Nepal village ravaged by 2015 earthquake now a reluctant tourist hotspot
Langtang was destroyed in the earthquake and 300 people there died. But others returned and rebuilt a tourist haven.
‘We are condemned’: Kashmiri tourism pays the price of Pahalgam killings
Millions of tourists visited Indian Kashmir in 2024 but that is set to change.
China shares rare moon rocks with US despite trade tensions – BBC
- China shares rare moon rocks with US despite trade tensions BBC
- China to lend moon rocks to NASA-funded U.S. universities NBC News
- US scientists given access to moon rocks brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 probe South China Morning Post
- Chang'e 5 samples to be shared with six nations 中国新闻网
- China deepens international collaboration to push forward deep-space exploration Xinhua
China shares rare Moon rocks with US despite trade war
Two US institutions have been granted access to samples collected by the Chang'e-5 mission in 2020.
Senators challenge Hegseth on civilian deaths in Yemen strikes – The Washington Post
- Senators challenge Hegseth on civilian deaths in Yemen strikes The Washington Post
- The US has quietly gotten into another war in the Middle East vox.com
- Trump has quietly been hammering Yemen for six weeks Axios
- Trump’s War on the Houthis Is Going Nowhere Foreign Policy
- US continues to attack Houthi sites in Yemen The Jerusalem Post
Liberal candidate apologises for Anzac Day booklet that contained campaign message and linked to how-to-vote card
Exclusive: Former navy officer Grange Chung, candidate for the Sydney seat of Reid, uses images of himself in military uniform
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The Liberal candidate for Reid, Grange Chung, has apologised for distributing a four-page booklet commemorating Anzac Day that also encouraged people to vote for him and linked to a how-to-vote card.
The Anzac Day booklet, authorised by the NSW Liberal party, contained images of Chung, a former navy officer, dressed in military uniform. The defence department has repeatedly urged veterans to refrain from using pictures of themselves in uniform, to avoid any suggestion the military is politically partisan.
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Continue reading...Vatican readies for Pope Francis’s funeral as world leaders set to fly in to Rome
Tens of thousands of mourners have queued for hours to pay their last respects to pontiff, whose coffin will be closed on Friday evening
The Vatican will make final preparations on Friday for Pope Francis’s funeral as the last of the huge crowds of mourners file through St Peter’s Basilica to view his open coffin.
Many of the 50 heads of state and 10 monarchs attending Saturday’s ceremony in St Peter’s Square, who include US president Donald Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are expected to arrive in Rome on Friday.
Continue reading...Lifesize herd of puppet animals begins climate action journey from Africa to Arctic Circle
The Herds project from the team behind Little Amal will travel 20,000km taking its message on environmental crisis across the world
Hundreds of life-size animal puppets have begun a 20,000km (12,400 mile) journey from central Africa to the Arctic Circle as part of an ambitious project created by the team behind Little Amal, the giant puppet of a Syrian girl that travelled across the world.
The public art initiative called The Herds, which has already visited Kinshasa and Lagos, will travel to 20 cities over four months to raise awareness of the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Public affairs firms in Europe enable pollution by lobbying for big oil, says analysis
Exclusive: EU Transparency Register shows law firms also among lobbyists working for fossil fuel companies
A handful of “small but dirty” public affairs and law firms in Europe are enabling pollution by lobbying extensively for big oil, an analysis has found, with most major companies in the industry working for at least one fossil fuel client.
Several of the top spenders on activities to influence EU policymaking are on the payroll of oil and gas companies, according to an analysis of the EU Transparency Register by the Good Lobby nonprofit, but fossil fuel clients represent just 1% of the industry’s revenue.
Continue reading...Scope plans major job cuts, hitting disabled employees hardest
Charity set to reduce its workforce by more than a fifth this year amid mounting financial pressures
Scope expects to cut more than a fifth of its staff this year amid mounting financial pressures, with about a third of those affected to be disabled employees.
The disability charity announced a consultation last week over plans to place 124 of its 326 corporate roles at risk of redundancy, a move likely to result in about 70 job losses in the summer.
Continue reading...‘I’m alive but three in my group didn’t make it’ – Kashmir attack survivor
Tourists are returning home after a deadly gun attack killed 26 visitors in Indian-administered Kashmir.
‘I’m alive but three in my group didn’t make it’ – Kashmir attack survivor
Tourists are returning home after a deadly gun attack killed 26 visitors in Indian-administered Kashmir.
California passes Japan as fourth largest economy
The US state expresses worries that President Donald Trump's tariffs could stunt future growth.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,156
These are the key events on day 1,156 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
‘Very, very toxic’: The risk of asbestos in Gaza’s rubble
The mineral, once widely-used, releases toxic fibres into the air when disturbed that can cling to the lungs and cause cancer.
‘Very, very toxic’: The risk of asbestos in Gaza’s rubble
The mineral, once widely-used, releases toxic fibres into the air when disturbed that can cling to the lungs and cause cancer.
Bill Maher calls Larry David’s satire of his Trump dinner ‘kind of insulting to 6 million dead Jews’
‘Nobody has been harder … about Donald Trump than me,’ Maher says after fellow comedian compared his meal with US president to meeting Hitler
Bill Maher has responded to Larry David’s satirical essay in the New York Times that compared Maher’s glowing account of having dinner with Donald Trump to dining with Adolf Hitler.
Maher, a vocal critic of Trump in the past, had dinner with the US president and a group of his high-profile supporters, including their mutual friend Kid Rock, on 31 March. On an episode of his talkshow Real Time on 11 April, Maher described Trump as “gracious” and “much more self-aware than he lets on”, saying: “Everything I’ve ever not liked about him was – I swear to God – absent, at least on this night with this guy.”
Continue reading...Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 24, 2025 – Institute for the Study of War
- Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 24, 2025 Institute for the Study of War
- Putin’s Easter ceasefire gimmick bodes ill for Trump’s peace deal The Economist
- Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,154 Al Jazeera
- Russia launches deadly aerial barrage on Ukraine as US pushes for peace plan CNN
- Ukraine Says Russia Broke Its Own Easter Cease-Fire Vow The New York Times
Trump news at a glance: president berates Putin; judge blocks changes to voting rights – The Guardian
- Trump news at a glance: president berates Putin; judge blocks changes to voting rights The Guardian
- Trump’s own strange and tepid wording illustrates his one-sided Ukraine peace plan CNN
- Trump Urges Russia to ‘STOP!’ After Deadly Attack on Ukraine’s Capital The New York Times
- Trump tells Putin 'STOP' after deadly Russian strikes on Kyiv Fox News
- Ukraine, Europe's ceasefire proposal includes US security guarantees, no recognition of Crimea, Reuters reports The Kyiv Independent
Gender Queer graphic novel reapproved for sale in Australia after federal court fight to ban book
Complaints about the book focus on cartoon sex scenes, one of which has been described by critics as ‘pornographic’ and ‘paedophilic’
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Gender Queer, a graphic novel on gender identity, has been reapproved for sale in Australia following a conservative campaign against the book forcing the Classification Review Board to reconsider its initial decision.
The federal court last year ordered the board to reassess its decision to give the Maia Kobabe memoir an unrestricted M classification, after rightwing activist Bernard Gaynor challenged the ruling.
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