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Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Varieties Around 11 million deaths a year are linked to unhealthy diets, according to the agency, based on data from a global study. (Getty Images)

Food Industry Pushes Back on WHO Guidance for Products with Added Color, Sweeteners

Governments should consider regulating foods that include added colors, flavors or sweeteners designed to make the product more appealing to consumers,…

Varieties Dozens of Pakistani farmers are suing German firms RWE and Heidelberg Materials in a rare bid to make big polluters pay damages for climate impacts. Aamir QURESHI / AFP

Pakistan Farmers in Long Fight to Make German Firms Pay for Flood Damage

In a Pakistani village nestled in rice fields, Abdul Hafeez Khoso remembers the vast industrial zones he saw in Germany when he visited to file a pioneering…

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Varieties A tourist holds an umbrella to shelter from the sun while walking on a hot day in Tokyo on July 15, 2026. (AFP)

This Year Set to Be One of Four Hottest on Record, UN Report Says

This year is ‌on track to be one of the four hottest on record, driven by a powerful El Niño and perpetuating a warming streak of more than a decade, a UN…

Varieties A white-tailed eagle over the Isle of Mull in Scotland. (Natural Resources Wales)

Reintroduction of White-Tailed Eagles Puts Seabird Colonies at Risk of Wipeout

White-tailed eagles reintroduced into England and Wales imperil endangered seabird populations and risk wiping out some colonies, The Guardian reported quoting…

Varieties Residents extend a supply hose to fill a barrel with clean water from a tanker truck in Kavling Bakau Serip, amid local water shortages linked to data center developments in Batam. ANDARU / AFP

Can't Cook or Shower: Indonesians Take Aim at Data Centers

Cooking and bathing became difficult when taps ran dry in Batam, an Indonesian island where residents are protesting as data centers spring up to power the…

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Varieties Owners' positive feelings seem to be most strongly associated with how much time they spend close to their cats in everyday life. (Colorado State University)

Spending More Time Close to Cats Improves Mood, Study Finds

Owners who spent more time physically close to their cats tended to report more positive moods, according to a new study by a Kyoto University-led team. The…

Asharq Al Awsat (Cairo)
Varieties Pumpkins lay on a field near the Dannstadt region in Germany (EPA) 

Smaller Pumpkins Expected This Halloween After Drought in England

In the lead-up to Halloween, front porches across the country feature fat, proudly carved pumpkins, lit from within by tea lights. But this year there is…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Varieties A 20-year-old orangutan tries to escape as members of the BKSDA (Natural Resources Conservation Agency), the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Indonesia evacuate it due to forest and land fire, in Hampangen Village, Katingan Regency, Central Kalimantan, on October 17, 2026. (Photo by REINA / AFP)

Dozens of Orangutans Saved from Indonesia Blazes

Dozens of critically endangered orangutans have been rescued in recent weeks from rampant wildfires burning across Indonesia, conservation groups said. The…

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Varieties Participants brace for surging water in a flash flood simulator at the Lvxing center in Hangzhou (Reuters)

China’s Tourists Flock to Experience Pretend Typhoon as ‘Dark Tourism’ Flourishes

When Leon Lv was looking for somewhere to travel last year, she turned to the Chinese social media app RedNote for ideas. The algorithm took her to videos of…

Asharq Al Awsat (Beijing)
Varieties (FILES) A vehicle assembly building is seen at the Tanegashima Space Center in Minamitane, Kagoshima prefecture on August 13, 2026. (Photo by Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP)

Japan to Launch Historic Round-trip Mission to Mars Moon

Japanese scientists are readying a mission to Mars's moons to retrieve samples that could help unlock the origins of the Solar System and life on Earth, in…

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Varieties FILE - An alligator peers from the water's surface at the Circle B Bar Reserve, Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, in Polk County, Fla. (AP Photo/Chris O'Meara, File)

Fisherman, 71, Killed by 12-foot Alligator Alongside Florida Lake

A 71-year-old man fishing on the shore of a Florida pond was attacked and killed on Friday by a nearly 12-foot alligator, the second fatal such attack reported…

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Varieties Dana Wharf Sport Fishing and Whale Watching co-owner Donna Kalez poses in front of her family's 55-year-old business on the waters of Dana Point, California, US, October 9, 2026. REUTERS/Mike Blake

Exotic Species Appear Off California Thanks to an Unusually Strong El Niño

The longfin bigeye fish was spotted in California for the first time last month, and the first sea turtles of any kind nested on California beaches. Meanwhile,…

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Varieties Russia's brown bear population has more than doubled since 1990, according to one estimate. Handout / National Park "Zapovednoye Pribaikalye"/AFP

'We've Never Had This': Bear Sightings Spook Russia

Seeing what looked like a brown blob in a tree while driving through Siberia's Irkutsk region, 36-year-old Daria Tyurneva pulled over, curious to get a better…

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Varieties Villagers and environment advocates plant coral in the sea within the Naidiri Marine Biodiversity Park. Saeed KHAN / AFP

Tiny Fiji Village Restores Dying Fishery with Coral Planting

It had been decades since sharks last patrolled the reef off the coast of Fiji's Naidiri Village, but they returned this year following a community-led effort…

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Varieties Motorists drive past the Prime Ministers’ Office in Putrajaya on October 17, 2026, as the country continues to be shrouded in haze caused by fires in Indonesia.  (Photo by Jam STA ROSA / AFP)

Haze Triggers Highest-level Alert in Parts of Southeast Asia

Fires in Indonesia that have sent toxic smoke disrupting daily life across Southeast Asia has triggered the highest-level alert by the regional bloc's…

