Free Republic

...the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) says that 18% of all COVID-19 cases were reported in children during the month of April. Michigan, where COVID-19 is surging, saw a 237% increase in pediatric hospital admissions between mid-February to mid-April. Children usually have mild reactions to COVID-19, but a small percentage develop potentially deadly multi-system inflammatory syndrome or MIS-C. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that there were 3,185 confirmed cases of MIS-C in the U.S. since May 2020, and 36 deaths as a result of the syndrome, says GMA.

NEW DELHI (AP) -- Like consumers around the globe, Indians are flocking to the online marketplace in droves these days. But there's one unusual item flying off the virtual shelves: Online retailers say cow dung patties are selling like hot cakes. The patties - cow poop mixed with hay and dried in the sun, made mainly by women in rural areas and used to fuel fires - have long been available in India's villages. But online retailers including Amazon and eBay are now reaching out to the country's ever-increasing urban population, feeding into the desire of older city folks to...

The Bavarian Farmers Association (BBV) is calling foul on new rules proposed by the European Union Commission to ban cow dung from hillsides with a gradient more than 15 percent. The goal is to avoid water pollution by stopping nitrates from leaching into ground waters. “We demand that Germany stops this ban,” said Upper Bavaria BBV president Anton Kreitmair at Wednesday’s protest. “Slurry and dung are not pollutants, but valuable fertilizers.” The protest had no placards or slogans—just Doris the cow, wearing a plastic sheet tied around her rear end by farmer Johann Huber. “We have no regular Pampers; the...

A ban on the use of charcoal in Chad is making life hard for people already struggling with high food prices. Families are being forced to burn furniture, cow dung, rubbish and roots of plants in order to cook. Since the clampdown was announced - officially in order to help the environment - charcoal has become almost impossible to find.