Month: March 2021

The earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011, wiped away the ancient Japanese village of Kesen. In the past decade, a small group of survivors has valiantly tried to rebuild the community, but a grim reality has set in: This emptiness will last forever.

KESEN, Japan — For centuries, this village rode the currents of time: war and plague, the sowing and reaping of rice, the planting and felling of trees.

Then the wave hit. Time stopped. And the village became history.

When a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami struck coastal Japan on March 11, 2011, more than 200 residents of

Michigan will expand vaccine eligibility to everyone 50 and older as of March 22, and to everyone 16 and older as of April 5, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said on Friday. The announcement came a day after President Biden’s prime-time address, in which he directed states to expand eligibility to all adults by May 1.

“Nearly 1 million Michiganders of all races have already been safely vaccinated,” Ms. Whitmer, a Democrat, said in a statement. “I urge all eligible Michiganders to get one of the three Covid-19 vaccines.”

Currently, everyone in Michigan 65 and older is eligible for vaccination, as are

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He was accused of sexual assault decades after it allegedly occurred, in a way that makes police investigation all but impossible. Backed by his party and the most powerful man in the country, he maintained his innocence and held one of the most important legal positions in the country, even as questions continued to swirl around him.

Which man are you thinking of: Australia’s attorney general, Christian Porter, or the United States Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh?

Of course, there are key

There is no shortage of merchandise in China devoted to the former president of the United States, Donald J. Trump. There are commemorative coins, toilet brushes and cat toys; countless figurines, including updated versions of Mount Rushmore, plus all those flags, bumper stickers and hats from campaigns past and future. (Does anyone still believe all that “Make America Great Again” stuff was really made in America?)

Enter the Trump Buddha.

A furniture maker and decorator in southern China has cast a sculpture of Mr. Trump in ceramic whiteware, his legs crossed and hands serenely resting in his lap. He is

Public discussion of “herd immunity” often treats it like an on-off switch: When the U.S. reaches herd immunity, the crisis will be over; until then, the country has little immunity from Covid-19.

But that’s not right.

Herd immunity is more like a light dimmer. The more people develop immunity — either from having been infected or from being vaccinated — the less easily the virus will spread.

Nearly 30 percent of Americans have now had the virus, according to Youyang Gu, a data scientist. (That includes many people who have never taken a Covid test.) About 18 percent have received