NewsPlexus Media October 18, 2020

The latest premiere at the Jewish State Theater in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, explores the horrors of the Holocaust via a survivor's memories of the Auschwitz and Plaszow concentration camps.

NewsPlexus Media October 15, 2020

With performance halls shut because of the coronavirus pandemic, the best concert venue a violinist could hope for one recent October Friday was a sidewalk in the Bronx. Fiona Simon tuned her instrument as she prepared for one of her only public performances with the New York Philharmonic in months. The setting was a far cry from the orchestra's usual home at Manhattan's Lincoln Center. Traffic hummed and sirens wailed as a crew laid cables and unloaded speakers from the back of a double-parked pickup truck.

NewsPlexus Media October 9, 2020

There's little evidence of Americans' passion for fitness at the tens of thousands of small and independent gyms around the country. Gyms, health clubs and workout studios began reopening in late spring following government-ordered shutdowns aimed at halting the coronavirus spread. But most are only allowed to have a fraction of their regular clientele onsite at one time. And some clients are staying away for fear of catching the virus.

NewsPlexus Media October 6, 2020

Each fall the Resch family bring their cows down from Alpine pastures before the cold weather sets in, and each year the crowd of tourists coming to watch the traditional Bavarian spectacle grows bigger. Not this year.

NewsPlexus Media October 6, 2020

The traditional bowler hats, bright blouses and long, plaited “pollera” skirts of the young women contrast with the skateboards under their feet as they swoop back and forth on the skate ramp in Bolivia's largest city. The girls of the collective “ImillaSkate," a mixture of Aymara and English meaning girl and skateboarding, wear the Indigenous dress of their grandmothers to showcase their culture and promote the sport among women.

NewsPlexus Media October 5, 2020

German police say French urban climber Alain Robert faces a criminal investigation and fine after scaling one of Frankfurt's tallest buildings Thursday. Robert, known as "Spiderman" for his daring stunts, clambered to the top of rail company Deutsche Bahn 166-meter-high (545-foot-high) office building in Germany's financial capital, untethered and wearing a silver suit and cowboy boots.

NewsPlexus Media October 2, 2020

As much of Britain's economy emerged from the coronavirus lockdown, its theaters stayed dark, with performers and staff unwillingly idled. So they made a song and dance about it. Scores of actors, technicians and theater workers led by pantomime "Dames" — male actors in fabulously eccentric drag — marched through London's West End to Parliament to the beat of showtunes Wednesday, asking the government for a plan to bring theaters back to life.

NewsPlexus Media October 1, 2020

It's been three decades since the reunification of Germany, but camping enthusiasts from the former East Germany allow themselves twice a year to relive the past and forget about how much has changed. For most of the 150 families that meet up at a lake on the outskirts of the eastern city of Leipzig, the twice-yearly gatherings aren't about capitalism or communism, East or West, but about enjoying a bit of nostalgia among friends with shared experiences.

NewsPlexus Media October 1, 2020

If America had an Amtrak rider-in-chief, Joe Biden would be it. The former vice president, who estimates he's logged more than 2.1 million miles riding the rails in his lifetime, added seven more hours to that total Wednesday as his campaign chartered a nine-car private train to tour parts of eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania — key areas to pick up votes if he wants to flip the states from red to blue in November.

NewsPlexus Media October 1, 2020

The Utah Giant Pumpkin Growers group has recorded eight pumpkins from the state this year that weighed more than 1,000 pounds, setting a state record. The first-place pumpkin at the 16th annual event last Saturday in the city of Lehi came in at 1,825 pounds.

NewsPlexus Media September 30, 2020

A rat has for the first time won a British charity's top civilian award for animal bravery, receiving the honor for searching out unexploded landmines in Cambodia. Magawa, a giant African pouched rat, was awarded the PDSA's Gold Medal for his "lifesaving bravery and devotion" after discovering 39 landmines and 28 items of unexploded ordinance in the past seven years, according to the charity.

NewsPlexus Media September 28, 2020

Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed more than two dozen ancient coffins in a vast necropolis south of Cairo, an official said Monday. The sarcophagi have remained unopened since they were buried more than 2,500 years ago near the famed Step Pyramid of Djoser in Saqqara, said Neveine el-Arif, a spokeswomen for the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. She said 13 coffins were found earlier this month in a newly discovered, 11 meter-deep (36 feet) well, and that 14 more were found last week in another well.

NewsPlexus Media September 28, 2020

Finland has deployed coronavirus-sniffing dogs at the Nordic country’s main international airport in a four-month trial of an alternative testing method that could become a cost-friendly and quick way to identify infected travelers. Four dogs of different breeds trained by Finland’s Smell Detection Association started working Wednesday at the Helsinki Airport as part of the government-financed trial.

