Today, what was the ancient city of Nineveh is marked by two large mounds, Tell Kuyunjiq and Tell Nabī Yūnus “Prophet Jonah."

That is the area where a team of archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. have discovered some intricate rock carvings that are 2,700-years-old, Heritage Daily reports.

The area is just outside of the Iraqi city of Mosul.

Fadhil Mohammed, the head of the restoration works, said his team found eight murals that had inscriptions and drawings along with writings.

ISIS carried out a campaign of destruction over a large part of Iraq and Syria in 2014 destroying archaeological sites to erase history. Theses were thankfully saved.

“The writings show that these murals were built or made during the reign of King Sennacherib,” Mohammed said, speaking of the Neo-Assyrian empire king. That king ruled from 705 to 681BC.

Iraqi forces that were supported by a U.S. - international coalition was able to liberate Mosul from ISIS in 2017.

Humans aren't the only ones coming down sick ahead of the holiday season.  

"Just like people get the flu, birds get the flu. Some strains are a lot worse than others. In this case, it's really bad. It kills the birds," said David Anderson, an economist at AgriLife. 

Across the country, avian flu outbreaks are taking a toll on the turkey and chicken industry, leaving farmers scrambling as they try to protect their birds. 

"We started off the year as normal at our normal time with 600 birds. They had not even left the rooting barn yet; the bird flu came into the area," said Cathy Cabalo, the owner of Cabalo's Orchard and Gardens. "When we're looking at 600 turkeys, that are bread and butter to the season, we didn't dare let them outside."

As of November 1, 43 states had at least one confirmed infected flock according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture — with Iowa being one of the hardest hit states in recent weeks. Officials estimate that nearly 48 million birds in the U.S. have been affected so far. 

Out of the 585 flocks confirmed to have cases of Avian flu, 333 are backyard flocks – with the CDC advising folks raising their own birds to do so with caution. That means wearing protective equipment like goggles and masks especially when handling sick or dead birds. 

SEE MORE: Bird Flu Spreading Across The Country, Detected In At Least 29 States

The avian flu is not just an American problem, in the U.K, poultry farmers have been ordered to keep birds indoors as the country has recorded its largest spread on record more than 200 cases. In Japan, 40,000 chickens were ordered slaughtered following positive tests. 

As case numbers rise, businesses are struggling to keep up with holiday demand. 

"Between Avian influenza and high feed costs, right there you have the recipe for higher prices. We see right now at the store, whether wholesale or retail prices," said Anderson. 

Greg Schmidt is the manager of Tower Chicken Farm. 

"My supplier lost over 100,000 birds just in the month of August," said Schmidt. 

Add in inflation and shoppers are feeling the pinch in their wallet. According to Auburn University, turkey prices are 25% higher than they were this time last year — with turkey production estimated to decline 6.4% in 2022. The price of a 15 pound turkey is now nearly $21 compared to $15 last year. 

"Right now we're seeing a little bit of a shortage in the bigger sizes," said Scott Podd, co-owner of Ray's Butcher Shop. 

And if you are looking for a big bird for your Thanksgiving table, industry experts warn that the sooner you purchase or order your holiday bird, the better off you'll be adding that last minute shoppers might find themselves out of "cluck." 

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From Bethlehem and Frankfurt to London and Boston, the surging coronavirus put a damper on Christmas Eve for a second year, forcing churches to cancel or scale back services and disrupting travel plans and family gatherings.

Drummers and bagpipers marched through Bethlehem to smaller than usual crowds after new Israeli travel restrictions meant to slow the highly contagious omicron variant kept international tourists away from the town where Jesus is said to have been born.

In Germany, a line wound halfway around Cologne’s massive cathedral, not for midnight Mass but for vaccinations. The offer of shots was an expression of “care for one’s neighbor” that was consistent with the message of Christmas, cathedral provost Guido Assmann told the DPA news agency.

