World

Lynne Cox: The Swim That Lifted the Iron Curtain Fifteen years after setting a world record in the English Channel, 30-year-old American endurance swimmer Lynne Cox entered the 38°F (3.3°C) waters of the Bering Strait and completed a historic 2.7-mile swim from the United States to the Soviet Union. On 7 August 1987, Cox swam…

In 1993, Chile adopted an Indigenous Law that enabled land restitution In 1993, Chile passed a major Indigenous Law that created a formal process for returning ancestral land to Indigenous communities. Over the following 30 years, more than 510,000 acres were returned to the Mapuche, Chile’s largest Indigenous group. However, a long-term study found that…

Bedfordshire farm was saved through public donations after a successful £1.5m crowdfunding campaign An English farmer who stopped intensive wheat farming in 1988 has unintentionally helped create one of central England’s largest young woodland nature reserves, reports the Guardian. Strawberry Hill, a 377-acre site near Knotting in Bedfordshire, has now been permanently protected after the…

China expands religious scrutiny to Chengdu hospitals, schools; employees, students asked to disclose beliefs China has expanded scrutiny of religious affiliation into public workplaces and schools in Chengdu. Employees at a public hospital were ordered to disclose their religious beliefs and education authorities collected information on the religious backgrounds of students and their families, according…

Cambridge professor Jason Arday’s death sparks 31,000-signature petition over press harassment More than 31,000 people, including several MPs, have signed a petition calling for a public inquiry into alleged media harassment of the late Cambridge academic Jason Arday, campaign organisers said Sunday.The petition was launched by activist group Good Law Project, which had supported Arday…

Firefighters from across Belgium, as well as teams from Germany and Luxembourg, have been working alongside the Belgian army and local farmers to prevent the blaze from spreading further. Belgium’s biggest wildfire on record continued to spread towards the German border on Sunday, as firefighters backed by Dutch helicopters, the army and teams from neighbouring…

North Carolina cleaning business owner faces scrutiny after saying his team did not count Indian callers as potential leads/Image: Getty Images A North Carolina cleaning business owner has come under scrutiny after saying he instructed his team not to count Indian callers as potential customers, raising concerns about possible discrimination based on ethnicity.Robert Nolen wrote…

Iran’s parliament has approved the broad framework of legislation that would criminalise engagement with “hostile” foreign media. Iran’s parliament on Sunday approved the broad framework of legislation aimed at tightening restrictions on suspected foreign influence, including proposed criminal penalties for engaging with media outlets considered hostile to the Islamic Republic, Iranian media reported.The bill’s general…

Four Antonello da Messina works stolen in Renaissance painter’s hometown Four works attributed to celebrated Sicilian Renaissance painter Antonello da Messina have been stolen from a regional museum in Messina, Italian media reported Sunday, in a heist carried out during the country’s Ferragosto holiday.The theft took place Saturday evening at the MuMe regional museum, where…

Fan built her own $200 device instead of using NASA’s $50,000 clinostat. (Society for science photo) Leanne Fan, an 18-year-old student from San Diego, has been named a finalist in the 2026 Regeneron Science Talent Search for her research into wound healing in space. Her project looks at whether red light therapy can help wounds…