
2,000 Nepalese tree-huggers claim world record
More than two thousand people including lawmakers and students hugged trees in a park outside Nepal's capital Kathmandu on Thursday to claim a new record on World Environment Day. ... more
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Pollution-ridden Bangladesh unveils green tax in budget
Bangladesh imposed a radical new "green tax" on Thursday to force polluting factories to pay extra levies as it looks to clean up the country's increasingly dirty rivers and air. ... more
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Trump vows to relaunch Egypt-Ethiopia talks on dam row
China's birth rate falls to lowest on record
Chile police arrest suspect over deadly wildfires
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Dalai Lama in democracy call ahead of Tibet autonomy push
The Dalai Lama has called for democracy in China and offered prayers for victims of the Tiananmen crackdown ahead of the launch Thursday of a new campaign for autonomy in his Tibetan homeland. ... more
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NATO anti-piracy ops until 2016
Shipping lanes off the Horn of Africa will continue to be patrolled by maritime forces of NATO-members until 2016 to protect against piracy, the alliance has announced. ... more
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Last original Navajo Code Talker dies
Chester Nez, the last of 29 Navajo Indians who helped create a code used during World War II and never broken by the Axis Powers, died Wednesday. He was 93. ... more
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The 'Sherlock Holmes' of Himalayan mountaineering
When a deadly avalanche hit Mount Everest last April, reporters made a beeline for 90-year-old Elizabeth Hawley, the woman Edmund Hillary once called "the Sherlock Holmes of the mountaineering world". ... more
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Tibet leaders bid to revive drive for autonomy from China
Senior Tibetan exiles will meet revered spiritual leader the Dalai Lama this week to kick-start a new push for greater autonomy from China as they try to halt a horrific string of self-immolations. ... more
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