Arts and Culture

On burrowed time: hunting with Ireland’s last rabbit catcher

by Joe STENSON Agence France-Presse CARNDONAGH, Ireland (AFP) — Steven McGonigal crosses a pockmarked field in the north of Ireland with a box of unruly ferrets while his dog, Fudge, sniffs out rabbit warrens. As the lurcher does his work, McGonigal covers the openings with nets before releasing a single ferret down the hole to flush out the occupants inside. For five minutes, the ferret races around the underground tunnels, poking its head out of […]

Amazon indigenous protesters vow indefinite roadblock

NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil (AFP) — Armed with spears and bows, dozens of indigenous protesters in Brazil vowed Thursday to maintain a roadblock on a key highway until the authorities listen to their demands for help fighting COVID-19 and deforestation. Members of the Kayapo Mekranoti ethnic group have been blocking highway BR-163 through the Amazon since Monday outside the northern town of Novo Progresso. But they vowed that they would no longer lift their blockade periodically to […]

New York museums, galleries to reopen from August 24

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York’s museums, art galleries and other cultural institutions will be allowed to reopen starting August 24, state governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday after a five-month shutdown due to the coronavirus. However, there will be mandatory face masks, timed ticketing with staggered entry and just 25 percent occupancy, he tweeted. The reopening does not include performing arts venues, which will remain shut until the end of the year. […]

Desecrated: blast leaves old Beirut’s heritage gems in ruins

by Hashem Osseiran Agence France-Presse BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — The monster explosion that levelled Beirut’s port darkened the Lebanese capital’s future but also blasted its past into oblivion, ravaging many beloved architectural and cultural treasures. Gems of the city’s heritage, including some of the region’s most elegant Levantine villas with their triple-arch windows, were damaged beyond repair. Many of old Beirut’s remaining colonial-era and earlier landmarks had already been damaged by 15 years of civil […]

China promotes its ‘heroic’ battle against virus in new exhibition

by Patrick BAERT BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese workers raise their fists beside a red communist flag in a painting displayed at a Beijing museum, one of nearly 200 works put together for a propaganda exhibition that hails, not the Maoist past, but the “heroic deeds” of frontline medics fighting the coronavirus. Since the discovery of the deadly contagion in Wuhan at the end of last year, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sought to […]

Defying virus, Latvian ocean rower plans next adventure

by Imants LIEPINSH Agence France-Presse RIGA, Latvia (AFP) — After spending 140 days rowing across the ocean without seeing another human being, Latvian adventurer Karlis Bardelis has some valuable tips for those learning to cope with coronavirus lockdowns. Bardelis started his nearly two-year journey in Peru in July 2018, reaching French Polynesia after nearly five months and finishing in Malaysia in June of this year. Along the way, he was rammed by sharks off Papua […]

Leopards, wolves vanishing from panda conservation areas: study

by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — It may be one of the most recognisable symbols of conservation, but efforts to protect the giant panda have failed to safeguard large mammals sharing its habitats, according to research published Monday showing dramatic declines of leopards and other predators. The giant panda has won the hearts of animal lovers around the world and images of the bamboo-eating creature with its ink-blot eye patches have come […]

‘One Good Thing A Day’ – Sending positivity through a chaotic world

by Alexandra Megia Eagle News QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) — Life seems to be at a stand still. Coronavirus is still running rampant with no discrimination. For our safety and the safety of others, people have been confined to their homes for months at a time. With good reason. The coronavirus is reported to have affected 17.2 million people and claimed 671,000 lives.  Black Lives Matter. Blue Lives Matter. All Lives matter. Does anything […]

Ancient Australian Aboriginal sites discovered underwater

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Archaeologists have for the first time found Aboriginal artefacts on the seabed off Australia, opening a door to the discovery of ancient settlements flooded since the last ice age, they reported Thursday. Hundreds of ancient stone tools made by Australia’s Indigenous people at least 7,000 years ago were discovered two metres underwater off the remote Western Australia coast, the research published in the PLOS ONE journal said. A second site nearby […]

A vanishing way of life in Danube Delta’s natural paradise

by Mihaela RODINA / Ionut IORDACHESCU Agence France-Presse SFANTU-GHEORGHE, Romania (AFP) — As the “last rower” left in one of the villages dotting Romania’s Danube Delta, Iosif Acsente is all too aware of how the traditions and vistas of the region are slowly disappearing — an issue brought into sharper relief by the coronavirus pandemic. Acsente has been plying the Delta with his wooden boat for more than four decades now from his home village […]

Top French historian slams Macron’s statue stance as another is attacked

by Fiachra GIBBONS Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A top French historian slammed President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday for trying to shut down debate on the country’s colonial past as a prominent statue linked to slavery was attacked in Paris. Macron all but ignored the wave of Black Lives Matter protests in a major television address last week except to warn that France would not take down statues of controversial historical figures. “The Republic […]

Court halts Mexico’s ‘Maya Train’ over indigenous health rights

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A Mexican court has ordered the suspension of work on the “Maya Train,” a controversial railroad through Mayan lands in the country’s southeast, after an indigenous community filed an injunction. The $6.2 billion rail link is a pet project of leftist President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who said Wednesday that while the court challenge had “political overtones,” his government would comply with the ruling. “We will comply with the decisions […]