StrangeSights: Valentine’s Day voting in Bali; a museum for lost relationships; and, a happy ending for matchstick Eiffel Tower…
DAVID ADAMS provides a round-up of some stories on the odder side of life…
Indonesians vote to replace President Jokowi, candidates call for clean election
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters Indonesians cast their ballots on Wednesday across the South-East Asian archipelago in an election headlined by the race to succeed President Joko Widodo, whose influence could determine who takes the helm of the world’s third-largest democracy. Nearly 259,000 candidates are contesting 20,600 posts in the world’s biggest single-day election. A woman votes […]
Shehbaz Sharif to be coalition candidate for next Pakistan PM – spokeswoman
Islamabad, Pakistan Reuters Former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will be the nominee for Pakistan’s next premier to lead a new coalition alliance formed between different parties, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday after national elections last week returned a hung parliament. The Pakistan Peoples Party on Tuesday said it would support Sharif’s party to form a minority government, ending […]
Battle-scarred Taiwanese islands star in Oscar nominated film
Taipei, Taiwan Reuters A film about frontline Taiwanese islands repeatedly fought over with China during the height of the Cold War is vying to win an Oscar this year, with its director hoping the attention will help better explain tensions over Taiwan to a broader audience. Taiwanese-American director S Leo Chiang’s 19 minute-long Island in […]
Notre Dame Cathedral’s spire revealed in Paris as reconstruction continues after fire
Paris, France AP Scaffolding that shrouded the top of Notre Dame cathedral following a devastating fire in April 2019 is being removed, marking a milestone in its reconstruction. As the shell at the summit has been taken down in recent days, it has revealed the cathedral’s new spire for the first time, adorned with a golden rooster and cross, […]
Russia puts Estonia Prime Minister on wanted list for destroying Soviet monuments
Moscow, Russia/Vilnius, Estonia Reuters Russian police have put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania’s culture minister, and members of the previous Latvian parliament on a wanted list for destroying Soviet-era monuments, according to the Russian interior ministry’s database. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Kallas was wanted for the “desecration of historical memory”. Estonia’s Prime Minister […]
Haitian gangs’ growing funds, arsenals challenge planned intervention – report
Reuters Haitian gangs are increasingly economically autonomous, a Geneva-based criminal research group warned, using funds coerced from private businesses, local residents and families of kidnapping victims to pay for guns and soldiers. “Gangs have undergone a radical evolution, going from rather unstructured actors dependent on resources provided by public or private patronage to violent entrepreneurs,” […]
The Interview: Michele Clark Jenkins and Stephanie Perry Moore, co-editors of the Breathe Life Bible
ADELLE M BANKS, of Religion News Service, reports that after the death of George Floyd, a Black man killed by a white police officer, the co-editors of the new Bible say they felt compelled to do something…
Essay: Donkeys are unsung heroes in Ethiopia’s humanitarian crisis – and they could do even more with better support
Researcher MARTHA GEIGER, in an article first published on The Convresation, looks at the vital role donkeys are playing…
Trinidad and Tobago cleans up beaches following 12-kilometre-long oil spill
Reuters First responders and volunteers from Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday sought to contain an oil spill detected last week in the Caribbean country’s waters and clean areas of Tobago island’s coast already affected by the incident. Trinidad and Tobago’s coast guard first spotted the spill on 7th February, about six kilometres off the coast […]