China: Diligent Poodle Collects Bagful of Plastic Bottles in Guangdong

On September 11, 2025, a small poodle named Niuniu was captured on video in Guangdong, China, happily retrieving discarded bottles from the roadside for its owner. With a wagging tail, the diligent dog reportedly collected enough plastic bottles to fill nearly an entire woven bag.

Sea urchins return to Sea of Japan coastal waters

Sea urchins return to Sea of Japan coastal waters

FUKUI, Japan - A diver is all smiles with a bagful of sea urchins she gathered after three hours of work on Aug. 6, the last day of the urchin-gathering season off the coast of Fukui Prefecture. Fishermen in the area say the volume of sea urchins caught off the Fukui coast have more or less returned to normal 10 years after the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka carrying 20,000 kiloliters of fuel oil broke up in stormy weather in the Sea of Japan and up to 6,200 kiloliters of oil washed up in the coasts of 10 prefectures. At one point, the volume of sea urchins gathered by a local fishermen's cooperative in Fukui dropped to 19 kilograms, compared with an annual average of 300 kg before the spill, fishermen say.

Joint fair held to aid post-quake reconstruction

Joint fair held to aid post-quake reconstruction

TOKYO, Japan - A woman buys a bagful of specialties from the northeastern Japan region of Tohoku at a fair held jointly in Tokyo on Oct. 3, 2014, by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) to support the region's recovery from damage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

Sea urchins return to Sea of Japan coastal waters

Sea urchins return to Sea of Japan coastal waters

FUKUI, Japan - A diver is all smiles with a bagful of sea urchins she gathered after three hours of work on Aug. 6, the last day of the urchin-gathering season off the coast of Fukui Prefecture. Fishermen in the area say the volume of sea urchins caught off the Fukui coast have more or less returned to normal 10 years after the Russian oil tanker Nakhodka carrying 20,000 kiloliters of fuel oil broke up in stormy weather in the Sea of Japan and up to 6,200 kiloliters of oil washed up in the coasts of 10 prefectures. At one point, the volume of sea urchins gathered by a local fishermen's cooperative in Fukui dropped to 19 kilograms, compared with an annual average of 300 kg before the spill, fishermen say. (Kyodo)

Joint fair held to aid post-quake reconstruction

Joint fair held to aid post-quake reconstruction

TOKYO, Japan - A woman buys a bagful of specialties from the northeastern Japan region of Tohoku at a fair held jointly in Tokyo on Oct. 3, 2014, by the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu) and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) to support the region's recovery from damage caused by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. (Kyodo)