Even in the most devastated U.S. counties, the latest Covid-19 surge is receding, buying authorities time as they attempt to vaccinate about 330 million people.

Recent hot spots including Webb County, Texas; Maricopa County, Arizona; and Greenville and Spartanburg counties in South Carolina have seen cases trend downward in the past week, according to USAFacts, a nonprofit statistics aggregator used by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among the top-five hot spots with populations of at least 250,000, only Pinal County, Arizona, saw cases increase.

Read it all.

Even in the most devastated U.S. counties, the latest Covid-19 surge is receding, buying authorities time as they attempt to vaccinate Americans https://t.co/1WmWEAQFla

— Bloomberg (@business) January 29, 2021

Shaver and his colleagues recently published a paper exploring the effects of religious support on fertility and child development. They used ten years of data from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, which recruited over 14,000 pregnant women in England in the early 1990s to track ever since—on measures such as children’s lead exposure to number of illnesses to developmental ups and downs. From this data they tested how church attendance and social support affected family size and child development.

Unsurprisingly, they found that religious families had more children. They also found that, on the whole, the more siblings a child had, the shorter the child was and the lower his scores on state standardized achievement tests. This “tradeoff” falls in line with previous studies showing that larger family sizes dilute parental resources and affect child outcomes. But the finding didn’t hold for families with support from religious communities. In fact, Shaver and his colleagues found that religious support sometimes correlated with higher test scores.

These findings, Shaver wrote, suggest that religious communities overcome the tradeoffs between number of children and child success by sharing resources, a practice anthropologists call “alloparenting.” While the term is erudite, it’s something humans have done throughout history. Only in recent decades, as social and family connections have frayed, has it become less common.

Read it all.

A new study from grantee @johnhshaver and his team suggests that religious communities overcome the tradeoffs between number of children and child success by sharing resources. Read more in @ctmagazine: https://t.co/cCBG8UT78B

— John Templeton Foundation (@templeton_fdn) January 29, 2021

The coronavirus will not be defeated anywhere until it is defeated everywhere, the Archbishop of Canterbury has warned.

Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme on Wednesday morning, after 100,000 Covid-related deaths were reported in the UK, Archbishop Welby said that the UK, like other rich nations, must look after others as well as its own. So far, just under four million people have received the first dose of the vaccine in the UK. About 71.1 million doses have been distributed globally, mostly in the United States and China.

“It is in our own interests that all round the world the vaccine is given,” Archbishop Welby said. “The Government has been very, very good about supporting the COVAX programme; we are the biggest donor to it. . . We are one of the countries with one of the highest levels of infection and death rate in the world, and it is necessary to focus on those in need to stop it spreading.”

Read it all.

LATEST. The coronavirus will not be defeated anywhere until it is defeated everywhere, the Archbishop of Canterbury @JustinWelby has warnedhttps://t.co/ARp6boUset

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) January 27, 2021

Americans are sizing up the nation’s greatest challenges a bit differently this month in the aftermath of a political insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, the second impeachment of former President Donald Trump and the national rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

Amid this backdrop, the percentage of Americans citing governmental leaders or behavior as the top problem jumped to 29% — the highest in almost a year — from 20% in December. Also, a record-high 12% cited national discord, up from 5% last month. At the same time, mentions of the coronavirus fell 11 percentage points to 22%, while mentions of race-related issues were essentially unchanged at 10%.

Read it all.

Nearly seven years after Boko Haram militants snatched them from their dormitory beds in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, more of the missing schoolgirls are said to be returning home.

Emmanuel Ogebe, a Nigerian human rights lawyer who practices in the United States and has previously worked with some of the freed girls and their families, said a parent told him that his daughter and others have escaped their captors.

“Mr. Ali Maiyanga’s two daughters were part of the few Muslim schoolgirls taken with the majority Christian Chibok girls. Information currently available to us indicates that there are other escapees with the army whom parents are anxiously waiting to identify,” Ogebe said in a statement to ABC News late Thursday. “We spoke and confirmed from Mr. Ali Maiyanga moments ago that he in fact spoke with his daughter today, who informed him that she along with others were rescued. Her sister who escaped four years ago and is on school break was overjoyed at the news of her sibling’s escape.”

Read it all.

NEW: Nearly seven years after Boko Haram militants snatched them from their dormitory beds in the northeast Nigerian town of Chibok, more of the missing schoolgirls are said to be returning home. https://t.co/v5d1nc4Cpx pic.twitter.com/TAmp2Kegtv

— ABC News (@ABC) January 29, 2021

Holy God, we bless thee for the gift of thy monk and icon writer Andrei Rublev, who, inspired by the Holy Spirit, provided a window into heaven for generations to come, revealing the majesty and mystery of the holy and blessed Trinity; who livest and reignest through ages of ages. Amen.

Baptism of Christ, Andrei Rublev, 1405 pic.twitter.com/TRGt3BwCS6

— Elena (@omnialnchristo) January 13, 2021

Lift up our souls, O Lord, to the pure, serene light of thy presence; that there we may breathe freely, there repose in thy love, there may be at rest from ourselves, and from thence return, arrayed in thy peace, to do and bear what shall please thee; for thy holy name’s sake.

pic.twitter.com/7ZbXJAwmgw

— E?M… (@EgwEimai6) January 29, 2021

The Lord God has given me
the tongue of those who are taught,
that I may know how to sustain with a word
him that is weary.
Morning by morning he wakens,
he wakens my ear
to hear as those who are taught.

The Lord God has opened my ear,
and I was not rebellious,
I turned not backward.

I gave my back to the smiters,
and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard;
I hid not my face
from shame and spitting.

For the Lord God helps me;
therefore I have not been confounded;
therefore I have set my face like a flint,
and I know that I shall not be put to shame;

he who vindicates me is near.

–Isaiah 50:4-8a

Neighbours from heaven 😍🧡😍🤗🥰 pic.twitter.com/Gb2L0Io816

— 🍀Monica🍀 (@monicabeer1) January 28, 2021