Dec 30 - Every week, Reuters journalists produce scores of multimedia features and human-interest stories from around the world.
Below are some stories from this week selected by our editors, as well as explanatory context and background to help you understand world headlines. For a full schedule of news and events, please go to our editorial calendar on Reuters Connect https://www.reutersconnect.com/planning.
New Waterford crystals added to Times Square's New Year's Eve ball
NEW YORK - New Waterford crystals joined over 2,000 sparkling triangles covering the ball that drops over New York's Times Square every year, days before the countdown to 2022. (NEW-YEAR/USA-NEW YORK-CRYSTALS (TV, PIX), 268 words)
'You've won your weight in oysters!' - note in shells stops thieves
LEUCATE, France - When thieves stole three tonnes of oysters from French shellfish farmer Christophe Guinot, he came up with a solution: planting secret notes inside oyster shells to help police track down the thieves. (FRANCE-OYSTERS/ (TV, PIX), 326 words)
Trash for rice: Bali recycling scheme gives families pandemic lifeline
GIANYAR, Indonesia - For Balinese souvenir shop owner I Kadek Rai Nama Rupat, the past two years during the COVID-19 pandemic have been a fight for survival. The pandemic has prevented the foreign tourists that usually throng businesses like his on the Indonesian resort island from coming and rising food prices have compounded the economic pain. But a local non-profit group is offering help by exchanging rice for plastic trash that is then sold to a recycling company.(HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/INDONESIA-PLASTIC (TV, PIX), 308 words)
Female trucker sounds alarm on Spain's haulier shortage
ON THE ROAD FROM VALENCIA TO PERPIGNAN - Working as a truck driver has not always been easy for Begona Urmeneta but she loves her job and says Spain needs people like her more than ever as Europe struggles with an acute shortage of hauliers. (SPAIN-WOMEN/TRUCK DRIVERS (TV, PIX), 492 words)
Greek divers discover Italian World War Two submarine wreck
ATHENS - Greek divers have discovered the wreckage of an Italian submarine 80 years after it was sunk by the Allied Forces in the Aegean Sea during World War Two. (GREECE-WW2/SHIPWRECK (PIX), 167 words)
Baked Alaska - record December warmth and winter rains
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - An unusual winter warm spell in Alaska has brought daytime temperatures soaring past 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15.5°C) and torrents of rain at a time of year normally associated with bitter cold and fluffy snow. (USA-WEATHER/ALASKA (PIX), 532 words)
U.S. reality TV star Paris Hilton launches metaverse business on Roblox
Paris Hilton commands as much as $1 million a night working as a celebrity DJ, entertaining partiers at clubs in China, Dubai and on the Spanish vacation island of Ibiza. This New Year’s Eve, she will be playing an electronic set for the revelers who drop by a venue of a different sort -- her virtual island on Roblox. (TECH-METAVERSE/PARISHILTON (PIX), 663 words)
U.S. retailers may pay the price for 'extended' holiday return season
Major U.S. retailers' longer return policies, launched during the pandemic this year to lure consumers, could leave them facing much higher costs if shoppers bring back a record-setting $112 billion in gifts bought during the extended holiday shopping season. (RETAIL-HOLIDAYSHOPPING/USA-RETURNS (ANALYSIS, PIX), 825 words)
California commission claims retailers violating plastic bag law
LOS ANGELES - Big retailers are breaking California law and misleading consumers by selling plastic shopping bags bearing language and symbols that falsely suggest the bags can be recycled, a state-appointed commission alleged this month. (USA-CALIFORNIA/RECYCLING-PLASTICS (EXCLUSIVE), 1,338 words)
Scans reveal details of unwrapped ancient Egyptian mummy
CAIRO - Researchers have used digital technology to take the first accurate look inside the mummy of King Amenhotep I, which has remained unwrapped in modern times. (EGYPT-ANTIQUITIES/)
EXPLANATORY CONTENT
Global vaccination tracker https://tmsnrt.rs/39xWS94
Global COVID-19 cases and deaths https://tmsnrt.rs/32CyMHu
U.S. COVID-19 cases and deaths https://tmsnrt.rs/2WTOZDR
EXPLAINER-Hefty to-do list awaits Fed's next regulatory chief [nL1N2TD117 (Compiled by Mark Porter and Patrick Enright)
