As East Europe Marks 20 Years Without Communism, Secret Police Files Still Poison The Air

Insect shells, rice husks, water bottles, and bamboo charcoal might not be the first things that come to mind when you think of high-­performance building products. But Taiwanese upcycling company Miniwiz is using them to create just that. “We take leftover construction waste, leftover fiber waste, leftover plastic or packaging waste, and turn that into a building material you can use for another 30 years,” says CEO Arthur Huang.

In 2016, Americans unwittingly took part in demonstrations set up by the Russian government. There were “Florida Goes Trump” rallies in Ft. Lauderdale and Coral Spring, and dueling protests at an Islamic center in Houston—all of them, federal officials assert, orchestrated on Facebook by Russian agents. After the 2020 elections, Iran was behind a website filled with death threats against U.

The number of people living in urban areas has tripled in the last 50 years, meaning when a major natural disaster such as an earthquake strikes a city, more lives are in danger. Meanwhile, the strength and frequency of extreme weather events has increased—a trend set to continue as the climate warms.

KYIV, Ukraine — Germany’s top diplomat arrived Monday in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on an unannounced visit, in what appeared to be a show of European support for Ukraine on the eve of a U. S. presidential election that could bring far-reaching changes in Washington’s policy toward Russia’s all-out invasion of its neighbor. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Germany is Ukraine’s second biggest weapons supplier after the U.

VALENCIA, Spain — In a matter of minutes, flash floods caused by heavy downpours in eastern Spain swept away almost everything in their path. With no time to react, people were trapped in vehicles, homes and businesses. Many died and thousands of livelihoods were shattered. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Six days later, authorities have recovered 217 bodies — with 213 of them in the eastern Valencia region.

MAUMERE, Indonesia — Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency said Monday that at least six people have died as a series of volcanic eruptions widens on the remote island of Flores. The eruption at Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki just after midnight on Monday spewed thick brownish ash as high as 2,000 meters (6,500 feet) into the air and hot ashes hit a nearby village, burning down several houses including a convent of Catholic nuns, said Firman Yosef, an official at the Mount Lewotobi Laki Laki monitoring post. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Disaster Management Agency lowered the known death toll from an earlier report of nine, saying it had received updated information from local authorities.