Sometimes we at Parallels see a story that's so compelling, we make an extra effort to chase down the facts. So it's in that spirit, this story from Reuters caught our attention:
"Strong beer, with alcohol content of 5-8 percent, accounted for 83 percent of all beer sold in India last year, according to research firm Mintel, a figure industry players say is the biggest strong beer share of any major market. Brewers expect that to grow to 90 percent over the next three to five years."
On a gorgeous night, some 4,000 people, dressed all in white, have come to dine in a public, yet secret place in New York's Bryant Park.
They have come for Diner en Blanc, an unusual pop-up event that takes place in 20 countries. The guests eat in splendor at a location they only learn about minutes before they arrive. The thousands wave white napkins to signal the beginning of the event.
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Here's a quick look at where things stand in Nairobi, where terrorists claiming to be part of the Somalia-based al-Shabab organization attacked a shopping mall on Saturday and then kept security forces at bay until late in the day on Tuesday:
— Deaths. The official count remains where it was as of Tuesday evening in Nairobi, when President Uhuru Kenyatta said there had been 61 civilians, 6 security officers and 5 terrorists killed.
— But Could More Be Dead? Kenyan Interior Minister Ole Lenku told reporters Wednesday that he believes any bodies left in the rubble of the Westgate Mall are those of terrorists, not civilians.
At the other end of the spectrum, The Associated Press says, "in a series of tweets from a Twitter account believed to be genuine," someone claiming to represent al-Shabab said there were 137 dead civilians in the wreckage of the mall. Government spokesman Manoah Esipisu told the AP that al-Shabab "is known for wild allegations and there is absolutely no truth to what they're saying."
— Search, Investigation Continue. "Investigators and bomb-disposal experts on Wednesday began sifting through the wreckage of an upscale shopping mall here in an effort to recover bodies and learn more about the Islamist militants," The Washington Post writes.
— U.S., Britain And Israel Assist. Manoah Esipisu, the government spokesman, "told reporters on Wednesday that specialists from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were involved in the forensic investigation," The New York Times reports. "Israeli and British experts were also on the scene. The forensic examinations would help to determine the nationalities and identities of the militants as well as the victims."
— British Woman Involved? "It was unclear whether intelligence reports of American or British gunmen would be confirmed," Reuters writes. "Al-Shabab denied that any women took part, after British sources said the fugitive widow of one of the 2005 London suicide bombers might have some role." President Kenyatta said Tuesday that 11 terrorists had been taken into custody.
— Americans Involved? "U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Wednesday there had been no verification that Americans were involved in a deadly attack at a shopping mall in Nairobi, Kenya," Reuters says.
— Questions. From Nairobi, NPR's Gregory Warner reports that "as Kenya began three days of national mourning, questions swirled about why Kenyan authorities took so long to respond to the crisis, whether some terrorists had escaped with fleeing shoppers, and who exactly were the terrorists involved."
We'll update as more news comes in.
From vacant lots to vertical "pinkhouses," urban farmers are scouring cities for spaces to grow food. But their options vary widely from place to place.
While farmers in post-industrial cities like Detroit and Cleveland are claiming unused land for cultivation, in New York and Chicago land comes at high premium. That's why farmers there are increasingly eyeing spaces that they might not have to wrestle from developers: rooftops that are already green.
The green roof movement has slowly been gaining momentum in recent years, and some cities have made them central to their sustainability plans. The city of Chicago, for instance, boasts that 359 roofs are now partially or fully covered with vegetation, which provides all kinds of environmental benefits — from reducing the building's energy costs to cleaning the air to mitigating the urban heat island effect.
Late this summer, Chicago turned a green roof into its first major rooftop farm. At 20,000 square feet, it's the largest soil-based rooftop farm in the Midwest, according to the Chicago Botanic Garden, which maintains the farm through its Windy City Harvest program.
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