September 2022

The wave of attempted book banning and restrictions continues to intensify, the American Library Association reported Friday. Numbers for 2022 already approach last year’s totals, which were the highest in decades. “I’ve never seen anything like this,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. “It’s both the number of challenges and the kinds of challenges. It used to be a parent had learned about a given book and had an issue with it. Now we see campaigns where organizations are compiling lists of books, without necessarily reading or even looking at them.” The ALA has documented

Hurricane Fiona has made landfall in Puerto Rico, knocking out power across the U.S. island territory and raising fears of “catastrophic flooding.” The storm is expected to dump as much as 64 centimeters over portions of the island in the Caribbean. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said in a bulletin that Fiona came ashore along the extreme southwest coast, near Punta Tocon, at 3:20 p.m. local time Sunday. Winds were estimated at 140 kilometers per hour, making Fiona a Category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity. LUMA [[ lumapr.com ]] energy, the operator of the island’s power grid, said

Two Chinese astronauts went on a spacewalk Saturday from a new space station that is due to be completed later this year. Cai Xuzhe and Chen Dong’s installed pumps, a handle to open the hatch door from outside in an emergency, and a foot-stop to affix an astronaut’s feet to a robotic arm, state media said. China is building its own space station after being excluded by the U.S. from the International Space Station because its military runs the country’s space program. American officials see a host of strategic challenges from China’s space ambitions, in an echo of the U.S.-Soviet

Marking World Patient Safety Day, Saturday, the World Health Organization warns unsafe medication practices and errors are a leading cause of avoidable harm in world health care systems. The WHO is calling for urgent action to stop the medication errors putting millions at risk of severe harm or even death. The agency’s quality of care coordinator, Neelam Dhingra-Kumar, noted everyone will, at some point take medicine, expecting to benefit. However, she said they can be harmful with improper use. “There is ample evidence around the world that unsafe medication practices and medication errors is actually avoidable,” she said. “Such as

Malta Air Traffic Services (MATS) is contributing to our economy as it works to facilitate aviation business in Malta by providing a safe and efficient service to aircraft landing and departing from our airport.  This was stated by Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Aaron Farrugia during a high-level event commemorating the 20th Anniversary since the Government of Malta assigned the air navigation service provision to Malta Air Traffic Services Ltd. Minister Farrugia explained that MATS assists the Armed Forces of Malta and NGOs in search-and-rescue operations and honours its international obligations in providing air traffic services for aircraft overflying

The World Health Organization has declared an end to Ghana’s outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus after more than six weeks without any new cases. Three cases of the virus were recorded in the West African country in late June, killing two people. Marburg is a highly infectious viral hemorrhagic fever in the same family as Ebola. The symptoms of Marburg include diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting. Speaking at a press conference Friday in Accra, head of the Ghana Health Service, Dr. Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, said having passed the mandatory 42-day period without a new case, the country is now free