Xi wants to be his country’s ‘unrivalled helmsman’ but what does this mean for China and the rest of the world? What’s Xi up to? By moving to abolish presidential term limits this week, Xi Jinping has obliterated any lingering doubts over his desire to remain China’s “unrivalled helmsman” for many years to come. “Unless he’s deposed, […]

The vault storing the world’s most precious seeds is taking delivery on Monday of consignments that will take it to the one million mark. More than 70,000 crops will be added to frozen storage chambers buried deep within a mountain in the Arctic Circle. Cereal staples, unusual crops like the Estonian onion potato, and barley […]

Washington Edison Prado is accused of shipping hundreds of tonnes of cocaine to US A suspected drug chief known as the “Pablo Escobar of Ecuador” was extradited to the US on Saturday, Colombia’s chief prosecutor’s office has announced. Washington Edison Prado tried unsuccessfully to prevent extradition by claiming membership of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of […]

A wave of attacks across Afghanistan has left more than 25 people dead, most of them soldiers, officials say. In the worst incident, Taliban militants stormed an army post in the western province of Farah, killing 22 soldiers. A suicide attack in the capital Kabul left at least three security officers dead. There has been […]

It’s another demonstration of the power of Big Data – of mining a huge batch of statistics to see patterns of behaviour that were simply not apparent before. Computers have crunched 22 billion identification messages transmitted by sea-going vessels to map fishing activity around the globe. The analysis reveals that more than 55% of the […]

Americans celebrate Valentine’s Day each year on February 14. Images of hearts are everywhere, as are red roses and boxes of chocolates to give to that special person. You could say that “love is in the air.” Many other countries celebrate Valentine’s Day, too, each in their own way. Here is a look at four […]

Western Europe’s last naturally caused famine ended 150 years ago this winter. In a poor and backward part of the Russian empire called Finland, more than a quarter of a million people – nearly 10% of the population – starved to death. Last year, on the centenary of its independence, Finland was ranked, by assorted international […]

A Russian airliner has crashed after leaving Moscow’s Domodedovo airport, killing all 65 passengers and six crew on board. The Saratov Airlines jet vanished minutes after take-off and crashed near the village of Argunovo, about 80km (50 miles) south-east of Moscow. The cause of crash is unclear. Investigators and emergency crews are working at the […]

The mysterious Maya city of Tikal in north-east Guatemala has been on the Central American tourist trail for decades, and swells with visitors during the day. But it is 5am, and I am part of a television crew with permission to explore the ancient site before dawn. The stars sparkle as, soupy from tiredness, we navigate with […]

The opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics kicked off on Friday — at 8 p.m. in South Korea and at 6 a.m. ET in the U.S. — with 2,900 athletes from 92 countries gathering to compete for 102 medals in Pyeongchang. The U.S. Olympic team was led into Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium by flag-bearer Erin Hamlin. […]