World

In the 1970s, British aquaculture businesses imported North American signal crayfish to stock farms, hoping to build a profitable new freshwater fishery. But the plan backfired: the hardy invaders escaped into rivers, multiplied rapidly and spread across England, Wales and Scotland. Today they dominate many waterways and carry crayfish plague, a disease that is usually…

A routine day at a construction site in Barberton, Ohio, turned into an unexpected animal rescue when workers discovered a tiny kitten trapped inside an excavator. The crew at River Reach Construction heard persistent meowing coming from a Komatsu machine and soon realised that the cries were coming from somewhere inside the heavy equipment. Supervisor…

Dolly Parton to share name with the Atlantic’s next storm? (Photos: Dolly Parton – ANI, Representative image of storm – PTI) The death of country music icon Dolly Parton has created an unusual coincidence in the Atlantic: the next tropical storm to form there is set to be called Dolly. The timing is striking, but…

Porous polymer coating reflects sunlight and releases heat, keeping surfaces cooler than the air As temperatures rise during hot weather, keeping buildings and other structures cool can require large amounts of energy. Air conditioners are a common way to deal with the heat, but they consume electricity and need access to cooling systems and, in…

The Ross Fire burns in Palo Pinto County, Texas. (Photo: AP) A fast-moving wildfire in north-central Texas has destroyed a family home and business property, burned buildings at a youth camp and forced evacuations across sparsely populated ranch country west of Fort Worth, while local ranchers opened barns for animals needing evacuation.The Ross Fire began…

A San Francisco woman has given a glimpse of what home cleaning could look like in the age of humanoid robots after hiring one for $30 an hour to work inside her apartment. Gianna Capezio booked a one-hour cleaning visit from San Francisco startup Tau Robotics, with the humanoid robot vacuuming, making her bed and…

When people in the small Scottish town of Langholm set out to raise £6 million, they were not simply trying to buy a piece of countryside. Their campaign secured 10,500 acres and helped create the community-owned Tarras Valley Nature Reserve, turning an ambitious local vision into one of the region’s largest community-led conservation efforts. Now,…

Singapore is sending up to 70 tonnes of unwanted clothing to Malaysia every week under a cross-border textile recycling partnership designed to give discarded garments a second life. The initiative involves social enterprise Cloop, which collects unwanted clothes through its textile recycling bins before sending them to Life Line Clothing in Port Klang, Malaysia. The…

Visa appointment schedules will be adjusted to accommodate the training The US has paused visa appointments for applicants around the world as the Trump administration launches a global training programme for consular officers amid its broader immigration crackdown.A US State Department spokesperson said on Tuesday that the department had begun a training initiative at all…

The US military has described those targeted as “narcoterrorists” The US military carried out a strike on a boat suspected of being involved in drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, killing four people, as the Trump administration continues its campaign against alleged drug traffickers in Latin America.The US Southern Command posted a video…