China has some of the most polluted cities on the planet, and for years the usual fixes, stricter emission rules, factory shutdowns, better public transport, have only chipped away at the problem. So Italian architect Stefano Boeri decided to try something far more radical, wrapping entire buildings and eventually entire cities in trees. His firm’s…
There is a particular sound that belongs to the Alps in summer. It drifts across mountain meadows, echoes from rocky slopes and sometimes arrives before the animals themselves come into view. The ringing of cowbells has become so closely associated with Switzerland, Austria and parts of southern Germany that many visitors assume the bells exist…
British politician Andy Burnham, likely to be the next prime minister of the UK, has condemned what police described as an alleged right-wing terror threat targeting an Islamic gathering in Suffolk, saying hatred against Muslims has “no place” in the UK.In a post on X, Burnham wrote: “This is appalling. Hatred against Muslims has no…
US Iran War News: The conflict between the United States and Iran entered another dangerous phase on Wednesday as military strikes, attacks on commercial shipping and diplomatic tensions continued to mount across the Gulf, further undermining hopes of salvaging the fragile interim peace agreement signed last month. The latest escalation follows US President Donald Trump’s…
Quote of the day by Epictetus A rude comment can ruin an otherwise good afternoon, replaying in your head long after the person who said it has moved on and forgotten it entirely. Epictetus, the Stoic philosopher, built an entire framework around exactly that gap. “Any person capable of angering you becomes your master,” the…
Hidden among the gleaming skyscrapers of Tokyo’s busy Nihonbashi district is a tiny Shinto shrine where prayers have taken on an unusual modern meaning. Instead of asking for good health, academic success or prosperity, thousands of music lovers visit Fukutoku Shrine hoping to secure something that has become incredibly difficult to obtain in Japan: concert…
More than four centuries after the Spanish treasure galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha disappeared beneath the waters off the Florida Keys, the legendary shipwreck has yielded another remarkable discovery. Divers with Mel Fisher’s Shipwreck Expeditions recovered a 22.5-pound silver bar from about 50 feet underwater near Key West, marking the first silver bar recovered from…
A tiny GPS tracker attached to a European honey buzzard revealed an extraordinary feat of endurance that few humans could match. Over 42 days, the bird travelled more than 10,000 km from its wintering grounds in South Africa to its breeding habitat in Finland, crossing deserts, mountain ranges and numerous countries along the way. The…
A Kathmandu court has sentenced two former Nepal ministers and 14 others to prison after convicting them in a case involving the alleged creation of fake documents. The documents were reportedly used to help Nepali citizens secure resettlement in the United States by falsely presenting them as Bhutanese refugees, according to court records and lawyers.According…
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Wednesday that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed “until the end of America’s evils”, while warning that other oil and gas export routes serving the United States and its allies could also be shut if the conflict escalates.The warning came as the US military launched a…
Quote of the day by Princess Diana (AI-generated image) Wealth can buy almost anything except the one thing most people actually want from the people close to them. Princess Diana put that gap plainly. “I don’t want expensive gifts; I don’t want to be bought,” she said. “I have everything I want. I just want…
Authorities said the person who later died was among those pulled from the water, along with the 16 survivors out of 19 onboard. One person died, two others remained missing and 16 people were rescued after a three-deck pontoon pleasure boat carrying 19 people capsized in the waters near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco on…
