Roman Paliukh / Commento

In May, every day there are special prayers in honor of the Virgin Mary. In general, this month is often called – “the month of Mary”. What is it connected with? Where does this tradition come from?

The month of May is always special for a lot of people. This is the first time we can enjoy the warmth of summer, after a long period of winter and cold weather. In May we can particularly densely feel the singing of birds, and see how everything around us is blooming and green. For many people, it is a special time to plan vacations, trips together, family holidays.

Noble Pettayil Babu

India’s weather department has issued a severe heatwave warning as temperatures soar, throwing millions of lives and livelihoods out of gear. Some states in India have seen temperatures top 43 °C (110 °F), with northwest India likely to see even higher temperatures in the coming days, according to the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). Extreme heat can be deadly, especially for a region where many lack access to cooling. And climate change is making heat waves more frequent and severe, with periods of hot days stretching out longer in places like South Asia.

Sinoj Thomas

Sri Lanka, an island nation of 22 million, faces an economic and political crisis, with protesters taking to the streets in defiance of curfews and government ministers stepping down en masse. The crisis has been years in the making, driven by a little bad luck and government mismanagement. Over the past decade, the Sri Lankan government has borrowed vast sums from foreign lenders to fund public services. This borrowing spree has coincided with a series of hammer blows to the Sri Lankan economy, from both natural disasters such as heavy monsoons to manufactured catastrophes, including a government ban on chemical fertilizers that decimated farmers’ harvests.