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  • Pope Francis visits Iraqi Christians, set to lead prayer for 'victims of war'

    Pope Francis, on his historic Iraq tour, visits on Sunday Christian communities that endured the brutality of the Islamic State group until the jihadists' "caliphate" was defeated three years ago. The 84-year-old, travelling under tight security, will lead a prayer "for the victims of the war" in Mosul, an ancient crossroads whose centre was reduced to rubble by fierce fighting to oust the Islamic State group."We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion," Francis said at an interfaith service Saturday, one of the many stops on the first-ever papal visit to the war-scarred country.Pope Francis' trip to Iraq as a "pilgrim of peace" aims to reassure the country's ancient, but dwindling, Christian community and to expand his dialogue with other religions. The leader of the world's 1.3 billion Catholics on Saturday met Iraq's top Shiite Muslim cleric, the reclusive Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who agreed that Iraq's Christians should be able to live in "peace"."We all hope that this visit will be a good omen for the Iraqi people," Adnane Youssef, a Christian from northern Iraq, told AFP. "We hope that it will lead to better days."The Christian community of Iraq, a Muslim-majority country of 40 million, has shrunk from 1.5 million before the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein to only 400,000 now, about one percent of the population."This very important visit will boost our morale after years of difficulties, problems and wars," said an Iraqi Christian leader, Father George Jahoula. Rebuilding efforts Back in 2014, when IS militants swept across one third of Iraq, Pope Francis had said he was ready to come to meet the displaced and other victims of war. Seven years later, after a stop early Sunday in the Kurdish north of Iraq, he will see for himself the devastated Old City of Mosul and efforts to rebuild it.Pope Francis will also visit Qaraqosh, further east in the Nineveh Plain, which is one of Iraq's oldest Christian towns.It was largely destroyed in 2014 when IS rampaged through the area, but its residents have trickled back since 2017 and slowly worked at rebuilding their hometown. To honour the pope, local artisans have woven a two-metre (6.5-foot) prayer shawl, or stole, with the "Our Father" and "Hail Mary" prayers carefully hand-stitched in golden thread in Syriac, a dialect of the language spoken by Jesus Christ that is still used in Qaraqosh.Holy mass in stadium Security will be extra-tight in the north of Iraq, where state forces are still hunting IS remnants and sleeper cells. Many thousands of troops and police have been deployed as the pope has criss-crossed the country, taking planes, helicopters and armoured convoys to cover more than 1,400 kilometres (870 miles) in-country.The other major challenge is the Covid-19 pandemic, as Iraq has recently been in the grip of a second wave, with a record of more than 5,000 cases in a day.Iraqi authorities have imposed lockdown measures to control crowds, but thousands of faithful are expected to flock to a stadium later Sunday in the northern city of Arbil to hear the pope.Arbil, the capital of Iraq's oil-rich northern Kurdish region, has been a relative haven of stability and a place of refuge for many Christians who fled IS.Several thousand seats in the Franso Hariri stadium will be left empty to avoid creating a super-spreader event when Iraqis come to hear the Catholic leader, known here as "Baba al-Vatican", deliver the holy mass.(AFP)

