With the help of Boykin spaniels who sniff out ornate box turtles hiding in prairie grass, researchers are able to monitor turtle health. They say the turtles are sentinels of environmental and ecosystem health that also impacts humans. (May 10)
Germany's powerful Catholic progressives are openly defying a recent Holy See pronouncement that priests cannot bless same-sex unions. They are offering such blessings at services in about 100 different churches all over the country this week. The blessings at open worship services are the latest pushback from German Catholics against a document released in March by the Vatican's orthodoxy office.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo says New York will require students of the state's and New York City's public university and college systems to get vaccinated to attend in-person classes this fall. (May 10)
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center shows President Joe Biden with a steady approval of a majority of Americans, which is buoyed in particular by the public's broad backing for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic. (May 10)
Bangalore (India) (AFP) – Empty streets, closed shops and a busy crematorium as a stricter virus lockdown is imposed in India's tech-hub of Bangalore to tackle rising Covid-19 cases. The country is suffering from one of the worst outbreaks in the world, reporting nearly 370,000 fresh infections and more than 3,700 new deaths on Monday.
In normal times it's the last place you'd want to get puncture marks on your skin. But these are not normal times and people have been queuing to get inside the fabled Count Dracula's castle in Transylvania to get their COVID jabs. Imaginative officials came up with the idea of transforming the mythical mansion into a vaccination centre to help speed up Romania's inoculation programme.
Afghanistan has suffered its deadliest attack in a year outside a girls' school in Kabul. At least 50 people died in a bombing, mostly students, and about 100 were injured.
Editorial director of VoteBeat Jessica Huseman explains the measures Republicans in Arizona are going through to recount ballots from the 2020 presidential election.
Renewed clashes at the revered Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem ahead of a planned Jewish nationalist march have left hundreds injured. Palestinians hurled projectiles at Israeli officers in riot gear who fired rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas as a planned march marking Israel's 1967 takeover of the holy city threatened to further inflame tensions.
A minke whale was rescued after it got stranded in London's River Thames, hundreds of miles away from its natural habitat. Officials lost sight of the creature overnight but it was later on spotted a few miles along the river.
Four people have been injured, three critically after a man went on a stabbing rampage at a supermarket in Dunedin on Monday.Police said a suspect, who one witness described as having a psychotic episode, had been arrested after what seemed to be a random attack and would appear in court on Tuesday. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said there was no evidence the attack was a domestic terrorism incident.
The World Health Organization (WHO)'s decision to give node to China's Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine will facilitate access to jabs among the struggling African countries that fell victim to vaccine nationalism, according to an African policy expert.