Around the world, people weary from nearly two years of lockdowns and other restrictions searched for ways to safely enjoy holiday rituals.

“We can't let the virus take our lives from us when we're healthy,” said Rosalia Lopes, a retired Portuguese government worker who was doing some last-minute shopping in the coastal town of Cascais.

She said she and her family were exhausted by the pandemic and determined to go ahead with their celebrations with the help of vaccines and booster shots, rapid home tests and mask-wearing in public. She planned a traditional Portuguese Christmas Eve dinner of baked cod.

In New York City, where omicron has spread widely, people waited in long lines to get tested, many doing so as a precaution before traveling to reunite with family.

Brianna Sultan and her daughter Ava, 8, spent Friday in one of those long lines waiting for a test after they got word of another infection at school.

“It’s a terrible way to be spending Christmas Eve,” Sultan said after more than two hours in line and as the chill deepened into the evening in New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. “It’s terrible that we can’t see our families because this COVID strain is coming back up again.”

Holiday travel was dealt a blow when major airlines canceled hundreds of flights amid staffing shortages largely tied to omicron.

Sadia Reins arrived in New York City from Alexandria, Virginia, on Friday to be with her 75-year-old mother. Reins said the two haven’t spent Christmas together in two years, and despite the risks in traveling during the outbreak, she couldn't bear to be apart from her mother again this year.

“We’re going to cry,” she said, adding: “We talk on the phone all the time, but it’s not the same as looking at someone.”

In Britain, where the coronavirus variant is ripping through the population, some houses of worship hoped to press on.

At St. Paul’s Old Ford, an Anglican church in East London, priests planned to hold services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. But to protect parishioners, the church called off its Nativity play.

“You might have to cancel the service, but you can’t cancel Christmas,’’ said the Rev. April Keech, an associate priest. “You can’t stop love. Love still stands.”

Numerous churches in the U.S. canceled in-person services, including Washington National Cathedral in the nation’s capital and historic Old South Church in Boston. Others planned outdoor celebrations or a mix of online and in-person worship.

In Rome, a maskless Pope Francis celebrated Christmas Eve Mass before an estimated 2,000 people in St. Peter’s Basilica, where admission was limited and worshippers had to wear masks.

While the number of faithful was far more than the 200 allowed in last year, it was a fraction of the 20,000 the basilica can seat. Before the pandemic, St. Peter's was routinely packed for midnight Mass.

In Germany, churchgoers faced a thicket of health restrictions and limits on attendance. Some had to show proof of vaccination or testing.

Frankfurt’s cathedral, which can hold 1,200 people, offered only 137 socially distanced spaces, all of which were booked days in advance. Singing was allowed only through masks.

People in the Netherlands tried to make the best of the holiday, despite living under one of the strictest lockdowns in Europe. All nonessential shops were closed, including bars and restaurants, and home visits were limited to two people per day, four on Christmas.

“We are just meeting with some small groups of family for the next few days,” Marloes Jansen, who was waiting in line to buy the traditional Dutch kerststol, a Christmas bread with fruits and nuts.

A glitch in a computerized appointment system prevented scores of people from scheduling COVID-19 tests and undermined the government’s efforts to administer booster shots in a country already lagging far behind its neighbors.

In France, some visited loved ones in the hospital. In the Mediterranean city of Marseille, the intensive care unit at La Timone Hospital has been taking in more and more COVID-19 patients in recent days.

Amelie Khayat has been paying daily visits to her husband, Ludo, 41, who is recovering from spending 24 days in a coma and on a breathing machine.

They touched their heads together as she sat on his bed, and now that he is strong enough to stand, he got up to give her a farewell hug, as a medical worker put final decorations on the ICU Christmas tree.

Parisians lined up at chocolate shops, farmers’ markets and testing centers. France has posted record numbers of daily COVID-19 infections, and hospitalizations have been rising, but the government has held off on imposing curfews or closings during the holidays.

