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Portugal Closes All Schools and Non-Essential Services Ahead of a Major Atlantic Storm

Varieties Heavy machinery clears the debris from a landslide along the Marocos road in Machico municipality, on the Portuguese island of Madeira, due to severe weather caused by the passage of Storm Charles, 11 November 2026. (EPA)

Portugal Closes All Schools and Non-Essential Services Ahead of a Major Atlantic Storm

Portugal closed all schools and shuttered non-essential public services on Wednesday as a major Atlantic storm headed for the country's mainland. Streets…

Varieties The S.S. United States crossed the Atlantic more than 800 times. (Getty Images)

Once the World's Fastest, Ocean Liner Will Become Largest Artificial Reef

An ocean liner that is longer than the Titanic and was once the fastest on the seas is headed to a final home on the floor of the Gulf of Mexico as the world's…

Varieties Celine Dion. (AFP)

Medical Breakthrough for People with Same Disorder as Celine Dion

People suffering from stiff person syndrome (SPS), which affects Celine Dion, the singer, could soon benefit from a new medicine which improves symptoms. …

Varieties View of a flooded area after storm Leo passed by Alcacer do Sal, Portugal, February 5, 2026. (Reuters)

Portugal Storm Alert Closes Schools

Portugal will shut schools and non-essential public services on Wednesday, with the government urging people to shelter from winds potentially reaching 140…

Varieties British author John Harrison poses after winning the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel "The End of Everything" at the awards ceremony in London, Britain, 09 November 2026. (EPA)

British Writer John Harrison Wins 2026 Booker Prize for ‘The End of Everything’

British author ‌John Harrison has won the 2026 Booker Prize for his novel, "The End of Everything," a dystopian satire that the prize says probes the…


Varieties A tour guide (C) leads tourists as they cross a street in Beijing on May 20, 2025. (Photo by WANG Zhao / AFP)

Record May Heat Scorches North, Central China

Swathes of northern and central China are sweltering this week under record May heat, state media reported Tuesday, as the country braces for another summer of…

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Varieties A surgical team prepares a man for surgery to receive a donated kidney as part of a five-way organ transplant swap in New York, August 1, 2012. REUTERS/Keith Bedford

US Surgeons Perform World's First Bladder Transplant

Surgeons at a hospital in Los Angeles, California have successfully performed the world's first human bladder transplant, hospital officials said. The…

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Varieties Demonstrators march shouting slogans against the Formula 1 Barcelona Fan Festival in downtown Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, June 19, 2024, during residents protest against mass tourism. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti, File)

Spain Orders Airbnb to Block Nearly 66,000 Holiday Rental Listings over Rule Violations

Spain has ordered Airbnb to block more than 65,000 holiday listings on its platform for having violated rules, the Consumer Rights Ministry said Monday. The…

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Varieties Saudi Reef Launches Leather Craft Training for Rural Women in Al-Kharj

Saudi Reef Launches Leather Craft Training for Rural Women in Al-Kharj

The Sustainable Agricultural Rural Development Program (Saudi Reef) has launched its inaugural vocational empowerment training program in leather industries…

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Varieties Tourists wait for sunrise at the Angkor Wat temple in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, Friday, Aug. 2, 2024.(AP)

3 Killed in Lightning Strike at Cambodia’s Angkor Wat UNESCO Site 

Three people were killed and several others injured when they were struck by lightning while visiting Cambodia's famous Angkor Wat temple complex. They had…

Varieties A rider competes at the Al-Nasr Equestrian Show Jumping Championship in Dimas, northwest of Damascus. LOUAI BESHARA / AFP

Syrians Chase Equestrian Glory in Sport Once Dominated by Assads

For weeks, Ziad Abu al-Dahab has been training for gold at an equestrian tournament near Damascus -- in a sport once dominated by Syria's Assad family and…

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Varieties  People gather during a demonstration calling for a change in the tourism model in the Canary Islands, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain, May 18, 2025. (Reuters)

Thousands protest against Overtourism in Spain's Canary Islands

Thousands of people protested against mass tourism in Spain's Canary Islands on Sunday, urging authorities to limit the number of visitors to protect local…

Varieties Participants wearing smurf (schtroumpf) costumes take part in an attempt to break the world record for the largest gathering of smurfs, in Landerneau, western France, on May 17, 2025. (AFP)

French Town Breaks Smurf Number World Record

A small town in western France has set a world record for the greatest number of smurf-costumed people gathered in the same place, according to organizers, who…

Varieties This photo released by Indian Space Research Organization shows the EOS-09 Earth observation satellite on board the PSLV-C61 launch vehicle at Sriharikota space center in southern India, Saturday, May 17, 2025. (Indian Space Research Organization via AP)

Indian Space Agency's Satellite Mission Fails Due to Technical Issue in Launch Vehicle

The Indian space agency’s mission to launch into orbit a new Earth observation satellite failed after the launch vehicle encountered a technical issue during…

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Varieties  A worker pets a dog at a center for neutering and vaccinating strays dogs on the outskirts of Rabat, Morocco, Thursday, May 15, 2025. (AP)

Morocco Unveils Policies It Hopes Bolster the Care and Management of Stray Dogs

A mutt with a blue tag clipped to her ear whimpers as she’s lifted from a cage and carried to a surgery table for a spay and a rabies vaccine, two critical…

Varieties Jax Film Studios spans over 7,000 square meters. SPA

SFC Announces World-Class Jax Film Studios Production Facility in Riyadh

The Saudi Film Commission (SFC) unveiled on Saturday Jax Film Studios, a state-of-the-art production complex in Riyadh, marking a milestone that reflects the…

