Photos
Dry Down Under
Drought is hitting the ten-year mark in some regions, hopes for a good soaking from La Niña are rapidly fading, and Australia's government says climate change is at least partially to blame.
Photo: Lake Hume at four percent (Suburbanbloke)
Tea With Apocalypse
Among the many threats to national security during the Cold War, the United Kingdom was particularly worried about the effects of a thermonuclear attack on tea supplies, and released an extensive report on the topic in the 1950s.
Photo: Rooney
Bobo a Go Go
Songbirds, such as the bobolink (at right), fly thousands of miles to return to the northern hemisphere every spring. Or, that's how it's supposed to be -- but the numbers of migratory birds have plummeted in recent years, with everything from pesticides to American dining habits taking the blame.
Photo: Phodge100
Callbacks on Cell Phone Cancer
Two new studies both affirm and refute the link between cell phones and brain cancer, while an Israeli researcher finds a link between wireless gabbing and salivary gland tumors. Time to hang it up? Or just more crank calls?
Photo: Compujeramy
King Tobacco, Balkan Crime Lord
Cheap cigarettes from the Balkans and Southeastern Europe are prized by smugglers, who sell them in the West at huge markups. The illicit trade fuels border-crossing corruption and crime, at the cost of billions in tax revenue.
Photo: Bulgarian cigarettes/Pudpuhduk
Climate Change: Something to Sneeze at
As if deadlier storms, new diseases, compromised agriculture, rising sea levels and endangered polar bears weren't enough to worry about, add hay fever to the list of global warming concerns.
Photo: Hibiscus pollen/Macropoulo
Coal of the Navajo
The Navajo Nation has announced plans to create a new wind-power plant on an Arizona reservation, but is also trying to build a coal-fired plant that critics bitterly oppose. An existing coal plant (at right) has been blamed for giving the area some of the dirtiest air in the state.
Photo: evenprimes
A March from New Orleans
Indians hired by Signal International to work in a Mississippi shipyard are marching to Washington, D.C., claiming they were mislead about permanent residency, and decrying living conditions. The company denies the charges, but the workers are suing, and even accused Signal of human trafficking.
Photo: New Orleans Workers' Center
The Moth From Hell
Fearing billions in agricultural losses from the light brown apple moth (right), California wants to spray pesticide over the entire Bay Area. But previous spraying in Santa Cruz brought hundreds of health complaints, and a pesticide executive's political donations are raising more questions.
Photo: jomike
Child Labor Goes Rural
Far from the urban industrial sweatshops, child labor remains widespread in rural parts of the developing world, including the Philippines, where advocates say tens of thousands of children are working on farms (at right), in mines, and even in deep-sea fishing.
Photo: IRRI Images
London Shifts Gears
Twelve new "bicycle superhighways" and hefty fines for polluting vehicles are the backbone of a new London plan to increase the number of bicycle riders in town (at right) by 400 percent. The city is taking a cue from Paris, too, by creating a free downtown bike-rental service.
Photo: Maz Hewett
Hostage Situation
Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez (at right) has been making headlines by negotiating the release of hostages held by Colombia's long-running leftist insurgency. But critics say he's doing more harm than good, and one former hostage said Venezuela's armed forces shelter the rebels.
Photo: Handout
Hostage Politics
Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez (at right) has been making headlines by negotiating the release of hostages held by Colombia's long-running leftist insurgency. But critics say he's doing more harm than good, and one former hostage said Venezuelan armed forces provide safe haven to the rebels.
Photo: quecomunismo
Black and White and Read All Over Asia
Newspapers in the United States may be losing subscribers and laying off employees at an alarming rate, but times have never been better for the press in Asia, home of seven of the 10 best-selling daily newspapers worldwide. But what about censorship?
Photo: Indonesian reader (c) Fabio Sabatini
What's in the Water?
That's a darn good question for nine million people living near the Great Lakes, where industrial pollution (at right) may pose a health risk. But the release of a new U.S. government study on that risk has been blocked, and the lead scientist has been demoted.
Photo: Lake Huron factory/Environment Canada
Sea Cow 1, Navy 0
A federal judge found that a planned U.S. military installation in Okinawa threatens the habitat of the endangered dugong -- a "sea cow" similar to Florida's manatee -- throwing the project's future into jeopardy. More: Okinawans comment on sovereignty.
Photo: Frank Gloystein
Newfound Friends
Critics have called the last election in Uzbekistan unfair, and the 2005 killing of hundreds of peaceful protestors there remain remains unresolved. Yet the ice is melting for Uzbek strongman Islam Kamirov (right), who lately is enjoying more friendly relations with Western democracies.
Photo: ITAR-TASS
Trouble Dutch
Will Geert Wilders (at right) share the fate of Theo Van Gogh? The Dutch conservative's new film, which criticizes the Koran and Islam in general, is raising concerns about civil unrest and extremist reactions in the Netherlands and beyond.
Photo: Tubantia
Where There's Smoke ...