“It does affect our enthusiasm to celebrate Christmas. It does make us a bit sad. But at least we are sure not to contaminate or get contaminated. We will all do the test in our family,” said Fabienne Maksimovic, 55, as she waited in line at a pharmacy in Paris to get tested.

In Antwerp, Belgium, Christmas trees hung upside down from windows in a protest against the closing of cultural venues.

In Bethlehem, the scene was much more festive than it was a year ago, when musicians marched through empty streets. This year, hundreds of people gathered in Manger Square as bagpipe-and-drum units streamed through.

Before the pandemic, Bethlehem would host thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world. The lack of visitors has hit the city's hotels, restaurants and gift shops especially hard.

___

Associated Press journalists Nicole Winfield in Rome; Danica Kirka in London; Barry Hatton in Lisbon, Portugal; Aritz Parra in Madrid; Daniel Cole in Marseille, France; Molly Quell in the Netherlands; and David Crary in New York contributed to this report.

Ashley Colburn is an international

TV host, producer and travel expert.

You can find her shows on different networks around the world, cruise ships, airlines and

YouTube.

“I’ve filmed in at least 40 countries; I’ve traveled to 60,” Colburn said.

She’s a San Diego native, but she now lives in Istria, Croatia – a place not too far from Italy. When the global coronavirus craziness started in early March, her schedule – which is usually planned a year in advance – was changing by the day.

“Things were starting to get canceled left and right," Colburn said. "I had no more projects. And then I remember waking up one morning and I had a text from my mom and it was right after the travel ban was mentioned from Europe and so it was kind of a sudden shock – wait do I come home, is everything going to get canceled – there was just so much unknown. But I didn’t want to get trapped doing nothing in an apartment in Europe where you can’t leave, you know, because this is what was happening in Italy.”

So, she flew home to California and isolated herself with family. Normally at this time she’d be traveling from one country to the next filming TV shows, but like the rest of the world, Ashley has been forced to stay put and shelter-in-place. She’s now been in San Diego for 10 weeks and counting.

“I’m always on the move. And so, I will say that there are always those to-do lists.”

Since her travel itch hasn’t gone away, she feels like it’s her responsibility to keep people connected to the rest of the world when they can’t travel.

“We just have to be creative now as travelers and come up with other ways of sharing the world with people and inspiring them to still travel one day,” Colburn said.

She’s inspiring people through

“Windows of the World”.

“I figured – I have contacts across the entire world. And so I thought ‘well if they’re stuck at home and I’m stuck at home, I’ll order in a studio from Amazon’ – and I started just calling them through Skype and I would film these conversations about what the situation is like there, and I would have them show the view.”

“Windows of the World” is a YouTube series intended to help people travel virtually. She hopes to teach people about different cultures, and the power of human connection during a pandemic.

“So far, I’ve talked to people in Rwanda, in Croatia of course – Dubrovnik, Croatia – in Jordan, I’m just about to release one in Slovenia, and I even spoke to an Amish family here in the states,” Colburn said.

Ashley has plans to film in Egypt this fall and she’s considering many different options to continue her work.

“I’ve even thought about doing a road trip here around the United States. I’m not often in the United States.”

However, she says now is the best time to reflect on the trips you’ve taken in the past – making sure you don’t take any future trips for granted.

“I think even for a traveler it’s good to kind of sit back and take a look at your life that you had around the globe and actually appreciate all those moments that you had.”

