came ahead of the city's COVID-19 briefing, which will be the last one, according to Health Commissioner Dr.

The Department of Health has been notified of 7,694 new cases of Covid-19.

Scott Hannah with the Credit Counselling Society discusses how a Bank of Canada interest rate hike could potentially impact debt-strapped Canadians.

COVID on Wednesday, with 273 in intensive care units as figures continue to trend downwards.This is down by 67 hospitalizations and a decrease of five in ICUs since the previous day. Last Wednesday, there were 1,106 hospitalizations with 319 in ICU.The province recently began distinguishing between those who were admitted to hospital directly because of COVID, and those who were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for the virus.Of the 847 people in hospital with COVID-19, 44 per cent of them were admitted because of the virus, while 56 per cent were admitted for other reasons but tested positive for COVID-19.Of the 273 people in ICUs with the virus, 82 per cent were admitted because of COVID, while 18 per cent were admitted for other reasons.

Nature. 

COVID-19 vaccine mandates for their staff even as they lift the proof-of-vaccination requirement at facilities such as community centres.The province’s vaccine certificate system covering restaurants, bars, gyms, cinemas, event spaces ended Tuesday and several municipalities confirmed vaccination would no longer be required to enter their recreation facilities and arts centres.But many municipalities that enacted policies requiring employees to be double vaccinated or lose their jobs are keeping those mandates in place.In Toronto, the city said that despite the other public health measures lifting, its policy that employees need to be vaccinated isn’t being removed.

In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by a massive 25%, according to a scientific brief released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. The brief also highlights who has been most affected and summarizes the effect of the pandemic on the availability of mental health services and how this has changed during the pandemic.

KYIV, Ukraine - As Day 7 of the Russia-Ukraine conflict dawned, Russia continued its attacks on crowded Ukrainian cities and a lengthy convoy of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly toward the capital of Kyiv.Russia's escalation Wednesday came as President Joe Biden, in his State of the Union speech to Americans on Tuesday night, warned that if the Russian leader didn’t "pay a price" for the invasion, the aggression wouldn’t stop with one country.Here's a look at key things to know about the conflict:A Kremlin spokesman said a Russian delegation will be ready Wednesday evening to resume talks with Ukrainian officials about the war in Ukraine.Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that "in the second half of the day, closer to evening, our delegation will be in place to await Ukrainian negotiators."There was no immediate word from the Ukrainian authorities about their plans.Police officers stand guard at the site of yesterday's airstrike that hit Kyiv's main television tower in Kyiv on March 2, 2022. (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images) A 40-mile convoy of hundreds of Russian tanks and other vehicles advanced slowly on Kyiv, a city of nearly 3 million people.