Year: 2019

A study of grazing in Yellowstone National Park found that bison essentially mow and fertilize their own food. This allows them to graze in one area for two to three months during the spring and summer while other hoofed mammals must keep migrating to higher…

It wasn’t until she became a high school senior that Kayla Ireland had another black person as a teacher in Waterbury, a former manufacturing hub where the students are mostly minorities and the educators are generally white. The imbalance never troubled her much, except for…

A major Internet outage in Iran aimed at suppressing anti-government protests has extended into a 5th day, with access levels rising slightly as authorities said they reconnected several regions to the web. Real-time technical data corroborate reports in #Iran news media that some connectivity is…

U.S. diplomat Gordon Sondland told the impeachment panel investigating President Donald Trump Wednesday that despite the president's denial, U.S. aid to Ukraine was conditioned on investigations benefiting Trump's personal political interests. Sondland's testimony could mark a pivotal turning point in the impeachment inquiry in the…

Syrian forces shelled a displaced-persons camp in rebel-held Idlib Wednesday, killing at least 15 civilians, anti-government activists said. The missiles set a number of tents on fire; two missiles fell just outside a maternity hospital in the camp in Qah, near the border with Turkey.…

With urban populations surging around the world, cities will struggle to keep residents safe from fast-growing heat risks turbo-charged by climate change, scientists and public health experts warned this week. Heat is already the leading cause of deaths from extreme weather in countries including the…

The United States has imposed new sanctions on individuals and networks for providing financial support to the Islamic State (IS) terror group. The U.S. Treasury Department announced Monday the new round of sanctions targeting four individuals and five companies operating in Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan and…

Contrary to Pyongyang’s belief that nuclear weapons and missile programs safeguard its security and ensure its survival, experts said they make the country less safe because they leave it prone to U.S. military targets. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “thinks that nuclear weapons are…

In 1990, a bikini-clad Madonna wrapped in a U.S. flag urged MTV viewers to vote in Senate elections as the youth television network partnered with a "Rock the Vote" campaign that mixed pop culture and politics. Thirty years on, with Millennials and Gen Z poised…

Less than 200 student protesters remain barricaded inside a Hong Kong university that has been surrounded by riot police since Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, a slow trickle of pro-democracy demonstrators have left the campus, either by attempting to flee or by surrendering to…

A Moscow City Court has upheld a decision to prolong the pretrial detention of Paul Whelan, a U.S. citizen charged in Russia with espionage, until December 29. Lawyers for the detained former U.S. Marine, who has rejected the charges, had argued at an appeal hearing…

Less than 200 student protesters remain barricaded inside a Hong Kong University that has been surrounded by riot police since Sunday. Over the past 24 hours, a slow trickle of people have left the campus, either by attempting to flee or by surrendering to police,…

Residents in several Bolivian cities are reporting food and gasoline shortages because of protests by supporters of ousted President Evo Morales, who resigned after a disputed election and nationwide unrest.                     Bolivia's interim government said Monday that its efforts to resupply La Paz face…

The United States on Monday granted another 90 days for companies to cease doing business with China's telecoms giant Huawei, saying this would allow service providers to continue to serve rural areas. President Donald Trump in May effectively barred Huawei from American communications networks after…

The Ukrainian journalist Oleg Sentsov, who was jailed in Russia for reporting on the country’s illegal annexation of Crimea, and murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi were among those honored at the recent Magnitsky Awards ceremony in London. The awards pay tribute to those who risk…

New research has found that U.S. agriculture uses child workers without proper training and care for their safety. The report published last week in the American Journal of Industrial Medicine says 33 children are injured every day while working on U.S. farms, and more child…

British photographer Terry O’Neill, whose images captured London’s Swinging ’60s and who created iconic portraits of Elton John, Brigitte Bardot and Winston Churchill, has died at age 81. O’Neill died Saturday at his home in London following a long battle with cancer, according to Iconic…

Fighting reportedly intensified between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and U.S.-backed Kurdish forces Sunday over a major highway and a strategic town in northeastern Syria. Local news reported that Turkish military and allied Syrian militias continued shelling positions belonging to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in…

Iran’s supreme leader Sunday backed the government’s decision to raise gasoline prices and called angry protesters who have been setting fire to public property over the hike “thugs,” signaling a potential crackdown on the demonstrations. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s comments came as authorities apparently shut down…

Sri Lanka’s former wartime defense chief Gotabaya Rajapaksa was set to become president after his main rival conceded defeat Sunday in an election that came months after bombings by Islamist militants threw the country into turmoil. Rajapaksa oversaw the military defeat of Tamil separatists under…

The United States and South Korea announced Sunday they will postpone upcoming military drills in an effort to bolster a stalled peace push with North Korea, even as Washington denied the move amounted to another concession to Pyongyang. The drills, known as the Combined Flying…

A new report by leading health and safety agencies finds millions of sanitation workers in developing countries are forced to work under horrific conditions that put their health and lives at risk. Sanitation workers everywhere occupy the lowest rung of society and are stigmatized and…

Authorities in Haiti said late Friday they are investigating allegations that a group of male inmates raped 10 women in a makeshift jail in the northern city of Gonaives. Prosecutor Serard Gazius told The Associated Press that more than 50 men broke out of their…

It's looking like an anti-robocall bill will be sent to President Donald Trump this year, helping tackle an infuriating problem in the U.S. House and Senate leaders said Friday they've reached an agreement in principle on merging their two bills against robocalls. The House bill…

Tunisia took a step forward Friday in forming a new government following rollercoaster October elections, with the moderate Islamist Ennahda party proposing a prime minister from its own ranks to lead it.  Former junior agriculture minister, Habib Jemli, 60, will now have two months to…

Taiwan and the United States have sent their first joint trade delegation to one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies as tiny, often impoverished countries keep turning instead to China, a source of aid for the developing world but a perceived threat to both delegation organizers.  …

United Airlines is removing the grounded Boeing 737 Max from its schedule until March 4, two months longer than previously planned.                     The change follows similar moves by American and Southwest, and reflects further delays in Boeing's work to fix the plane after two…

Rights groups and the U.S. Embassy on Thursday called for the Cambodian government to drop the charges against two former Radio Free Asia reporters who were arrested in 2017 and released on bail a year ago. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, center, greets his government officers…