Features

  Bloomberg Kamleshkunwar, a mother of three living in a village in central India, first used cooking gas to prepare a meal about a month ago. Her family struggled for years with the ash and smoke that comes from burning wood, until they received a free gas connection from the government as it tries to change how India’s poor cook. ...

  AFP From Jakarta to Bali and Yogyakarta, the Indonesian art world is flourishing. Buoyed by a growing, affluent middle class at home as well as interest from international buyers, numerous boutique galleries and artists’ communities have sprung up, while events such as the Jakarta Biennale, the annual ArtJog fair, and Bazaar Art Jakarta have fuelled interest. But critics warn ...

  Paderborn / DPA You may have used one at a theme park to find the nearest hair-raising ride, or to plan a walk in magnificent mountain scenery. Pictorial maps lay out your surroundings not as a map, from above, but in an oblique, eagle’s-eye panorama. Alexander Koenigs is one of the world’s few pictorial map illustrators able to do ...

  TNS Google does not rank websites. It ranks web pages. “On-Page” search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the process of optimizing the content, images, internal linking, URLs, and meta tags of each and every page of your website. Through much testing with clients, which range from law firms to e-commerce companies, I’ve seen that the homepage is the most ...

  Lisbon / AFP Alfama, one of the oldest and most picturesque areas of Lisbon, is becoming a victim of its own charm. Short-term lets to tourists are driving up rents and driving out old residents. “They want to throw me out to rent my home to tourists,” complained retired salesman Antonio Melo, 70. His house has changed owners four ...

  Immokalee / AFP Armed with an orange staple gun and dozens of burlap squares entwined with ratty green roots, Mike Kane wades hip-deep into the swamp to restore what generations of thieves have stolen. The ghost orchid. Once abundant in the Florida Everglades, experts say fewer than 2,000 ghost orchids (Dendrophylax lindenii) are left in the state, where it ...

  Eindhoven / AFP Former refugees Massoud and Mahmud Hassani stunned the world three years ago with an invention like a dandelion puffball that sought to rid the world of landmines. Now the Afghan brothers are back with their latest creation: a low-cost drone to detect and destroy mines, which each year claim thousands of lives. Ridding the world of ...

  Andrew Griffiths / TNS It’s hard to always be feeling “up” in the world of business. There are always going to be those times when there just isn’t any “mojo” left for anything. The real problems arise when it’s not just a bad morning or a bad day, but a bad year. Over the years I’ve certainly had those ...

  Bloomberg Geothermal wells usually provide a steady supply of clean energy flowing from the natural heat of the Earth. In Turkey, because of a quirk in the geology, some of those wells pollute as much as coal-fired power plants. The nation has a layer of subterranean limestone, which lets loose carbon dioxide when it comes in contact with steam ...

  Dan Scalco / TNS Are you a small-business owner looking to have a website built? To someone new, the entire process can seem daunting and leave you feeling confused. Don’t throw up your hands yet! Use these five simple website design tips to make it easier on yourself. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY When it comes to designing and developing a ...