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Grunt, hoo, pant, scream: Chimps use complex vocal communication
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Scientists exploring the evolutionary origin of language have detected a vocal communication system among wild chimpanzees more complex and structured than previously known, with a dozen call types combined into hundreds of...
Boeing’s Starliner capsule nears rendezvous with space station in uncrewed test
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – Boeing’s new crew capsule Starliner neared a rendezvous in orbit on Friday with the International Space Station (ISS), a day after launching successfully on a highly anticipated do-over test flight without astronauts aboard. The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 Starliner was due to arrive at the space station at about 7:10 p.m. EDT...
N.Korea reports over 200,000 fever cases for 5th day amid COVID wave -Yonhap
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea reported more than 200,000 new patients suffering from fever for a fifth consecutive day as the country fights its first confirmed coronavirus outbreak, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Saturday, citing the North’s state broadcaster. The ongoing COVID wave, declared last week, has fuelled concerns over a lack of...
Locked-down Shanghai finds new cases, breaking “zero COVID” streak
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) – Shanghai announced its first new COVID-19 cases outside quarantined areas in five days on Friday and imposed stricter curbs in two districts, but did not signal any change to the planned end of a prolonged city-wide lockdown on June 1. The commercial hub of 25 million, in its seventh week of lockdown,...
N.Korea reports over 200,000 fever cases for 5th day amid COVID wave -Yonhap
SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea reported more than 200,000 new patients suffering from fever for a fifth consecutive day as the country fights its first confirmed coronavirus outbreak, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said on Saturday, citing the North’s state broadcaster. The ongoing COVID wave, declared last week, has fuelled concerns over a lack of vaccines,...
Nicaraguan bishop, alleging police harassment, goes on hunger strike
MANAGUA (Reuters) – A Nicaraguan bishop critical of President Daniel Ortega’s government began a hunger strike on Friday after taking refuge in a Catholic church indefinitely in the capital Managua, alleging he had been targeted by the police. Rolando Alvarez, bishop of the Diocese of Matagalpa and Esteli in the north of the country, said...
Two cases of monkeypox confirmed in Canada, health agency says
(Reuters) – The Public Health Agency of Canada said on Thursday two cases of monkeypox have been detected in the province of Quebec, the first confirmed cases in Canada.
EU exploring ways to use Russian oligarchs’ frozen assets to rebuild Ukraine
BERLIN (Reuters) -The European Union is looking into ways of using the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs to fund the reconstruction of Ukraine after the war, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday. The commission proposed on Wednesday a 9 billion euro loan to Ukraine to keep the country going as it...
U.S. says ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero Rusesabagina ‘wrongly detained’
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States has determined that Paul Rusesabagina, portrayed in the film “Hotel Rwanda” sheltering hundreds of people during the African nation’s 1994 genocide, has been “wrongfully detained,” the State Department said on Thursday. Rusesabagina, 67, was sentenced last September to 25 years in prison over eight terrorism charges tied to an organization...
U.S. CDC advisers recommend COVID booster for children 5-11
(Reuters) – A panel of advisers to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday voted to recommend that all children aged 5 to 11 should receive a COVID-19 vaccine booster dose at least five months after completing the primary vaccination course.
U.S. launches $3.5 billion program to speed development of up carbon removal tech
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Energy Department launched a program on Thursday to fund four large-scale projects across the country that can remove carbon dioxide from the air, investing $3.5 billion in a nascent technology the Biden administration says is necessary to meet a goal of achieving net zero emissions by mid century. The agency...
Israel’s ruling coalition becomes minority after lawmaker quits
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel’s ruling coalition became a minority in parliament on Thursday when an Arab lawmaker from a left-wing party quit, leaving Prime Minister Naftali Bennett with a more precarious grip on power. The defection by Ghaida Rinawie Zoabi leaves Bennett controlling 59 of the 120 seats in the Knesset. In a letter to the...
U.S. CDC says COVID vaccine-related myocarditis much lower for children than teens
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday said reports of heart inflammation linked to the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine have been much lower in 5- to 11-year-old boys than in adolescents and young men, representing only a slightly elevated rate than normal. The agency, in a presentation to...
EU health regulator backs using AstraZeneca COVID shot as booster
LONDON (Reuters) – The European health regulator on Thursday endorsed the use of AstraZeneca’s COVID vaccine, Vaxzevria, as a booster. The recommendation, made by a committee of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), encompasses adults who have either been previously vaccinated by Vaxzevria or an mRNA vaccine, such as the ones made by Pfizer and BioNTech...
Bollywood sex worker biopic resonates in India’s brothels
MUMBAI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – The brothels look brighter, the alleyways are cleaner, and a stirring soundtrack accompanies the protagonists, but a new Bollywood film set in Mumbai’s red-light district has struck a chord with India’s roughly 1 million sex workers. “Gangubai Kathiawadi” is a biopic telling the story of a sex worker of the...