Nigeria has filed a $43 billion lawsuit against three tobacco companies, claiming they target "young and underage smokers" with marketing practices that are banned in other nations. Critics note that the companies only recently enjoyed generous tax breaks in Nigeria.
Photo: Addax
There's a Riot Going On
Tibetan nomads (right, in a tourist's photo) may seem to exist outside of politics and time, but more than 1,000 battled Chinese authorities last month over the detention of three monks. Several more nomads were given 10-year jail sentences for demanding the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.
Photo: Zanzo
All Together Now
The National Solidarity Program in Afghanistan seeks to boost morale and regional stability by directly involving communities with reconstruction programs (at right). Now, the Washington Monthly reports that decreasing U.S. support for the program may undermine gains.
Photo: nspafghanistan.org
Smoke on the Water
Oil trucks on the Napo River (right) are blazing trails into a vast corner of the Amazon, thick with rare species and indigenous peoples in "voluntary isolation." Environment News Service reports that an area there larger than California and Maine has been opened to development.
Photo: drcohen
Frontiers of Medicine
Concurrent outbreaks in Uganda of ebola, meningitis, cholera, bubonic plague and even yellow fever have health officials there on the defensive. Critics say the government has been slow to react, and that clinics in rural areas (right) are short on funding.
Photo: Clinic sign in Uganda (make_change)
Malay Divisions
Riot police (right) greeted thousands of minority protesters in Malaysia's capital, turning back their calls for increased social benefits -- including business licenses, scholarships and other privileges "reserved exclusively for native Maylays" -- with water cannons and tear gas.
Photo: Police line in Kuala Lumpur (Angshah)
Dam in Question
China's Three Gorges Dam cost $15.6 billion, displaced 1.2 million people, and has 19 hydropower generators expected to produce 84.7 million megawatt-hours of electricity each year. Now, reports of landslides around the dam are stoking fears of a super-sized disaster.
Photo: Three Gorges hydropower (Mr. Frosted)
Cash Flow?
Nigeria's oil industry is hugely profitable, but poverty remains widespread. Now, British officials are investigating the potential laundering of $40 million in aid money by a former Nigerian state governor, and direct cash payments by Chevron and Shell to his businesses.
Photo: Shell oil gear, Nigeria (only_e)
Light of the World
Nigeria's oil industry is hugely profitable, but poverty remains widespread. Now, British officials are investigating the potential laundering of $40 million by a former Nigerian state governor, including direct cash payments by Chevron and Shell to his private businesses.
Photo: Gas flares on a Nigerian oil rig (Travelling Steve)
Not OK with Immigration
Immigration opponents (right, in the Oklahoma legislature's public gallery) have advanced a new law that makes it a crime to "hire, transport or house an illegal immigrant." Religious leaders have pledged to disobey, and some Constitutional concerns have surfaced.
Photo: bjmccray
Race is the Place
Discrimination against Israeli Arabs has spurred court rulings and confrontations at all levels of Israeli society, including in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, where Jewish and Arab legislators (such as Jamal Zahalka, lower right) find their disputes are increasingly bitter.
Photo: (c) LisaG
A Site In Question
Leased to the United States by the British in the early 1970s, the island of Diego Garcia is home to extensive U.S. military facilities that include, critics say, a CIA "black site." The Guardian reports that British MPs will investigate the claims.
Photo: Air Force hangars on Diego Garcia (gin_e)
The Right to Publish?
A crackdown on media appears to be easing in Zimbabwe, with the government of Robert Mugabe agreeing to consider a new publishing license for a popular daily newspaper. It could be a ray of sunshine at a time of increasing political repression.
Photo: Political graffiti/benettontalk.com
Nomad's Land?
Africa's struggle with mineral wealth and regional poverty has a new poster child, as Tuareg nomads in Niger take up arms (at right) for a greater share of the booming uranium trade there.
Photo: (c) Sergio Pessolano
A Taste of Old Russia
This young partisan of the United Russia party -- the leading backer of President Vladimir Putin -- may not have to vote at all in the future, thanks to sharp new limits on international election monitors, and new laws that shut the opposition out of Russia's upcoming Dec. 2 poll.
Photo: KRHamm
River of Metal
In Peru, community groups blame 17 active mining operations for the contamination of the Mantaro River (right) with copper, iron, lead and zinc. It's just one of many local environmental battles emerging around mining practices worldwide
Photo: JoseLuisParra
Asylum Adrift
These Cuban asylum seekers (right, as seen from the cruise ship that later rescued them), are relatively lucky. Many refugees who set out by sea to Europe and elsewhere are refused landfall, or placed in private detention centers more akin to jail cells.
Photo: TarikB
State of Denial
Armenians in Turkey may have been killed during World War I (at right), but the Turkish government insists it wasn't on the scale of a true genocide; now, a bill contesting that version of history is making its way through U.S. Congress, and Turkey's foreign minister says Jews could pay the price for its passage.
Photo: armediapedia
Myanmar's Power Source
World leaders have condemned the Myanmar junta's crackdown on protesters -- but its grip on power has only been strengthened by decades of cooperation with the West on projects such as the Yadana Pipeline (at right), which is owned by Unocal/Chevron and France's Total.
