International

World News 16th March
The vaccines are working in the USA.  On 20^th December, 28 thousand care home staff had covid; on 14^th February, the figure dropped to 4 thousand.  Cases among the residents of care homes also went down by nearly 90%.  Good news.
The army in Myanmar put the main cities under martial law.  It means anyone can be arrested and taken to an army court.  The army and police have killed over 150 people and arrested over 2 thousand.  There is evidence that people are tortured.  Protesters set on fire some Chinese factories.  They say China is supporting the army.
Say ‘cheese’, in France – that makes people happy.  In lockdown, French people have been eating more cheese.  There are 264 varieties of cheese in France, so there is a lot to choose from.  But strange, the biggest increase in cheese eating was for Mozzarella – which is Italian.
Not much fun if you live in South East Iceland.  In the last 2 weeks, there have been 34 thousand earthquakes.  Yes, so many. The area is close to the capital Reykjavik and the airport.   It is also next to the famous Blue Lagoon, – a lake where you can swim but which is kept hot 37 degrees, by the volcanoes underneath.  People in the nearest small town say “it is a bit annoying when your house is swaying all the time.”  The experts say they do not expect a huge volcano to appear but they are watching very carefully.