World

In June 2016, television comedy host John Oliver bought nearly $15 million (£11.8 million) in unpaid medical debt for just $60,000 (£47,000) through a debt collection company created for the purpose. Instead of using debt collectors to demand payment from the roughly 9,000 patients linked to the accounts, the producers of HBO’s Last Week Tonight…

A Colorado judge ruled a shared easement cannot serve a separate solar project, protecting neighbouring landowners’ property rights during litigation. A shared road meant to provide access to neighbouring properties has become the centre of a legal battle in Colorado, where a dispute over a solar development has raised questions about property rights, utility infrastructure…

Swainson’s hawks (All about birds photo) A piece of abandoned farmland in California, once covered with weeds and unwanted grasses, has become home to a rare bird that had not been confirmed nesting in the area for about 30 years. In 2023, conservation workers began restoring 150 acres of land near the Sacramento River. They…

After Aretha Franklin’s 2018 death, her Detroit estate sold for $300,000 before new owners began a $2 million restoration. Behind the boarded windows of a once-grand Detroit mansion lay more than years of neglect. The house had witnessed the private life of Aretha Franklin, the Queen of Soul, and belonged to a chapter of the…

Stacia questioned whether her father had signed the will freely and knowingly. (AI image) An Indiana woman who challenged her father’s decision to leave his entire estate to his fiancee has lost her case and now faces a growing legal bill. According to the court document, Stacia Davis was ordered to pay $22,208.18 in attorney…

Photo credit: Champion News A London homeowner has lost a four-year legal battle over a strip of land measuring just 48 centimetres after a tribunal ruled that her neighbours’ kitchen extension had acquired “squatters’ rights.” Susannah James bought the £600,000 semi-detached house in Surbiton in 2021, but a year later claimed that part of the…

Representative Image (AI-generated) In 2023, scientists relocated 246 endangered black abalone to a protected coastal site in California to help restore a population devastated by disease. Three years later, surveys recorded 302 individuals, compared with 54 before the intervention, while the density in high-quality habitat reached one abalone per square metre. Researchers also discovered juvenile…

Eva Longoria’s foundation and Accessity launched a $55,000 loan fund in 2013 to help six Latina entrepreneurs start or grow their businesses. (Photo: Instagram) A small loan fund launched in 2013 by the Eva Longoria Foundation and California-based nonprofit lender Accessity has grown into a significant source of financial support for Latina entrepreneurs in Southern…

In 2017, Nate Taylor found a three-word offer on Craigslist for free Halloween decorations. It took three truck trips to bring everything home. Nearly a decade later, that secondhand collection has become a local attraction that drew an estimated 18,000 visitors last October and led to a legal dispute with city officials in Michigan. Taylor,…

A teenager from Manitoulin Island, Ontario, is working to make science and technology more accessible to children who might otherwise miss out because of where they live or what their families can afford. Amara Wilson-Zegil, a Grade 11 student at Manitoulin Secondary School, has been named one of Canada’s Top 10 Youngest Changemakers of 2026…