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Bill and Esther Ilnisky spent nearly seven decades together as Christian ministers and missionaries, including stints in the Caribbean and Middle East before preaching for 40 years in Florida. When they died minutes apart of COVID-19 this month, it may have been a hidden blessing, their only child, Sarah Milewski, said — even if it was a devastating double loss for her. Her father was 88, her mom 92. Their 67th wedding anniversary would have been this weekend.
Source: apnews.com
Lloyd Austin made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Sunday, meeting President Ashraf Ghani in Kabul. In a statement, the Afghan presidential palace said Austin and Ghani discussed the peace process and rising violence. The Taliban and the Afghan government have blamed each other, and the Islamic State, for a wave of bombings and assassinations. The current deadline to bring US troops home, 1 May, was agreed between the Trump administration and the Taliban last year.
Source: theguardian.com
Some 600,000 Olympic tickets purchased by overseas residents will be refunded, as will another 300,000 Paralympic tickets, Toshiro Muto, the chief executive of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee told a news conference.
Source: reuters.com
An earthquake struck northeastern Japan on Saturday, hitting areas devastated by the 2011 disaster and generating a tsunami of 1 metre, public broadcaster NHK said. The quake hit the coast of Miyagi Prefecture at 6:26 p.m. (0926 GMT) and had a magnitude of 7.2 at a depth of 60 km (40 miles), the Japan Meteorological Agency said. NHK warned the public against coming anywhere near the shore.
Source: news.rthk.hk
Sci-Hub, which was set up by Alexandra Elbakyan, claims to "remove all barriers in the way of science" by allowing users to avoid paying large fees to publishers such as Elsevier, Wiley and Springer. It is estimated to include more than 80 per cent of the world's currently published scientific papers and has been acclaimed by academics in favour of open access. Site offers access millions of scientific research papers which detectives say were illegally obtained through phishing attacks.
Source: independent.co.uk
A witness said the man tripped and dropped his child as the elephant charged toward him, creating a tense standoff between man and beast. The father is facing a child endangerment charge for allegedly bringing his 2-year-old into an elephant habitat at the San Diego Zoo on Friday, according to San Diego police. Both the elephants and the guests are unharmed.
Source: nbcsandiego.com
World number one Novak Djokovic will delay his comeback to the ATP Tour following a muscle injury after deciding to skip the Miami Open starting next week to spend more time with his family.
Source: reuters.com
On Thursday night, France announced new restrictions on 16 regions, including Paris and Nice, though President Emmanuel Macron has refused to reimpose a national lockdown as cases soar. On Monday, large parts of Italy including the cities of Rome and Milan once again entered a strict lockdown, while in Spain, all regions except for Madrid have decided to restrict travel over the upcoming Easter holidays. The German capital of Berlin has halted the planned easing of its lockdown too, quoting a rising number of Covid-19 cases.
Source: cnn.com
A volcano has erupted south-west of Iceland's capital Reykjavik, the country's meteorological office says. It says the fissure is about 500-700 metres long at Fagradalsfjall on Reykjanes peninsula. The last eruption there was some 800 years ago. In 2010, the eruption of another volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, brought air traffic to a halt across Europe.
Source: bbc.com
Cristiano Ronaldo has said the 2019-20 campaign was a strange but positive year after being named Serie A player of the season. Ronaldo scooped the award selected by fellow players, coaches and officials, with the Juventus star rewarded for leading the side to a ninth successive Serie A title thanks to 31 goals in the league.
Source: eurosport.com
Rain has helped uncover a small bull idol at ancient Olympia in what the Greek culture ministry said on Friday was a “chance discovery”. It said the bronze idol, found intact, was spotted by an archaeologist at the sprawling ancient site that inspired the modern Olympic Games during a scheduled visit by ministry officials. In a preliminary evaluation, the idol has been dated to the Geometric period, about 1050-700BC. Burn marks suggest it was one of thousands of votive offerings to Zeus, the leading ancient Greek deity.
Source: theguardian.com
Finland has been named the happiest place in the world for a fourth year running, in an annual UN-sponsored report. The World Happiness Report saw Denmark in second place, then Switzerland, Iceland and the Netherlands.
Source: bbc.com
He will take part in another exhibition fight on May 29, but he has not yet named his upcoming opponent. The 54-year-old revealed his bout will take place at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida at the start of summer.
Source: express.co.uk
Grammy-winning French electronic music duo Justice have accused Justin Bieber of illegally infringing on a trademark with the cover design of his new album, Justice, released on Friday. The duo’s logo is their name with the letter T designed as a crucifix, a design trope that Bieber uses for his album cover. Bieber’s new merchandise also features a contested crucifix design.
Source: theguardian.com
Malaysia said Friday it will order all North Korean diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, an escalation of diplomat brawl over Malaysia’s move to extradite a North Korean suspect to the United States for money laundering charges.
Source: apnews.com
On Wednesday evening she had the task of announcing to Tanzanians that President John Magufuli had died and now Vice-President Samia Suluhu Hassan has taken his place as the country's head of state. First elected as Magufuli's running mate in 2015, she was re-elected last year along with him and, according to the constitution, she should serve out the rest of the five-year term in the top job. The 61-year-old is affectionately known as Mama Samia - in Tanzanian culture that reflects the respect she is held in, rather than reducing her to a gendered role.
Source: bbc.com
A 75-year-old Asian woman was assaulted in San Francisco. Police say her attacker was also responsible for the attack of an 83-year-old Asian man in a separate incident.
Source: cnn.com
The scientist who won the race to deliver the first widely used coronavirus vaccine says people can rest assured the shots are safe, and the technology behind it will soon be used to fight another global scourge — cancer. Ozlem Tureci, who founded the German company BioNTech with her husband Ugur Sahin, was working on a way to harness the body’s immune system to tackle tumors when they learned last year of an unknown virus infecting people in China.
Source: apnews.com
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