News OF THE World

Although most giant pandas have black-and-white fur, there are extremely rare ones with brown and white coats inhabiting a mountain range in China.

New genetic research suggests the brown-and-whites are the result of natural variation, and not inbreeding due to a decrease in population.

PERU

More than 4,000 culturally significant items have been recovered by the Andean nation.

The treasures, which include textiles, ceramics and clothing, were in the hands of collectors in the US, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.

A staggering 4,556 items were from the collection of American archaeologist and anthropologist John Rowe, a specialist on the Inca who died in 2004.

Peru’s foreign minister, Javier González-Olaechea, said the country is “establishing itself as an international benchmark in the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property.”

AUSTRALIA

A researcher at Australia’s University of Queensland on a camping trip discovered a new genus of fluffy longhorn beetle.

Ph.D. candidate James Tweed happened upon the Excastra albopilosa, covered in long white hair with black and red spots and measuring 9.7 mm, in the Gold Coast rainforest.

JAPAN

Almost all Japanese junior high school textbooks will include square QR (quick response) phone-scanning codes in the 2025 academic year, so students can easily retrieve info from the Web.

It’s part of an initiative to more quickly provide students with educational material.

BRAZIL

The death of a Taylor Swift concertgoer due to heat exhaustion and a lack of water while waiting to enter the pop star’s Rio de Janeiro concert has prompted more than 100 legislative proposals at the city, state and national levels to require organizers of hot-weather gatherings to provide water.

The nation’s justice minister separately issued a regulation requiring drinking water for event attendees following the death of 23year-old Ana Clara Benevudes.