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US-Präsident Donald Trump hat am Montag einen Angriff auf einen angeblichen Drogenumschlagplatz in Venezuela bestätigt. Eine Explosion im Hafengebiet soll dort Boote mit Drogen zerstört haben. Weitere Details gab es nicht.

Der Dezember entpuppte sich für die schwangere Gülcan Kamps (43) als eine gesundheitliche Achterbahnfahrt – auf Instagram schilderte das baldige Zweifachmami einige Zwischenfälle.

Wenn Benjamin Netanyahu am Montag zu Donald Trump nach Mar-a-Lago reist, steht der Gaza-Friedensplan auf dem Prüfstand. Hinter den Kulissen aber geht es um mehr: um Macht, Wahlkampf – und die Frage, ob Trump bereit ist, Netanyahus kriegerischen Kurs mitzutragen.

Grünen-Nationalrat Raphaël Mahaim schlägt dem Bundesrat vor, Steuerprivilegien der internationalen Fussballverbände an moralische Standards zu knüpfen. Besonders bei Israel drückten sich Fifa und Uefa vor Sanktionen, findet er. Er macht damit international Schlagzeilen.

Nach intensiven Erlebnissen fällt der Wiedereinstieg in den Alltag oft schwerer als gedacht. Wie man den emotionalen Kater loswird.

Melissa Mae Carlton verlor am ersten Weihnachtsfeiertag ihre Tochter Molly. Bereits im April 2024 starb mit Abigail eines der Kinder der US-Amerikanerin. Nur eine Sache spendet der Momfluencerin aktuell Trost.

Euronews: Egy kínai technológiai csapat fejlett drónraj-képességeket mutatott be egy nagyszabású fénybemutatón Csungkingban, ahol több ezer drónt egyetlen számítógépes rendszerrel indítottak és irányítottak. A Damoda által üzemeltetett drónok előre programozott koreográfiákat követtek, és az indítási hely közelében összehangolt légi bemutatókat hoztak létre.

Joachim Triers neues Familien-Drama «Sentimental Value» setzt mit seiner nordischen Unaufgeregtheit den Kontrapunkt zu einem turbulenten Jahr 2025. Damit solche Werke entstehen können, nimmt der Regisseur auch Bundesbern in die Pflicht.

L’entreprise Tirsam, fleuron de l’industrie du camion basée à Batna, s’est récemment retrouvée au cœur d’une vive polémique après la diffusion d’un document interne évoquant […]

L’article Revente interdite : TIRSAM s’explique sur une clause suscitant la controverse est apparu en premier sur .

Ein schwerer Wintersturm könnte in den USA bis zu 40 Millionen Menschen in eine prekäre Lage bringen. Meteorologen warnen vor einem Bomben-Zyklon, der zu Wochenbeginn intensiven Schneefall, Eisregen und starke Windböen mit sich bringt.

Nem lehet teljesen kizárni az előre hozott választást, de eléggé valószínűtlen – jelentette ki Roman Michelko, a párt frakcióvezetője a TASR-nek adott interjúban. Leszögezte, hogy az SNS nem fogja megbuktatni a kormányt, bár időnként bírálja koalíciós partnereit egyes javaslatok miatt, de mindig konstruktívan és tárgyilagosan.

Während sich die Schweizer Skigebiete nach Schnee sehnen, versinkt Norditalien in weissem Chaos. In der Region Piemont liegen teilweise über drei Meter Schnee. Auch in Spanien haben die Behörden aktuell mit dem Wetter zu kämpfen.

Die selbst gemachte Makramee-Eule oder das Duftset, das nach WC-Deo riecht: Nicht alle Geschenke kommen gut an. Mit dem Beobachter werden Sie sie wieder los.

Jan Schoch (48) macht Gonten zum Luxus-Hotspot. Kaum eröffnet, ist der erste General Manager des 5-Sterne-Hotels weg, Schoch übernimmt selbst. Und erntet Kritik, er sei überschuldet. Nun wehrt sich der Investor: Die Gruppe verdiene Geld, und das Dorf stehe hinter ihm.

Economx.hu: Erősödött kissé a forint a főbb devizákkal szemben hétfőn (12. 29.) a reggeli jegyzéséhez képest a bankközi piacon. Este hat órára az euró jegyzése 386,27 forintra csökkent a reggeli 387,29 forintról, a dolláré 328,52 forinton állt 328,87 forint után, a svájci franké pedig 415,88 forintra csökkent 416,79-ről.

