COVID cases rise in the Americas, nations must also monitor other viruses – PAHO
Sao Paulo, BrazilReuters COVID-19 cases in the Americas increased 10.4 per cent last week from the previous one, but countries must also pay attention to a rise in other respiratory viruses in the region, the Pan American Health Organization said on Wednesday. The Americas saw 1,087,390 new COVID cases and 4,155 deaths last week. A […]
Mexico death toll from storm Agatha rises to 11, with 33 missing
Mexico City, MexicoReuters The death toll caused by Hurricane Agatha in Mexico has risen to 11, with another 33 missing and heavy rains likely to continue, the Governor of the southern state of Oaxaca said on Wednesday. Agatha made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane on Monday afternoon, touching down with 169 kph winds near […]
Russians reach centre of Ukraine industrial city; US to give Kyiv advanced rockets
Kyiv, UkraineReuters Russian forces fought their way into the centre of Ukraine’s industrial city of Sievierodonetsk on Wednesday, edging closer to claiming a big prize in their offensive in the eastern Donbas region. But in a boost for Ukraine, locked in a grinding struggle against Russia’s invading army, the United States announced a new $US700 […]
Wheat can’t be “weapon of war”, Pope says, urging lifting of Ukraine block
Vatican CityReuters Pope Francis appealed to authorities on Wednesday to lift a block on exports of wheat from Ukraine, saying the grain could not be used as a “weapon of war”. Many millions of people, particularly in the world’s poorest countries, depend on wheat from Ukraine, the Pope told a general audience of thousands of […]
Ukraine’s giant seed bank at risk of being lost as war rages
London, UKReuters In underground vaults near Ukraine’s battlefields, the genetic code for nearly 2,000 crops is in danger of being permanently destroyed. The risk came into sharp focus earlier this month when a research facility near Ukraine’s national seed bank was damaged, according to Crop Trust, a non-profit organisation set up by the United Nations […]
Books: Looking to Thessalonians for a new way forward on the issue of religious freedom
DAVID ADAMS reads Michael F Bird’s thought-provoking examination of what religious freedom looks like in an age of secularisation…
Vatican official describes frenzy to turn London deal around
Vatican CityAP A former Vatican official testified Tuesday that he was under intense “psychological pressure” to finalise a deal over the Holy See’s troubled investment in a London property, but entered into the negotiations without a lawyer and didn’t realise the deal got the Vatican nothing in return. Fabrizio Tirabassi testified for some seven hours […]
StrangeSights: The Last Supper (complete with hot sauce); Psyduck becomes most wanted in China; and, a new nerve test for Vietnam…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
After two months, a scarred Shanghai’s COVID-19 lockdown ends
Shanghai, ChinaReuters Following two months of frustration, despair and economic loss, Shanghai’s draconian COVID-19 lockdown ended at midnight on Wednesday morning, prompting celebrations tempered with fear that an outbreak could return. Most of Shanghai’s 25 million residents can now freely leave home, return to work, use public transport and drive their cars – a moment […]
Death toll in Brazilian floods rises to 106, 10 still missing
Sao Paulo/Brasilia, BrazilReuters At least 106 people have died and 10 are still missing in Brazil, the government said on Tuesday, as heavy rains tore through urban towns in the north-eastern part of the country for a sixth consecutive day. A man carries a ladder amid rubble from houses damaged by heavy rains, in the […]