Pope, Japan PM, discuss hopes for nuclear-free world
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis and the Prime Minister of Japan, the only country to be hit by atomic bombs, met on Wednesday and discussed their common hope for a world free of nuclear weapons. Francis and Fumio Kishida met for about half an hour in a receiving room of the Vatican’s audience hall just before […]
Oligarchs to patriarchs: EU eyes sanctions for Orthodox head
Rome, Italy/Brussels. BelgiumAP The European Union plans to sanction the head of the Russian Orthodox Church in its next round of measures to punish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU diplomats said Wednesday, opening a new religious front in Europe’s sanctions regime. The proposal, which must be approved by the 27-member bloc, drew immediate criticism from […]
EU plans Russian oil ban; Ukraine reports heavy eastern assault
Kyiv, Ukraine/Brussels, BelgiumReuters The European Union proposed its toughest sanctions yet against Russia on Wednesday, including a phased oil embargo, as Moscow pressed an offensive in eastern Ukraine and close Russian ally Belarus announced large-scale army drills. Nearly 10 weeks into a war that has killed thousands of people and flattened Ukrainian cities, Russia was […]
Ukraine, UN and Red Cross renew efforts to evacuate civilians from Mariupol
Reuters A convoy of buses left Mariupol on Wednesday in a new attempt by Ukraine, the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross to evacuate civilians from the southern Ukrainian city, the regional governor said. The convoy was heading for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. A view shows […]
Books: An historical saga with a mystery at its heart
JEANETTE SEVERS reads Natasha Lester’s historical novel, ‘The Paris Secret’…
North Korea fires ballistic missile towards sea off east coast, South says
Seoul, South KoreaReuters North Korea has fired a ballistic missile toward the sea off its east coast on Wednesday, South Korea’s military said, about a week after the North vowed to develop its nuclear forces “at the fastest possible speed”. The launch, which marks the North’s 14th major weapons test this year, comes days before […]
StrangeSights: Raising hairball awareness; skinniest skyscraper; and, maths…on TikTok…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Bolivian boy turns photographer on iconic salt flats – with help from a dinosaur
Salar de Uynui, Bolivia Reuters On the otherworldly white salt flats of Bolivia’s Salar de Uyuni, an 11-year-old boy has become a photography success taking quirky and creative pictures of tourists – with a little help from a blue plastic dinosaur toy. Piter Condori makes use of an unusual trick of perspective on the iconic salt flats, […]
Mexican officials clear out migrant camp at Texas border
Mexico City, MexicoReuters Mexican authorities have cleared a makeshift encampment of migrants in the northern border city of Reynosa that had grown over the past year to hold some 2,000 people, Mexico’s migration institute (INM) said on Tuesday. Many of the migrants, who are mainly from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Haiti, were taken to […]
India releases 2020 death data ahead of WHO COVID mortality study it objects
New Delhi, IndiaReuters India registered about 475,000 more total deaths in 2020 than the previous year, government data released months ahead of schedule on Tuesday showed, as the World Health Organization readies its estimates of excess COVID-19 deaths whose methodology New Delhi has opposed. Some experts estimate India’s actual COVID death toll is as high […]