Pope Francis on Saturday met South Sudanese children displaced by conflict and heard of the hardships of their lives in camps, telling them they would build a better future for the world’s newest country by replacing ethnic hatred with forgiveness.

The pope was visiting South Sudan with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields – an unprecedented joint “pilgrimage of peace”.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in 2013 with ethnic groups turning on each other. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, bouts of inter-ethnic fighting have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.

At a meeting in the capital Juba, the three Christian leaders listened to testimonies from displaced children including Johnson Juma Alex, 14, who has been living in a camp since 2014 after fleeing his hometown because of fighting.

“Life in the camp is not good because the area is small and crowded,” he told them, reading haltingly from a prepared text in English, which is not his native language.

“There is not enough space to play football. Many children do not go to school because there are not enough teachers and schools for all of us,” he said. After he spoke, the pope, the archbishop and the moderator warmly shook his hand.

There are 2.2 million internally displaced people in South Sudan, out of a total population of about 11.6 million, and another 2.3 million have fled the country as refugees, according to the United Nations.

Extreme poverty and hunger are rife across the country, with two thirds of the population needing humanitarian assistance as a result of conflict as well as three years of catastrophic floods.

“The future cannot lie in refugee camps,” the pope told the children after hearing their stories at the event, which was held in a prefabricated structure holding about 2,500 people.

“As you said, Johnson, there is a need for all children like yourself to have the opportunity to go to school – and to have a field to play football!”

Francis said hope for South Sudan’s future rests in children from different ethnic groups, who have suffered and are still suffering, yet who do not want to respond to evil with more evil.

“Although conflict, violence and hatred have replaced good memories on the first pages of the life of this republic, you must be the ones to rewrite its history as a history of peace!” he said.

“You bear the burden of a painful past, yet you never stop dreaming of a better future. In our meeting today, we would like to give wings to your hope.”

The resident U.N. humanitarian coordinator in South Sudan, Sara Beysolow Nyanti, raised the issue of pervasive sexual violence against women and girls, who she said risked being violated while carrying out their daily routines.

The pope responded by calling on everyone in South Sudan to respect women.

“Please, protect, respect, appreciate and honour every woman, every girl, young woman, mother and grandmother. Otherwise, there will be no future,” he said, to cheers and ululations from the audience.

Archbishop Welby, leader of the global Anglican Communion, earlier spoke about South Sudan’s many problems at a service at Juba’s Anglican cathedral, where the congregation of thousands spilled out into the streets.

“My heart breaks. I can hardly speak with sorrow for South Sudan,” he said.

“I beg that at every level, from the president to the smallest child … that there is peace and good government, that no one steals money, that no one kills their neighbour for cattle.”

Later on Saturday, the three Christian leaders will take part in an open-air ecumenical prayer vigil at a mausoleum for South Sudan’s liberation hero John Garang, with 50,000 people expected to attend.

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When his dog was born three decades ago in a tiny village in central Portugal, Leonel Costa was only eight years old. Little did he know that his beloved Bobi would one day be recorded as the world’s oldest dog.

When Bobi, a purebred Rafeiro do Alentejo, celebrated its 30th birthday last year, Costa knew he had broken an almost century-old record held by an Australian cattle-dog that died at 29 years and five months in 1939.

Costa got in touch with the Guinness World of Records, submitted all the paperwork and a year later Bobi was officially named the oldest dog on record.

Bobi was 30 years and 269 days old as of Feb. 4.

“It’s a feeling of pride we can’t explain,” Costa, 38, told Reuters as he petted Bobi near a church in the village of Conqueiros in central Portugal.

“Some people told us we wouldn’t make it… but we knew Bobi’s age and were sure the exams would only prove what we already knew.”

The Guinness World of Records, which made the announcement on Thursday, described Bobi’s story as “miraculous”.

At the time Bobi was born, Costa’s family had many animals and little money so his father, a hunter, generally buried newborn puppies rather than keep them. But Bobi hid among a pile of firewood. Costa and his siblings found it a few days later and kept it a secret until the puppy opened its eyes.

