While wars and revolutions have long threatened national cultural heritage sites — most recently in Iran and Ukraine — a new danger has emerged in the form of climate change. UNESCO World Heritage sites from the 4,000 year-old pyramid temples in Iraq to the ancient statues of Easter Island are facing extreme erosion and deterioration as temperatures rise and storms and droughts intensify.
After a week of high drama, authorities on the Baltic coast of northern Germany say they have established a restricted zone around a whale that has been stranded in the area to allow the creature to "die in peace." "We did everything we could to give it a chance. This is a unique tragedy.
At a fish market in the Libyan capital of Tripoli, stallholders shout to attract customers to trays piled high with popular frozen seafood such as octopus, squid and shrimp. But that's not all that's on display. Some trays contain sharks with their bellies still swollen with eggs.
The humpback whale stuck for more than a week in two different spots in the Baltic Sea finally started to swim again on Monday evening, despite having shown signs of deteriorating health throughout the day.
Skip next section Police raids homes in Munich region for child pornograpy March 29, 2026 Police raids homes in Munich region for child pornograpy German police raided 14 residences in the Munich region, targeting 14 men between the ages of 17 and 78 for alleged involvement in child pornography.
A neighborhood near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., is flooded in September 2011, after heavy rain caused the Susquehanna River to rise dramatically. Mel Evans/AP hide caption toggle caption Mel Evans/AP The town of Duryea, Pa., is on the banks of the Lackawanna River. Residents can see the low, placid water from their churches, schools and houses.
Skip next section Rescue chances fade for stranded humpback whale March 29, 2026 Rescue chances fade for stranded humpback whale The chances of rescuing a stranded humpback whale in the Baltic Sea near Wismar have worsened significantly, according to marine experts.
A humpback whale that had been stranded for days off Germany’s Baltic coast has become stuck again, a Greenpeace spokeswoman said on Saturday. The whale first ran aground early Monday on a sandbank off the Timmendorfer Strand resort near the northern city of Lübeck, drawing widespread media attention.
The lights went out at landmarks across New Zealand on Saturday as the 20th edition of Eath Hour kicked off. Earth Hour, which originated in Australia in 2006, encourages nations to turn off their lights for an hour in the evening to draw attention to climate change.
Since the turn of the century, the expansion of solar power has surpassed expectations, more than any other energy source. Once extremely expensive and only used in remote regions, space travel or pocket calculators, today's solar modules — easy to set up and operate — generate cheap electricity all over the world.
Last year, as monsoon rains pushed the Brahmaputra River over its banks in India's northeastern state of Assam, Amir Hussen knew one thing — he will need to rebuild his life. Again. "I have lost my house 17 times to riverbank erosion," said Hussen, 47, a resident of Kharballi village in Assam's Barpeta district.
Rescuers managed to free a humpback whale that had been stuck on a sand bank on Germany's Baltic coast on Friday. The whale had been stranded for several days on the Timmendorfer Strand, with numerous rescue attempts failing to shift the marine mammal.