Author: Worldman

Alongside cephalopods like the octopus and the cuttlefish, seahorses are some of the most fascinating animals in the ocean. One of the strangest things about them is that seahorses are really just fish, closely related to pipefish, those long, thin swimmers you can find hanging around the shoreline. Seahorses are more delicate, and more desirable, …

Read more “Seahorses at Risk, But Conservation Efforts Having Impact”

 More than 60 percent of Americans would like to see the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s powers preserved or strengthened under incoming President Donald Trump, and the drilling of oil on public lands to hold steady or drop, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Tuesday. The results could foretell stronger-than-expected public opposition to Trump’s …

Read more “Poll: Unlike Trump, Americans Want Strong Environmental Regulator”

Iraqi special forces pushed into a pocket of Islamic State-held territory in eastern Mosul on Tuesday, the military said, seeking to recapture the remaining districts under the group’s control east of the Tigris river. The militants have been driven out of most eastern districts in their Iraqi stronghold in a 3-month-old U.S.-backed campaign. Iraqi troops …

Read more “Iraqi Forces Push Into IS-held Pocket in Mosul”

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that a Russian law barring Americans from adopting Russian children led to human rights violations. …

When Ulil Abshar-Abdalla was a teenager in Pati, Central Java, he placed first in an Arabic class held at his local madrasa. The prize was six months of tuition at the Institute for the Study of Islam and Arabic (LIPIA), a Jakarta university founded and funded by the Saudi Arabian government. At the end of …

Read more “Saudi Arabia Quietly Spreads its Brand of Puritanical Islam in Indonesia”

Prominent Kazakh journalist Bigeldy Gabdullin has gone on trial in Astana on extortion charges. …

Counterterrorism measures that have been adopted across Europe in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks are eroding human rights under the guise of defending them, Amnesty International warns. …

Japanese researchers say they have successfully copied fingerprint data from a digital picture of a person flashing a two-fingered “V” or peace sign, raising questions about the potential theft of such information. “One can use it to assume another identity, such as accessing a smartphone or breaking and entering into a restricted area such as …

Read more “Researchers say Fingerprint Data Vulnerable in ‘Peace’ Photos”

Could the writings of a little-know leftist from a rural American state help to reshape the political structure of the nation that emerges from the Syrian civil war? That could be the case if the Kurdish YPG — one of the most effective forces in the U.S.-backed struggle against Islamic State extremists — succeeds in its goal …

Read more “Writings of Obscure American Leftist Drive Kurdish Forces in Syria”

It’s tough to rebuild a city’s image when the national perception is that it peaked a century ago, and when recent news has sometimes been dismal. St. Louis was the nation’s fourth largest city in 1904, the year it hosted both the Olympics and the World’s Fair. Since then, a half-million in population has been …

Read more “After Long Decline, St. Louis Tries to Rebuild With Startups”

Relations between Serbia and Pristina have become tense after Belgrade sent a train painted with the slogan “Kosovo is Serbia” toward Kosovo, halting it only at the last moment before it entered the country. …

The case of a Russian kindergarten teacher who was jailed for trying to draw attention to child abuse has received increased attention after she was sent to a punishment cell for trying to warm her feet. …

Ukraine has sued Russia at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, accusing Moscow of acts of “terrorism” and “discrimination” related to its backing separatists in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of the Crimean Peninsula …