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Elections 2026Europe / The Times of India
Romanian scientists have revived a 5,000-year-old bacterium, Psychrobacter SC65A.3, from Scrioara Ice Cave, revealing resistance to 10 modern antibiotics. The discovery highlights natural, ancient origins of antibiotic resistance and warns that melting ice could release genes into contemporary bacteria. At the same time, these cold-adapted microbes hold potential for new antibiotics, enzymes, and biotechnological innovations, underscoring both risk and opportunity.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson, a towering figure of the American civil rights movement and two-time presidential candidate, has died aged 84. Rising from the segregated South to national politics, he spent decades campaigning for racial and economic justice. Admired and controversial in equal measure, Jacksons legacy spans activism, electoral politics and diplomacy, shaping modern Democratic coalition-building in the United States.
Christianity remains the worlds largest religion at 2.3 billion people, but its global share is shrinking as religious switching accelerates, especially in Western countries. While Europe and North America see steady decline, sub-Saharan Africa now anchors the faiths growth. The data reveals not collapse, but a geographic and cultural shift reshaping Christianitys global center of gravity.
Nearly one in four people worldwide now identify with no religion, according to a sweeping global study covering 201 countries. The religiously unaffiliated grew by 270 million between 2010 and 2020, reaching 1.9 billion, driven largely by disaffiliation from Christianity. While Christians remain the largest group, only Muslims and the unaffiliated increased their global population share.