20th May
EU ambassador to UK says bloc won’t change mandate in Brexit talks
LONDON (Reuters) – The European Union will not give a new mandate to renegotiate post-Brexit trade rules for Northern Ireland agreed as part of the Brexit deal, the bloc’s ambassador to London said on Thursday. Britain is lining up a new law that would effectively override parts of a Brexit deal and has said that...
Number of people illegally in EU grew 22% in 2021 – Eurostat
(Reuters) – The number of people found to be illegally present in the European Union increased by 22% to reach nearly 700,000 in 2021, according to European statistics office data released on Thursday. Syrians made up the largest number, followed by Algerians and Afghans. The number of Afghans increased by about 55% compared with 2020,...
Ukraine to seek damages from Russia over huge environmental damage
KYIV (Reuters) – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused huge environmental damage for which Kyiv will seek compensation in international courts, Ukraine’s environment minister said on Thursday. Ruslan Strilets, Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources, said the war had destroyed ecosystems, deprived wildlife of its natural habitat and contaminated land in one of the...
Italy’s Catholic Church at crossroads over sexual abuse investigation
SAVONA, Italy (Reuters) – Francesco Zanardi has spent the past 12 years documenting sexual abuse of minors by Catholic priests in Italy, filling a vacuum he says is caused by the refusal of the country’s Church thus far to launch a major investigation. When Italian bishops meet next week to elect a new president, Zanardi...
Half a million Indians flee floods in northeast brought by rain
GUWAHATI, India (Reuters) – More than 500,000 people have fled their homes in India’s northeastern state of Assam to escape heavy floods triggered by pre-monsoon rains that drowned seven, authorities said on Wednesday, as they warned the situation could worsen. One of the world’s largest rivers, the Brahmaputra, which flows into India and neighbouring Bangladesh...
EU sues five countries over failure to implement standards for audiovisual media
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Commission on Thursday said it had referred Czech Republic, Ireland, Romania, Slovakia and Spain to the EU Court of Justice over their failure to implement the revised directive for audiovisual media services. The commission said it had asked for financial sanctions against the countries as they had failed to transpose...
Record numbers of people displaced in their own countries in a ‘world falling apart’
GENEVA (Reuters) – In a world beset by conflicts and natural disasters, the number of people who fled their homes and sought shelter within their own countries hit a record high of close to 60 million by the end of last year, according to new data. Disasters, including weather events such as cyclones and floods...
Britain offers smallpox shot as monkeypox cases spread in Europe
LONDON (Reuters) – A smattering of monkeypox cases in Britain has prompted authorities to offer a smallpox vaccine to some healthcare workers and others who may have been exposed, as a handful more cases were confirmed in parts of Europe. Monkeypox is a usually mild viral illness, characterised by symptoms of fever as well as...
South Africa flooding leaves survivors traumatised, homeless
DURBAN (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – When Nozipho Sithole closes her eyes to sleep, she still hears the screams of her neighbour’s two young children as they were swept away by the floodwaters that killed hundreds of people in South Africa last month. Like Sithole, many of those living in a community hall in the eastern...
German school shooting leaves one person wounded, children safe
BERLIN (Reuters) -Shots were fired at a German school in the northern city of Bremerhaven on Thursday and one person, who was not a student, was wounded, police said, adding an armed person had been taken into custody. On its website, the Lloyd Gymnasium, which has around 1,150 students, posted a notice saying: “Dear parents,...
G7 pledges billions for Ukraine ‘to get through this’
KYIV/SLATYNE, Ukraine (Reuters) – The Group of Seven agreed on Thursday to provide Ukraine with $18.4 billion to pay its bills, funds that Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said would speed up Kyiv’s victory over Russia and which were just as important as “the weapons you provide”. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters at...
Monkeypox worries Portuguese health body but transmission risk is low
LISBON/MADRID (Reuters) -The health authority in Portugal, the country with the most monkeypox cases, said on Thursday it was worried about the spread of the disease but asked people to stay calm as the transmission risk was low. Portugal has reported 14 cases of monkeypox and there are around 20 suspected infections, the spokesperson for...
20 U.S. states back restoring California strict emissions rules
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – California and 19 other U.S. states and the District of Columbia on Thursday backed efforts by President Joe Biden to restore the most populous state’s ability to set its own strict tailpipe and zero-emission vehicle standards. Last week, a group of 17 states including Ohio and Texas filed a challenge in the...
19th May
Australian leaders focus on undecided voters in final campaign push
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s political leaders raced to get their message out to undecided voters in marginal seats on Thursday, two days before a general election, with economic problems dominating the last stretch of a tough campaign. The election has become too close to call, polls issued on Wednesday showed, as the ruling conservative coalition...
Nigerian court denies bail for separatist leader -lawyer
ABUJA (Reuters) -A Nigerian court on Wednesday denied a bail request for separatist leader Nnamdi Kanu, who is standing trial on terrorism charges and for broadcasting falsehoods, one of his defence lawyers said. A judge said Kanu has to account for his whereabout following previous bail and refusal to attend court hearing, the lawyer told...
