MAKUENI, Kenya — On a dry riverbed one recent sunny morning, residents of Kasengela village toiled away mixing cement and sand to make concrete. The sound of their shovels resonated through the valley while other residents, working in pairs, carried rocks to the site in wooden frames. They were building a sand dam, a structure … Read more
Elon Musk slammed MacKenzie Scott for her philanthropy, but that hasn’t stopped her from donating. Scott more than doubled her planned $250 million donation pledge, upping it to $640 million. Musk previously accused Scott of being a “super rich ex-wife” who’s destroying Western civilization. Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife MacKenzie Scott might have landed in Elon Musk’s crosshairs … Read more
BRUSSELS — The European Union’s border and coast guard agency has a duty to inform Libyan authorities about migrant boats in trouble in the country’s waters and will keep doing so, the head of Frontex insisted Tuesday, after a charity accused Libya’s coast guard of threatening its crew during a rescue. German charity SOS Humanity … Read more
LONDON — What’s arguably the most famous wet shirt in television history is up for sale. Water not included. The white linen garment worn by Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy in the BBC’s 1995 TV adaptation of “Pride and Prejudice” is going under the hammer on Tuesday at an auction of film and television costumes. … Read more
CAIRO — A German charity has accused the Libyan coast guard of threatening its crew members who were rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean Sea, causing at least one migrant to drown. The German charity SOS Humanity, which operates the rescue ship Humanity 1, said the Libyan coast guard used violence and fired live bullets into … Read more
LONDON — Financier and philanthropist Jacob Rothschild, of the renowned Rothschild banking dynasty, has died at 87, his family said Monday. Rothschild began his career in the family bank, NM Rothschild & Sons, in 1963, before breaking away to start businesses and charitable organizations. His family paid tribute to him in a statement. “Our father … Read more
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Authorities in the eastern Caribbean said they were trying to locate two people believed to be U.S. citizens who were aboard a yacht that was hijacked by three escaped prisoners from Grenada. The Royal Grenada Police Force said in a statement released Friday that they were working on leads “that … Read more
ROME — A Vatican-affiliated Catholic charity made a last-minute appeal Tuesday to the U.S. state of Alabama to halt a planned execution using nitrogen gas, saying the method is “barbarous” and “uncivilized” and would bring “indelible shame” to the state. The Rome-based Sant’Egidio Community has lobbied for decades to abolish the death penalty around the … Read more
RIO DE JANEIRO — Deforestation surged in Brazil’s Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna region, by nearly 45% in 2023 compared to 2022, according to full-December data released Friday by the government’s monitoring agency. The National Institute for Space Research reported that 7,852 square kilometers (3,000 square miles) of vegetation had been torn down in the … Read more
KORCZOWA, Poland — Pickup trucks and tourniquets bound for Ukraine’s battlefield are stuck in a mileslong line at the border with Poland. Components to build drones to fight off Russian forces are facing weeks of delays. Ukrainian charities and companies supplying the war-torn country’s military warn that problems are growing as Polish truck drivers show … Read more