Among the more unusual news stories recently…Singapore uses a robot dog to encourage social distancing, an 11-year-old skateboarder does three complete turns in the air, and an injured hiker in Tasmania is found and rescued thanks to three little words.
Published in “Asia”
During the last few months, most countries around the world have spent weeks in lockdowns of different kinds. Now, governments are trying to decide if the time is right to start normal business activity again.
As countries around the world struggle to get the coronavirus pandemic under control, some governments are using the opportunity to increase their power. Many people worry that the governments will not give up this power once the crisis is over.
In recent news from the world of animals, scientists learn that koalas get water by licking rain off of trees, a very rare brown bear is caught on camera in Spain, and an aquarium in Japan asks people to FaceTime its eels.
Early Thursday morning, a deadly gas leak from a chemical factory in Visakhapatnam, India spread over a sleeping neighborhood, killing several and sending hundreds more to the hospital.
On Sunday, protesters in Hong Kong took part in their largest gathering in months in response to new pressure from China. Police broke up the singing, chanting protesters, who had gathered in a shopping mall.
Scientists around the world are racing to create and test vaccines to help protect people from the new coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. The scientists are making progress, but it will still be quite a while before any vaccines are ready.
After three elections and a year of political confusion, Israel will finally have a new government. Israel's prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his main opponent, Benny Gantz, have agreed to form a "unity government" together.
South Korea held a national election on Wednesday in spite of the coronavirus. The election results were a huge success for President Moon Jae-in's Democratic Party, largely because of the way the government has handled the coronavirus crisis.
The coronavirus is making life hard for people all over the world. But the difficult times have encouraged people to do what they can to make life better for others, and to give thanks to workers who are risking their lives to help out.
Nepal's government is requiring students in grades four through eight to take yoga classes. The government says the classes will give students exercise and improve their health. But some people don't like the idea because of yoga's connections to religion.