World-renowned Kenyan conservationist and fossil hunter Richard Leakey, whose groundbreaking discoveries helped prove that humankind evolved in Africa, died on Sunday at the age of 77, the country’s president said. The legendary paleoanthropologist remained energetic into his 70s despite bouts of skin cancer, kidney and liver disease.  “I have this afternoon… received with deep sorrow the sad news of the passing away of Dr. Richard Erskine Frere Leakey,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said in a statement late Sunday. Born on December 19, 1944, Leakey was destined for paleoanthropology — the study …

France has lowered the age of its mask mandate to 6-year-old children, officials announced Saturday. The news comes just days before schools reopen Monday, following the winter holiday break. While the mandate requires children to wear masks in indoor public places, the mandate will also include outside locations in cities like Paris and Lyon where an outside mandate is already in place. The wildly contagious omicron variant, French authorities said Saturday, has resulted in four consecutive days of over 200,000 new infections. The chief executive of Britain’s National Health Service …