  • Zona rossa e arancione, cosa cambia domani

    Cambio di colore delle regioni da domani, lunedì 8 marzo: Campania in zona rossa, Friuli Venezia Giulia e Veneto in zona arancione. L'epidemia di coronavirus non frena anzi accelera e la situazione in Italia peggiora con l'indice Rt che sale a 1,06, come evidenzia il report Iss, superando la soglia di 1 dopo 7 settimane. La Lombardia nel frattempo è entrata in zona arancione rafforzata, come buona parte del Piemonte. L'Emilia Romagna è in zona arancione, ma la zona rossa già adottata per le province di Bologna e Modena è destinata ad estendersi anche altre province. Lazio e Liguria rimangono in zona gialla. Il quadro è complesso: "Dieci regioni e province autonome hanno un Rt puntuale maggiore di 1". Si tratta di Basilicata, Emilia Romagna, Lombardia, Marche, Molise, Piemonte, Trento, Toscana, Valle d'Aosta e Veneto. "Si osserva un peggioramento anche nel numero di Regioni e Province autonome che hanno un tasso di occupazione in terapia intensiva e aree mediche sopra la soglia critica: sono 9, erano 8 la settimana precedente", evidenzia ancora l'Iss sottolineando: "Il tasso di occupazione in terapia intensiva a livello nazionale è complessivamente in aumento (26% rispetto al 24% della scorsa settimana). Complessivamente, il numero di persone ricoverate in terapia intensiva è in netto aumento da 2.146 (23 febbraio) a 2.327 (02 marzo). Il numero di persone ricoverate in aree mediche è passato da 18.295 a 19.570". Zona rossa: Campania, Molise, Basilicata. Zona arancione: Lombardia, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Abruzzo, Piemonte, Emilia Romagna, Piemonte, Umbria, Toscana, province autonome di Bolzano e Trento. Zona gialla: Lazio, Liguria, Calabria, Puglia, Sicilia e Valle d'Aosta. Zona bianca: Sardegna. Campania zona rossa da domani dunque con il bollettino di sabato 6 marzo che registra 2.842 contagi e 13 decessi. Il tasso di positività nella regione è dell'11,22%. "Come era ampiamente prevedibile ormai siamo in zona rossa perché questo livello di contagio non si può più reggere, perché la ricaduta sulla rete ospedaliera diventa grande e alla lunga insostenibile", ha detto il governatore Vincenzo De Luca. Il Veneto passa in zona arancione con un bollettino quotidiano, per quanto riguarda sabato 6 marzo, di 1.505 nuovi contagi e 25 morti. "Siamo zona arancione. Il dato fa comprendere quanto corra velocemente l'infezione. Le proiezioni sono preoccupanti. Siamo davanti ad una mutazione del virus che è dal 43% al 100% più contagioso. Speriamo sia l'ultima", le parole del governatore Luca Zaia. Per il Friuli Venezia Giulia, il passaggio dal giallo alla zona arancione si concretizza mentre vengono registrati 12 morti e 823 nuovi contagi. "L'ingresso in zona arancione dall'8 marzo -dice il governatore Massimiliano Fedriga - è riconducibile non tanto all'indice Rt quanto al repentino e vistoso aumento dei contagi nel nostro territorio regionale che ci colloca a rischio alto". La Sardegna, unica regione in zona bianca, da domani vara controlli anti Covid 19. Tutti coloro che vogliono raggiungere l’Isola, prima di imbarcarsi su linee aeree o marittime, devono registrarsi nel sito della Regione e presentare copia della ricevuta di avvenuta registrazione con la carta d’imbarco e il documento d’identità in corso di validità. Nella piattaforma istituzionale, i passeggeri in arrivo possono dimostrare l'avvenuta vaccinazione (prima e seconda dose) o di essersi sottoposti a tampone molecolare, con esito negativo, eseguito non oltre le 48 ore dalla partenza. Chi arriva senza aver fatto il test né il vaccino, una volta sbarcato dovrà sottoporsi al tampone rapido nelle aree che saranno predisposte nei porti e negli aeroporti. In caso di risultato negativo, il passeggero dovrà ripetere l’antigenico dopo 5 giorni, mentre nel caso risultasse positivo, dovrà sottoporsi a tampone molecolare, a proprie spese e ha l’obbligo di isolamento fiduciario, dall’ingresso in Sardegna per i successivi dieci giorni. L’ordinanza resterà in vigore fino al 24 marzo. Sempre in serata, il presidente Solinas ha firmato anche una seconda ordinanza che mantiene immutate le disposizioni sulla didattica a distanza per le scuole Superiori e sul contingentamento dei posti sui mezzi pubblici regionali.

