China

The largest animal cloning facility in the world is under construction in Tianjin, China. A $44-million local investment will fund a laboratory, clone animal center, gene bank, and educational exhibition hall, according to China Daily. The facility will initially produce 100,000 cattle embryos per year, eventually aiming to raise that figure to one million. Other animals produced at the factory will include sniffer dogs, pet dogs, and racehorses.

Bangladesh

Businesses and citizens of Bangladesh were surprised on November 18 when the government accidentally shut down the internet. The mistake, which lasted 75 minutes, occurred during an attempt to temporarily block the use of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Viber. Entrepreneurs said the shutdown massively affected their businesses, and its effect would be long term.

Arctic

A new smartphone app launched in British Columbia called MyMoose tracks the elusive beast in real-time. The app, which currently has 350 users, allows people to submit sightings of moose, which spend most of their time deep in the taiga forests. Its users are mainly outdoor enthusiasts, but the app has been carefully designed to prevent people from seeing enough location detail to track and hunt the animals.

Colombia

One of Colombia’s most popular national parks has shut down for a month over complaints from indigenous communities that tourists had brought “bad energies” to the region. The Tayrona National Park on the Caribbean coast, which has suffered greatly from recent drought, was closed under laws that protect the cultural identity and land of indigenous communities. The month-long closure, say local people, will give them time to clean the park of both negative energy and physical waste.

Brazil

Environmental scientists in Brazil have successfully crowdfunded an independent report about a recent mining disaster that killed 10 people and contaminated the waters of the Doce River with toxic sludge. Researchers raised 149 percent of their $13,000 target in just 10 days, promising to document the disaster’s environmental impacts with the “greatest possible accuracy.”

Russia

Residents of the Kemerovo region in Siberia are being offered lumps of coal in exchange for losing weight. The province, which is known for its mining but has a major obesity epidemic, will broadcast a TV show on which participants will try various diets and sports activities. “In return they will get the wealth of the region — top-grade, high-calorie coal,” said local official Aman Tuleyev.