The illness appeared to afflict mainly students attending West Middle School and Sun Path Elementary School, the Star Tribune reported. Both schools are part of the Shakopee School District in Shakopee, Minnesota, and are just two and a half miles away from each other. According to a statement on the school district’s website, more than 300 students at West Middle School called in sick Monday because of flu-related sickness and symptoms....

“The Rangers are encouraged that the Governor’s Office has given clearance for us to fully open Globe Life Field at the start of the 2021 Major League Baseball season,” President of Business Operations and Chief Operating Officer Neil Leibman said in a statement. “We will require all those who enter Globe Life Field to wear a mask or face covering, and are working with Major League Baseball on some additional protocols required for player health and safety....

The senators made their demand in a letter sent to Biden on Wednesday. U.S. and Iranian officials have been meeting with the help of European intermediaries in Vienna, Austria to discuss resuming the 2015 nuclear deal that was cancelled by former President Donald Trump, which both the Biden administration and the government of Iran hope to renew. “Over the past couple days, Palestinian terrorists in Gaza, who are funded by Iran, have launched a series of rocket attacks into Israel,” the senators wrote in the letter....

The United States is the island nation’s strongest international backer and, under the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979, also sells Taipei defensive arms as it continues building up its forces to deter a hostile takeover by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). However, with no official diplomatic relations with Taiwan—officially called the Republic of China—American exchanges of a military nature, while considered an open secret, have remained low key, opaque and mostly confidential, despite the TRA’s provisions to supply weapons and services to help Taipei maintain its self-defense capability....

According to a report from State Health Officer Scott Harris, Alabama has wasted at least 65,511 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. While that number accounts for less than 1.5 percent of the more than 5 million coronavirus vaccines doses that Alabama has received, Harris said it represents an “extremely unfortunate” reality. “Sixty-five thousand doses have been wasted. That’s extremely unfortunate when we have such a low vaccination rate and of course, there are so many people in the world that still don’t have access to vaccine,” Harris said, according to the Associated Press....

Conservation sources at World Wildlife Fund and elsewhere tell me that at around 3 a.m. local time on Sept. 3, two ranger outposts in Virunga National Park, site of this summer’s gorilla killings, were attacked by troops comprised of FARDC (Forces Armées de la Republic Democratic du Congo) and of a rebel faction. The attackers seized the guns and communication equipment of rangers employed by the Congolese Institute for the Conservation of Nature (ICCN); no one was injured....

Before the announcement on Friday of the case, the Polynesian island nation had been touted as one of the few places in the world that had remained free of the coronavirus. After the confirmed positive case, Tonga went into lockdown Tuesday, and the nation has been overwhelmed by the resulting demand for vaccinations. Outlets from New Zealand and Hawaii broke the news that the person with COVID-19 was a Mormon missionary who had recently arrived in Tonga from Christchurch, New Zealand....

Qatar 2022 has thrown up some major shocks, but Morocco’s story is the biggest of the tournament so far, as the Atlas Lions aim to go one step further, after becoming the first African nation to reach the last four. The contest will be a major clash of styles at the Al Bayt Stadium as France face a battle to breakdown the meanest defence in the tournament. Here is the latest team news for Morocco ahead of facing the defending champions....

What was the Kremlin up to? Was it preparing to repudiate the allied effort to force Iraq out of Kuwait? Or was the prospect of a savage ground war simply getting on its nerves? Either way, all roads led to Moscow last week. French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas discussed the gulf crisis with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Akbar Velayati, went to the Soviet capital on Friday after a tour of European capitals....

The survey polled 9,400 hybrid and remote workers, spread across 11 countries—including 1,000 in the U.S.—and revealed Americans are more likely to find emoji-less texts or messages to be lacking, compared to global respondents (71 percent vs. 57 percent). But even though Americans are especially pro-emoji, not everyone agrees on their meanings or how to use them—just like how people use language differently. Conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Duolingo and Slack in partnership for World Emoji Day on July 17, the survey showed respondents different emojis and asked what meaning they’re most likely to associate with them....

