Israel has imposed some of the world's tightest restrictions to contain coronavirus, but that did not stop ultra-Orthodox Jews from hitting the streets to celebrate a treasured religious custom: Drinking on Purim. Purim typically includes costumes and boisterous public celebrations marking a story dating from fourth-century Persia that saw Jews defeat a murderous plot against them. One verse in the Megillah text that recounts the story and laws of the holiday instructs Jews to "drink on Purim until you cannot distinguish between cursing Haman and blessing Mordechai," referring to the ...

All these families they have to scoop up their children and run before getting caught in the crossfires between Yemen's warring sides. The Al-Zor camp where they had been living for four years is no longer safe with the Iran-backed Huothis drawing nearer in a major offensive against the northern city of Marib and its nearby oil fields. Around 140 sites have sprung up in the region to provide basic shelter for the displaced, who number up to one million according to some estimates. Al-Zor is among a cluster of ...

During the coronavirus pandemic many facilities were shut down, a pub which was closed due to lockdown in Ireland is now serving a menagerie of very different clientele after being turned into a wildlife hospital which is the first in the country. The newly-opened hospital used to be the bar of the Tara Na Ri pub, located in County Meath, northwest of Dublin and was deserted with the blinds pulled down, the Guinness taps dry and till empty. Liam, a two-week-old wild Irish goat, was found on a mountainside is ...

Countries hit hardest by poverty are often countries that are also caught in other crises, including political conflict, hunger, and climate change. Here, we look at the ten fiscally-poorest countries in the world.

Townsfolk in a small village in Cuba have had to return to an age-old means of survival, growing their own food as the coronavirus pandemic has robbed them of holidaymakers. Until the global health crisis, tourism provided income for about 80 percent of residents of the town. Just a decade ago, Vinales's economy was an agrarian one based largely on tobacco farming. But when the tourist dollars started flooding in people turned their attention away from farming to the services industry. The porches of the town's famously multi-colored wooden homes ...

Diego Cusano, ecletic Illustrator and artist of international fame, transformed his passions into a new profession, the Fantasy Researcher. After getting a Master’s degree in Visual Arts and Graphic Design, the artist travels all along Europe for a long and intense period seeking new creative stirrings, determined to create a new independent artistic identity out of the schemes. In 2013 the long-waited new insight pops-up; Diego starts experimenting the collage technique pulling together pencil drawings and still life images, illustrations and graphics. One year later the Italian-based artist published the ...

Kneeling on thick pieces of foam workers hunch over a brown, white and black tile mosaic whose design represents the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers as well as trees, flowers and geometric figures. In the ruins of an ancient Byzantine church in northern Jordan, local townspeople and Syrian refugees work side-by-side. Workers restore a mosaic floor piece by piece at the St John the Baptist church, built in 619 AD. It is one of three church mosaic floors under restoration, or recently restored, in the small town of Rihab, adding ...

Tunisians already use certain flowers in their traditional cuisine. Some sweets feature dried rose petals, while lavender is an ingredient in a spice mix used in couscous recipes. Tunisian chef Bassem Bizid uses edible flowers to prepare his dishes at a luxury hotel in Gammarth, an upscale northern suburb of the capital Tunis, on February 5, 2021. But fresh flowers, which can be used for dishes from soups to salads as well as teas, are a novelty.

As dawn breaks in central Kenya, a helicopter lifts off in a race to find roosting locusts before the sun warming their bodies and sending them on a ravenous flight through farmland. Pilot Kieran Allen begins his painstaking survey from zebra-filled plains and lush maize farms, to dramatic forested valleys and the vast arid expanses further north, his eyes scouring the landscape for signs of the massed insects. The chopper suddenly swings around after a call comes in from the locust war room on the ground: a community in the ...

Turkey has launched a nationwide vaccination program against COVID-19 after the government approved the emergency use of China’s Sinovac, local daily Hurriyet Daily reported. Turkey's population of more than 83 million is spread out across Europe and Asia and covers some seemingly impregnable terrain. The vaccination effort with China's CoronaVac jab kicked off with a bang in mid-January when Turkey inoculated more than one million people in the first week. Doctor and nurse from the Bahcesaray public hospital vaccination team, arrive at the village of Guneyyamac in eastern Turkey, as ...

Being famous is a full-time job, but these busy bees have made the choice to fill their schedules with even more work, having a side business, in case their main gig nose-dives, is always a good idea. Here are 10 of the top celebrity side hustles.