The International Olympic Committee says a positive COVID-19 test may not mean an athlete is excluded from the Games. The IOC's executive director Christophe Dubi spoke from Geneva and says they want to avoid spoiling years of preparation at the last minute. The IOC this week promised Olympic teams worldwide that the Winter Games in Beijing will go ahead as planned next month. With just under four weeks to go until the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) believes the host city is in impeccable condition. To see the full video, c

President Joe Biden and members of Congress are solemnly marking the first anniversary of the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Biden assailed then-President Donald Trump and his supporters, saying that ``they failed'' to overturn democracy. The ceremonies at the Capitol were widely attended by Democrats, but almost every Republican on Capitol Hill was absent. It's a stark reminder of the rupture between the parties, worsening since hundreds of Trump's supporters violently pushed past police, broke through the Capitol's windows and interrupted the certification of Biden's victory. Biden said t

The deadliest single fire in Philadelphia in at least a century has killed 13 people, including seven children, and sent two people to hospitals. Those numbers could grow after officials said at a news conference hours after the fire early Wednesday that 26 people were staying at the duplex rowhome. It appears that as many as eight people were able to escape. The cause is still being investigated. A fire official says there were four smoke detectors in the building but that none appeared to be working. The Philadelphia Housing Authority owned the house. It says the alarms had been inspected a

The British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell has been convicted of helping lure teenage girls to be sexually abused by the late Jeffrey Epstein. The verdict announced Wednesday capped a monthlong trial featuring accounts of the sexual exploitation of girls as young as 14. Jurors deliberated for five full days before finding Maxwell guilty of every count except one. She faces years in prison. It's an end long sought by women who spent years fighting to hold Maxwell accountable for abusing them. Her lawyers said she's being used as a scapegoat for crimes committed by Epstein, who killed himself in 2

Authorities say a gunman who went on a deadly shooting rampage in several locations in the Denver area was targeting at least some of his victims. Police say the suspect in Monday's shootings killed five people, including one who succumbed to her injuries Tuesday. They say the suspect wounded an officer who then shot and killed the gunman in a shopping area in the Denver suburb of Lakewood. Police identified the gunman Tuesday as 47 year old Lyndon James McLeod. They say McLeod was on the radar of law enforcement and that he knew some of his victims. Police declined to say what he'd been inve

US health officials are tweaking isolation restrictions for asymptomatic Americans who test positive for the coronavirus. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention yesterday announced that people with the virus can leave isolation after five days, down from 10 days. People exposed to the virus can also leave quarantine after five days. Officials said the guidance is in keeping with growing evidence the coronavirus is most infectious in the two days before and three days after symptom onset.

A white suburban Minneapolis police officer has been found guilty of first-degree and second-degree manslaughter in the death of Daunte Wright, a Black man. Kim Potter said she meant to use her Taser to try to stop the 20 year old Wright from fleeing during an April 11 traffic stop but accidentally grabbed her gun instead. She was convicted on both counts Thursday. First-degree manslaughter requires prosecutors to prove that she acted recklessly, while second-degree manslaughter requires them to establish that she acted with culpable negligence.

The US has authorized a Pfizer pill that can be taken at home to reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration announcement comes as America braces for a wave of new infections from the Omicron variant that is threatening already-strained hospitals. Pfizer's prescription pill is the first U-S medication that doesn't require an injection or an I-V. The drug was authorized for high-risk patients who are most likely to get severe illness.

Madagascar's police minister and an air force mechanic succeeded in swimming for 12 hours to safety after their helicopter crashed in the Indian Ocean. Officials said Gen. Serge Gelle, 57, the Secretary of State for the Gendarmerie, was discovered in the water by a fisherman in a canoe who brought him to shore. Another passenger, Chief Warrant Officer Jimmy Laitsara, also swam to the beach at Mahambo. Gelle described his swim to safety in a short video posted to Twitter by Madagascar's defense ministry. Gelle appeared on a lounge chair, still in his military camouflage, his hands pale and wri