The U.S. on Thursday donated its 200 millionth COVID-19 shot to help vaccinate the rest of the world, the White House announced. The Biden administration aims to lead a global vaccination campaign even as it rolls out boosters for domestic use, which critics say diverts doses from those who are in greater need around the world.The donated doses include more than 120 million in surplus from the U.S. stockpile of shots, as well as the initial deliveries of the 1 billion doses the Biden administration has purchased from Pfizer for overseas donation by September 2022. More than 100 countries and territories have received the American doses, and the U.S. remains the largest vaccine donor in the world.“These 200 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have helped bring health and hope to millions of people, but our work is far from over,” U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power said in a statement. “To end the pandemic, and prevent the emergence of new variants, as well as future outbreaks within our nation’s borders, we must continue to do our part to help vaccinate the world.”While aid groups have praised the U.S. for leading the world in vaccine donations, they have criticized the U.S. for approving booster doses for use in the country while many people in lower-income nations have no protection at all. The Food and Drug Administration approved booster doses of the Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccines Wednesday, following last month's authorization of a third dose of the Pfizer shot.“The reality is, the more wealthy countries use booster shots, the further we will be from ending the pandemic," said Tom Hart, acting CEO of the One Campaign. “While some argue that we can both administer boosters and vaccinate the world, the simple fact is that boosters divert supply from an urgent area of need — administering first shots around the world.”While half the planet has been vaccinated, there are massive geographic and wealth disparities. The majority of global shots have been administered in high- and moderate-income countries.

"The situation right now is very dire," Patricia Gossman, associate Asia director for the Human Rights Watch, said.

As the Taliban take control of Afghanistan, women and girls are beginning to live under the return of a very dark reality. 

"The Taliban ruled over Afghanistan for five years until 2001, and they harbored al-Qaeda. Their rule was ghastly, and it was harsh, and there are many concerns that the rights of women over the past 20 years could be rolled back in an instant," Aya Batrawy, Gulf correspondent for the Associated Press, said.

Across the country, observers report the Taliban has already become violent against women and girls for not obeying Islamic extremism rules that reject western influence.  

Nilofar is a displaced teacher from the Takhar province. She says the Taliban recently lashed girls from her school for their choice of footwear, sandals, that were too revealing. 

"They are already also seeking out people that were associated with the current government. We are aware of a number of executions of people have been taken into Taliban custody," Gossman said.

As reports surface of girls being told not to attend school, the Taliban says education will be allowed, so long as "Islamic Sharia laws are not neglected."

"When we consider women and girls, all those who've had their lives advanced, this is searing. It is hard stuff," Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News.

Some women are even being told to stay home and give their jobs to male relatives. 

"I am worried about the women who are vocal, but more importantly, I’m more worried about the girls who cannot talk, who don't have a platform, who cannot represent themselves," Pashtana Dorani, executive director of LEARN, said.

And this may be the beginning.

Meg Hilling at Newsy first reported this story.

