MANILA: A growing measles outbreak in the Philippines killed at least 25 people last month, officials said Thursday, putting some of the blame on mistrust stoked by a scare over an anti-dengue fever vaccine. Most of the dead are children and the toll is expected to rise as more cases
THE HAGUE: Dutch scientists said Wednesday they are baffled after 20,000 dead or dying guillemots washed up on North Sea beaches in a phenomenon not seen for decades. The fish-eating seabirds have been washing up between the northern Wadden Islands and southwestern Zeeland all showing symptoms of severe starvation, a
DAMASCUS: A convoy delivered aid to tens of thousands of displaced Syrians in desperate need of assistance near the Jordanian border on Wednesday, the first such delivery in three months, the Red Crescent and the United Nations said. It was the largest ever humanitarian convoy to reach the makeshift Rukban
RIO DE JANEIRO: Brazilian mining giant Vale on Wednesday lost its licence to operate the Lanjeiras dam, vital to its biggest mine in southeastern Minas Gerais state, the firm said. The decision comes two weeks after another dam storing mining waste collapsed in the village of Brumadinho 160 kilometrEs away
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit Hungary next week, the White House said Wednesday, as the United States seeks to build ties with nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban following rifts. US national security adviser John Bolton said he met at the White House with Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter
BONN: Facebook users should be asked for consent before data collected by the group’s subsidiaries Whatsapp and Instagram and on third-party websites is combined with their social network account, Germany’s competition authority said Thursday. Neither should users who refuse permission for their data to be merged be shut out of
Soaring demand for durians in China is being blamed for a new wave of deforestation in Malaysia with environmentalists warning vast amounts of jungle is being cleared to make way for massive plantations of the spiky, pungent fruit. Grown across tropical Southeast Asia, the durian is hailed as the “king
In a lush field in the heart of the Japanese mountains, a herd of glossy black cows roam happily — prime examples of the area’s Hida brand of wagyu beef. With consumption of the famed meat known for its melt-in-the-mouth tenderness and marbled fat on the decline in Japan, producers
In Spain, cutting “jamon” is a fully-fledged job that brings prestige and money, a man’s world which women are only just starting to take on. High-level cutters of the country’s world-famous dry-cured ham legs, which can fetch 3,000 euros (US$3,400) in markets like China, are employed by top restaurants, at
Sausages on the menu, sausage motifs on the wallpaper, sausage mobiles hanging from the ceiling — and to top it off, a sausage-shaped pillow on your bed. What sounds like a vegetarian’s nightmare is the audacious dream come true of Claus Boebel, a fourth-generation butcher and proprietor of what he