News OF THE World

TAIWAN

The government of Taiwan has been pleading with people to stop adding the word “salmon” to their names.

Some 150 locals have made the change after a popular sushi restaurant chain offered patrons a free all-you-can-eat dinner if the word “salmon” was on their ID card.

As it turns out, there is a right way to airlift endangered rhinos: upside down.

Researchers have found it’s healthier to tie straps to the beasts’ ankles and lift them with their hooves in the air, instead of being airlifted on stretchers lying on their sides.

The animals, which can weigh thousands of pounds and are often transported to safe territories, have higher oxygen levels in their blood when upside down.

India’s Department of Science and Technology is paying for a clinical trial to see if chanting, breathing exercises and yoga can help COVID-19 patients recover faster.

The Gayatri Mantra and the yoga practice known as Pranayama will be studied in 20 patients with moderate symptoms, who also will get standard treatment.

After enduring drought and fire, thousands of Australians are battling a plague of rats and mice, with many hoping that torrential record rainfall will drown them out.

The rodents have descended on rural parts of New South Wales and Queensland, after the regions experienced a bumper crop following years of drought. One grocer said he arrives five hours early to clean out his store and to dispose of between 400 and 500 rodents caught each night.

The Royal Mint has issued a new coin, with the icon Britannia depicted as a woman of color.

The Romans dubbed the United Kingdom “Britannia” when they invaded in 43 CE, and she’s been an icon of the British Isles on the country’s currency since 1672.

“Britannia is an enduring symbol of the people, and as the nation evolves it is right that her image should evolve, too,” the Mint’s director of commemorative coins, Clare Maclennan, told CNN.