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Varieties The number of foreigners in Japan hit a record 4.28 million. Philip FONG / AFP/File

Japan Says Hosting Record Number of Foreigners

Japan has registered a record number of foreigners living in the country this year despite growing anti-immigration sentiment, as the country grapples with…

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Varieties An artist's impression of the cool white dwarf star WDJ1330+6435 in a handout image released on October 14, 2026. Mark A. Garlick/University of Warwick/Handout via REUTERS

Newly Identified Green Star Leaves Astronomers Amazed

Astronomers for the first time have identified a green star, documenting a dense stellar remnant called a white dwarf that became a ghostly shade of chartreuse…

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Varieties An American Barn Owl sits perched on a water tower on the Upper West Side neighborhood, Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Rare Family of Barn Owls Move into Manhattan's Upper West Side

Manhattan's Upper West Side has been reveling in the company of its latest celebrities: A family of barn owls nested in a water tower atop a building near…

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Varieties The unprecedented heat in September came after Spain's hottest summer on record. Oscar DEL POZO / AFP

Spain Sizzles in Hottest September on Record

Mainland Spain sizzled in its warmest September since records began in 1961, with exceptional heat effectively making it another summer month, national weather…

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Varieties An 11-year-old male orangutan named Didik eats on a rehabilitation island at a rehabilitation facility run by wildlife foundation Yayasan Inisiasi Alam Rehabilitasi Indonesia in Ketapang Regency, West Kalimantan, Indonesia, August 31, 2026. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan

Indonesian Rescue Center Takes in More Orangutans as Fires Rage

In the jungles of Indonesian Borneo, a rehabilitation center is taking in more orangutans as the country's worst wildfires in a decade sweep through the forest…

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Varieties FILED - 12 February 2026, Baden-Württemberg, Cleebronn: File Photo - A wolf is walking through an enclosure at the Wildparadies Tripsdrill Zoo. Photo: dpa

Sweden Sets Quota of 72 Wolves for 2027 Cull

Sweden said Thursday it would allow 72 wolves to be culled next year to combat inbreeding, after last year's planned cull of 48 animals was blocked by a court…

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Varieties This undated Handout photo made available by the Customs at Cologne airport on October 15, 2026, show some of the many snakes and reptiles discovered three weeks ago in the baggage of a man traveing to Cologne from Mexico City over Istanbul. (Photo by Customs Cologne Airport / AFP)

Mexican Traveler Nabbed with Snakes, Lizards at German Airport

German customs officials found 90 lizards and venomous snakes hidden in containers and socks in a Mexican traveler's luggage as he arrived at an airport,…

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Varieties The medical and surgical team of the Saudi Conjoined Twins Program began Thursday the separation surgery for 13-month-old Fijian conjoined twins Jasbili and Desisia at King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital in Riyadh. (SPA)

Separation Surgery for Fijian Conjoined Twins Begins in Riyadh Under Royal Directives

Acting on the directives of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,…

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Varieties The 117-year-old Qamile Marra holds a black and white photograph from her youth during an interview with AFP in the garden of her home in the village of Ferras, near Kucove, some 80 kilometres from the capital Tirana on October 3, 2026. (Photo by Adnan Beci / AFP)

Still Smiling at 117, Albanian May be World's Oldest Woman

At 117, Qamile Marra is not particularly concerned with proving she may be the world's oldest woman -- or even persuading Albanian pension officials that she…

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Varieties 10 October 2026, United Kingdom, Doncaster: A view of the entrance to Yorkshire Wildlife Park in Doncaster, where a man has died after suffering serious injuries in a tiger enclosure at Yorkshire Wildlife Park. Photo: Annabel Lee-Ellis/PA Wire/dpa

'Distressed' Family of UK Man Killed by Tiger Urge End to Online Posts

The family of a mentally ill man killed by a tiger at a UK wildlife park have urged people to stop posting "deeply offensive media content" of the attack, as…

Asharq Al Awsat (London)
Varieties Carriage horses and their drivers relax in Central Park as they wait for customers on October 14, 2026 in New York City. (Getty Images/AFP)

New York to Ban Central Park’s Horse-Drawn Carriages After Teen’s Death

New York City lawmakers plan to ban horse-drawn carriages from Central Park, ending their more than 150-year run as an iconic, old-timey tourist attraction,…

Varieties The milestone strengthens the Kingdom's role in microgravity research and expands the use of space science and technology in health and life sciences research. (Saudi Space Agency)

Saudi Arabia Launches First Biological Samples from the Middle East to Space

Saudi Arabia, represented by the Saudi Space Agency (SSA) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), has launched the first biological…

Varieties The achievement marks one of the first milestones for Prince Naif Center for Medical Excellence and Innovation, which operates under the Ministry of Interior's Medical Services program responsible for operating medical cities. (SPA)

Interior Ministry Medical Services Perform Saudi Arabia's 1st Robot-Assisted Lumbar Spine Surgery

A specialized medical team from the Ministry of Interior's Medical Services successfully performed Saudi Arabia's first minimally invasive robot-assisted…

Varieties Officials are seen at the 28th Meeting of Ministers Responsible for Environmental Affairs in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries in Bahrain. (SPA)

Saudi Arabia Stresses Importance of Integrating National, Regional Efforts to Boost Environmental Sustainability

Saudi Arabia stressed its commitment to advancing environmental action at the national, regional, and international levels through the Saudi Green Initiative…