Survival

by Joseph Hammond ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — As another year of drought looms in Somalia and famine stalks many rural communities, the prayers for rain have already begun. Horn of Africa faith-based organizations are increasingly playing a prominent role in responding to a potentially massive famine that has received little …

Equatorial Guinea announced its first outbreak of the Marburg virus, a deadly and highly infectious disease similar to Ebola, the World Health Organization said.  World health officials on Tuesday convened an urgent meeting to address the Marburg outbreak. The small central African nation of about 1.6 million people reported nine …

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica — The cracking and breaking of ice on a metal hull can be heard from land as the heavy icebreaker U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Polar Star (WAGB 10) enters the harbor of McMurdo Station, Antarctica to move the ice pier out of the way for an incoming …

Now, that’s a hot Vulcan. A Cold War-era British Vulcan bomber overshot a runway during a high speed taxi run, and stopped just short of a busy road, causing no injuries but plenty of havoc. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at Wellesbourne Airfield near Stratford-upon-Avon in the United Kingdom. …

by Allison P. Erickson, The Texas Tribune Nearly two dozen veterans groups are pleading with the White House this week to intervene in the case of an Afghan national jailed in a Texas border town after he crossed the border illegally while trying to escape the Taliban and rejoin his …

Russian recruits are being told to use women’s menstrual products to treat bullet wounds amid claims that they are being asked to provide much of their own gear and equipment. A clip released on social media seemingly shows Russian recruits being told to buy most of their own gear, with …

By Allison P. Erickson, The Texas Tribune DEL RIO, TEXAS — Two brothers stand across from each other at the Val Verde Correctional Facility in this border city, speaking reverently through the fixed telephones. They are separated by the visiting room’s thick glass partition, too energized to sit. One brother, …

Former Soviet and Russian chess grandmaster Anatoly Karpov, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine, has awakened from a coma following a mysterious fall, according to Russian media. The newspaper Izvestia reported that there is now a “positive trend” in Karpov’s recovery. Additionally, Karpov’s wife, Natalya Bulanova, told the outlet …

by Nadia Beard, RFE/RL KAZBEGI, Georgia — The picturesque road that climbs vertiginously through the Caucasus Mountains leads to Stepantsminda, a small town where traditionally the stylish hotels serve as a starting-off point for holidaymakers, hikers, and the more adventurous climbers. But if you drive farther, passing through Stepantsminda to …

The UK’s Royal Air Force helped rescue a sailor after his boat was stricken and cast adrift in stormy seas far from land. The boat lost its mast in rough waters over the weekend in the Atlantic Ocean, some 700 nautical miles from shore. The RAF headed out on Oct. …