A focus of Pope Francis’ visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo is a meeting on Wednesday with around 60 victims of the decades of violence in the east of the country who have made the cross-country journey to see him.

The pontiff had hoped to travel to the eastern city of Goma but cancelled the stop following a resurgence of fighting in the mineral-rich region, where more than 120 armed groups are fighting for control of land and natural resources.

Millions have been killed, and millions more have been displaced by the violence in the east since the 1990s.

The conflict in Congo goes back decades, making it difficult to isolate a few causes, said Jason Stearns, director of the Congo Research Group. At the start, rebellions abroad with rear bases in Congo, local struggles over land, resources, and identity – especially over the status of groups speaking Rwandan languages, and the weakness of the Congolese state were the main causes, he said.

The state has a large responsibility because it has done little to dismantle, demobilize, or defeat any of the 120 armed groups in the east, he said.

Competition for control of the region’s rich natural resources has also contributed to the violence.

Pierre Boisselet from Kivu Security Tracker, which monitors unrest in the region, said: “The conflict has reached a stage where it seems to be self-sustaining because, over the decades, a class of professionals in violence has been formed, both among local and foreign armed groups and the states of the region.”

Myriad armed groups are involved in the violence, some with a few dozen members while others have hundreds of armed combatants, sometimes along ethnic lines. The most active in recent years include:

* The M23. The name refers to the March 23 date of a 2009 accord that ended a previous Tutsi-led revolt in eastern Congo. The group says the government has not kept its promise to fully integrate Congolese Tutsis into the army and government.

It seized swathes of territory in a resurgence since March 2022, displacing over 500,000 as they advanced to the gates of Goma, leading to the cancellation of the pope’s visit there.

* The Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR), is an armed group run by mostly ethnic Hutus who fled Rwanda after taking part in the 1994 genocide. They are seen as M23’s main rival. Rwanda has accused Congo of using the FDLR a proxy, while Congo has accuse Rwanda of backing the M23. Both sides have denied the accusations.

* Fighters from the Cooperative for the Development of the Congo, commonly known as CODECO, are drawn mainly from the Lendu farming community, which has been in conflict with Hema herders. They are seen as one of the most violent against civilians. The United Nations peacekeeping mission in Congo blamed the militia for a mass grave with 49 bodies including 12 women and six children found on Jan. 19.

* Islamic State-linked militia, known locally as the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) is another violent group operating in the region. It has killed and maimed scores in village raids and bombings. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for some of ADF’s violence. The group is suspected of killing 20 people in a raid last week, and 14 others in a church bombing.

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US inflation is outpacing wage growth.

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• Growth in US wages and salaries slowed to 1% in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from 1.3% in the previous quarter.
• However, wages and salaries actually declined by 1.2% for the whole of 2022, due to high inflation.
• As inflation remains high, the Fed may continue hiking interest rates — meaning wage growth could continue to trend slower. 

US wages rose slightly in the fourth quarter of 2022 — but that still meant a pay cut, as the pay bump did not keep pace with rising inflation. 

Wages and salaries for civilians rose 1% in the fourth quarter from a quarter ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said in a Tuesday report. The wage increase slowed from the pace of 1.3% in the third quarter of 2022 — but overall pay was still up by 5.1% for the entire year.

In real terms though, wages and salaries actually declined by 1.2% for the whole of 2022, thanks to high inflation rates. 

US consumer inflation rose 6.5% in December from a year ago — and though it was 0.1% lower between November and December on a seasonally adjusted basis, it’s still far higher than the Fed’s 2% target rate — which means, it is hurting purchasing power and personal finances.

The US Federal Reserve will be keenly watching this data ahead of its first meeting of 2023 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The central bank is scheduled to release its latest rate decision at 2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, and analysts polled by Reuters expect the Fed to hike interest rates by 25 basis points this time. The federal funds rate is in the 4.25% to 4.50% range currently.

Higher interest rates make borrowing for anything from mortgages to credit cards more expensive. And it encourages people to save rather than spend, which in theory, helps bring down prices — and in turn, keeps wages lower.

Worker compensation is key to the Fed’s monetary tightening cycle, as rising wages contribute to inflation. Some economists are concerned that current market conditions may lead to a wage-price spiral, a vicious cycle of broad price gains leading to pay hikes, in turn fueling consumption and actually worsening inflation. 

