China began a large-scale vegetation restoration programme in 1999 to improve the environment. On the Loess Plateau, however, the rapid growth of vegetation coincided with a decline in groundwater storage and worsening groundwater drought. The region in north-west China already faces frequent droughts and severe water shortages, making the availability of groundwater important for vegetation…

A 1907 masterpiece by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, looted from a Dutch-Jewish family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands, sold at a London auction earlier this week for £31.56 million (about $42 million, including fees), The New York Times reported. The painting, Das bunte Leben (The Colorful Life), was returned to the family’s heirs…