To help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a safer experience, we use cookies. By clicking or navigating the site, you agree to allow our collection of information on and off The Star Place through cookies. Learn more, including about available controls: Cookies Policy
To help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a safer experience, we use cookies. By clicking or navigating the site, you agree to allow our collection of information on and off The Star Place through cookies. Learn more, including about available controls: Cookies Policy
This country regrew its lost forest. Can the world learn from it?
Pedro Garcia nurses a plate of seeds on his lap. "This is my legacy," he says, tenderly picking up the seed of a mountain almond -- a tree which can grow up to 60 meters (200 feet) tall and is a favored nesting spot for the endangered great green macaw.
Aged 57, Garcia has worked on his seven-hectare plot, El Jicaro, in northeast Costa Rica's Sarapiqui region for 36 years. In his hands it has turned from bare cattle pasture to a... moreThis country regrew its lost forest. Can the world learn from it?
Pedro Garcia nurses a plate of seeds on his lap. "This is my legacy," he says, tenderly picking up the seed of a mountain almond -- a tree which can grow up to 60 meters (200 feet) tall and is a favored nesting spot for the endangered great green macaw.
Aged 57, Garcia has worked on his seven-hectare plot, El Jicaro, in northeast Costa Rica's Sarapiqui region for 36 years. In his hands it has turned from bare cattle pasture to a densely forested haven for wildlife, where the scent of vanilla wafts through the air and hummingbirds buzz between tropical fruit trees.
Garcia has restored the forest -- home to hundreds of species from sloths to strawberry poison-dart frogs -- while also cultivating agricultural products from pepper vines to organic pineapple.
This makes him self-sufficient but it does not turn a profit. Instead, Garcia relies on ecotourism -- he guides biologists and ecologists around the plot for a small fee -- and payments for ecosystem services (PES), a scheme run by the Costa Rican government that rewards farmers who carry out sustainable forestry and environmental protection.
Chinese students in Australia are being scammed into faking their own kidnapping
Chinese students in Australia are being coerced by criminal gangs to fake their own kidnappings as part of an elaborate global extortion racket targeting vulnerable overseas communities, authorities said Monday.
Eight students in the state of New South Wales (NSW) were targeted in "virtual kidnapping" scams this year, with overseas relatives paying a total of 3.2 million Australian dollars ($2.3 million) in ransom... moreChinese students in Australia are being scammed into faking their own kidnapping
Chinese students in Australia are being coerced by criminal gangs to fake their own kidnappings as part of an elaborate global extortion racket targeting vulnerable overseas communities, authorities said Monday.
Eight students in the state of New South Wales (NSW) were targeted in "virtual kidnapping" scams this year, with overseas relatives paying a total of 3.2 million Australian dollars ($2.3 million) in ransom, police said in a statement.
In one case, the father of a 22-year-old Chinese student in Sydney handed over a more than $1.4 million after being sent a video of his daughter bound in an unknown location.
Another family in China paid more than $14,000 after receiving a video of their 22-year-old relative bound and blindfolded via the messaging app WeChat. She was found by NSW police safe in a hotel room.
The student victims are left "traumatized by what has occurred, believing they have placed themselves, and their loved ones, in real danger," said NSW Assistant Commissioner Peter Thurtell in a statement.
The NSW police said that scammers were targeting vulnerable members of the Chinese-Australian community, such as international students living away from friends and family in an unfamiliar environment.
President Donald Trump is facing an unprecedented revolt from the elite corps of ex-military leaders and presidents over his brazen response to mass protests and inflaming of racial divides.
In a true Washington bombshell on Wednesday evening, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, a warrior revered by his troops, told Americans they must come together without the President.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even prete... morePresident Donald Trump is facing an unprecedented revolt from the elite corps of ex-military leaders and presidents over his brazen response to mass protests and inflaming of racial divides.
In a true Washington bombshell on Wednesday evening, former Defense Secretary James Mattis, a warrior revered by his troops, told Americans they must come together without the President.
"Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people -- does not even pretend to try," said Mattis, who has kept silent since resigning in 2018.
"Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership," said the retired Marine general in a statement, criticizing Trump for threatening to deploy regular troops to quell unrest in a flagrant threat to US political stability.
The statement will come as a body blow to Trump, who although he latterly turned against his ex-defense secretary, idolizes generals and loved referring to Mattis as "Mad Dog."
State autopsy shows George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Andy Rose
George Floyd tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a test taken after his death, according to Hennepin County’s new autopsy report released earlier today.
The post-mortem nasal swab was found to be “positive for 2019-nCoV RNA,” said the report, using another term for the type of coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker said the type of test performed for the autopsy,... moreState autopsy shows George Floyd tested positive for coronavirus
From CNN’s Andy Rose
George Floyd tested positive for the novel coronavirus in a test taken after his death, according to Hennepin County’s new autopsy report released earlier today.
The post-mortem nasal swab was found to be “positive for 2019-nCoV RNA,” said the report, using another term for the type of coronavirus that causes Covid-19.
Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Andrew Baker said the type of test performed for the autopsy, called PCR, can show a positive result “for weeks after the onset and resolution of clinical disease.”
As a result, Baker said, “the autopsy result most likely reflects asymptomatic but persistent PCR positivity from previous infection” -- meaning the virus played no known role in Floyd’s death and he was unlikely to have been contagious.