Press play to listen to this article With tensions flaring in East Asia, China’s sanctions against Taiwan are a stark reminder to the European Union how dependent it is on the island, and in particular the tiny computer chips it makes. China banned some trade with Taiwan in response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s … Read more
TOLAR, Texas — One firefighter was injured and two others were treated for heat exhaustion while fighting a wildfire in North Texas that burned almost half a square mile Wednesday, officials said. The fire near Tolar, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Fort Worth, was completely uncontained as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the … Read more
MANILA, Philippines — A strong earthquake left at least two people dead and injured dozens in the northern Philippines on Wednesday, where the temblor set off small landslides and damaged buildings and churches and prompted terrified crowds and hospital patients in the capital to rush outdoors. The 7-magnitude quake was centered in the hard-hit province … Read more
“It has always been the case that cables get laid first and then people begin trying to think of new ways to use them,” the sci-fi novelist Neal Stephenson wrote in Wired in 1996. “Once a cable is in place, it tends to be treated not as a technological artifact but almost as if it … Read more
TEHRAN, Iran — Flash floods in Iran’s drought-stricken southern Fars province have killed at least 21 people, state television said Saturday. Heavy rains swelled the Roudbal river by the city of Estahban, according to the city’s governor Yousef Karegar. Karegar said rescue teams had saved 55 people who were trapped by the flash flooding, but … Read more
YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK, Calif. — The largest grove of giant sequoias in Yosemite National Park was closed Friday and hundreds of people ordered evacuated nearby as a wildfire burning through dense forest became the latest in recent years to threaten the world’s largest trees. A team was being sent to the Mariposa Grove to wrap … Read more
JACKSON, Calif. — Evacuation orders were expanded Tuesday for remote California communities near a wildfire that may have been sparked by fireworks or a barbecue on the Fourth of July in a mountainous region that’s a top tourism destination. The Electra Fire in Sierra Nevada Gold Country broke out Monday afternoon and tripled in size … Read more
MEXICO CITY — Bonnie strengthened into a major hurricane Tuesday, the first of the season in the eastern Pacific. Bonnie continued to move roughly parallel to Mexico’s Pacific coast after crossing over Central America from the Caribbean and dropping heavy rain, contributing to at least two deaths. Forecasters said they expected the hurricane, now a … Read more
CANAZEI, Italy — Thunderstorms hampered Monday the search for more than a dozen hikers who remained unaccounted for a day after a huge chunk of an Alpine glacier in Italy broke off, sending an avalanche of ice, snow and rocks down the slope. Officials put the known death toll at seven. “I hope the numbers … Read more
Press play to listen to this article ISTIAIA, Greece — The intense odor of scorched land still hangs in the air on Evia, and despite promises of economic renewal, nearly a year on from devastating wildfires, the sense of despair among locals remains. Among the blackened pines and oaks which stand firm like matches as … Read more