Had Rafael and Carmen Jiménez Fuentes lived 500 years ago right on the sands at Baracoa in eastern Cuba, Christopher Columbus may well have moved right in. When the "Great Admiral of the Ocean" sailed along the north-east coast of this Caribbean island in 1492 and Baracoa came into view, he wrote in his diary that Cuba was the most "enchantingly beautiful" land he had ever seen.

People are being warned not to touch an invasive species of moth caterpillar which can cause skin rashes and irritation to eyes and throats.

The noise of cars, machines and other forms of human activity could be affecting growth of wild flowers and trees, as well as animals nearby.

Spring is in the air, and these fabulous flowery treats will leave you feeling as fresh as a daisy and positively rosy

With moments of silence and prayers, Japan today was remembering the massive earthquake and tsunami that struck the nation one year ago, killing just over 19,000 people and unleashing the world's worst nuclear crisis in a quarter of a century.

Nothing short of perfect, says Susannah Frankel in Paris of the latest, understated collection from the creative director of Céline

Nick Clegg has still not fulfilled a promise to stop any child being held in an immigration centre, it emerged yesterday as the Home Office announced 17 young people were detained last month.

A large tract of ancient woodland has been restored towards its natural state, six years after it was bought in a £1.5 million fund-raising appeal, the Woodland Trust said.

Juniper berries are the essential flavouring ingredient in gin, but the bushes that bear the aromatic fruit have been disappearing across Britain – and in southern England have been in danger of extinction.

Native juniper berries, which give mother's ruin its unique flavour, are being saved from extinction. Michael McCarthy raises a glass to the Ice Age evergreen that put the UK distillery industry in high spirits

While many of the hotels built in Gran Canaria in the 1960s and 1970s could be considered an affliction on the landscape, the Seaside Palm Beach positively embraces its roots. Set on the edge of the breathtaking sand dunes of Maspalomas, the hotel was built in 1975 in the concrete-megastructure style shared by the island's big resorts. However, the hotel was re-designed in 2002 by French architect Alberto Pinto. Step inside and the paean to the Seventies is far more stylish than the daunting, parenthesis-shaped exterior indicates.

I don't have 50 varieties of clematis, or great wafts of lavender and roses, or a herbaceous border that looks as if it was planted by Gertrude Jekyll or Vita Sackville-West. My garden, I hope, does something rather different. It's designed to make people think they're on holiday, to take them into another world.

Three years ago, in 2008, human history passed a significant milestone: the proportion of the world's population living in towns and cities, rather than the countryside, exceeded 50 per cent for the first time. So now the human animal is a predominantly urban one.