"In the country that gave the world the word tsunami, the Japanese nuclear establishment largely disregarded the potentially destructive force of the walls of water. The word did not even appear in government guidelines until 2006, decades after plants — including the Fukushima Daiichi facility that firefighters are still struggling to get under control — began dotting the Japanese coastline."
"Chinese political leaders and commentators aligned with China’s government hit back at calls from U.S. artificial intelligence executives for companies to agree to slow down the development of the technology, complicating the prospects of such a pact being implemented."
"Indonesian authorities are working to repatriate five baby orang utans found motherless in India, suspected to be trafficked from Sumatra. The infants are critically endangered, healthy, and under care at a zoo while DNA tests confirm their origin."
"Flood-hit Nepal will ask wealthier countries and global agencies for financial help this week, arguing they should contribute to the $5 billion needed for initial rebuilding as the disaster shows how climate change has hit poor countries that did little to cause it, officials said."
"Rajendra Dawadi had less than 15 minutes to act on a warning of approaching floodwaters. His swift evacuation plan saved hundreds of lives."
"Climate change is causing glaciers to retreat and become less stable, upping the odds of catastrophic collapses." "Roughly 160 people are dead and hundreds more—including dozens of international tourists—are missing after flash floods hit a region on the mountainous border of Nepal and Tibet on Wednesday."
"Long after sunset, Motoaki Iijima’s illuminated greenhouse north of Tokyo glows like a lantern as the flower farmer harvests pink and orange gerberas, avoiding a daytime sun fierce enough to be deadly."
"The frenzy started on a single street in Lahore, Pakistan, where a half-dozen showrooms sprang up selling the same thing — electric motorcycles — and still couldn’t keep up with demand." "With gas prices high, people in developing countries are lining up to buy battery-powered bikes. The Iran war has made Trump “salesman of the year,” one executive in Pakistan said."
"For half a century, millions of workers have repeated a task across the deserts in northern China: inserting forearm-length sticks into shifting sand, ... The technique, known as “straw checkerboards,” is a simple yet widely used method to stabilize sand dunes against the wind and help plants take root by using water supplied through an irrigation system."
"Record-breaking sand and dust storms battered parts of China and the U.S.-Mexico border region during 2025, disrupting transport, damaging health and the environment, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a new report on Friday."
