LONDON — Scientists searching for the origins of COVID-19 have zeroed in on a short list of animals that possibly helped spread it to people, an effort they hope could allow them to trace the outbreak back to its source. Researchers analyzed genetic material gathered from the Chinese market where the first outbreak was detected … Read more
A college student has lost all three members of his immediate family following a highway crash in the United States’ northeast. David Dryerman, 54, his wife Michele, 54, and their 17-year-old daughter Brooke were killed on the Garden State Parkway in New Jersey about 11.55pm on Saturday. The Woodcliff Lake trio were in a Tesla … Read more
Danish Queen Margrethe is in hospital following a fall at her summer residence, a palace spokesperson has told the Ritzau news agency. The 84-year-old queen, who has retained her title despite abdicating earlier in 2024, fell on Wednesday evening at Fredensborg Castle north of Copenhagen. Margrethe is in good condition but will remain at the … Read more
KAVUMU, Congo — Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard. Last month, the World Health Organization declared the outbreaks in Congo and about a dozen other African countries a global health emergency. And in … Read more
CHONBURI, Thailand — Only a month after Thailand’s adorable baby hippo Moo Deng was unveiled on Facebook, her fame became unstoppable both domestically and internationally. Zookeeper Atthapon Nundee has been posting cute moments of the animals in his care for about five years. He never imagined Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s newborn pygmy hippo would become … Read more
KAMITUGA, Congo — Slumped on the ground over a mound of dirt, Divine Wisoba pulled weeds from her daughter’s grave. The 1-month-old died from mpox in eastern Congo in August, but Wisoba, 21, was too traumatized to attend the funeral. In her first visit to the cemetery, she wept into her shirt for the child … Read more
A car has hit and killed a toddler who appeared to have left her home after being put to bed on Friday. The two-year-old girl “got out of her bed and walked out of the house” while her parents were working around the family home in Allen Township, a small community about an hour southeast … Read more
Hand-held radios used by Hezbollah have detonated across Lebanon’s south and in Beirut’s southern suburbs, a security source and a witness say, further hiking tensions with Israel a day after similar explosions launched via the group’s pagers. A Hezbollah official told the Associated Press walkie-talkies used by the group exploded as part of blasts heard … Read more
MULTAN, Pakistan — Pakistani police arrested the key suspect in the gang rape of a woman polio worker who was assaulted by three men during last week’s vaccination campaign, officials said Wednesday. Two other suspects are still at large. The assault on Thursday in Jacobabad, a district in the southern Sindh province, was one in … Read more
K0TWA, Zimbabwe — Since childhood, Loveness Bhitoni has collected fruit from the gigantic baobab trees surrounding her homestead in Zimbabwe to add variety to the family’s staple corn and millet diet. The 50-year-old Bhitoni never saw them as a source of cash, until now. Climate change-induced droughts have decimated her crops. Meanwhile, the world has … Read more
