International

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 09:26 UTC

  Ozone hole over Antarctica peaks at 24 million square kms, the highest for the last decade

  

  The annually occurring ozone hole over the Antarctic is one of the largest and deepest in recent years. Analyses show that the hole has reached its maximum size. The 2020 ozone hole grew rapidly from mid-August and peaked at around 24 million square kilometers in early October. It now covers 23 million km2, above average for the last decade, and spreading over most of the Antarctic continent.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 09:07 UTC

  China claims it found residues of Covid-19 in Brazilian beef packaging

  

  Two months after China said it found residues of Covid-19 in a batch of chicken wings imported from Brazil, Beijing authorities repeated the announcement, but this time in relation to Brazilian beef. Apparently, traces of Covid-19 were detected in beef packaging during an inspection carried out at the Port of Dalian, one of the largest in the country.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 08:57 UTC

  Climate change emergencies and consequences forecasted to double by 2030, UN report

  

  In the wake of heat waves, global warming, forest fires, storms, droughts, and a rising number of hurricanes, the UN weather agency is warning that the number of people who need international humanitarian help could rise 50% by 2030 compared to the 108 million who needed it worldwide in 2018.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 08:51 UTC

  EU/UK post-Brexit talks in “critical stage”: fisheries, disputes and fair competition stumbling blocks

  

  The European Union demanded a “substantive” movement on Tuesday from Britain on fisheries, dispute settlement, and guarantees of fair competition in their talks on a post-Brexit trade deal, with Germany saying they were at a “critical stage”.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 08:43 UTC

  Despite the Catholic Church but fearful of Covid-19, Mexicans venerate death saint, “Santa Muerte”

  

  Their arms raised towards the sky, worshippers of Mexico's “saint” of death pray before a giant cloaked skeleton asking for protection from the coronavirus and its devastating economic fallout. The Grim Reaper-like figure, whose devotees include drug cartel members as well as ordinary Mexicans, has been rejected by the Roman Catholic Church as blasphemous.

• Wednesday, October 14th 2020 - 08:31 UTC

  Pioneer ozone Mexican scientist and Nobel Prize dies

  

  Mario Molina, the winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1995 and the only Mexican scientist to be honored with a Nobel, died last week in his native Mexico City. He was 77 years old.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2020 - 09:01 UTC

  Oxfam claims IMF's loans during the pandemic have worsen poverty and inequality

  

  The vast majority of International Monetary Fund loans extended during the Covid-19 pandemic have suggested or demanded spending cuts that would worsen poverty and inequality, charity group Oxfam says.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2020 - 08:28 UTC

  Mexico claiming Aztec emperor Moctezuma's feather headdress from Austria

  

  Mexico's president said on Monday that he had given his wife the “almost impossible mission” of persuading Austria to return a feather headdress said to have been worn by Aztec emperor Moctezuma.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2020 - 08:22 UTC

  Two US academics and experts on auctions, awarded the Nobel Economics

  

  United States academics Paul Milgrom and Robert Wilson won the 2020 Nobel Economics on Monday for work on auctions hailed as benefiting buyers and sellers around the world of everything from fishing quotas to aircraft landing slots.

• Tuesday, October 13th 2020 - 07:20 UTC

  Obstinate Japanese finally visits Machu Picchu after waiting for seven months

  

  Peru opened the ruins of Machu Picchu for a single Japanese tourist after he waited almost seven months to enter the Inca citadel, while trapped in the Andean country during the coronavirus outbreak.