Transcripts released this week by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) reveal an atmosphere of confusion in the U.S. agency in the first days after the nuclear disaster at Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi power station last year. …
Natural Disaster
Europe’s Deadly Cold Spell: A Slight Thaw, But Winter Misery Continues
The western edge of Europe looked set on Monday to get some relief from the extreme cold spell that has frozen the continent and left over 500 people dead over the past two weeks. But as temperatures began to rise on the north …
Poets, Peaceniks and Protesters: Meet China’s Leading Dissidents
As Xi Jinping, the man widely touted to be China’s next President, embarks on a trip to the U.S., Beijing’s desire for political stability remains paramount. The past year has seen numerous crackdowns on dissent and arrests of …
Must-Reads from Around the World: February 13, 2012
Primary Victory – Henrique Capriles Radonski is one step closer to potentially ending Hugo Chavez’s 13 year rule in Venezuela. In a landmark primary, Capriles beat out six other opposition candidates for the spot opposite Chavez …
Reads from Around the World: Tibet, Tsunamis and TV Talk
Tibetan Turmoil – The South China Morning Post reports another Tibetan has been shot dead in escalating protests in the western part of China’s Sichuan province. The death follows similar unrest Monday that left at least one …
Landslide Devastates Philippine Island of Mindanao
Three weeks after a devastating typhoon slammed the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, a landslide killed 25 and stranded dozens more. Mindanao, populous and politically complex, is struggling to cope with the aftermath of …
Japan Says the Worst Is Over, but Fukushima Faces Long Road to Recovery
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced in a televised address on Friday that the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant has officially reached a state of ‘cold shutdown,’ bringing the most urgent phase of the world’s …
Blood Money: Tsunami Recovery Funds Go to Japan’s Whaling Industry
They’re baaaaaaaccck. Whale hunting season kicked off in Japan last week as three ships set off with a security vessel on their annual pilgrimage to cull hundreds of minke and fin whales in Antarctic waters. And so begins the …
Turkey’s Earthquake: Social Media to the Rescue
The following is a guest post from TIME’s Turkey correspondent Pelin Turgut.
The last devastating earthquake Turkey experienced was in 1999, back when it was still largely an analogue world, email was in its infancy and Mark Zuckerberg was just another high school dreamer. As a reporter I had to lug a satellite phone around to …
Floods in South Asia: How to Help the Poor Help Themselves
With at least 5.5 million people affected by flooding in Pakistan and 2 million in India, monsoon floods on the Subcontinent sometimes seem like a grim annual ritual. But on a recent visit to Bihar, I found some surprising evidence that there are simple ways to reduce the vulnerability of even the poorest communities.
Rameshesh, a …
Pakistan’s Floods: Deja Vu, All Over Again
These days when it rains in South Asia, it doesn’t just pour — it floods. A month of monsoon squalls has deluged hundreds of towns and villages in northwest India and Pakistan. The latter has seen the most acute flooding, and, on all evidence, has been the least prepared for it. At least 233 people have already died and 300,000 …
Irene: the Ruthless Monarch Who Lent a Hurricane Her Name
Millions are braced for the onslaught of Hurricane Irene as it rakes across the U.S.’s eastern seaboard. For the tens of thousands forced to flee the storm’s path, its name will only be remembered as the source of panic and destruction, an unwelcome conclusion to the summer months. Fair enough. As TIME’s Kayla Webley explained during …
Tokyo Prepares to Lift Some Evacuation Areas
Residents living in one of the evacuation areas surrounding the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant may see a measure of normalcy return to their neighborhoods next month. On Tuesday, Goshi Hosono, the official overseeing Tokyo’s response to the nuclear crisis, said that the so-called “emergency preparation evacuation zone” …