Louisiana

Many of the millions of Texans who lost power for days after a deadly winter blast overwhelmed the electric grid now have it back, but the crisis was far from over in parts of the South with many people lacking safe drinking water.

A rare deep freeze in Texas that raised demand for power forced the U.S. state's electric grid operator on Monday to impose rotating blackouts that left nearly 3 million customers without electricity.

President Joe Biden declared an emergency on Monday, unlocking federal assistance to Texas, where temperatures on Monday ranged from minus 2 to minus 22 Celsius.

A representative-elect from Louisiana died of Covid-19 on Dec. 29, the first member of the U.S. Congress to succumb to the disease.

Republican Luke Letlow, 41, had been elected to Louisiana's 5th district and was due to be sworn in on Sunday.

Louisiana governor John Bel Edwards announced the news on Twitter with a "heavy heart."

Americans awoke on Thursday to celebrate a Thanksgiving Day transformed by the coronavirus pandemic, with the traditional Macy's parade limited to a television-only event and many families resigned to meeting on video for turkey dinner.

A Turkish national athlete who went to Mexico in March has been stranded in the country for months initially because of flight suspensions due to the coronavirus pandemic and then Tropical Storm Cristobal.

Harry and Meghan moved to LA after completing their final royal engagements in the UK back in March. They left just before the UK was sent into lockdown, meaning Harry was miles away from Prince Charles when he tested positive for the coronavirus. Charles has since recovered and is spending lockdown in Scotland with Camilla, the duchess of Cornwall.

Iran's foreign minister said on June 2 that a plane had taken off from arch-foe the United States carrying scientist Sirous Asgari after his apparent release from a U.S. prison.

"Good news, a plane carrying Dr. Sirous Asgari has taken off from America. Congratulations to his wife and family," Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote in a post on his Instagram account.

China's commercial hub of Shanghai announced the restart of classes for younger students amid falling virus cases, while New Orleans's famed restaurants were allowed to reopen with a limited number of diners.

The U.S. has passed its peak in new coronavirus cases, the nation's president said on April 15. 

Speaking during a White House Coronavirus Task Force briefing, Donald Trump said new cases are declining in the New York metropolitan area, the city of Houston, Texas and the city of New Orleans in Louisiana and cases in Detroit and the Denver metro area are flat.

Ten newborn babies have reportedly caught coronavirus from infected medical staff at a hospital in Romania. 

The hospital in the western Romanian city of Timisoara is under investigation by authorities after the babies tested positive for the virus, according to Romanian media reports.