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Are Rubies the New Blood Diamonds? Inside a Burmese Mining Region
New footage released by Al Jazeera finds that children as young as four are being exploited in the production of Burma’s famously fiery rubies. The network reports that the tots are put to work...
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Tsunami 101: How Asia Is Prepping for the Waves
After an 8.8-magnitude earthquake threw Japan off kilter Friday, prompting a watery surge that has engulfed the country’s northeast, tsunami warnings have been issued in abundance. What are countries...
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Tokyo: Bicycles Sell Out as Stranded Commuters Turn to Pedal Power
The hurried city slowed to a mechanical standstill Friday. Most workers curled up in their cubicles to wait out the post-earthquake public transport freeze. Those who didn’t likely took the long way...
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Fukushima Blast: Are Japan’s Neighbors At Risk?
A third, early-morning explosion at the Fukushima plant has damaged a reactor’s steel containment vessel, releasing radioactive material that could, potentially, affect the region. As Japan’s East...
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Quotes: Japan’s Emperor Akihito on the Earthquake and Tsunami
We don’t know the number of victims, but I pray that every single person can be saved. —Japan’s Emperor Akihito, addressing his nation in a rare television appearance; He expressed concern for...
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For Japan’s Oldest Survivors, the Ruined Landscape Is All Too Familiar
Japan’s survivors barely recognize the remnants of the towns that collapsed around them. But for the country’s oldest citizens, the ruined landscape is eerily familiar. (More on TIME.com: See a...
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China’s Great Salt Rush: Nuke Fears Cause Supermarket Swarms
In the misinformed belief that the iodine in table salt might help them escape the effects of radiation from Japan’s crippled nuclear plant, anxious shoppers across China are rushing to snap up the...
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Iconic Buildings Shine Japan’s Colors to Encourage Relief Effort
In a show of solidarity with the stricken island nation, landmarks across the world glowed the red and white of Japan’s national flag beginning Monday evening. The expression of international support...
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As Its Nuclear Crisis Continues, Japan Catches Radioactive Fish
For an island nation whose seafood industry has already been severely crippled, this is just another piece of bad news. Two samples of tiny konago, young lance fish used in Japan as a pungent side...
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Threatened by Quake and Radiation, Japanese Mayor Turns to YouTube For Help
Katsunobu Sakurai, the mayor of a devastated town in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture that felt all but forgotten, sent out a digital appeal for aid last month with little hope he would be heard. Turns out...
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South Indian Politicians Exchange Laptops, Livestock for Votes
Gone are the days of grain subsidy giveaways. In the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, voters in this week’s elections are more likely to walk away with a free cable connection and a small flock of...
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‘We R Over': Tajikistan’s Religious Officials Ban Divorce By Text Message
Who knew that SMS split-ups were permitted in the first place? Apparently, the practice of ending one’s marriage via mobile phone using the “triple talaq” (talaq is the Arabic term for divorce) is...
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‘It’s Not Me, It’s You': Canadian Women Break Up With PM Stephen Harper on...
In advance of the Canadian federal election on May 2, women across the icy-cold country who once voted Conservative are banding together online to give Prime Minister Stephen Harper the boot. Ouch. An...
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Man Live-Tweets U.S. Raid on Osama bin Laden Without Knowing It
Sohaib Athar, a resident of Abbottabad, Pakistan, spent Sunday’s wee hours tweeting about helicopters circling overhead and a mysterious blast. Little did he imagine that he was recording the U.S....
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Canadian Twitter Users Break Election Law, Earn Street Cred
Social media-savvy Canadians defied a longstanding ban Monday by broadcasting results from the federal election before every last ballot had been cast. This is about as dangerous as it gets in the...
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The Best Places in the World to be a Mom: Norway and Australia
In advance of Mother’s Day—don’t worry, you still have time to pick up the mandatory bath salts and dandelions—the international NGO Save the Children has come out with its 2011 State of the World’s...
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Boxing Champ Manny Pacquiao vs. the Philippines’ Reproductive Health Bill
“Pac-Man,” the eight-division world champion boxer and Filipino congressman, is throwing his weight behind the Church as it fights the Philippine government’s attempt to liberalize birth control in...
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Another Monarch Off the Market: Bhutan’s King to Wed a Commoner
King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of the small South Asian state of Bhutan has embraced the royal fad and found himself a commoner. The beloved 31-year-old, Oxford-educated monarch announced his...
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Quote: Bob Dylan Reveals Heroin Habit in Previously Unheard Interview
“I kicked a heroin habit in New York City. I got very, very strung out for a while. I mean really, very strung out. And I kicked the habit. I had a habit, about a $25-a-day habit, and I kicked it....
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North Korea: One of the Happiest Places on Earth?
According to a global happiness index released in North Korea, the country and its allies are the most cheerful countries in the world. Naturally, the “American Empire” strikes Pyongyang as just plain...
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