He is the creator of one of the world's best-known manga, but "One Piece" author Eiichiro Oda shuns stardom with a carefree attitude that evokes the beloved hero of his work.. - A native of southern Japan's Kumamoto region, Oda entered Japan's competitive manga world at 17, when his action-packed maiden work "Wanted!"
Pope Francis's upcoming visit to Canada, where he is expected to apologize to Indigenous peoples for more than a century of abuses at state schools run by the Church, has provoked hope but also wariness.. The occasional church-goer says of Francis's visit: "It's a good thing... because if he didn't this question would always remain outstanding."
Indigenous Canadians have been waiting and hoping for years for an apology from the pope for abuses at state schools run by churches in the last century, where some 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly enrolled.. - The pope has already apologized.
Is it better for the environment if you buy a brand-new cotton T-shirt or a recycled one? . Recycling has obvious benefits, but the process shortens cotton fibres and so usually has to be mixed with some oil-based material to keep it from falling apart.
Sri Lanka's six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was set to be sworn in as president Thursday, with officials saying he would set up an all-party unity cabinet to confront the country's economic crisis.. Political sources said Wickremesinghe will invite all political parties to join a cabinet of 30 ministers to steer the country out of its worst economic crisis since independence from Britain in 1948.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi was expected to resign Thursday after efforts to bring the country's fractious parties to heel failed, kicking off a snap election campaign before the government had even fallen.. Enrico Letta, head of the centre-left Democratic Party, which voted in support of the prime minister, said toppling the Draghi government meant "going against Italy and Italians' interests".
The European Central Bank is set to raise its interest rates for the first time in over a decade on Thursday as fears of a gas supply cut cloud the outlook for the eurozone economy.. - Lost transmission - The last time the ECB raised rates in 2011, the emergence of a European debt crisis quickly forced the central bank to reverse course.
Europe anxiously awaits the return of Russian gas supplies on Thursday at the end of scheduled work on a crucial pipeline, as heavily dependent Germany accuses the Kremlin of using energy as a "weapon".. "Russia is using energy as a weapon and therefore, in any event, whether it's a partial major cut off of Russian gas or total cut off...
One of the longest queues in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo is for the exit, as thousands of people line up outside the immigration office seeking passports to escape the country's economic crisis.. I will wait in this queue until I get a passport."
As a teenager stuck in Hong Kong's pressure-cooker school system, Eric Yip found his escape in writing poetry -- never dreaming that one day his work would go on to win a top prize halfway across the world.. - Queer poetry in spotlight - Anglophone poets who spoke to AFP agreed their output was hardly mainstream, but said writing from the margins allowed them to challenge Hong Kong's norms.
