Vatican experts uncovering gilded glory of Roman god of strength statue hit by lightning
Visitors drawn to the ancient wonder at the time included Pope Pius IX, who later added the work to the papal collection. The statue depicting Hercules after he finished his labours had the last names of the pope — Mastai — and of the banker, Pietro Righetti, added to its title.
Foreign military sales and direct commercial sales data show US is selling weapons to world’s autocracies
Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been the world’s biggest weapons dealer, accounting for about 40 per cent of all arms exports in a given year. In general, these exports are funded through grants or sales. There are two pathways for the latter category: foreign military sales and direct commercial sales.
Mother’s Day: How Massachusetts daughters without moms find solace and comfort together
The prevailing wisdom today tends to be the “continuing bonds” theory, which says grief is to be carried, and relationships continue and change with a loved one, even after their death.
Explaining suicide decline: Restricted access to dangerous pesticides, but firearm suicide rates surge in US
Means restriction works in part because suicide is often an unplanned act. The time between a suicidal impulse arising and a person acting on that impulse can be as little as five minutes. A person who dies by suicide has traditionally been represented as someone at the end of a long, tortured battle with depression, but this is generally not the case.
How Nintendo’s concept of ‘Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ transformed film making
Anyone with even a cursory interest in Zelda could recite these facts in their sleep, but stating them plainly hammers home a simple truth: There was not a snowball’s chance on Death Mountain that Nintendo would reinvent the series a second time. Duly, Breath’s follow-up, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, out tomorrow, is very much a sequel.
Sudan war forces South Sudanese to return to a country unable to support them, itself riddled with fighting
More than 40,000 people – mostly South Sudanese – have crossed the border since Sudan erupted in conflict nearly a month ago. Many are returning to areas unable to support them and still riddled with fighting. Five years of war and unprecedented floods have pushed South Sudan into a dire situation with more than 75 per cent of the nation’s 12 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and nearly three million on the brink of starvation.
How sugar creates junk brains: Bingeing on sweets and sweetened beverages for as little as six weeks can make you ‘stupid’
A BBC documentary The Truth About Sugar, revealed one serving of Pad Thai noodles has nearly 9.5 teaspoons of sugar; a package of sweet and sour chicken with rice has 12.5 teaspoons; and a serving of dry bran flakes, a breakfast that many think is a healthier choice, has 3 teaspoons.
US gun violence culture: All people in America send their children to school but always worry if they are going to get shot
Experts point to a few contributing factors: a general increase in all types of gun violence in recent years; the proliferation of firearms amid lax gun laws; the effects of the coronavirus pandemic, including the stress of long months in quarantine; a political climate unable or unwilling to change the status quo in meaningful ways; and an increased emphasis on violence in US culture.
Ukraine grain growers risk their lives to strip their farms of explosives ahead of critical planting season
More than a year since Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian agriculture industry is starting to see the full impact of what’s been dubbed “the breadbasket of the world,” whose affordable supplies of wheat, barley and sunflower oil are crucial to Africa, the Middle East and parts of Asia where people are going hungry.
How Kenyan starvation cult morphed into ‘Doomsday evangelism’ in Shakahola Forest
Mackenzie planned the mass starvation of cult members in three phases: first children, then women and young men, and finally the remaining men and he himself, according to six of the people including the investigator, who declined to be named due to the confidential nature of the details.
