Cleaning up Everest – the world’s highest rubbish dump
Mount Everest has turned into a dumping ground as the growing numbers of climbers leave their trash behind on the mountain.
Category: Features
Libya’s ancient ruins blighted by theft, shunned by tourists
Graffiti covers the walls of a Greek amphitheater in Cyrene, an ancient ruined city in eastern Libya now struggling with neglect, vandals and illegal confiscation of land by locals.
Karl Lagerfeld: Fashion’s prolific commander-in-chief
Karl Lagerfeld enjoyed the stature of a god among mortals in the world of fashion, where he stayed on top for well over half of a century and up to his death, at an age almost nobody apart from himself knew with to-the-day precision.
Future styles: Could virtual clothes reduce the damage of fast fashion?
Striking a pose in the mirror, Swedish model and stylist Lisa Anckarman shows off a new jacket with a difference on Instagram – though it fits her perfectly in the photo, it’s a virtual design that does not exist in real life.
Conflict, poverty, hunger fuel child marriages in South Sudan
Rising poverty and hunger following five years of brutal civil war in South Sudan is driving many families to marry off their young daughters for a dowry to survive, Oxfam said in a report published Monday.
Teen saving Malawi village from famine hits Berlinale big screen
Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor has made his directorial debut with “The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind”. The Netflix production tells the story of William Kamkwamba, who saved his village from famine by inventing a wind turbine.
Melting water causing Antarctic ice to buckle: scientists
A team of scientists from the University of Chicago (UChicago) and the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences has for the first time directly observed an Antarctic ice shelf bending under the weight of ponding meltwater on top.
‘The Vagina Monologues’: Untold stories of womanhood
“The Vagina Monologues” explores consensual and nonconsensual sexual experiences, body image, genital mutilation, direct and indirect encounters with reproduction, sex work, and several other topics through the eyes of women with various ages, races, sexualities, and other differences.
Mall or park? In crowded Bangkok, ‘last’ open space stirs debate
The fate of a large green space in the middle of one of the world’s most built-up cities is pitting communities and conservationists against developers and cash-strapped authorities in a battle that is increasingly common in Asia.
Millennials’ music habit puts their hearing at risk – UN
A generation of music-lovers are damaging their hearing with audio players that do not limit dangerously high noise levels, the UN health agency said earlier this week.
Forbidden love in North Korea finds a way in Vietnam
A young couple with matching expressions stare nervously into the camera with deep brown eyes. He, a Vietnamese student, has just met the love of his life. She, a North Korean, is forbidden to love him back.
Bollywood movie premiering in Berlin puts spotlight on India’s hip-hop scene
Actor Ranveer Singh said India could be on the cusp of a musical revolution with the kind of Hindustani hip-hop that is the subject of his new movie premiering at the Berlin Film Festival.
India’s tourist magnet starts to clean child labour ‘blot’
In a small windowless room in the heart of Indian tourist magnet Jaipur, Parveena shows a school uniform and tiny shoes to prove that the little boy sitting on the floor, sticking beads on a bangle goes to school and is not a child slave.
The new Picasso? Meet Ai-Da the robot artist
Can robots be creative? British gallery owner Aidan Meller hopes to go some way towards answering that question with Ai-Da, who her makers say will be able to draw people from sight with a pencil in her bionic hand.
Rap scores Grammy breakthrough while girl power rules awards show
“This is America”, Childish Gambino’s searing indictment of police brutality and racism, scored a breakthrough for rap on Sunday at the Grammy awards, where the top prize went to country artist Kacey Musgraves.
From parkas to luxury silk, businesses tackle cultural appropriation
One of the fashion’s most enduring trends is to draw inspiration from other cultures’ traditional arts and crafts.
Gay couples to ‘live more freely’ with Thai civil unions
Luke Cassady-Dorion believed marriage was for “boring” straight people until he met the man he wanted to spend the rest of his life with – Tae. But Thailand, where they live, does not permit same-sex marriage.
Giant Trump, Putin caricatures to parade at Nice Carnival
Caricatures of Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump will join Charlie Chaplin and Harvey Weinstein when the Nice Carnival lights up the Cote d’Azur this month.
‘Water from air’ aims to turn back Thailand’s tide of plastic
Staying at a hotel on the Thai island of Koh Samui in 2015, Meghan Kerrigan noticed the four bottles of water she was given every day
Rohingya women face new roles in world’s largest refugee camp
On a blue mat in their mud and bamboo home in the middle of the world’s largest refugee settlement
Ishigaki Island, a strategic gateway to Asia
Located in Japan’s southwestern Okinawa Prefecture, Ishigaki Island is an attractive tourist destination
Hong Kong’s wild boar dilemma in the Chinese New Year of the Pig
One of the world’s most densely populated cities, Hong Kong, is facing a proliferation of wild boars as the large mammals stray increasingly into built-up areas.
China’s ‘green trains’ transport hope
In an era of high-speed trains, the slow, cheap “green trains” that dominated China until the 1990s have kept running in remote and mountainous areas.
In Delhi, nature is pitted against development
Created in a grassroots effort by local residents, a biodiversity park near India’s capital New Delhi serves as a green haven for people and wildlife. Now authorities want to build a six-lane highway across it.
War’s terrifying reality made virtual by Red Cross
The crack of a sniper round strikes terror as you crouch behind a cinder-block wall. An explosion rips into your ear drums. Down the street a building collapses into dust. A helicopter gunship emerges through the smoke, leaving nowhere to hide.
China wants to protect its genetic engineering reputation
With new success stories and a symbolic punishment of “Chinese Frankenstein” He Jiankui, China wants to distract from its lax ethical standards in science.
What’s in a name? Everything, say Australia’s indigenous people
The north bank of Melbourne’s Yarra River is dotted with a series of Aboriginal-made art installations. The eel-shaped winding paths, the metal shields and the message sticks are a reminder of the original inhabitants of this part of Australia.
A journey to Cairns with SilkAir
An unforgettable adventure to a foreign country starts and ends with a plane ride. And more often than not, our experiences on the plane affect our mood on the entire trip.
AHC: In the service of Cambodian children
The Angkor Hospital for Children has already come a long way since it treated its first child patient in 1999.
Harried South Koreans pamper pets instead of having kids
Kang Sung-il buys Sancho, his Pomeranian, a toy every business trip and this Lunar New Year holiday will dress him up in a new $50 suit to visit ‘grandma’, Kang’s mother.
