MUNICH—Drinking alone may not be good for you, but in times of corona—the virus, not the beer—drinking with thousands of revelers in a packed tent at a beer festival wouldn’t be a great idea either. That’s why Munich’s legendary beer bacchanalia, the Oktoberfest, has been canceled. The annual event, which typically draws more than 6 million visitors each year, was scheduled to take place Sept. 19 to Oct. 4. Munich Mayor Dieter Reiter would have opened the annual Oktoberfest festivities by tapping the first keg and passing the first glass of beer to Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder, as tradition dictates.…
Author: zenger.news
HARARE, Zimbabwe—Quickfresh co-founder Rumbidzai Mbambo makes daily runs supplying fresh produce to her growing list of clientele. Today is no different. Before winding up the last of her scheduled deliveries and returning to the warehouse in Waterfalls, the 27-year-old Mbambo sets course for Glen View, a high-density suburb in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has been on lockdown since March 30. In mid-May, a day before earlier movement restrictions were slated to end, President Emmerson Mnangagwa extended the lockdown indefinitely. The government has stated that these measures were imposed in a bid to curb the possible spread of the…
The sprawling metropolis Mumbai, home to a burgeoning population of 13 million, has become the epicenter of coronavirus cases in the country as the municipality ramps up testing, particularly in the city’s impoverished areas. The city’s coronavirus death toll was 1,758, with 50,000 cases reported in the metropolitan region and the neighboring satellite towns as of June 9, according to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation. Municipal workers have been busy disinfecting Kurar village, one of the worst-hit areas. Further exacerbating the situation, health professionals have been threatened, chased and beaten for setting up screening camps in various parts of India. A team…
They know the risks of attending an “unauthorised assembly” in Hong Kong. Thousands come anyway. They sidestep the Great Firewall of China to organize via online messaging. You can’t use Telegram in mainland China, but the messaging app allows Hong Kong users to mask their phone numbers so police can’t find them. A crowd of protesters flash “S-O-S” in Morse code with their cellphone flashlights. A woman posed with an umbrella that says “Independent Investigation on the police force” in Chinese, and “F**k PoPo” in English, in Hong Kong’s Chater Garden on June 9, 2020. (Carlos Albertosi/Zenger) This is the…
While the U.S. economy faces the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression and many businesses are forced to close or reopen slowly, one industry is booming: video games. And not just any video games. The new Nintendo Switch came out on top as people stuck at home bought it in droves when the pandemic began in March. Collaborative, multiplayer games, casually referred to as “couch-cooperative,” such as “Animal Crossing: New Horizons,” “Mario Party” and “Mario Kart” that can be played virtually with others, are making a huge comeback in the gaming world and driving Nintendo’s profits through the roof.…
New findings of the remains of dozens of ancient mammoths are helping archaeologists better understand aspects related to the migration, diet, gender, morphological characteristics and pathologies of the Pleistocene period. Remnants of at least 60 mammoths and 15 human burials have been discovered in Mexico City during construction of the Felipe Ángeles International Airport on the site of the Santa Lucía military airbase in Zumpango. The findings represent “a very important sample to carry out many studies in the world on these mammals,” said Pedro Francisco Sánchez Nava, national coordinator of archaeology of the National Institute of Anthropology and History,…
A ban on the sale of cigarettes in South Africa since the country’s COVID-19-induced lockdown began in March has cost the economy millions of rands daily in the form of tax revenue lost to illicit sales of smokes, a variety of industry officials say. This comes after the South African government had banned the sale of tobacco and alcohol as part of a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of a deadly corona virus. COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the new corona virus, has claimed the lives of 1,480 people in the country as of June 15, according to…
Young farmers in Africa are continually striving to achieve food security, but many people in poor communities could starve if investment in agricultural projects is not sustained. Noticeable increases in farming activity on the continent, particularly among youth, suggest Africa has the capacity to feed itself and contribute to its economic prosperity if the right investments are made. A farmer prepares his field for the planting season near Nathenje on the outskirts of Lilongwe, Malawi. (Public Domain) Of the 257 million hungry people in Africa, 237 million are chronically undernourished in sub-Saharan Africa and 20 million in Northern Africa, according…
Youth in Kathmandu staged a peaceful demonstration outside the prime minister’s residence Tuesday and Wednesday against the government’s negligence in handling the COVID-19 pandemic. The peaceful protest later turned chaotic as the police charged batons and fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Protestors held banners demanding greater transparency of the funds spent by government. in Kathmandu, on June 11, 2020. (Nishant S. Gurung/Zenger)Protestors held banners and chanted slogans: “Enough is enough,” “sanitize the government” and “down with incompetence,” demanding the expansion of testing, better quarantine facilities for returning migrant workers and greater transparency of money…
Top Game—that’s the name they gave him—is one of the luckiest Black Angus bulls alive. The four-year old won’t be dinner anytime soon. His sperm is too valuable to Walmart. This chiseled block of meat weighs 2,127 pounds and stretches eight feet from nose to the base of his tail. His hips stand more than five feet off the ground. Top Game is one of just a handful of animals whose genes will sire generations of the mega-grocer’s future shrink-wrapped steaks and roasts. Just a handful like him form the roots of Walmart’s new beef family tree, a project the…