Features

  Honiara / DPA Robert Satu has spent his whole life in a community near Honiara in the Solomon Islands, a South Pacific nation where steep hills often leave little space for settlements. “From the main road to the sea was more than 120 metres,” the village elder says in a documentary about the effects of climate change. “It’s now ...

  Soultz-sous-Forêts / DPA France and Germany could hardly be more different in their attitudes to tapping the free heat from deep under the earth. The French have enthusiastically sunk bores and exploited the heat, which is invitingly close to the surface at a hot spot which straddles the two countries’ border, whereas residents on the German side are squabbling ...

  Goiania / AFP Brazil may be the land of samba and bossa nova, but lately its hips are swaying to a different rhythm. In cowboy hats and plaid shirts, with touches of bling, new-wave country singers are conquering the airwaves and the dance floors. A world away from the soft jazz and Latin rhythms that Brazil crafted from the ...

  Paris / AFP Diplomatic wrangling this week will make the headlines in the fight against climate change, but experts say a bigger but largely unseen battle is set to unfold on the world’s farms. Agriculture holds the double distinction of being highly vulnerable to climate change but also offering a solution to the problem, they say. In a report ...

  Bloomberg Whether it’s cranes photographed at the harbour or a car framed against a sunset, Kay Palapies has become famous for his images reflected in puddles. The German has amassed more than 17,000 followers on Instagram, the video and photo-sharing platform that has become much more than just a place for narcissists to admire themselves. As well as beauty ...

  Bleiswijk / AFP Flowers more exotic than the humble tulip will soon flourish for the first time in Dutch greenhouses after intensive research into growing the capricious vanilla orchid to harvest one of the world’s most expensive spices. In the middle of potato fields in a central Dutch rural town, scientists from Wageningen University have for the past four ...

  Coihuín / AFP Farmers in southern Chile still remember when they could make a living just by picking up seaweed at the beach. Not just any seaweed, but the red algae used to make agar-agar — a jelly-like substance used in a plethora of products from ice cream to dietary supplements to cosmetics. Chile is one of the world’s ...

  Emirates Business Huawei Consumer Business Group announced that the Huawei MateBook is now available for purchase in the United Arab Emirates. The device can be found at select retail outlets and is priced between AED 2,999-3,999 depending on the model. The Huawei MateBook was launched at Mobile World Congress and is Huawei’s first 2-in-1 device designed to meet the ...

  Emirates Business Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. has introduced its new drive system called e-POWER to customers. It marks the first time that e-POWER technology is available for consumers, marking a significant milestone in the electrification strategy under Nissan Intelligent Mobility. e-POWER borrows from the EV technology perfected in the Nissan LEAF, the best-selling pure electric car in history, with ...

  Bloomberg This month in England, H&H Auctions will sell more than 100 vintage motorcycles taken from one of the biggest collections in the country. Among the lot are four sidecar motorcycles that are as notable for their rarity as for their quirky design style and ride personalities. There will be a 1924 AJS Model D Combo, a 1932 BSA ...