In 1946, in a Europe devastated by World War II, a small, abandoned brewery in a valley of Austria’s Tyrol region was converted into an antibiotics factory. Michel Rambaud, a chemist and French officer with the Allied occupation forces, devised the project based on the fact that the fermentation process by which yeasts make beer is, in essence, the same process that Penicillium fungi use to synthesize the active ingredient in penicillin. The change of use for the facilities opened a new era: the start of industrial penicillin production saved millions of lives and helped drive a rapid economic recovery across the continent, powered partly by the pharmaceutical sector.

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Truck was carrying Afghan families returning Pakistan when it overturned, official says

A truck overturned in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, killing 18 people on board including 10 children, a provincial official told Agence France-Presse.

Deadly traffic crashes are common in Afghanistan, due in part to poor roads after decades of conflict, dangerous driving and a lack of regulation.

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© Photograph: Siddiqullah Alizai/AP

© Photograph: Siddiqullah Alizai/AP

© Photograph: Siddiqullah Alizai/AP

New digital marking system is aimed at reducing human errors but many students say it has resulted in wrong grades

A national outcry has erupted in India after more than 400,000 students requested copies of their answer sheets amid mounting complaints of errors in the marking of the country’s most important school-leaving examinations.

Within days of the grade 12 exam results being issued, students began reporting marking discrepancies they linked to a new digital marking system.

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© Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty Images

© Photograph: Hindustan Times/Getty Images

Doppio blocco nello Stretto di Hormuz e raid USA a Bandar Abbas: perché la guerra all'Iran è una leva sull'energia cinese.

A significant event in the formation of both Japan’s postwar foreign policy and the situation in the critically important Southeast Asian subregion was Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi’s tour to Indonesia and the Philippines in early May. Japan is once again “moving southwest.” It should be emphasized once again that one of the central components of […]