At first, residents of the upscale cul-de-sac in West Lake Hills, Texas, did not know who had moved into the 6,900-square-foot, six-bedroom mansion next door. Then construction workers arrived to erect a 16-foot chain-link fence around the $6 million property, which is one of four homes on the leafy street. They also installed an outward-facing…
“Bonjour, Macron!” At Le Prem’s, a small bar in western France that sells lottery tickets and tobacco, this greeting has become a running joke since President Emmanuel Macron dropped by unannounced the other day and bought a round of coffee for everyone, save the customers who opted for a bracing midmorning sauvignon blanc. “He did…
The mayor of Miami-Dade County on Friday said she vetoed legislation that would remove fluoride from the drinking water in Florida’s most populous county, pushing back on a growing campaign against the mineral used to prevent cavities. The veto by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, a Democrat, comes at a moment when critics of adding fluoride…
A pungent smell of rotting garbage fills the air. Bulging sacks of trash pile high, some spilling their festering contents. And, with vermin plaguing parts of the city, at least one resident has claimed to have been bitten by a rat. With its heritage as a manufacturing powerhouse and its proud civic history, Birmingham likes…
The video that set off the storm was not much to look at. A circle of 12 men draped in bright garlands were reading aloud solemn statements during a ceremony to form a new local government in a deeply rural corner of India. The scandal was that six of those elected to lead the village…
Chinese government workers have a lot to worry about these days. Cash-strapped local governments are struggling to pay their salaries. Political controls are tightening in the name of national security. A yearslong anti-corruption purge shows no sign of ending. Now, the workers also have to make sure not to get slapped with a “Snail Award”…
For centuries in Morlaix, a city of cobblestones and creperies on the Breton coast of France, the best-known dealers were the ones who traded in linen during the Renaissance and built a number of unique half-timbered houses in the middle of town. The new dealers are another story. France, long a major European market for…