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Varieties ]Tourists stand in Pretoria square, in Palermo, Italy, May 14, 2025. REUTERS/

Too Many Tourists? Crowds Offer an Opportunity for Italy's South

In a rundown neighbourhood of Sicily's capital Palermo, a whitewashed old farmhouse that accommodates pilgrims now offers two rooms to tourists for bed and…

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Varieties Tiffany Slaton, a hiker found in the High Sierra after going missing for three weeks, speaks during a press conference, Friday, May 16, 2025 in Fresno, Calif. (AP Photo/Gary Kazanjian)

Missing Hiker Survived for Weeks in California Wilderness by Foraging and Drinking Melted Snow

A 28-year-old woman described Friday how she survived for weeks outdoors in California's eastern Sierra Nevada by foraging for food and drinking melted snow…

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Varieties The Zhuque-2E Y2 carrier rocket, a methane-powered rocket developed by LandSpace Technology, takes off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to launch six satellites into orbit, in China, in this screenshot from a handout video released May 17, 2025. LandSpace/Handout via REUTERS

China's LandSpace Launches Improved Methane-powered Rocket

A new methane-powered rocket developed by China's LandSpace Technology launched six satellites into orbit on Saturday, doubling down on a cheap, cleaner fuel…

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Varieties Mystery of ginger cats (Getty)

Decades-Long Mystery of Ginger Cats Revealed

Garfield, Puss in Boots, Aristocats' Toulouse – cultural icons maybe, ginger most certainly. And now scientists across two continents have uncovered the…

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Varieties  This Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024 photo shows the bronze statue representing Melania Trump that was sawed off and taken away, in the village of Rozno, Slovenia, near Malenia Trump's hometown of Sevnica. (AP)

Police Investigate Disappearance of Melania Trump’s Statue in Her Native Slovenia

Police in Slovenia are investigating the disappearance of a bronze statue of US first lady Melania Trump that was sawed off and carried away from her hometown…

Varieties Talita de Lima Freitas, federal agricultural inspector, works on a sample to test for avian influenza virus at the Reference Laboratory of the World Organization for Animal Health in Campinas, Brazil April 25, 2023. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli/File Photo

Brazil Confirms First Bird Flu Outbreak in Commercial Poultry

Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock on Friday confirmed the country's first bird flu outbreak in a commercial poultry. The virus was found at a…

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Varieties A handout photo made available by the Royal Thai Police Central Investigation Bureau shows a baby orangutan inside a basket after being rescued from smuggling in Bangkok, Thailand, 14 May 2025 (issued 15 May 2025). EPA/ROYAL THAI POLICE CENTRAL INVESTIGATION BUREAU / HANDOUT

Thai Police Rescue 2 Baby Orangutans, Arrest Trafficking Suspect

Two baby orangutans have been rescued from being sold in Thailand's capital Bangkok and a suspected trafficker arrested, police said. The orangutans were…

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Varieties (FILES) This photograph taken on April 26, 2018 shows a general view of Everest base camp, some 140 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)

Expedition Organizers Say 2 Climbers Have Died on Mount Everest

An Indian and a Filipino climber have died while climbing Mount Everest as hundreds of climbers are attempting to scale the world’s highest peak, expedition…

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Varieties An undated handout photo released by Gilmour Space Technologies on May 14, 2025 shows a three-stage Eris rocket seen near Bowen, on the east coast of Australia. (Photo by Handout / GILMOUR SPACE TECHNOLOGIES / AFP)

Nose Cone Glitch Wipes Australian Rocket Launch

An Australian aerospace firm said Friday it has scrubbed a historic attempt to send a locally developed rocket into orbit, citing a glitch in the nose cone…

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Varieties A worker places roses in a copper tin before they're boiled to produce rose products, in Kalaat M'Gouna, Morocco, Wednesday, May 7, 2025. (AP) 

The Desert Blooms, Roses Perfume the Air and a Moroccan Town Comes to Life 

Gloved and armed with shears, women weave through thorny brambles, clipping and tossing their harvest into wheelbarrows. “Thank God for the rain,” said rose…

Varieties The first visible-light image of a green aurora on Mars (left), taken by NASA's Perseverance rover, is seen next to a comparison image showing the night sky without the aurora but featuring the Martian moon Deimos (right), in this image released by NASA on May 14, 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS/SSI/Handout via REUTERS

NASA Rover Observes Aurora on Mars in Visible Light for 1st Time

NASA's Perseverance rover has observed an aurora on Mars in visible light for the first time, with the sky glowing softly in green in the first viewing of an…

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Varieties In this screengrab taken from a video posted on Oliver Widger's Instagram account on Sunday, May 4, 2025, Widger talks to the camera somewhere in the Pacific Ocean as he and his cat, Phoenix, sail from Oregon to Hawaii. (Oliver Widger via AP)

Sailing from Oregon to Hawaii after Quitting his Job Turns a Man with a Cat into Social Media Star

Midway while sailing across the Pacific with just his cat named Phoenix, Oliver Widger reflected on why he thinks his many followers — more than a million on…

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Varieties This photo provided by Colorado Gators shows Matt Jordan, employee at Colorado Gators, as he pulls the tail of Morris the alligator, in Mosca, Colo., June 9, 2024. (Jay Young/Colorado Gators via AP)

Alligator that Appeared in Films Dies of Old Age in Colorado

An alligator that appeared in numerous TV shows and films over three decades, most notably the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy “Happy Gilmore,” has died at a gator…

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