Month: July 2020

Angry mobs of protesters smashed train stations and set fire to buildings as violence swept through Santiago after a hike in metro fares. Sebastián Piñera, Chile’s president, declared a state of emergency in the capital after widespread arson and clashes with police in the heart of South America’s wealthiest country. On Friday night Santiago was shrouded…

A British Cheddar and an American blue cheese have surpassed French cheeses to take top awards at a prestigious international competition, prompting an outraged French newspaper to describe the results as “sacrilege”. This year’s World Cheese Awards, held in Bergamo, Italy, have left a sour aftertaste in France, which considers itself the home of fine…

The mysterious condition ‘Havana Syndrome’ in which dozens of US and Canadian diplomats experienced strange symptoms which doctors suspected were caused by a sonic weapon, was probably a psychological phenomenon, experts have said. Between 2016 and 2018, embassy staff in Cuba complained of headaches, dizziness, nausea and fatigue, and the US government even accused the…

Twenty-eight passengers were forced to wait for three hours on a halted train before being disinfected by firefighters after a journey to Brussels airport was stopped by an anthrax scare.  An abandoned suitcase was noticed by a conductor on the service from the Belgian coastal resort of Ostend to the airport on the outskirts of…

Les tests salivaires pourraient contribuer à la surveillance de la circulation du nouveau coronavirus dans la population, selon l’Académie de médecine, qui préconise de faire une étude comparative avec les tests basés sur un prélèvement profond dans le nez. Elle recommande de “procéder dès à présent à une étude épidémiologique limitée à deux départements des…

SPRUCE PINE, NC — There’s not a lot to like about Perdita, a cat with a soul-sucking stare that’s up for adoption in North Carolina. Just looking into her eyes is enough to trigger a spine-chilling shudder about what injuries Pedita might inflict if she had a chance to protract her claws, bare her teeth…

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump’s often harsh rhetoric about immigrants has increased bullying based on race or ethnicity in local schools across the country, according to a report by The Washington Post. The Post’s analysis found that of 28,000 news stories mentioning Trump since 2016, “Trump’s words, those chanted by his followers at campaign…

Actor-singer Kenny Rogers, the smooth, Grammy-winning balladeer who spanned jazz, folk, country and pop with such hits as “Lucille,” “Lady” and “Islands in the Stream” and embraced his persona as “The Gambler” on record and on TV, died Friday night. He was 81. He died at home in Sandy Springs, Georgia, representative Keith Hagan told…

We Americans have never needed our neighbors as much as we do right now. We can’t go into each other’s homes as we could before the new coronavirus turned our lives upside down, which makes the displays of genuine kindness all the more important and, if appearances suggest anything at all, it’s now prolific. Most…

MIDDLETOWN, RI — Amid the coornavirus crisis, Gov. Gina Raimondo has repeatedly called for Rhode Islanders to be creative in their ways to make it through the shutdowns. Middletown’s Potter League for Animals is doing just that. On Thursday, the shelter announced that it is “putting the ‘fun’ back in fundraising” by offering to draw…