Vor Jahresfrist führte Lars Leuenberger (50) Fribourg als Headcoach zum Spengler-Cup-Triumph. Jetzt ist er «nur» noch der Schattenmann des neuen Startrainers Roger Rönnberg (54). Doch wie lange noch? Leuenberger nimmt im Interview Stellung.

Euronews: Az Ukrajnának nyújtott amerikai biztonsági garanciák 15 évre körvonalazódnak, a meghosszabbítás lehetőségével – közölte Volodimir Zelenszkij újságírókkal hétfőn (12. 29.), további részleteket közölve arról, hogy miről tárgyaltak és miről állapodtak meg a Donald Trump amerikai elnökkel vasárnap, Floridában tartott találkozóján.

In Grossbritannien hat sich das Adenovirus festgesetzt. Die Symptome sind ähnlich wie bei einer Grippe, können aber deutlich hartnäckiger sein. Wie ist die Situation in der Schweiz?

Kein Schweizer Exploit beim Auftakt der Vierschanzentournee. Der Sieg geht an den überragenden Slowenen Domen Prevc. Im Nachgang wird sein Landsmann Timi Zajc disqualifiziert.

The rainwater harvesting cistern is everywhere in Brazil's semi-arid region, a social technology that reduced water scarcity for its inhabitants. Elizabete Sousa Soares wanted to leave Jatobá when her daughter Maria was born 11 years ago, but decided to stay in her small rural town thanks to the cistern and other social technologies that have improved her life. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

By Mario Osava
USERRA DAS ALMAS, Brazil, Dec 29 2025 (IPS)

“The work of collecting seeds saved me from depression,” caused by her daughter’s suicide at the age of 29, said Maria do Desterro Soares, 64, who lives in the poor rural community of Jatobá in northeastern Brazil.

She drew her younger sister, Maria de Jesus Soares, 45, who lost her husband in a car accident and also struggles to avoid falling into depression, into the activity. The two walk together for nearly two hours to reach the forests where seeds abound.“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year” - Gilson Miranda.

They only earn some 1,000 reais (US$185) in a “good year,” but “it’s my work, my pleasure, it’s what I want and I like doing it,” claimed Maria do Desterro, who also makes ice cream and medicines for flu and other illnesses with locally sourced juices, teas, peels, and honey.

She is one of the 121 people trained by the Caatinga Association (AC) through 2023 for the collection and management of seeds from native plants of this biome exclusive to Brazil, as a way to generate income and restore forests.

The association, founded in 1998 to protect the caatinga, the biome of the semi-arid region in the Brazilian northeast, manages the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve (RNSA) and disseminates social technologies for coexistence with the semi-arid ecoregion in surrounding communities.

The caatinga occupies 10% of Brazil’s vast territory and is home to 27 million people. Its vegetation is generally low, with twisted branches and trunks, appearing dead in the dry season and turning green just days after rain. It also features large trees that reach heights of tens of meters.

Maria de Jesus Soares and her older sister, Maria do Desterro Soares, extract seeds from the buriti coconut, a palm tree also known as moriche, found in several parts of Brazil, including its exclusive caatinga biome. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Coexistence, instead of fighting against nature

To coexist, rather than fighting droughts, is a guiding principle of the actions that are improving life in Brazil’s poorest region, the Northeast, offering a climate lesson for the country and the world.

This slogan, set in motion by civil society organizations, spurred several social technologies as solutions for water scarcity. Best known is the rainwater harvesting cistern for domestic use, with over 1.2 million units built since 2003.

Cisterns, bio-water (a system that cleans household water for reuse in planting), green septic tanks (a concrete tank with soil, filters, and a banana plant base), solar ovens, and eco-efficient stoves are the five tecghnologies being disseminated.

The AC website reports that 1,481 of these “technologies” have been implemented.

The AC has the RNSA for environmental education and as a source of income through eco-tourism. It works in 40 communities nearby where some 4,000 families live, implementing social technologies and supporting the conservation of the reserve and the entire caatinga.

Headquartered in Fortaleza, the capital of the northeastern state of Ceará, and in Crateús, in the west of that same state near the RNSA, the association stands out from other non-governmental organizations by having this conservation unit of 6,285 hectares of dense forests and four streams.