Video above shows world's most livable cities for 2019.The impact of COVID-19 on global livability has been absolutely devastating.Well over a year into the pandemic, ongoing health crises, border closures and lockdowns are continuing to affect millions of people around the world.But some destinations have fared much better than others in managing the virus, meaning those who live there were able to get back to some semblance of normal life reasonably early on.New Zealand has been significantly praised for its handling of the crisis so it's perhaps no surprise that one of its cities has been named the world's most livable city for 2021.Auckland came out on top on The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Livability Index of 140 cities around the world thanks to its success in containing the pandemic quickly, enabling restrictions to be lifted early on.The annual list did not go ahead in 2020, but Austria's Vienna, number one in both 2018 and 2019, has completely dropped out of the top 10 after being heavily affected by COVID-19, and now sits in 12th place.Down Under dominanceNew Zealand's capital Wellington was fourth on this year's list, tying with Japan's Tokyo, and four cities of Australia, where tough border controls have been in place throughout the crisis, occupy the top 10.Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane came in third, sixth and 10th place respectively, while Melbourne tied with Switzerland's Geneva at number eight."The cities that have risen to the top of the rankings this year are largely the ones that have taken stringent measures to contain the pandemic," Upasana Dutt from The Economist Intelligence Unit said in a statement."New Zealand's tough lockdown allowed their society to reopen and enabled citizens of cities like Auckland and Wellington to enjoy a lifestyle that looked similar to pre-pandemic life."Meanwhile, Tokyo wasn't the only Japanese city near the top of the list. Osaka, which was number four in 2019, has moved up to second place.Although Asia-Pacific cities seem to have excelled, Canada, which had three cities, Calgary, Vancouver and Toronto near the top two years ago, has dropped out of the top 10 entirely. At number 16, Vancouver is the highest Canadian city on the list.Perhaps unsurprisingly, the overall global average livability score has dropped by seven points when compared with figures before the pandemic.The index takes into account more than 30 qualitative and quantitative factors spanning five broad categories: stability (25%), health care (20%), culture and environment (25%), education (10%), and infrastructure (20%).While the categories were not amended this year, a number of indicators were taken into account, such as stress on health care resources and restrictions on local sporting events, when calculating scores for the health care, culture and environment, and education categories.However, the way in which each city handled the pandemic, how quickly vaccines were rolled out and the level of border restrictions put in place has led to major changes in the rankings.Health care impact"The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on global livability," adds Dutt. "Cities across the world are now much less livable than they were before the pandemic began, and we've seen that regions such as Europe have been hit particularly hard."In Europe, Germany saw the biggest drops in ranking, particularly the city of Hamburg, which fell 34 places to 47th on the list.But despite some social restrictions still being in place in Switzerland, the Central European country has seen two its cities move up, with Zurich and Geneva rising from 11th and 14th to seventh and eighth place.Overall health care scores have also dropped due to the pandemic, with Czech Republic's Prague, Greece's Athens and Indonesia's Jakarta, where case numbers were rising at the time the survey was conducted, scoring significantly lower than in previous years.In comparison, Spanish cities Barcelona and Madrid performed well in the health care category, gaining almost 25 points due to their health systems experiencing less strain when compared with the early wave of COVID-19 in 2020.Hawaii's capital city Honolulu also upped its health care score, with an increase of 33 points as a result of reducing Covid case numbers and good vaccination rates.In fact, Honolulu was one of the biggest movers on the 2021 list, rising 46 places to number 14. Houston has jumped 25 spots to number 31, a rise likely connected to Texas being among the first U.S. states to lift restrictions on public spaces.Deteriorating conditionsBut while there have been many significant differences towards the top, very little has changed at the bottom of the list.While Damascus sits in last place once again "as the effects of the civil war in Syria continue to take their toll," it's closely followed by Nigeria's Lagos, Papua New Guinea's Port Moresby and Bangladesh's Dhaka, which were all in either similar or identical spots in 2019.These cities have consistently performed badly over the years due to the instability caused by ongoing civil unrest and military conflicts, amongst other issues.According to the report, conditions here have deteriorated even further in the past 12 months, especially when it comes to health care, due to COVID-19.Although successful vaccination rollouts and the easing of restrictions in various countries has raised hopes, the pandemic is continuing to rage on, with India currently in the midst of a deadly outbreak."Conditions in the poorest cities are likely to deteriorate further, should cities fail to get the vaccines they need to prevent the spread of new COVID-19 variants," reads the report. "Weak health care systems could come under greater strain, as they have in India."This ultimately means we're likely to see more significant changes to the annual list come 2022, with some of the cities that have dropped down possibly regaining their former positions."The pace of recovery of livability in most regions will be determined by how effectively the health risks of the pandemic can be controlled, through a combination of vaccination, testing, tracing and quarantine measures," the report continues."Barring huge setbacks, such as the emergence of vaccine-resistant variants, scores for culture and environment should improve."The world's most livable cities 20211. Auckland, New Zealand2. Osaka, Japan3. Adelaide, Australia4. Wellington, New Zealand4. Tokyo, Japan6. Perth, Australia7. Zurich, Switzerland8. Geneva, Switzerland8. Melbourne, Australia10. Brisbane, AustraliaThe world's least livable cities 20211. Damascus, Syria2. Lagos, Nigeria3. Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea4. Dhaka, Bangladesh5. Algiers, Algeria 6. Tripoli, Libya7. Karachi, Pakistan8. Harare, Zimbabwe9. Douala, Cameroon10. Caracas, Venezuela