NewsPlexus Media September 23, 2020

A humpback whale has found its way back to sea weeks after getting lost in a murky, crocodile-infested river in northern Australia, while an estimated 270 pilot whales became stranded in the country's south. There have been no previous recorded sightings of whales in remote East Alligator River in the Northern Territory's World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park, and no one can explain why at least three of the blue water mammals ventured so deep inland in a river with little visibility.

NewsPlexus Media September 22, 2020

With precision and boundless energy, a team of carpenters used medieval techniques to raise up — by hand — a three-ton oak truss Saturday in front of Notre Dame Cathedral, a replica of the wooden structures that were consumed in the landmark's devastating April 2019 fire that also toppled its spire. The demonstration to mark European Heritage Days gave the hundreds of people a first-hand look at the rustic methods used 800 years ago to build the triangular frames in the nave of Notre Dame de Paris.

NewsPlexus Media September 21, 2020

Strong winds pushed a wildfire burning for nearly two weeks in mountains northeast of Los Angeles onto the desert floor and spread it rapidly in several directions, causing it to explode in size and destroy homes, officials said Saturday.

NewsPlexus Media September 19, 2020

Jupiter and its enticing moon Europa shine in a new photo by the Hubble Space Telescope. Hubble snapped the picture last month when the planet was 406 million miles away, and the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore released it Thursday.

NewsPlexus Media September 19, 2020

The last time she felt the ocean waves swirling around her, Tabitha was near death. She was tossed about in the surf in Cape May, weakened by pneumonia, severe anemia, and an intestinal blockage. She also was laden with parasites and covered with 15 pounds (7 kilograms) of barnacles, some of which had broken through to her bones. That was on June 27, 2019, when the loggerhead turtle did not appear likely to survive the week. But on Tuesday, more than a year later, Tabitha crawled from her wooden transport crate onto the sand in Point Pleasant Beach, roused by a wave that surged over her and prompted something ancient inside to propel her toward the sea for the second time in her life.

NewsPlexus Media September 18, 2020

Dangerously dirty air spewing from the West Coast wildfires is seeping into homes and businesses, sneaking into cars through air conditioning vents and preventing people already shut away by the coronavirus pandemic from enjoying a walk or trip to the park. People in Oregon, Washington state and California have been struggling for a week or longer under some of the most unhealthy air on the planet. The acrid yellow-green smog may linger for days or weeks, scientists and forecasters said.

NewsPlexus Media September 18, 2020

A Malaysian student whose cellphone was stolen while he was sleeping has tracked down the culprit: a monkey who took photo and video selfies with the device before abandoning it.

NewsPlexus Media September 11, 2020

Hazy clouds of smoke from dozens of wildfires darkened the sky to an eerie orange glow over much of the West Coast on Wednesday, keeping street lights illuminated during the day and putting residents on edge. The California Highway Patrol urged drivers to turn on their headlights and slow down. Social media was filled with photos of the unusual sky, and many people complained that their cellphone cameras weren’t accurately capturing the golden hues.

NewsPlexus Media September 10, 2020

The Oakland Coliseum lights shone brightly for miles through a sunless, smoky sky in the middle of the afternoon — hours before they usually would be on for a night baseball game. By mid-morning across San Francisco Bay, the Giants’ Oracle Park resembled a black-and-orange horror scene. A number of Northern California wildfires sent a thick, sometimes orange-glowing haze over the area Wednesday that left the Bay Area in an eerie darkness all day. The sun was blocked by the smoke.

NewsPlexus Media September 9, 2020

The Salon Los Angeles had been crowded every weekend since 1937 with couples twirling to mambo, cha-cha-cha, salsa and danzon. Everyone from slum-dwellers to movie stars and millionaires have danced at the fabled hall that boasts, "Anybody who hasn't been to the Salon Los Angeles doesn't know Mexico." But the Mexico City dance hall, like other bars and nightclubs, has been fully or partially shuttered for more than five months due to the coronavirus pandemic and its owners say they are in debt and may have to close and demolish it.

NewsPlexus Media September 9, 2020

Suellen de Souza could no longer endure the confinement. After six months of precautions, the Brazilian nursing technician decided that Sunday would be her first day at the beach since the pandemic began. Under a burning midday sun, she had difficulty finding an empty space in the sand as thousands crowded the famed beach, which was dotted with hundreds of umbrellas and families sunning themselves. Beach-goers were packed close together with few wearing face masks.

NewsPlexus Media September 6, 2020

The number of mammoth skeletons recovered at an airport construction site north of Mexico City has risen to at least 200, with a large number still to be excavated, experts said Thursday. Archaeologists hope the site that has become "mammoth central" — the shores of an ancient lakebed that both attracted and trapped mammoths in its marshy soil — may help solve the riddle of their extinction.