Moderating wages and salaries in the fourth quarter points to validation for the Fed to dial back its aggressive rate hikes to 25 basis points from 50 basis points in December, Vishnu Varathan, the head of economics and strategy at Mizuho Bank’s Asia and Oceania treasury department, said in a Wednesday note.

But it doesn’t mean the Fed’s going to walk away from hiking rates because inflation remains elevated.

“To be clear, evidence of subsiding inflation and wage pressures in recent months merely increase confidence to slow the pace of hikes, not catalyze an end to the tightening cycle,” Varathan added. 

Cows are seen at a dairy farming company in Handan, Hebei Province, China, on November 15, 2021.

Hao Qunying / Costfoto/Future Publishing via Getty Images

• China claims it’s cloned three cows that make up to 18 metric tons of milk per year.
• “Super cows” are hard to breed since they’re identified at the end of their lives, per state-affiliated media.
• The scientists say they plan to build a herd of 1,000 super cows in the next two to three years.

Scientists in China have cloned three cows that produce abnormally high amounts of milk, state-affiliated media claimed on Tuesday.

The three calves were birthed in the Ningxia region by a team from the Northwest University of Agricultural and Forestry Science and Technology, just before the Chinese New Year began on January 22, per local outlet Ningxia Daily.

The calves were cloned from “super cows” — unusually productive cows that can make 18 metric tons of milk per year and 100 tons of milk in their lifetimes, pro-government tabloid The Global Times reported.

In comparison, the average milk-producing cow in the US makes around 10.8 metric tons of milk per year, per the US Department of Agriculture’s latest figures.

Only five in 10,000 of common cattle breeds in China can produce as much milk as a super cow, said the scientists, per The Global Times.

And because cattle are only designated as super cows at the end of their lives, it’s difficult to breed them after they’ve been identified, said the project lead, Jin Yaping, per the outlet.

Jin said his team “reincarnated” the super cows to help bolster China’s local milk production, which has struggled to meet domestic demand amid surging feed costs. China also heavily relies on importing cattle from Europe.

Jin’s team used tissue from the cows’ ears to make an initial batch of 120 cloned embryos, 42% of which were successfully impregnated in surrogate cows and 17.5% of which remained fertile after 200 days, The Global Times reported.

The scientists highlighted how one of the calves had the exact same skin pattern as its predecessor, reported the outlet.

“We plan to take two to three years to build up a herd comprised of over 1,000 super cows,” Jin said, per The Global Times.

Jin did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Authorities in Australia will review laws that penalise the mishandling of radioactive material with a A$1,000 ($707) fine as a search for a hazardous capsule lost in the Outback enters a seventh day.

Officials from Western Australia’s emergency response department, defence authorities, radiation specialists and others are combing a 1,400 km (870 mile) stretch of highway for the tiny capsule, from a mining device, that was lost in transit more than two weeks ago. read more

The radioactive capsule was part of a gauge used to measure the density of iron ore feed being transported from Rio Tinto’s (RIO.AX) Gudai-Darri mine in the state’s remote Kimberley region to a facility in the suburbs of Perth – a distance longer than the length of Great Britain.

The penalty for failing to safely handle radioactive substances is A$1,000 and A$50 per day the offence continues, according to state legislation from 1975.

“That figure is ridiculously low but I suspect that it’s ridiculously low because people didn’t think such an item could be lost,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a news conference in the state capital, Perth, referring to the fine.

The silver capsule, 6 mm in diameter and 8 mm long, contains Caesium-137 which emits radiation equal to 10 X-rays per hour.

“It shouldn’t have been lost,” Albanese said.

Rio Tinto apologised for the loss on Monday. It had entrusted shipment to specialist packing and transport operators.

The state minister for health, Amber-Jade Sanderson, told the news conference her government was looking to change laws to allow for higher penalties and cost recovery in such circumstances, she said.

“The current fine system is unacceptably low and we are looking at how we can increase that,” Sanderson said.

She said the investigation suggested the loss was the result of incompetence not conspiracy.

Authorities suspect vibrations on the bumpy road loosened screws and a bolt on the gauge letting the capsule fall out. The gauge was picked up from the mine site on Jan. 12 and was unpacked for inspection on Jan. 25 when the loss of the capsule was discovered.

People have been told to stay at least five metres (16.5 feet) away from the capsule if they spot it as exposure could cause radiation burns or radiation sickness, though driving past it is believed to be relatively low risk, akin to taking an X-ray.