“We knew that when he opened his eyes, my parents wouldn’t be able to bury him, ” he said.

Bobi’s breed usually has a life expectancy of 12 to 14 years and Costa attributed its longevity to a number of factors, including living in calm countryside, never having been chained or kept on a leash and always eating “human food”.

“Of course our love and affection throughout his life has also helped,” he said, giggling.

Although Bobi still loves walks, age is taking its toll: the dog is less adventurous, its fur is thinning, its eyesight has worsened and it needs to rest more than it used to.

Costa hopes Bobi has many more years of life and is thankful the dog has put the remote village of Conqueiros on the map.

“There were other animals here who lived long lives but Bobi surpassed everything.”

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Chris Parry and Andrew Bagshaw were undertaking voluntary work in Soledar.

Rows of sleek new school desks equipped with bike pedals are allowing students in Mexico to power through their class work while cranking out some light exercise, burning off calories in a country known for its alarming obesity rates.

But for the students at a high school just outside the bustling city of Monterrey, the new bike desks offer benefits beyond exercise.

“When we’re physically active it also helps keep us focused,” said 13-year-old Reimy Rodriguez, in her first year at Public High School 24. “It’s actually incredible.”

A third of all Mexicans are obese and as children age, many pack on the pounds. A recent national study showed about 8% of children under 5 were overweight or obese, which rises to almost 19% for kids between 5-11 years old.

Sanjuanita Garcia, the school’s principal, points to the bike desks’ post-pandemic benefits, especially for boys more vulnerable to excessive weight gain.

“After we got back to in-person classes, we began to observe lots of anxiety among our boys and how obesity shot up,” she said.

“With this project, we’re trying to break down the problem,” she added.

The school currently features two classrooms fully decked out with the new desks, but the plan is to gradually add them to all 21 classrooms.

Miguel Ortiz, founder of the company that built them, wanted to ensure Mexican students could also benefit from the new twist on healthier classrooms after seeing a Canadian school pioneer them.

“We decided to develop a prototype at a viable cost that could be implemented here,” he said, noting each bike desk costs about 2,700 pesos ($142) – about five times less than the Canadian original.

($1 = 18.9550 Mexican pesos)

(Reuters) – The United States and Russia faced off on Saturday over a World Health Organization report on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, with Moscow saying it was politically motivated and Washington calling for it to be swiftly updated.

WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s report was presented to the organisation’s executive board, on which both Russia and the United States sit.

It covered events in the first nine months of 2022 and classed the situation in Ukraine, which Russia invaded on Feb. 24, as one of eight acute global health emergencies.

The report documented more than 14,000 civilian casualties, with 17.7 million people in need of humanitarian assistance and 7.5 million Ukrainian refugees displaced across Europe.

Of 471 attacks with heavy weapons on healthcare facilities globally, 448 occurred in Ukraine, the WHO report said.

Russia’s representative to the WHO board called it politicised and one-sided and described its references to Ukraine as unfounded accusations.

Moscow has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine since it began what it calls a special military operation, which has also devastated Ukraine’s cities, killed thousands of combatants and shaken the global economy.

Sheba Crocker, U.S. representative to the United Nations, called for an updated report to document incidents in Ukraine since September.

“Russia’s attacks … have caused unspeakable harm to civilians and critical infrastructure in Ukraine,” she told the board meeting, according to a statement from her office.

“…This senseless death and destruction falls brutally on children, the elderly, and other vulnerable groups’ access to vital health care,” Crocker added.

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Pope Francis said on Saturday Churches in South Sudan “cannot remain neutral” but must raise their voices against injustice and abuse of power, as he and two other Christian leaders conducted a peace mission to the world’s newest country.

On his first full day in South Sudan, Francis addressed Catholic bishops, priests and nuns in the cathedral of St. Therese in the capital Juba as the Archbishop of Canterbury and the head of the Church of Scotland held services elsewhere.

