Earth Day – US, other countries deepen climate goals at summit; Pope says planet “on the brink”
Washington, DC Reuters The United States and other countries hiked their targets for slashing greenhouse gas emissions at a global climate summit hosted by President Joe Biden, an event meant to resurrect US leadership in the fight against global warming. Biden unveiled the goal to cut emissions by 50 to 52 per cent from 2005 […]
India posts world record COVID cases with oxygen running out
New Delhi, IndiaReuters India recorded the world’s highest daily tally of 314,835 COVID-19 infections on Thursday as a second wave of the pandemic raised new fears about the ability of crumbling health services to cope. Health officials across northern and western India, including the capital, New Delhi, said they were in crisis, with most hospitals […]
Pope promises Lebanon visit, calls for end to political deadlock
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis promised Lebanon’s Prime Minister-designate Saad al-Hariri on Thursday that he would visit the country but only after political forces put aside differences for the good of the people. The Vatican said Hariri, who will also meet with Italian leaders during a short visit, held talks with the pope for about 30 […]
Millions face hunger as Myanmar crisis worsens, United Nations says
Reuters Food insecurity is rising sharply in Myanmar in the wake of the military coup and deepening financial crisis with millions more people expected to go hungry in coming months, the United Nations said on Thursday. Up to 3.4 million more people will struggle to afford food in the next three to six months with […]
NASA extracts breathable oxygen from thin Martian air
Los Angeles, USReuters NASA has logged another extraterrestrial first on its latest mission to Mars: converting carbon dioxide from the Martian atmosphere into pure, breathable oxygen, the US space agency said on Wednesday. The unprecedented extraction of oxygen, literally out of thin air on Mars, was achieved Tuesday by an experimental device aboard Perseverance, a […]
No-where as worrisome for COVID-19 as South America, Brazil especially concerning – Pan American Health official
Bogota, ColombiaReuters South America is now the most worrying region for COVID-19 infections, as cases mount in nearly every country, the director of the Pan American Health Organization said on Wednesday. “No-where are infections as worrisome as in South America,” Director Carissa Etienne said during a weekly news conference. Senior citizens wait to receive a […]
Great Works: Caravaggio’s ‘The Calling of Saint Matthew’
DAVID ADAMS looks at what’s regarded as one of the greatest artworks of Western Christianity…
Biden expected to recognise massacre of Armenians as genocide – sources
Washington DC, USReuters US President Joe Biden is expected to formally recognise the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during World War I as an act of genocide, sources said on Wednesday, a move likely to infuriate Ankara and further strain already frayed ties between the two NATO allies. The move would be largely […]
Climate, not COVID, the biggest worry among young Europeans – poll
Thomson Reuters Foundation Young people in Europe worry most about climate change – even in the midst of a pandemic that has hammered the global economy and turned daily life upside-down around the world, a poll showed on Wednesday. Almost half of the respondents in the survey of more than 22,000 young people in 23 […]
Indian COVID-19 patients die as ventilators run out of oxygen; infections surge
Satara, IndiaReuters At least 24 COVID-19 patients in western India died on Wednesday when the oxygen supply to their ventilators ran out, amid a nationwide shortage of the gas and a surge in infections. Maharashtra State Health Minister Rajesh Tope confirmed the deaths at a hospital in Nashik city and said the hospital’s oxygen supply […]