While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Oct 16
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Five countries have declared a state of national disaster in the past months as the drought has destroyed crops and livestock.
PHOTO: AFP
Historic southern Africa drought starving millions: UN
Millions of people across southern Africa are going hungry because of a historic drought that risks causing a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe, the United Nations warned Oct 15.
Five countries – Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia, and Zimbabwe – have declared a state of national disaster in the past months as the drought has destroyed crops and livestock.
Angola and Mozambique are also severely affected, the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said in a briefing.
Restored ‘Apollo Belvedere’ marble back on show in the Vatican
The Vatican Museums on Oct 15 unveiled the restoration of the celebrated second-century “Apollo Belvedere” sculpture following five years of work.
Once considered to epitomise classical Western ideals of beauty, the 2.24-metre-high marble statue shows the Greek god of medicine and poetry in motion, his left arm having just let fly an arrow from his bow.
Its around 260,000 euro (S$370,838) restoration aimed to fix serious structural defects detected late in 2019, the restorers said.
Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into bizarre dance-a-thon
Kamala Harris questioned Donald Trump’s mental state Oct 15 after the 78-year-old Republican’s latest televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session.
“Hope he’s okay,” the Democratic candidate posted on X.
Harris’s campaign, which has begun to aggressively challenge Trump on his health and mental stability, said that during the late Oct 14 event he appeared “lost, confused, and frozen on stage.”
Kylian Mbappe’s representatives say reports footballer faces rape probe are ‘false’ and a ‘slanderous rumour’
Allegations of rape against French footballer Kylian Mbappe are “totally false” and “a slanderous rumour”, his representatives said on Oct 15, following media reports that he was the subject of an investigation over an incident in a Stockholm hotel on Oct 10.
Swedish prosecutors confirmed in a statement in response to the media coverage that a probe into an alleged rape at a hotel in central Stockholm had been opened, but did not identify a suspect.
Swedish public broadcaster SVT and dailies Expressen and Aftonbladet, citing unnamed sources, reported that Mbappe, 25, was a suspect in the case.
Microsoft settles video gamers’ lawsuit over $90.38 billion Activision deal
Video gamers who sued over Microsoft’s $69 billion (S$90.38 billion) purchase of “Call of Duty” maker Activision Blizzard have settled their lawsuit claiming the blockbuster deal would harm industry competition and drive up prices.
The gamers said in a joint filing with Microsoft in San Francisco federal court late on Oct 14 that they were dismissing their lawsuit with prejudice, meaning they cannot refile it.
The court filing did not reveal how the lawsuit was resolved, and the plaintiffs’ attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.