Analysis of a dataset containing thousands of claims determined to be misleading or false by a global collective of fact-checkers indicates the Mark Zuckerberg-led social network was the source of more misleading content than rival platforms. The research, conducted by Press Gazette, found that 4,094 of 7,295 misleading claims about the coronavirus originated on Facebook. In comparison, 1,066 false claims were traced to Twitter, 999 on WhatsApp, 265 on YouTube and 90 on Instagram....

On November 15, tickets for Swift’s coming Eras Tour, billed as “a journey through the musical eras” of the 32-year-old megastar, were made available for presale, with verification codes sent out to fans the night before. Queue the chaos. With millions of fans pouring into virtual waiting rooms, ticket inventory was quickly wiped out, driving prices through the roof. On StubHub, a pair of tickets for Swift’s May 27 concert at MetLife Stadium in the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area were listed for more than $76,000—apiece....

From Liverpool drawing with Fulham, Manchester United losing to Brighton and Erling Haaland scoring a double on his league debut for Manchester City. One recurring theme, however, was that of own goals. Four were scored in total across round one - two more than the current top scorers in the Premier League. In 2021, the Premier League saw its 1000th own goal scored when Tottenham’s Sergio Reguilon put one past his own goalkeeper....

“I believes that contributed because it was Muhsin, (Augusto) Palacios and now Kjell (Jonevret). So, the chopping and changing [of coaches] affected them,” Motale told Goal . Bucs tried in vain for a top eight berth in their Premiership finale against Golden Arrows, but it was always going to be an uphill task as they went down 2-1 in Durban. “For me, it’s no surprise that they are not in the top eight....

On Thursday, Tracey Haley spoke to the Associated Press about her 28-year-old son, Johntra Haley, who she said was the person responsible for shooting two Postal Service co-workers Tuesday. “He was a churchgoing person. It’s just the people at the job was bullying him,” she said. “My son went to that job faithfully every day, worked long hours … comes home stressed because they’re talking to him any kind of way....

45-year-old Tricia Jones died on June 9 after catching the variant earlier in 2021, Fox 4 News reports. Her family say she had been hesitant to get a COVID vaccine after she saw her mother, Deborah Carmichael, experience some side effects after getting her own vaccine. As a result, Tricia Jones decided to put off getting a COVID shot. Carmichael told Missouri’s KMBC 9 News: “She was also thinking, ‘Yes, you know, I might get it, but I’ll take my chances because you can recover....

The Frenchman has has netted six times in 27 appearances in all competitions this term, but Mourinho believes there is more to come from the world’s most expensive player now that he has made a number of tactical adjustments for the midfielder. Mourinho backs Pogba to be captain “I did nothing special with him mentally. His technical and psychological qualities are part of him,” Mourinho was quoted as saying by The Daily Express....

It was at Arsenal, under Wenger, that the Togo international made his biggest mark. In 2006, the striker was bought from Monaco by the Frenchman and went on to score 46 English Premier League goals in 104 appearances during his stay at the Emirates outfit. However, the İstanbul Başakşehir hitman’s short spell under Mourinho at Real Madrid, on a short-term loan from Manchester City in 2011, left a big impression on him such that he labelled Portuguese a ‘top’ manager....

Instead the 2-1 defeat was about as disjointed a performance as United have offered all season. One may suggest that it comes as no surprise since they were fielding a much-changed side with the Europa League final against Ajax to come, but this was hardly a team of under-23s out on the pitch. Rarely in this most inconsistent of seasons have Jose Mourinho’s side been so disappointing and so confused, despite the fact most of those on the pitch had a real point to prove heading into the game....

Red Devils 8/5 to be top NW club United ran out 4-0 winners over Everton at Old Trafford on Sunday, with Antonio Valencia, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Romelu Lukaku and Anthony Martial getting the goals — the last three scored in the final seven minutes. The result meant that United remain joint-top with Manchester City on 13 points after five matches, but that was not the key for Mourinho. The Portuguese coach was more concerned about making sure United capitalised on Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal all drawing over the weekend....