World
G-8 disappoints Syrian rebels, makes progress on corporate tax evasion
Leaders of the G-8 agree on a plan to clamp down on money launderers, illegal tax evaders and corporate tax avoiders, while pushing for immediate peace talks on Syria.
Travel Jun 3, 2013
Historic garden hidden in Italy
Rare plants, enchanting ruins and the tinkle of waterfalls: The English-style botanical oasis of Ninfa near Rome is a secret idyll billed as “the world’s most romantic garden.” The exquisite garden dates back to the late 19th century when the aristocratic Caetani family took ...
Science & Health May 20, 2013
After 17 years in wait, cicadas are rising: U.S. invasion starts in 5, 4, 3 . . .
The hordes are rising. A cicada invasion is imminent in the United States, with millions of the large cricketlike insects beginning to emerge from the earth after 17 years lying in wait. The first of the bugs that are expected to blanket the U.S. ...
Environment Apr 29, 2013
World's fastest land animal in race to survive
The cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, survived mass extinction during the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But it has taken just the last few decades for man to place the hunter on the endangered species list, with experts warning it could disappear ...
Environment Apr 29, 2013
Mozambique losing fight to save elephants
Mozambique’s elephant population risks being obliterated within a decade unless tight antipoaching measures are introduced, conservationists have warned. The alarming scale of the poaching problem has become increasingly apparent, with an aerial survey of the north of the country in 2011 tallying 2,667 elephant ...
Environment Apr 29, 2013
Humboldt penguins face extinction in Chile
Several dozen Humboldt penguins sun themselves along the coast of an islet in central Chile where the majestic birds coming to nest once numbered in the thousands. Humboldt penguins — which nest only in parts of Chile and Peru — over the years have ...
Environment Apr 23, 2013
Little bird on the prairie could help save entire ecosystem
Under an indigo predawn sky, as a frigid wind whipped across the plains, a half-dozen brown-and-white birds emerged from tufts of dry grass. They emitted a low cooing sound, akin to the hooting of an owl. Then the greater prairie chickens started their show, ...
National Apr 15, 2013
Crested ibis chick born in wild for second year in Niigata
A crested ibis chick has hatched in the wild for the second year in a row, the Environment Ministry said. Ministry officials said Sunday they confirmed via video footage that a pair of crested ibises on Sado Island, Niigata Prefecture, had fed a chick ...
Environment Apr 2, 2013
Exxon Mobil mops up large pipeline spill
Exxon Mobil said that one of its pipelines leaked “a few thousand” barrels of Canadian heavy crude oil near Mayflower, Arkansas, late Friday, prompting the evacuation of 22 homes and reinforcing concerns many critics have raised about the Keystone XL pipeline that is awaiting ...
Environment Mar 30, 2013
Brazilian chief wields high-tech tools in battle to save tribe, forests
As a small boy in the early 1980s, Almir Surui hunted monkeys with a bow and arrow, wore a loincloth and struggled with Brazil’s official language, Portuguese. At 38, he is the techno-savvy, university-educated chief of the Paiter Surui, or “the real people,” of ...
World Mar 24, 2013
Obama to name five national monuments
President Barack Obama on Monday will announce five new national monuments that will be added to the U.S. list of protected land. In a rare invocation of his executive powers, Obama will designate the First State National Monument in Delaware. He also is expected ...
Science & Health Mar 19, 2013
Buried ecosystems excite scientists
Diverse underground ecosystems buried deep beneath the Earth’s crust may offer clues to the origins of life on Earth, several recent studies have revealed. Whether it is tiny worms found wriggling in the depths of a South African mine or micro- organisms discovered 6 ...
Science & Health Mar 18, 2013
Life thrives at lowest depths
Scientists said Sunday that they had discovered an unexpectedly large and active community of single-celled organisms living on the Pacific seafloor at the deepest site on Earth. The “surprisingly active” community of microbes exists in the Challenger Deep, about 11 km below sea level ...