island news stories on Newser

'Literary' Island Faces Bombing of Rat Poison

Neal Colgrass — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:20:26 CST

Any buried treasure on the island of Montecristo will soon be covered in rat poison. Facing a massive rat infestation, Italian authorities plan to drop 26 tons of poison on the 4-square-mile island that inspired Alexandre Dumas' famous novel The Count of Monte Cristo , the Telegraph reports. Black rats may...

Underwater Lava May Create New Canary Island

Dustin Lushing — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 11:52:29 CDT

An underwater volcano near the Canary Islands has been gushing lava for three weeks and might just form a brand-new island. The erupting magma has reached 330 feet above the sea floor, and it needs to reach up another 490 feet to break the surface of the Atlantic, reports Der...

Going Rate for an NYC Island: $160K

Polly Davis Doig — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:48:38 CDT

It's 2.5 acres of rock that's mostly submerged at times, has no electricity or power, was best known for housing typhoid victims (or so goes the legend), and bears the ungainly moniker of Rat Island—and for $160,000, it could have been your little island just off the...

What It's Like to Have Your Own Private Island

Evann Gastaldo — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 15:10:05 CDT

The latest Rich Person Trend: Buying your own private island in the Exuma Cays, a little-known cluster of 365 small and mostly uninhabited islands in the Bahamas. Tyler Perry, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill are among the newer buyers, joining older purchasers including Johnny Depp and David Copperfield. But what...

My Shrinking Island Serves as Climate Warning

Matt Cantor — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:26:05 CDT

To witness the devastation of climate change in real time, Westerners need only look to the island nation of Nauru, its president writes in the New York Times . The country is smaller than Manhattan—and after phosphate mining and deforestation, there remains “only a thin strip of coastline for us...

Scientists Spot 657 New Islands

Rob Quinn — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:31:00 CDT

Scientists poring over satellite images and topographical charts have discovered a flood of new islands. A study has identified 657 new barrier islands around the world, bringing the total number of islands in the world to 2,149, LiveScience reports. Such islands tend to occur in chains, forming a series...

Bankrupt Greece Selling Islands

Rob Quinn — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 03:13:46 CDT

What's a country with no money and thousands of islands to do? Greece is trying to pay off some of its massive debt by selling or offering long-term leases on some of its 6,000 islands, only 227 of which are inhabited, the Guardian reports. The country, which received a...

Disputed Island Disappears Beneath Waves

Kevin Spak — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:02:27 CDT

An island that both India and Bangladesh have claimed ownership of for years has vanished, Indian scientists say. Satellite photos indicate that the island, known as New Moore Island in India and South Talpatti Island in Bangladesh, has sunk beneath the rising sea. The tiny island has never had a...

Palau's Prez Makes Moral Call to Take in Detainees

Ambreen Ali — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 06:38:40 CDT

That Palau's president was once a defense lawyer may explain why he risked upsetting his island's 20,000 residents and their peaceful isolation from the world to take in 13 former Guantanamo detainees. "They should be presumed innocent because no one has proven them guilty," newly elected Johnson Toribiong told...