IQUIQUE, Chile — Over a thousand years ago, the hundreds of giant geoglyphs carved into the desert in northern Chile were a bustling scene. They marked sources of water in the vast arid landscape and were where locals came together to trade skins, animals and fish. Now the carvings are scarred with hundreds of tire tracks from motorcycles and off-road vehicles tearing through the art creations in the landscape and permanently disfiguring them. "It's practically destroyed by motorcycles, off-roaders," said Jose Barraza, general director of the regional national patrimony office. He said various groups were trying to preserve the site to prevent any more destruction - but also without restoring it to its former glory, to show the error of people's ways in the future. "[It] will be an example that shows future generations what not to do with our heritage, no matter how painful or how much anger, discomfort or resentment we feel towards it," he said. Local resident Angelo Araya says the community has been working with a local museum and authorities to try and "put an end to the destruction." The goal, Araya says, is to stop motorcycle and off-road vehicles from damaging the site further and "to make everyone aware that this is not just a heritage site, but that it belongs to all of us." The site has gone through many phases, going from a place to barter, to an abandoned site, to one where people were looking for gold. Eventually Chile's national forests association CONAF turned the area into part of the Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve. Sand board instructor Franco Diaz said the government should physically close off access to the sites as the geoglyphs are difficult to spot. "If a jeep driver goes behind the hill, he won't notice if there's a geoglyph," Diaz said. "They should close the perimeter and protect these sites that are over 1,000 years old."

TORONTO, canada — A teenager is in critical condition in a British Columbia children's hospital, sick with Canada's first presumptive human case of avian influenza. "This was a healthy teenager prior to this, so no underlying conditions," said provincial health officer Bonnie Henry in a news conference on Tuesday. "It just reminds us that in young people this is a virus that can progress and cause quite severe illness, and the deterioration that I mentioned was quite rapid." British Columbia health officials said on Saturday the province had detected Canada's first human case of H5 bird flu in a teenager. Henry said the province is still identifying the exact strain but assumes the case is H5N1. The World Health Organization says H5N1's risk to humans is low because there is no evidence of human transmission, but the virus has been found in an increasing number of animals, including cattle in the United States. Henry would not disclose the teen's gender or age but said the patient had first developed symptoms on November 2 and was tested on November 8, when admitted to a hospital. Symptoms included conjunctivitis, fever and coughing. As of Tuesday, the teen was hospitalized with acute respiratory distress syndrome, she said. The teen had no farm exposure but had been exposed to dogs, cats and reptiles, Henry said. No infection source had been identified. "That is absolutely an ongoing investigation." More severe illness takes place when the virus binds to receptors deep in the lungs, she said. Public health officials had identified and tested about three dozen contacts and had not found anyone infected with the virus. There has been no evidence that the disease is easily spread between people. But if that were to happen, a pandemic could unfold, scientists have said. Earlier in November, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention asked that farm workers exposed to animals with bird flu be tested for the virus even if they did not have symptoms. Bird flu has infected nearly 450 dairy farms in 15 U.S. states since March, and the CDC has identified 46 human cases of bird flu since April. In Canada, British Columbia has identified at least 26 affected premises across the province, Henry said Tuesday, and numerous wild birds have tested positive. Canada has had no cases reported in dairy cattle and no evidence of bird flu in samples of milk.

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Former US president Donald Trump's cryptocurrency platform had a faltering sales launch Tuesday, with only a fraction of its digital tokens that went on the market finding a buyer.

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Tropical cyclone Ofel (international name: Usagi) further intensified into a typhoon as six areas in northern Luzon are placed under Signal No. 1 on early Wednesday.

Several local government units have announced the suspension of classes on Wednesday, November 13, due to tropical cyclones "Ofel" (international name: Usagi) and "Nika" (international name: Toraji).

More than a decade’s worth of stagnant health packages lead to the build-up of PhilHealth’s idle funds, according to the government corporation’s chief. 

The Philippines ordered evacuations ahead of Typhoon Ofel (international name: Usagi) on Wednesday, as the UN disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after storms that killed more than 150 people.