STORY: ”Dear brothers and sisters, you see, Sister Snow has arrived, here in Assisi, and she makes this city very beautiful. And she is perfect for snowballs!”, friar of the Assisi, Brother Rafael Normando said before throwing a snowball to other friars.
Assisi is known for the beauty of its basilica, a place of pilgrimage not only for the faithful but also for artists and art history students because it contains about 10,000 square meters of frescoes by Giotto and other masters such as Cimabue, Simone Martini, and Pietro Lorenzetti.
Heavy snowfall hit the Italian central Apennine areas over the weekend, creating picturesque landscapes but also causing inconvenience to the population, with blocked roads and closed schools.
STORY: It’s the company that makes the Leopard 2 tanks so badly wanted by Ukraine. Now Germany’s Rheinmetall is expecting a busy year or two. It expects sales to go as high as $13 billion by 2025. That’s about a billion higher than an earlier target range. The numbers came in an interview with Chief Executive Armin Papperger by German magazine Stern. In it he said Rheinmetall is targeting a 10% profit margin on the Leopard tanks. Earlier, the firm also detailed how many tanks it could deliver. A spokesperson told media group RND it could supply 139 if required. That would include 29 of the 2A4 model by April or May, and a further 22 of the same version by late this year or early next. Rheinmetall could also supply 88 of the older Leopard 1 model, but didn’t say by when. Germany is under intense pressure from Ukraine and some NATO allies to supply the tanks. Even if they are second-hand ones coming from a third country, the German-made products would require an export license from Berlin. But German policymakers are wary about approving such supplies, with some fearing they could spark Russian escalation. Poland’s defense minister said Tuesday (January 24) that it had now asked Germany for permission to re-export some of its tanks.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva declared Tuesday that his country is "back in the region" after joining more than a dozen other Latin American leaders at a summit in Buenos Aires."Brazil is back in the region and ready to work side-by-side with you with a very strong feeling of solidarity and closeness," said the 77-year-old leader during the seventh Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) summit, which brings together 33 nations.
"It's not normal, no matter what they tell you!" the Fox News host declared.
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Tata Group's Air India said on Tuesday the recent suspension of a pilot's licence by the aviation regulator was "excessive" after a passenger behaved in an unruly manner onboard one of its flights. Air India said the matter should have been classified and reported as unruly behaviour by a passenger, but the flight crew and ground staff did not report it as such. "Air India wishes to acknowledge the good faith efforts made by crew to handle the situation effectively in real time, when not all facts were available," it said in a statement, adding that it deemed "the licence suspension of the commander excessive and will be assisting him with an appeal".
Pelosi, then speaker of the House, felt "guilty" about the assault on Paul Pelosi before she called clergy to perform the religious rite, Alexandra Pelosi said.
STORY: Hot dogs in buns, pastel-tailed mermaids and a unicorn with a platinum horn were among the costumes worn by Dachshunds -as well as other breeds- who took part in the tail-wagging parade, a fundraiser for a local foundation that helps animals in need.The stroll began with a short walk to accommodate the Dachshunds' tiny legs at Key West’s red-brick Custom House Museum.As fans snapped "pupparazzi" shots and praised their favorite pups, participants promenaded along a downtown boulevard to the famed Duval Street.
France Tuesday repatriated 15 women and 32 children held in a prison camp for suspected jihadists in Syria, the foreign ministry said, in the third major return of French citizens from the country.Contacted by AFP, the French foreign ministry declined to say how many more women or children might be returned.
The Swiss parliament decided Tuesday to open an investigation targeting President Alain Berset, among others, over media leaks linked to government measures at the height of the pandemic.The Schweiz am Wochende newspaper reported earlier this month that Berset's former communications chief had, at the height of the pandemic, systematically leaked information to one of Switzerland's largest media houses about confidential government plans for measures to counter the spread of the virus, including
A massive power cut across Pakistan continued after night fell on Monday, affecting most of the country's 220 million residents, including in the metropolises of Karachi and Lahore.Karachi, with a population of more than 15 million, and Lahore, home to more than 10 million, both remained largely without power as darkness fell.
Dedicated to an Indian goddess as a child, Huvakka Bhimappa's years of sexual servitude began when her uncle took her virginity, raping her in exchange for a saree and some jewellery.She was forced into the order after the death of her mother and was 13 when a 30-year-old man took her virginity.
Premier League leaders Arsenal have had their title credentials questioned all season but their last-gasp 3-2 win against Manchester United has silenced many of the remaining doubters.So does he believe Arsenal are now favourites for the title, on course to win the Premier League for the first time since Arsene Wenger's last triumph nearly two decades ago?
Residents of China's Wuhan said Monday they were hopeful for the future and no longer afraid of Covid-19, three years after the city was locked down over what was then a mysterious virus.- 'House of hope'- The January 2020 decision to lock down the city, announced in the middle of the night, took Wuhan's residents by surprise as the world watched on with uncertainty.
Indian full-service carrier Vistara, a joint venture between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines, on Monday reported a quarterly profit, its first since starting operations in January 2015, as air travel soared. The privately held airline said its revenue crossed $1 billion and it clocked a net profit, excluding foreign currency loss and non-operating income, in the October-December quarter. Vistara has turned profitable at a time when the Tata group is looking to boost its aviation business by consolidating its three brands – Vistara, low-cost carrier Air Asia and former state-run airline, Air India.
Convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed the disgraced late US financier Jeffrey Epstein was murdered in prison, in an interview with a British broadcaster that aired on Monday."I believe that he was murdered," former socialite Maxwell said in the series of jailhouse interviews aired on Britain's TalkTV. "I was shocked.
Another safety scare hit the Mexico City metro on Monday, when around 20 people were treated for smoke inhalation following a short circuit, officials said.None of the roughly 20 people treated for smoke inhalation were in a serious condition, officials said.
There's still a long way to go to land the English Premier League title, but one thing is certain: Arsenal will not panic, says Neil Humphreys.
Movies by and about Iranian women took center stage at the Sundance film festival this weekend, as diaspora filmmakers reflected on female-led protests and the deadly challenges of censorship and resistance in their ancestral home."Coming into Sundance, the film is on the world stage.
Confident of taking power at the next UK general election, the Labour party is setting out its vision to the country's allies with vows of reconnecting with Europe after Brexit and delivering economic competence.However, both Lammy and Labour leader Keir Starmer are ruling out the ultimate reconnection — by taking the UK back into the European Union, or at least its single market.
France's government on Monday moved forward with a fiercely contested pensions reform plan that would raise the retirement age to 64, saying balancing the system's books must be top priority.Dussopt said the government would accept amendments that "improve the text without giving up on getting back to balancing the books by 2030, nor the fundamentals of the reform".
Elon Musk on Monday told jurors that his 2018 tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 a share was no joke and that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund was serious about helping him do it.Musk testified that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund was "unequivocally, without question" supportive of his project, adding that the head of the fund told him that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was also on board.
Delighted Assisi friars hurl snowballs at basilica – Yahoo Singapore News
