HOUSTON, Texas — Residents applying for a passport are experiencing unprecedented wait times caused by ongoing staffing shortages due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Harris and Galveston County, and government officials. Andres Rodriguez, a representative of passport services for the U.S. Department of State, said there are fewer employees, adding to delays. “We had ramped down operations for COVID-19, …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A hit-and-run crash on Christmas Eve in southwest Houston was believed to have killed a child and a man, but on Sunday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said a medical examiner confirmed the child was a woman. At the scene on Friday, Sean Teare, the chief of vehicular crimes with the district attorney’s office, said …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A hit-and-run crash on Christmas Eve in southwest Houston was believed to have killed a child and a man, but on Sunday, the Harris County District Attorney’s Office said a medical examiner confirmed the child was a woman. At the scene on Friday, Sean Teare, the chief of vehicular crimes with the district attorney’s office, said …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The University of Houston forfeited the American Athletic Conference opener against Cincinnati Tuesday “due to health and safety protocols,” the men’s basketball program announced Sunday. The game was slated to be played at 7 p.m. at the Fertitta Center. According to a press release from UH, the game will be considered a no-contest by the NCAA, …

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A man was killed in a crash involving a Houston police patrol car in northwest Houston Sunday afternoon, according to authorities. obtained surveillance footage of the crash, which shows the patrol car traveling northbound on North Shepherd and crashing into a car making a left turn onto Thorton Road. The crash happened at about noon. The …

The world’s most powerful space telescope on Saturday blasted off into orbit, headed to an outpost 1.5 million kilometres (930,000 miles) from Earth. The James Webb Space Telescope, some three decades and billions of dollars in the making, left Earth enclosed in its Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou Space Centre in French Guiana. It is expected to take a month …

ANKARA: Turkey’s Financial Crimes Investigation Board (MASAK) imposed an 8 million lira ($751,314) fine on the local unit of cryptocurrency exchange Binance over violations found during liability inspections, the Anadolu news agency said on Saturday. The fine imposed on BN Teknoloji was the first of its kind after the authority took on responsibilities to oversee crypto asset service providers in …

ISLAMABAD: The COVID-19 has claimed two more lives in Pakistan during the past 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 28,907. According to the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC), 358 more people were infected with the coronavirus. A total of 52,050 samples were tested in the past 24 hours, out of which 358 turned out to be positive, …

MELBOURNE: Embattled England made four changes on Saturday for the crunch Boxing Day Test in a bid to keep the Ashes alive, while Australia handed experienced seamer Scott Boland a surprise debut. Joe Root’s team must win at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of an expected 70,000 fans to stay in the hunt after heavy defeats in the first …