News of the World

ITALY

“Pasta Grannies,” a YouTube channel that features Italian octogenarians making pasta with basic ingredients and old-fashioned implements, is going viral, with more than 900,000 subscribers and social media accounts with more than 2.5 million followers.

Started by British cookbook author Vicky Bennison nine years ago, the show features pasta makers in their home kitchens rolling out dough with wooden rolling pins and telling about their youth.

CANADA

Quebec has passed a law making it optional for members of its legislature to make an oath of allegiance to King Charles III, despite the fact he’s Canada’s head of state.

In October, Canadian parliamentarians voted overwhelmingly against abolishing the constitutional monarchy, although legislators in Quebec have long wanted to do away with swearing allegiance to the monarch.

AUSTRALIA

The mountain mist frog, which used to be found over most of Australia, has now been declared extinct by the International Union of Conservation.

The last sighting of the endangered amphibian was recorded in April 1990. It’s believed to have been wiped out by chytrid fungus, which attacks the skin and has been prevalent worldwide, decimating amphibian populations.

Scientists say the fungus may be a byproduct of greenhouse gases.

AFGHANISTAN

An Afghan singer whose career spanned more than five decades died Friday.

Qamar Gula, 69, sang in the Pashto language, and began her career when she was a child.

She sang on the Radio Television Afghanistan network, and was widely praised for her “golden voice” in the years before the Taliban took hold of most of the country and banned music in 1996.

MEXICO

Illegal poppy cultivation is on the rise, says a joint report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Mexican government.

Poppies are used in the manufacture of opium and heroin. The Thursday report noted the cultivation of the flower between July 2019 and June 2020 had increased by 12 percent.