SRINAGAR, India — The skies are overcast. On the plains, temperatures have dropped below freezing. High on the mountains, peaks are draped in thick snow. This is the time of “Chillai Kalan,” also called “The Great Winter,” a Kashmiri phrase that defines the harshest 40 days of cold in disputed Kashmir that commence in late … Read more
MEDAN, Indonesia — Nearly 150 Rohingya refugees, mostly hungry and weak women and children, have reached a beach in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province after weeks at sea, officials said Sunday. The group of 53 men, 39 women and 55 children arrived on Karang Gadih beach in Langkat district late Saturday, said the village head, Muhammad … Read more
California Forever, the quixotic, billionaire-backed effort to craft a new city out of $800 million in Bay Area farmland parcels, continues to struggle. The project, which is owned by an opaque parent company, Flannery Associates, and backed by a slew of Silicon Valley luminaries, envisions a utopian new community nestled in Solano county. Backers of … Read more
David Cooper | Toronto Star | Getty Images First it was Paris. Now it’s Seoul. South Korea has been gripped by a bedbug outbreak, and the government is rushing to battle the bloodsucking bugs. The bedbugs were first found in a sauna in Incheon, as well as university dormitories and gosiwons, according to a the … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Nine years after a massive waste spill from a copper mine in the northern Mexican border state of Sonora, locals are still suffering from “alarming” levels of soil, air and water pollution, Mexico’s Environment Department said Thursday. Summarizing a 239-page report, officials also confirmed, using satellite images, that the spill was not … Read more
ROME — The slaying of an endangered brown bear close to an Italian nationwide park left her two younger cubs motherless and sparked outrage on Friday in Italy. Voicing anger and dismay over the killing of the bear within the mountainous Abruzzo area had been Italy’s surroundings minister and animal rights advocates. Locals, together with … Read more
DARAGA, Philippines — The Philippines’ most lively volcano has begun spewing lava in a mild eruption, placing 1000’s of individuals on heightened alert for the opportunity of a violent explosion that may power them to all of the sudden evacuate from their properties, authorities stated Monday. Greater than 12,000 villagers have left their properties thus … Read more