Photo: geocities.jp/shinji_th
Ethiopia's 'Darfur'?
Civilians fleeing Ethiopia's Ogaden region say troops are suppressing a separatist movement with rape, beatings and murder. Officials say no such incidents are taking place, but experts fear the crackdown could mirror violence in Darfur.
Photo: Ogaden camel drivers/CharlesFred
The Lucky Ones
UNICEF estimates that 800,000 Iraqi students, 63 percent of them girls, did not attend school in 2005-2006. Children are regularly kidnapped, and more than 600 teachers were killed, making this schoolroom photo, taken by an active-duty U.S. soldier, something of a rarity.
Photo: YourLocalDave
Pump You Dry
Biodiesel may be the hot new eco-fuel, but the production of soybean oil, a primary component, remains energy-intensive and too expensive to sustain a profit in many Midwest farming communities.
Photo: Rob Elam
Hungary's Dark Shadows
The far-right Jobbik Party's Magyar Garda ("Hungarian Guard") has a flag and coat of arms (at right) similar to the Nazi-aligned Arrow Cross party of World War II, a fact that caused Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsany to denounce the group as "Hungary's shame."
Photo: melyviz
How Much Free Speech for Fascists?
Around the world -- including South Carolina, at right -- neo-Nazis are testing free speech limits, attracting sometimes raucous counter-protests, and, in Russia, pushing violence on the Web.
Photo: KOMU
Khatami's Losing Hand
Iranian reformist and former president Mohammad Khatami's inopportune handshake with an Italian woman has outraged religious conservatives, prompting him to withdraw from the 2009 presidential race.
Photo: Khatami in Cuba/Carlos Coutinho
Buy Me a River
The Tigris River (right), is one of 13 rivers in Turkey up for sale under a new privatization plan expected to boost infrastructure and net $3.1 billion in profits. Similar plans around the world are pushing forward, though not without opposition.
Photo: Charles Roffey
Breaking the Cycle
Reliant on reservoirs and tightly controlled water resources, China nevertheless faces an increasingly dry future. But a Beijing cab driver's proposal for restoring natural water cycles may change all that.
Photo: Great Wall reservoir/H. Alverson
Common As Dirt
Hardly isolated mega-catastrophes, oil spills occur routinely all around the world, from remote wilderness (at right) to bustling cities and placid suburbs.
Photo: BP/Alaska
The $205 Million Question
A Mexican sting that netted a huge stash of cash, guns and drugs has turned into a PR nightmare for President Felipe Calderon. The primary suspect claims the money is actually illegal campaign funding he was forced to hide.
Photo: pgr.gob.mx
Dead Again
After a military spokesman in Baghdad reported the killing of al Qaeda leader Kamal Jalil Uthman last month, a reporter for the Examiner noticed Uthman had been previously killed by U.S. forces in 2006.
Photo: CNN covers Uthman's second death
This Photo May Be Illegal
Taking pictures without a permit of New York City's many landmarks will be prohibited under new, post-9/11 regulations that have the ACLU claiming a First Amendment violation.
Photo: Tourists in Manhattan/Scalleja
Bus Lane to Paradise?
The Globe & Mail reports that pollution, traffic and murder rates are down, while school enrollments are up, following a Bogota mayor's embrace of "hedonics."
Photo: Bogota bus lanes/Drayru
Land of the Lost
Like its elected leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma has been held captive for almost 20 years by a military junta that renamed it Myanmar in 1989. The pariah state is rife with forced labor and repression, and survives in part through its trade in gems and illegal timber.
Photo: Bagan, Myanmar/H. Schmid
An Islamist Gets Religion
Can it be that Hassan al-Turabi, the world-renowned Sudanese Islamist who once offered shelter to Osama bin Laden, is now speaking out against violence in Darfur and in support of women's rights?
Photo: jamestown.org
The Poppies Shall Bloom
This bowl of raw opium paste (right) is the common ground between the Taliban and the Afghan government, according to reports: Both profit so much from the drug trade that they suspended spring hostilities to accommodate poppy farmers.
Photo: unodoc.org
Mexico's Next Desert?
Cuatro Cienegas biosphere (right), often called "Mexico's Galapagos," is also threatened by desertification as ranches and industry tap into its aquifers.
Photo: Christian Frausto Bernal
Behind the Veil
Iranian bloggers are circulating photos of a woman beaten by police (right) during a confrontation over "immodest" attire. New laws there target student political activism, satellite dishes, and the "provocative" movements of women on bicycles.
Photo: irwomen.net
I Spy the NSA
Retired engineer Mark Klein (right) says secret Internet surveillance gear installed by the National Security Agency in AT&T's San Francisco office is still in place. The company is currently facing five federal lawsuits for giving the government access to its network.
Photo: quinnums
There's No Place Like Home
Palestinian refugees in Iraq (at right) were once welcomed, but now face persecution. Those hoping to flee have been held indefinitely at the Syrian border in a camp with few services and only one doctor, while native Iraqis are admitted freely.
Photo: IRIN