NewsPlexus Media September 5, 2020

Israeli archaeologists announced Monday the discovery of a trove of early Islamic gold coins found during recent salvage excavations near the central city of Yavne. The collection of 425 complete gold coins, most dating to the Abbasid period around 1,100 years ago, was a "extremely rare" find.

NewsPlexus Media September 4, 2020

Few of Mexico's cultural traditions have been hit as hard by the coronavirus pandemic as "lucha libre" wrestling. The death toll among wrestlers has risen dramatically and wrestling arenas are closed, throwing almost everyone out of work. One enterprising band of aspiring young wrestlers, the three Olivares brothers in Mexico City's Xochimilco borough, have put up an impromptu ring on one of the district's famous "floating gardens."

NewsPlexus Media September 3, 2020

A San Francisco drag show night club has taken the show on the road after having to close its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic. Oasis' "Meals on Heals" is dispatching drag queens to deliver food, custom cocktails and socially-distant lip synch performances.

NewsPlexus Media September 2, 2020

As people in western Louisiana continue to dig out from Hurricane Laura, residents of eastern Louisiana and Mississippi marked the 15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina on Saturday. In New Orleans, Mayor LaToya Cantrell and other officials held a ceremony at 8:29 a.m. — the moment the devastating storm made landfall. Cantrell laid a wreath at the city's Katrina memorial where the remains of unclaimed or unidentified victims of the storm were laid to rest.

NewsPlexus Media September 1, 2020

Now you see them, now you don’t. The walls of two newly installed public toilets in Tokyo's Shibuya neighborhood are see-through before people enter, but turn opaque when the doors are closed and locked from the inside.

NewsPlexus Media August 30, 2020

A Swiss team working to take a solar-powered plane to the edge of space says it has performed the first jump and free fall from an electric aircraft. The SolarStratos team said its experimental plane took off from an airfield in western Switzerland with two people on board early Tuesday and climbed to 5,000 feet (1,520 meters) before its founder, Raphaël Domjan, jumped out of the aircraft.

NewsPlexus Media August 26, 2020

When a massive wildfire swept through California's oldest state park last week it was feared many trees in a grove of old-growth redwoods, some of them 2,000 years old and among the tallest living things on Earth, may finally have succumbed. But an Associated Press reporter and photographer hiked the renowned Redwood Trail at Big Basin Redwoods State Park on Monday and confirmed most of the ancient redwoods had withstood the blaze. Among the survivors is one dubbed Mother of the Forest.

NewsPlexus Media August 28, 2020

The coronavirus is shaking up America's liquor laws. At least 33 states and the District of Columbia are temporarily allowing cocktails to-go during the pandemic. Only two — Florida and Mississippi — allowed them on a limited basis before coronavirus struck, according to the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. Struggling restaurants say it's a lifeline, letting them rehire bartenders, pay rent and reestablish relationships with customers. But others want states to slow down, saying the decades-old laws help ensure public safety.

NewsPlexus Media August 27, 2020

It's something like a modern-day chuckwalla, side-stepping sand dunes on an island in what now is Grand Canyon National Park. That's how Steve Rowland, a professor emeritus of geology at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, interprets fossil footprints that were revealed in a rock fall near a popular Grand Canyon hiking trail. He estimates they're 313 million years old, give or take a half-million years.

NewsPlexus Media August 26, 2020

As pretty much everywhere else, the coronavirus pandemic has meant more time at home for Spaniards. For many of those furloughed or out of business it has also meant less income and no way to afford a vacation to escape the sweltering temperatures of the Spanish summer. Searching for a solution to keep cool, portable pools have become the newest fad, taking over backyards, terraces, communal patios and even the streets of Seville in the country's south.

NewsPlexus Media August 25, 2020

On a warm summer night, two food trucks pulled onto a tree-lined street in a hilltop neighborhood outside Seattle. The smell of grilled meat filled the air, and neighbors slurped on boba tea drinks. Toddlers, teens, their parents and dogs sat in the grass, chatting behind masks, laughing and mimicking imaginary hugs to stay socially distant while they waited for their food orders. Long seen as an urban treasure, food trucks are now being saved by the suburbs during the coronavirus pandemic. No longer able to depend on bustling city centers, these small businesses on wheels are venturing out to where people are working and spending most of their time — home.

NewsPlexus Media August 23, 2020

The famous "floating gardens" of Xochimilco reopened to visitors Friday after a five-month lockdown for the coronavirus pandemic. The canals that run through man-made islands created by the Aztecs on what is now the south side of Mexico City provide a popular day trip for tourists, with flat-bottom boats plying the water and mariachis playing music.

