Features

  Munich / DPA Everybody knows that environmental pollution is bad for animals and plants. But in Lake Constance, bordered by three European nations, the opposite is proving true. At moderate levels, some types of environmental pollution are nourishing for fish. Over the last 30 years, the lake wedged between Germany, Austria and Switzerland has become so clean that the ...

  Kalisari / AFP In a dark and steamy room in Indonesia’s tofu heartland three men sweat over bubbling cauldrons, churning creamy beancurd with wooden paddles before draining it by hand and slicing it into silky cubes. Tofu has been cooked this way for generations but today, innovative villagers on Java island are producing something extra from the simple soybean ...

  Los Angeles / AFP You’re love-struck and can’t wait to have your partner’s name or face etched onto your skin for eternity.Or you’ve just turned 18, and your first rebellious act upon reaching the age of majority is to have a dragon tattooed on your chest. Well, you may want to think twice before rushing to the tattoo parlor. ...

  SAN FRANCISCO / AP At the Clift Hotel in San Francisco, there are more than 370 rooms inside and hundreds of thousands of bees buzzing above in rooftop hives outside. Yes, honeybees. Aware of the well-publicized environmental threats to honeybees that have reduced numbers worldwide, seven San Francisco hotels have built hives on their rooftops. The sustainability effort also benefits ...

Greece / AP At the end of a long, straight road on the coastal flats between the southern Greek village of Myrsini and the Ionian Sea sits a refugee shelter that could have popped out of a travel brochure. The 338 Syrians and Iraqis who have been living there since March say they’re grateful to be safe in seaside bungalows, but ...

  Havana / DPA Tourists from the United States love it in the restaurant with Soviet-style decor in Havana. They even enjoy it when the lights go off, as is frequent in Cuba because of power cuts. The manager of Nazdarovie said that visitors are amused when they have to dine by candlelight in the Russian restaurant with Soviet motifs ...

  Las Vegas / AFP Last year, 23 million metric tonnes of seafood certified as sustainable was sold worldwide to the tune of US$11.5 billion (10 billion euros), accounting for 14 percent of global production, according to a study published by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD). That marks a dramatic rise from just a decade earlier, when only ...

  Buenos Aires / AFP With hardship rising due to job cuts and inflation, Argentina has adopted a scheme from Europe’s economic crisis: putting food in outdoor “social fridges” for the needy. “I was sick of seeing how food got thrown away and then shortly afterwards people were foraging for it” in the trash, said Luis Pondal, a restaurant owner in ...

  Las Vegas / AFP Hyperloop One startup, intent on zipping people along at near-supersonic speeds in pressurized tubes, announced that the French national rail company had joined its growing list of backers. Hyperloop One said that it raised US$80 million in fresh funding from an array of investors, including GE Ventures and France’s SNCF. “The overwhelming response we’ve had ...

  Miami, United States / AFP The phone rings off the hook these days at some pharmacies in Florida and the calls are long-distance: from Venezuelans desperate for everything from diapers to cancer medication. Venezuela, though sitting atop the world’s largest proven oil reserves, is enduring an acute economic crisis due in part to the global drop in crude prices and ...