The green septic tank, also called a biosepitic bed, treats wastewater from toilets with microorganisms that process the waste, leaving the water ready to irrigate crops in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The caatinga mitigates climate change

“The reserve is an open-air laboratory, where research on fauna, flora, carbon, and water takes place, so we can understand the importance of this area, and of the entire caatinga,” explained Gilson Miranda, a biologist and manager of the RNSA for the Caatinga Association.

In 2015 – 2022, the caatinga was responsible for nearly 40% of the carbon removed from the atmosphere in Brazil, he said, based on a study by São Paulo State University on greenhouse gas capture.

This is because the rapid regreening of the vegetation, an indicator of intense photosynthetic activity when it rains, makes the caatinga a major greenhouse gas sink, different from the Amazon, which is an immense carbon reservoir.

“That is why preserving and conserving the caatinga is strategic in a climate adaptation scenario,” said Miranda in an interview with IPS.

This biome, exclusive to Brazil, covers an area of 844,453 square kilometers.

Water is another wealth of Serra das Almas, which was designated a Private Natural Heritage Reserve (RPPN) in the year 2000.

“The reserve is a great water reservoir. A study we conducted on avoided runoff showed this 6,285-hectare area can retain an astonishing 4.78 billion liters per year,” said Miranda.

Around the springs, there are very tall, green trees that differ from the usual biome. The gameleira (Ficus gomelleira), can reach up to 40 or 50 meters, according to Jair Martins, the tourist guide on hikes along the six trails of Serra das Almas.

This water, retained in the soil by the forests, actually drains slowly. The four springs preserved in the reserve do not dry up, but are unable to sustain year-round the streams that feed the Poti River, whose course passes to the east and north of Serra das Almas.

Nor is this moisture enough to keep the caatinga vegetation green, which is very dry in December, with the green of some shrubs or trees more resistant to water stress.

Maria Clemente da Silva was only able to cultivate her garden when she gained access to bio-water, because the public water supply is limited to three hours a day in Jatobá, a poor community in the Brazilian caatinga. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

Mitigated drought

In the surroundings of the RNSA, the drought is harsher.

Maria Clemente da Silva, 59, relies on bio-water to supplement the water she uses to irrigate her small garden. The public water supply only operates for two to three hours per day, which is not enough for cultivating vegetables, such as lettuce and onions, or fruit trees like papaya, banana, acerola, orange, and cashew.

About 100 meters behind her house, a forest of tall, very green trees reveals that, with water, the caatinga vegetation gains exuberance. It is the moisture that remained in a low-lying area of a river that practically dried up due to deforestation and fires set to “clear” the land, explained Elisabete de Souza Soares.

Water is the most keenly felt shortage, according to Souza and other women who spoke to IPS and a group of journalism students visiting the Jatobá community, in the municipality of Buriti dos Montes, in the state of Piauí, where the AC’s socio-environmental actions benefit the population and the protection of the RNSA.

All of them received cisterns, the small three-burner ecological stove, and other “technologies” that reduced difficulties in their lives. “Before the cistern, we would fetch water from a public fountain about a kilometer away, carrying cans on our heads,” recalled Souza.

When she was pregnant with her daughter Maria, 11 years ago, she thought about moving away from the community where she had always lived in search of water. “Now I won’t leave here, where I was born,” she said.

The dry vegetation in December, the peak of the annual dry season, displays some resistant shrubs and trees that maintain green patches in the caatinga forests of Brazil’s Northeast region. Credit: Mario Osava / IPS

The Caatinga Association adopted a comprehensive conservation model with broad participation from the local population, including in the economic benefits of work within the RNSA, such as guiding ecotourists and providing other services.

The AC’s approach is always socio-environmental, a main component in protecting the reserve and the caatinga in general, stated Miranda.

Inside the reserve, there is a modest hotel that can accommodate up to 36 people. Local tourism tends to expand due to promotion by the governments of the states of Ceará and Piauí, which share the Serra das Almas Natural Reserve.

The nearby Poti River flows through a 140-kilometer-long canyon and has become a major tourist attraction.

The reserve is a legacy of the US Johnson family, owners of the SC Johnson company, which, because it uses vegetable wax for its furniture cleaning and conservation products, imported carnauba wax, a palm abundant in Ceará, Piauí, and Rio Grande do Norte, another Northeastern state.

In 1998, the leader of the family’s fourth generation, Samuel Johnson, repeated an expedition to Ceará that his father had made in 1935 and decided to establish a Caatinga Conservation Fund, using part of his fortune. This led to the RNSA and the Caatinga Association, composed of environmental specialists in the biome.