NewsPlexus Media August 21, 2020

California sizzled to a triple-digit temperature so hot that meteorologists need to verify it as a planet-wide high mark. Death Valley recorded a scorching 130 degrees (54.4 degrees Celsius) Sunday, which if the sensors and other conditions check out, would be the hottest Earth has been in more than 89 years and the third-warmest ever measured.

NewsPlexus Media August 20, 2020

The biggest fear is a fishhook puncturing the inner tube that keeps them afloat far from shore. Then come sharks grabbing their catch and maybe biting their legs. And the current that threatens to pull them out to sea. A small but growing number of people in the coastal town of La Guaira, just a few minutes from the capital of Caracas, have turned to the sea for sustenance since the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the Caribbean nation's already miserable economy.

NewsPlexus Media August 17, 2020

A Colombian fast food chain is planning to turn its branches into automated restaurants at a moment when the coronavirus pandemic has slammed the food service industry worldwide. MUY has more than 30 restaurants in Bogota, and four in Mexico City. Earlier this month, it opened its first "contactless store" in a commercial district of Bogota, where many restaurants have been forced to shut down because of a ban on sit-down dining.

NewsPlexus Media August 16, 2020

An artist in Los Angeles is memorializing each of the thousands of people who have died from COVID-19 in the United States with a delicate origami crane. Karla Funderburk started making the cranes three months ago, stringing the paper swans in pink, blue, yellow and many other colors together and hanging them in her art gallery.

NewsPlexus Media August 16, 2020

When Tokuso Hamai saw the colorized version of an old black-and-white photo of a picnic held under cherry tree blossoms sometime before World War II, forgotten memories of family members, most of whom died in the atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, came pouring out. "In colorized photos, people come to life," said Hamai, now 86. "I often played near (the picnic site), and sometimes I would do some naughty things and get scolded by my father."

NewsPlexus Media August 14, 2020

Some 300 dolphins were caught on camera Sunday stampeding across the ocean near Dana Point, the Orange County Register reported. The minutes-long video captured by Capt. Dave's Whale Watching Safari shows dolphins leaping several feet into the air above the glistening waters, wowing those aboard the boat.

NewsPlexus Media August 12, 2020

Indonesia's rumbling Mount Sinabung erupted Monday, sending a column of volcanic materials as high as 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) into the sky and depositing ash on villages. Falling grit and ash accumulated up to 5 centimeters (2 inches) in already abandoned villages on the volcano's slopes, said Armen Putra, an official at the Sinabung monitoring post on Sumatra Island.

NewsPlexus Media August 11, 2020

Wild horses, bison and other big-hoofed animals once roamed freely in much of Europe. Now they are transforming a former military base outside the Czech capital in an ambitious project to improve biodiversity. Where occupying Soviet troops once held exercises, massive bovines called tauros and other heavy beasts now munch on the invasive plants that took over the base years ago. The animals are turning the former Milovice military base 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Prague into a miniature version of the steppe that once rolled across the European continent.

NewsPlexus Media August 10, 2020

Behold a treat for the eyes! Tens of thousands of pink flamingos have amassed in the wetlands of southern France along with their offspring still lacking flamboyant plumage. The long-legged birds resembling ballerinas in tutus have long drawn tourists to the marshes in the Camargue region that has served as France's salt mine since Roman times. But the numbers of pink flamingos this year may be the highest since experts began keeping records 45 years ago, said Thierry Marmol, the guardian of the vast ecosystem.

NewsPlexus Media August 10, 2020

The coronavirus may be changing the world, but there aren't many signs of the pandemic at the massive annual motorcycle rally being held this week at a small city along Interstate 90 in western South Dakota. The scene Saturday at the 80th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally was familiar to veterans of the event, with throngs of maskless bikers packing the streets.

NewsPlexus Media August 1, 2020

When the coronavirus pandemic forced the University of Vermont to close and send its students home, the alarm spread: What would happen to the cows? The university's beloved herd of about 100 dairy cows is normally tended by students taking part in the Cooperative for Real Education in Agricultural Management program, or CREAM. And without those students, the fate of the cows seemed to be in jeopardy. In no time, dozens of CREAM alumni and students clamored to spend their spring and summer caring for the Holsteins.

NewsPlexus Media July 31, 2020

St. Bernards are known for helping to rescue distressed travelers in the mountains, but the tables were turned Sunday in northern England. Sixteen volunteers from the Wasdale mountain rescue team took turns carrying Daisy, a 121-pound St Bernard, from England's highest peak, Scafell Pike.

NewsPlexus Media July 30, 2020

Passengers flying Virgin Galactic on suborbital trips into space will be able to see themselves floating weightless against the backdrop of the Earth below while 16 cameras document the adventures, the company said Tuesday. Highly detailed amenities to enhance the customer flight experience were shown in an online event revealing the cabin of the company's rocket plane, a type called SpaceShipTwo, which is undergoing testing in preparation for commercial service.