Lifestyle

China says tracking Covid cases now 'impossible' as infections soar

The true scale of Covid-19 infections in China is now "impossible" to track, the country's top health body said Wednesday, as officials warned of a rapid spread in Beijing after the country abruptly dropped its zero-tolerance policy.. And as the country steers a tricky path out of its zero-Covid policy towards living with the virus, many with symptoms have opted to self-medicate at home.

Ten years after Sandy Hook, a mother's grief and healing

Jenny Hubbard struggles to believe that 10 years have passed since her six-year-old daughter's murder at Sandy Hook Elementary during the deadliest school shooting in US history.. Difficult days include the first school day of every year and when other mass shootings occur, like at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, in May when 19 children and two teachers were killed.

Rich nations oppose new biodiversity fund

Creating a new global fund for biodiversity -- a core demand of developing countries at UN talks in Montreal -- "would take years" and be less effective than reforming existing financial mechanisms, Canada's environment minister said Tuesday.. He recalled the Global Environment Facility, currently the main multilateral mechanism for biodiversity, took seven years to create.

French comics world torn over author accused of promoting incest

Debate raged in France Tuesday over whether a star graphic novelist should be feted at a top comics festival despite work accused of evoking paedophilia and incest. . The debate has reignited with the decision by the illustrious Angouleme International Comics Festival to honour Vives at its next edition in January. 

Europe's record 2022 wildfires sent carbon emissions soaring: monitors

Wildfires that scorched across Europe this year burned a record land area and stoked carbon emissions, according to an update released on Tuesday by Europe's forest fire and satellite monitors. . Huge fires that raged across Spain and France meant that the countries saw the highest carbon emissions from June to August since the satellite monitor's records began in 2003.

LED lightbulbs enter Ukrainian resistance fight

Taken for granted by most consumers in rich countries, the humble LED lightbulb was identified on Tuesday as a strategic ally for Ukraine as Kyiv seeks to resist Russian bombing of its power grid.. Large parts of Ukraine face blackouts and regular load-shedding as the country's power grid buckles under repeated Russian air strikes.

'Everything is allowed': Vienna's dementia-friendly concerts

The elegant audiences for its world-famous New Year's Concert with the Vienna Philharmonic may be the epitome of buttoned-up reserve, all tailcoats and taffeta.. She tells the audience they can move around, go to the toilet if they wish, or even leave when they want.