($1 = 1.4152 Australian dollars)

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(NewsNation) — A police standoff with the man accused of kidnapping a woman and brutally attacking her in Oregon has ended, local media outlets KDRV and KTVL report.

Law enforcement officers surrounded the home Tuesday in Oregon, where they say the woman was tortured, according to reports.

An operator at the Grants Pass Police Department told NewsNation late Tuesday night that the department was “resuming normal activities.” KDRV, a television station in Medford, Ore., said the suspect, Benjamin Foster, was dead. KTVL, which is also based in Medford, said the standoff was “resolved.” Both stations cited local police.

Foster, 36, was underneath the house in Grants Pass and authorities tried to get him to surrender, a Grants Pass police lieutenant told KTVL-TV. It’s unclear exactly how the standoff was resolved.

Investigators said they received “credible information” Foster went into the home where the woman was found unconscious, bound and near death on Jan. 24. She remains hospitalized in critical condition.

According to The Daily Courier, officers from four law enforcement agencies saturated the area and assembled a SWAT team. As this happened, some residents in the area were asked to shelter in place.

This occurred after Foster was spotted Tuesday morning in Grants Pass walking a small dog.

Authorities have called Foster “extremely dangerous” and offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to his arrest and prosecution. He is wanted on the following charges: attempted murder, kidnapping and assault.

Police warned that Foster is “actively” using dating sites to potentially find new victims or people who may be able to help him avoid police.

Investigators found Foster’s car Thursday after raiding a property in the unincorporated community of Wolf Creek, around 20 miles north of Grants Pass. While there, they arrested a 68-year-old woman for hindering prosecution. She is accused of following Foster earlier that day as he intentionally drove his car over an embankment and then giving him a ride back to the property where Foster is believed to have been hiding and ultimately managed to escape.

This is not the first time Foster has faced similar allegations. In 2019, before moving to Oregon, Foster was arrested for holding his then-girlfriend captive inside her Las Vegas apartment for two weeks. The woman told investigators she was forced to eat lye and choked to the point of unconsciousness.

According to a police report, she suffered several broken ribs and had two black eyes as well as injuries from being bound at the wrists and ankles. She escaped when Foster let her out of his sight during a trip to a grocery store and gas station.

Foster was initially charged with five felonies and faced decades in prison. But in 2021, he reached a deal with prosecutors that allowed him to plead guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to two and a half years behind bars with credit for time served.

Grants Pass Police Chief Warren Hensman called it “extremely troubling” that Foster was a free man and able to prey on other women instead of being behind bars for crimes in Nevada.

Anyone with information on the case is urged to call the Grants Pass Police Department.

(NewsNation) — The COVID-19 pandemic cost students about one-third of a school year’s worth of knowledge and skills over the last three years, causing many to fall behind in math and reading, according to a study released this week.

The stressors faced during learning remotely were not fixed as kids poured back into the classrooms, one of the researchers, Bastian Betthäuser, told The New York Times of the analysis of data from 15 middle- and high-income countries. 

“In order to recover what was lost, we have to be doing more than just getting back to normal,” he said. 

But while the education loss will be felt for years among students, the innovations in technology and at-home learning created because of the pandemic will reshape the education field for decades to come.

For better or worse, advances in technology and shifts toward virtual learning left their marks on students’ academic progress and emotional well-being.

Kids lost math and reading skills — the greatest decline in decades. Can they get caught up?

The skills lost over the pandemic were most felt in reading and math, data shows.

The average eighth-grade reading score was at its lowest point since 1998. And 2022 saw the largest-ever decline for fourth and eighth graders in math scores. 

Poorer students and students with learning differences were affected the most — with up to a 20% difference between the richest and poorest kids. 

Still, educators across the country are trying to find creative ways to help close those gaps, such as utilizing intensive tutoring plans that can be done virtually to reduce cost or teachers coordinating at-home visits to kids at risk of dropping out. 

“What we know is statistically students who miss a semester or are not successful in a semester, their likelihood of dropping out or not returning to school does increase every semester that they are unsuccessful,” principal Justin Ross-Hillard told CNN. “What we’ve adopted as a mindset is that we’re going to continue to chase after you.”

A mental health crisis is growing, but adults may be learning how to help

The state of kids’ mental health coming out of the pandemic is startling, with one in three parents reporting their child showing signs of emotional distress at least once a week.

