Drought
‘We Buried Him and Kept Walking’: Children Die as Somalis Flee Hunger
DOOLOW, Somalia — When her crops failed and her parched goats died, Hirsiyo Mohamed left her home in southwestern Somalia, carrying and coaxing three of her eight children on the long walk across a bare and dusty landscape in temperatures as high as 100 degrees. Along the way, her 3-and-a-half-year-old son, Adan, tugged at her […]
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As the Great Salt Lake Dries Up, Utah Faces An ‘Environmental Nuclear Bomb’
SALT LAKE CITY — If the Great Salt Lake, which has already shrunk by two-thirds, continues to dry up, here’s what’s in store: The lake’s flies and brine shrimp would die off — scientists warn it could start as soon as this summer — threatening the 10 million migratory birds that stop at the lake […]
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Bodies Pulled From Parched Lake Mead Stir Wise-Guy Ghosts of Las Vegas
LAS VEGAS — It’s the mob guy who went missing after skimming from the Stardust casino. No, it’s the lake resort manager hunted down by the Chicago Outfit. Could it be the work of a biker gang muscling in on Mafia turf? Or maybe someone just fell off a boat after one too many. Ever […]
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Human Skull About 8,000 Years Old Is Found in Minnesota River
The two kayakers were enjoying the last glimmers of summer on the Minnesota River last September when they spotted an odd brown chunk along the bank. They paddled toward it and looked closer. It appeared to be a bone, so they called the Renville County Sheriff’s Office. When Sheriff Scott Hable was told of the […]
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Somalia Elects Next President, but Terrorists Hold True Power
MOGADISHU, Somalia — Every month, Abdow Omar, who runs a business importing flour and sugar, gets a call from the Somali militant group Al Shabab reminding him that it’s time to pay them taxes — or risk losing his business, or even his life. After more than 16 years, the Shabab, terrorists linked to Al […]
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Body From Decades-Old Homicide Is Found in Barrel at Lake Mead
A metal barrel containing the remains of a person killed about four decades ago was found on Sunday on the shore of Nevada’s Lake Mead, a discovery that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said was made possible by an ongoing drought. “It’s really odd in the sense that had the lake never receded, we […]
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War in Ukraine Compounds Hunger in East Africa
NAIROBI, Kenya — First came the drought, drying up rivers, and claiming the lives of two of Ruqiya Hussein Ahmed’s children as her family fled the barren countryside in southwest Somalia. Then came the war in Ukraine, pushing food prices so high that even after making it to the outskirts of the capital, Mogadishu, she […]
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India’s Modi Brings Tap Water to Millions as Supplies Shrink
IMLIDOL, India — The pipes are laid, the taps installed and the village tank is under construction — all promising signs that, come spring, Girja Ahriwar will get water at her doorstep and finally shed a lifelong burden. “I go out and put the jerrycans in the queue at around 5 a.m. and wait there […]
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First Fires, Then Floods: Climate Extremes Batter Australia
WEE WAA, Australia — Two years ago, the fields outside Christina Southwell’s family home near the cotton capital of Australia looked like a dusty, brown desert as drought-fueled wildfires burned to the north and south. Last week, after record-breaking rains, muddy floodwaters surrounded her, along with the stench of rotting crops. She had been trapped […]
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