In today's news roundup, New Zealand delays its election because of a coronavirus outbreak, Democrats officially choose Joe Biden to run for president, and a ninja museum in Japan gets robbed.
Published in “World”
Among the more unusual news stories recently…scientists discover that some bats use "baby talk" to communicate with their cubs, someone in China just paid $325,000 for a phone number, and a town in Switzerland gets hit with "chocolate snow".
Last year, a group working to protect sea animals rescued two beluga whales from an aquarium in China and flew them to Iceland. The belugas have now been moved into a protected ocean area off the coast of Iceland.
On Tuesday, soldiers in Mali marched on Bamako, the country's capital. They captured the country's leaders. Mali's president later appeared on TV, announcing that he was stepping down. The soldiers in charge say they plan to hold new elections.
United Kingdom students who want to go to university will now have their A-level test grades based on predictions by their teachers instead of a government formula. The sudden change comes in response to strong protests over the formula's fairness.
Dogs are being trained to sniff out COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. So far, dogs seem to be quite good at detecting the illness, but it's not clear yet how useful these skills will be.
The US Postal Service is at the center of serious worries about the US election for president in November. The concerns are focused around efforts to interfere with plans for voting by mail.
In today's news roundup, Lebanon's government has stepped down after protests following the huge explosions on August 4, New Zealand is working to understand and control a new coronavirus outbreak, and a skateboard move is renamed after 40 years.
In today's news roundup, scientists use poop stains to locate new penguin colonies from space, Russia has approved a coronavirus vaccine before testing is complete, and Australia struggles to find workers to shear its sheep.
One of the most unexpected results of the coronavirus pandemic has been a shortage of coins. The situation has gotten so bad in the US, that the supply of coins to banks is being limited.
On Tuesday, Joe Biden announced that Kamala Harris will be his running mate in the 2020 US election for president. If Mr. Biden is elected, Ms. Harris will become the first woman and the first person of color to serve as vice-president.