South Korea Swears in First Woman President
SEOUL — South Korea has inaugurated its first female president. She is Park Geun-hye, the daughter of a former president with a controversial legacy. Before a crowd of 70,000 people, Madame Park Geun-hye, dressed in an olive green coat and wearing a violet-colored scarf, took the oath of office as her country’s 11th president since [...]

Saudi Arabia pushes towards renewable energy program
Saudi Arabia is pursuing a renewable energy program, with the aim of cutting down on the oil it burns in power stations, a published roadmap of the kingdom’s plans stated this week. The roadmap highlights plans to install 23.9 gigawatts (GW) of renewable power capacity by 2020 and 54.1 GW by 2032, it said in [...]

Putin Signs Law Banning Smoking
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning smoking in public places. The law will take effect in two stages. Beginning in June, the law will ban smoking in some public places, including subways and schools. A year later, the ban will go into effect in other areas, including cafes and restaurants. The ban [...]

How Madison Wisconsin Incentivizes Energy Efficiency in Student Housing
At Focus-UW we are working on persuading off-campus rental property owners to make their housing more energy efficient to create a market of sustainable housing options for students living at University of Wisconsin-Madison. A roadblock our campus currently faces is the fact that students in Madison generally live in off-campus housing or apartments for only [...]

Litter found in deepsea survey of one of Earth’s final unexplored realms
A glimpse into one tiny nook of the UK’s vast ocean depths uncovered two drink cans, one bottle, and a rusty food tin On 15 August 1934, two adventurers squeezed into a tiny metal capsule and became the first people to see another world. Their names were William Beebe and Otis Barton, and the world [...]

Leeds’ hosts offer hot food, beds and a warm welcome to asylum-seekers
Janice Gwilliam continues her monthly posts on volunteering in the north, with news of overnight placements in the homes of generous Yorkshire families. But there’s mud on them thar moors The first of my Short Stop stints of the month, seemed simple with only two referrals to place. But a lot of hosts either had [...]

Environmentalists Sue California Over Controversial Fracking Policies
SAN FRANCISCO –- An environmental group has filed suit against the state of California for doing what it deemed an insufficient job of regulating the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” In a complaint filed in Alameda County Superior Court earlier this week, the Arizona-based Center For Biological Diversity charged that the agency tasked [...]

London hopes Olympic Park will have new lease of life after the Games
MARK HENNESSY Work is under way to save park from becoming a symbol of failed ambition Construction workers are back on site at London’s Olympic Park in Stratford, 1,000 of them, as they prepare for life after last summer’s weeks of excitement during the Olympics and Paralympics, when hundreds of thousands daily passed through its [...]

Afghan Girl Weaves Special Rug for President Obama
SHIBERGHAN, AFGHANISTAN — In Afghanistan, a country known for its hand-woven carpets, a 17-year-old girl has created a special gift for U.S. President Barack Obama.  It’s a carpet that she wove herself — as a way of praising Obama’s efforts on behalf of her country.  She wants to present the gift to Obama personally. Aisha [...]

Kielder Water & Forest Park to reintroduce water voles
An endangered species is set to return to a Northumberland forest more than 30 years after it was wiped out. Conservationists at Kielder Water & Forest Park plan to reintroduce water voles to the area after they disappeared. The animals have not been spotted in the area since the 1970s. Forestry Commission ecologist Tom Dearnley [...]