South Sudan broke away from Sudan in 2011 but plunged into civil war in 2013 with ethnic groups turning on each other. Despite a 2018 peace deal between the two main antagonists, bouts of inter-ethnic fighting have continued to kill and displace large numbers of civilians.

“Brothers and sisters, we too are called to intercede for our people, to raise our voices against the injustice and the abuses of power that oppress and use violence to suit their own ends,” Francis said, adding that religious leaders “cannot remain neutral before the pain caused by acts of injustice”.

There are 2.2 million internally displaced people in South Sudan, out of a total population of about 11.6 million, and another 2.3 million have fled the country as refugees, according to the United Nations.

Extreme poverty and hunger are rife, with two thirds of the population needing humanitarian assistance as a result of conflict as well as three years of catastrophic floods.

At the cathedral, Francis heard a nun tell of how two of her fellow sisters were killed in an ambush near Juba in 2021.

“Let us ask ourselves what it means for us to be ministers of God in a land scarred by war, hatred, violence, and poverty,” Francis said, and later led prayers for them.

“How can we exercise our ministry in this land, along the banks of a river bathed in so much innocent blood?” he asked, referring to the White Nile that runs through the country.

Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and the Church of Scotland Moderator Iain Greenshields will meet people displaced by war and hear their stories later on Saturday.

The three Christian leaders, on an unprecedented “pilgrimage of peace”, will later take part in an open-air ecumenical prayer vigil at a mausoleum for South Sudan’s liberation hero John Garang, with 50,000 people expected to attend.

The joint visit is the first of its kind in Christian history.

South Sudan is predominantly Christian and tens of thousands of people lined the streets of the capital Juba to welcome the pope with singing, drumming and ululations on Friday when he arrived from a visit to Democratic Republic of Congo.

In a strongly worded speech to South Sudan’s leaders including its previously warring President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar, Francis implored them to renounce violence, ethnic hatred and corruption.

At the same event, Welby said he was grieved that violence had continued after the 2018 peace deal and a 2019 gathering at the Vatican during which the pope knelt to kiss the feet of the warring leaders, begging them to bring peace to South Sudan.

“I am sad that we still hear of such tragedy. We hoped and prayed for more. We expected more. You promised more,” Welby told the assembled leaders.

In his own speech, Kiir said his government was firmly committed to consolidating peace in South Sudan.

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India’s market regulator moved to calm investor concerns on Saturday, saying that its financial markets remain stable and continue to function in a transparent and efficient manner, despite recent dramatic stock falls in Adani Group companies.

Shares in Adani Group firms, controlled by billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani, have dropped by $100 billion, or half their market value, since U.S-based short-seller Hindenburg Research made allegations of stock manipulation and unsustainable debt.

“During the past week, unusual price movement in the stocks of a business conglomerate has been observed,” the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) said in a statement, without naming any specific entity.

The Adani Group denies all Hindenburg’s allegations, but the fall in the value of its stocks led it to call off earlier this week a $2.5 billion share sale by Adani Enterprises (ADEL.NS).

Mechanisms were in place to address excessive volatility in specific stocks, SEBI said, adding these were automatically triggered under certain conditions of stock price volatility.

Any matters related to specific entities will be examined and appropriate action will be taken, the regulator added.

Reuters earlier reported that SEBI was examining the recent crash in the Adani Group’s shares and looking into any possible irregularities.

The comments follow a similar assurance from the central bank which said that the banking sector remained stable.

Shares of the group’s flagship company stabilised somewhat on Friday and closed 1.4% higher, after earlier slumping 35% to hit their lowest level since March 2021. That low took its losses to nearly $33.6 billion since last week, a 70% fall.

Earlier on Saturday, India’s Finance Secretary TV Somanathan said that from a macroeconomic perspective, the Adani issue is a “storm in a teacup”, while Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said regulators are independent and will take their own action.

Meanwhile, Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra Group, another of India’s biggest conglomerates tweeted on Saturday that investors should “never, ever bet against India” despite “current challenges in the business sector”.

Mahindra did not directly mention Adani Group.

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