Forty-four percent of American high schoolers feel persistently sad and hopeless. More than 60% of college students have at least one mental health condition, and these rates are even higher among students of color, poorer students and students from immigrant families.

The isolation during the pandemic coupled with economic uncertainty, racial reckonings and increased violence in schools weighed heavy on many students.

“The scope of so many of these tragic incidents happening, children feel like they’re living in an environment of threat, that if it can happen there, it can happen anywhere,” Dr. Marlene Wong told NewsNation after the Uvalde school shooting. 

The results will likely be long-lasting. Adolescent brains have a more difficult time recovering after trauma, leading to increased rates of severe anxiety and depression that can last into adulthood. Yet adults are learning to help kids cope better, too. 

One approach is called Psychological First Aid. It’s aimed at reducing the stress, anxiety and fear children feel in the wake of a crisis by showing teachers, coaches or parents how to build on the relationships that already exist. 

Other solutions include offering more counseling to make school a better environment for kids and teachers. 

Students who had a sense of support and belonging at school fared better, research shows. And teens who felt like they had a connection to an adult or their peers were significantly less likely to report feelings of sadness or hopelessness. 

Remote learning fast-tracked the education tech of the future

Although most students have returned to the classroom, technology adopted during the pandemic can be used to enhance even more traditional styles of teaching, according to research by the consulting firm McKinsey & Company. 

Higher education students in particular could benefit from technology like virtual reality for interactive simulations or in-class polls and breakout rooms to complement in-person lessons, according to the research.

Meanwhile, video conferencing remains relevant for group projects, while machine-learning apps and chat tools can help teachers draft tests and assignments. 

A separate report by the Pew Research Center also noted that more rapid advancements in online technology could create a more personalized learning experience that would allow students to choose from a “menu” of classes across different schools. 

While some have embraced the merging of technology and in-person learning, others have chosen to keep their education remote. 

One mother, Heather Fray, told NewsNation in 2021 that she never imagined homeschooling her two children, one of whom requires special education. But the pandemic gave Fray the opportunity to try it out, and she was surprised by the results. 

“I actually saw him thrive in a lot of his areas of struggle, more so than any of the years in special education combined,” Fray said.

The Fray family isn’t alone. The overall rate of parents who opted to homeschool their children more than doubled in the school year that followed the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Associated Press.

The pandemic made the digital divide very obvious. What will it take to close it?

The pandemic underscored the disparities in high-speed internet access and officials responded with legislation aimed at easing the burden for underserved communities.

Emergency programming that started in 2020 through the federal government helps low-income homes stay connected through the pandemic, offering connected devices and discounted internet service to eligible families.

Rural communities, many of which still struggle with internet connectivity, found some relief through services like this program, which helped them provide hot spots and other equipment to students. 

More than 15 million households nationwide were registered through the program as of last week. 

Communities also worked to address the digital divide on a local level.

In Illinois, for example, a 2020 program called Chicago Connected provided free broadband access to pre-K-12 students and digital learning support to families within the city.

Within its first two years, the program connected more than 60,000 households to broadband and was recently expanded to reach an additional 3,000 students.

(NewsNation) — An alarming new analysis shows students across the world lost up to 35% of expected learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The data was reviewed and published in the journal Nature Human Behavior.

In October, the National Assessment of Educational Progress Exams revealed the devastating effect the pandemic had on learning.

For eighth-grade students, the average reading score was lower compared to all previous assessment years dating back to 1998.

The decrease was even worse for math and marked the largest ever recorded decline for fourth and eighth-grade students. The average eighth-grade mathematics score decreased by eight points compared to 2019 and was lower than all previous assessment years going back to 2003.

There has been no upward progress in approximately two years, according to the analysis. Even more problematic, the negative consequences hit children from low socio-economic family backgrounds the hardest.

The debate continues over whether shutting down in-person learning was the right move.

“It’s hard to say it’s hard to know what the counterfactual would be like,” said Phyllis Jordan, associate director of Future Ed. “Would more people have died or what would have happened? What I will say is that even in places that opened schools, there were not consistent learning gains.” One thing is for certain: the pandemic had a devastating effect on the mental health of the youth.

“My daughter just fell apart,” said parent Leslie Pollak. “(She was) outgoing, she was very active — everything from academics to sports, and we just don’t know what happened. She started sleeping through the Zoom classes, and then all of a sudden, she stopped going to certain classes.”

