News OF THE World
AUSTRALIA
The NNationaltil OceanicOi andd Atmospheric Administration has placed the Great Barrier Reef on high alert for the next week, meaning significant coral bleaching is likely.
With sea surface temperatures already 2 degrees above average in many parts of the marine park, scientists fear “disaster.”
Consecutive mass bleaching during the summers of 2016 and 2017 wiped out half of all shallowwater coral on the reef.
RUSSIA
From RRussiai withith bbrrr. About 50 extreme sporting fanatics from around the globe took part in this year’s three-day annual Ice Storm endurance competition on Lake Baikal in Siberia.
Entrants from Russia, Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Switzerland and the US braved bone-chilling temperatures of -13 degrees as they trekked the 130-mile course on nordic skates, skis and bikes.
ITALY
Italian archaeologistshli unveiled this week an ancient tomb thought to belong to Romulus, Rome’s legendary founder and first king.
The lost shrine, perhaps dedicated some 2,600 years ago, was discovered under the Forum in the heart of Rome over a century ago. Experts don’t know if the sarcophagus ever held his bones.
JAPAN
The recent “Nakedkd Festival” in Japan went off without a hitch, but definitely a stitch.
Thousands gathered in Okayama for the “Hadaka Matsuri,” in which participants, clad in a minimum of clothing, usually a Japanese loincloth, celebrate the blessings of a bountiful harvest and hopes for good fortune.
PERU
A priceless manuscripti containing the memoirs of former Inca leaders that had disappeared during Chile’s occupation of Lima during the 1879-84 Pacific War has been unveiled in Peru.
The manuscript was written in the 1830s by Justo Apu Sahuaraura Inca (1775-1853), a descendent of the Inca emperor Huayna Capac (1493-1525).
Brazilian private collectors, who acquired the manuscript in 1970, agreed in November to return it to its rightful owners.