  • How early humans' quest for food stoked the flames of evolution

    How early humans' quest for food stoked the flames of evolution. A love of complex smells and flavours gave our ancestors an edge and stopped hangovers

  • Sow today, reap in summer

    Sow today, reap in summer. Spring is nearly upon us, time to get sowing

  • Irish dissident republican urges armed groups to forgo violence

    Irish dissident republican urges armed groups to forgo violence. Killings turn people away from cause, says former hardline leader Des Dalton

  • May I have a word about… why Covid sounds so much better in German

    May I have a word about… why Covid sounds so much better in German. One nation excels above all others in virus vocabulary

  • 'It's a moral decision': Dr Seuss books are being 'recalled' not cancelled, expert says

    'It's a moral decision': Dr Seuss books are being 'recalled' not cancelled, expert saysThe titles that Dr Seuss Enterprises said it would cease printing contained racist stereotypes, English professor Philip Nel says Six Dr Seuss books will no longer be printed because of racist imagery. Photograph: John Nacion/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

  • Simple steps to make skin good to glow

    Simple steps to make skin good to glow. It isn’t long until you can visit the experts again but until then here’s how to achieve glowy skin at home

  • Train derails killing 1, injuring 40 in southern Pakistan

    Eight cars of a Lahore bound train derailed in southern Pakistan early Sunday, killing at least one passenger and injuring 40 others, officials said. The accident took place between the Rohri and Sangi stations in southern Sindh province and caused a temporary suspension of railway traffic in both directions, said Kamran Lashari, a railway official. Train accidents are common in Pakistan, where successive governments have paid little attention to improving the poorly maintained signal system and aging tracks.

  • When will we realise that without sick pay the ill must work?

    When will we realise that without sick pay the ill must work?. Research reveals that financial support of infected workers benefits everyone, but the government won’t budge

  • Cricket: India combined empathy and 'kick in the backside' to best England

    To get the best out of a bubble-weary squad in a COVID-19 world is never easy, but India combined empathy with a "kick in the backside" approach to get the job done in the just-concluded home test series against England. Virat Kohli and most of his team mates have been hopping from one bio-secure bubble to another since last year's Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates. Soon after the Twenty20 competition, they headed to Australia where they won the test series 2-1 before rushing home to host England.

  • China February exports post record surge from COVID-19-depressed 2020 levels

    China's February exports grew at a record pace from a year earlier when COVID-19 battered the world's second-biggest economy, customs data showed on Sunday, while imports rose less sharply. Exports in dollar terms skyrocketed 154.9% in February compared with a year earlier, while imports gained 17.3%, the most since October 2018. In the January-February period, exports jumped 60.6% from a year earlier, when lockdowns to contain the pandemic paralysed the country's economic activity.

  • Queen ‘will not watch’ Harry and Meghan Oprah interview – report

    Harry and Meghan’s televised conversation with the famous talk show host will air in the US on Sunday and in the UK on Monday.

  • Stevie Smith’s poems suit a pandemic, even if they’re as soothing as sandpaper

    Stevie Smith’s poems suit a pandemic, even if they’re as soothing as sandpaper. Fifty years after the poet’s death, works that were never meant to console are newly resonant

  • Tuch, Fleury lead Golden Knights past Sharks 4-0

    Alex Tuch scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury earned his NHL-leading fourth shutout in his return from a rare night off to help the Vegas Golden Knights beat the San Jose Sharks 4-0 on Saturday. Mark Stone and Reilly Smith also scored. Tuch and Fleury did the rest of the damage as the Golden Knights swept the back-to-back in San Jose and extended their winning streak to six games.

  • Josh Gordon scores 2 TD, including game-winning Hail Mary in FCF debut

    This guy might have the talent to stick in the Fan Controlled Football league.

  • Chilean and Argentinian wines with a sense of place

    Chilean and Argentinian wines with a sense of place. Compared to France, Spain and Italy we know relatively little about the different wine regions of South America, but it’s time we started to explore them properly

  • TV tonight: more post-Troubles darkness in Bloodlands

    TV tonight: more post-Troubles darkness in BloodlandsThe suspenseful drama starring James Nesbitt continues. Plus: Attenborough’s Life in Colour. Here’s what to watch this evening Murder in mind … James Nesbitt and friends in Bloodlands. Photograph: Steffan Hill/BBC/HTM Televison

  • How Marco Pierre White’s White Heat launched a culinary revolution

    How Marco Pierre White’s White Heat launched a culinary revolution. MPW was the first of the rock ’n’ roll chefs, and many followed in his flaming footsteps

  • 10 of Britain's best seaside hotels

    10 of Britain's best seaside hotelsWith domestic travel on the horizon again, here’s our pick of British hotels offering glorious beaches and stunning sea views The Cary Arms on Babbacombe beach, Torquay Photograph: PR