Dr. Harris Pastides of the University of South Carolina said stories like Pollak’s are common.

“People who studied this said, ‘Prepare to be virtual, prepare to be hybrid. But don’t close to schools because we’ve learned about the devastating impact on students, learning, their families and teachers.’”

The study comes as President Joe Biden informed Congress this week that he will end the twin national emergencies for addressing COVID-19 on May 11, as most of the world has returned closer to normalcy nearly three years after they were first declared.

The move to end the national emergency and public health emergency declarations would formally restructure the federal coronavirus response to treat the virus as an endemic threat to public health that can be managed through agencies’ normal authorities.

It comes as lawmakers have already ended elements of the emergencies that kept millions of Americans insured during the pandemic. Combined with the drawdown of most federal COVID-19 relief money, it would also shift the development of vaccines and treatments away from the direct management of the federal government.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Protesters marked the two-year anniversary of Myanmar’s military coup with a “silent strike” in major cities and rallies overseas on Wednesday, as exiled civilian leaders vowed to end what they called the army’s “illegal power grab”.

The Southeast Asian country’s top generals led a putsch on February 2021 after five years of tense power-sharing under a quasi-civilian political system created by the military.

The overthrow of the elected government of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi derailed a decade of reform, international engagement and economic growth, while leaving a trail of upended lives in its wake.

Myanmar has been in chaos since the coup, with a resistance movement fighting the military on multiple fronts after a bloody crackdown on opponents that saw Western sanctions re-imposed.

Myanmar’s military is due to issue a statement on Wednesday that may decide whether to extend a state of emergency, ahead of a promised poll this year that critics call a sham aimed at retaining power in the country.

The army’s National Defence and Security Council (NDSC) met on Tuesday where it discussed the situation in Myanmar including the actions of the National Unity Government (NUG), a shadow administration formed by opponents, and the so-called people’s defence force fighting the army, state media reported.

“The unusual circumstances of the country whereby they are making attempts to seize state power in an insurgent and terror-like ways (was discussed),” the military-owned Myawaddy media said on Tuesday.

Myawaddy reported the NDSC planned to release the “necessary statement” on Feb 1, without giving further details.

A telephone call to a military spokesperson seeking comment was not answered.

Myanmar’s military took power after complaining of fraud in a November 2020 general election won by Suu Kyi’s party. Election monitoring groups found no evidence of mass fraud.

The junta, led by Min Aung Hlaing, says its crackdown is a legitimate campaign against “terrorists”.

It declared a state of emergency for a year when it took power and has since extended it twice for six months, with the latest phase expiring on Wednesday.

The constitution allows for two extensions, though some sections appear to give more flexibility on the issue.

“For two years, the people of Myanmar have stood together, their heads held high, and steadfastly resisted Min Aung Hlaing and the Myanmar military’s attempt to overthrow the elected government,” the NUG said in a statement.

The NUG added that “together with ethnic allies, who have opposed the military for decades, we will end the military’s illegal power grab.”

In the main commercial cities of Yangon and Mandalay, images on social media showed deserted streets in what coup opponents said was a silent protest against the junta.

In Thailand, hundreds of protesters held a rally outside the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok, while activists also staged a protest in the Philippine’s capital, Manila.

“We are the people, we have the future,” protesters in Bangkok chanted. “The revolution must prevail.”

The United States and allies including the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada imposed further sanctions on Myanmar on Tuesday, with curbs on energy officials and junta members, among others.

In Japan, a major donor and investor before the coup, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno on Wednesday urged the military government to restore the democratic political system.

The junta has pledged to hold an election in August this year. State media recently announced tough requirements for parties to contest, a move that critics say could sideline the military’s opponents and cement its grip on politics.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party was decimated by the coup, with thousands of its members arrested or jailed, including Suu Kyi, and many more in hiding.

It has described this year’s planned election as “phoney” and said it would not acknowledge it. The election has also been dismissed as a sham by Western governments.

“You cannot have a free and fair election when you arrest, detain, torture and execute leaders of the opposition,” U.N. special rapporteur on Myanmar Tom Andrews told reporters at the United Nations on Tuesday.

Some 1.2 million people have been displaced and over 70,000 have left the country, according to the United Nations, which has accused the military of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

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