Science News

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) _ Australian government leaders struck an agreement Thursday to conserve water on a crucial river system, but Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the deal will not end the threat that a record drought poses to the waterway's ecological health.

BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ Delegates at a U.N. conference decided against banning toxic waste exports, instead encouraging countries Friday to take their own action to address the steady stream of dangerous chemicals and old electronics that litter the landfills of poor nations.

BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ African and other poor countries at a U.N. conference pushed Friday for a ban on toxic waste exports, saying it would protect them from the steady stream of dangerous chemicals and old electronics damaging their health and environment.

BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ Poor nations welcome hazardous waste from abroad, such as old computers, rusted ships and banned pesticides, in a shortsighted bid to lift themselves out of poverty, despite the dangers to human health and the environment, a U.N. rights official said Thursday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) _ Australia's worst air polluters must begin measuring their emissions of "greenhouse" gases blamed for global warming as the nation moves toward an emissions trading scheme in 2010, the climate minister said Thursday.

PERTH, Australia (AP) _ A humpback whale that appeared to have been fatally attacked by a pod of killer whales washed up on an Australian beach Thursday, a conservation official said.

BALI, Indonesia (AP) _ When it was adopted in 1989, the Basel Convention was seen as the best hope for stemming the flow of toxic waste into the world's poorest nations.

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) _ The world's only known hairy-nosed otter in legal captivity has taken swimmingly to its new home in a Cambodian zoo, an official said Wednesday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) _ Australia must work harder to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions despite a report indicating the nation will meet its Kyoto pollution target, the climate minister said Tuesday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ A South Korean court fined Samsung Heavy Industries Co. 30 million won (US$28,870; 18,540) Monday for its involvement in a major oil spill, a court official said.

Even as a youngster, Rollie looked older and wiser than his years. His white mustache sprouted longer by the month, until it flamed from his cheeks like a German kaiser's. Sometimes, it all but hid his mouth. In the last few years, though, the tribulations of age not just the appearance of it have begun catching up with Rollie. It wasn't immediately noticeable on the outside.

TOKYO (AP) _ The world's developed countries should take the lead in the battle against global warming and push for halving global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050, a group of business leaders said Friday.

ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AP) _ The people of the Aral Sea region, site of one the world's worst ecological disasters, may soon see their economy revitalized and large-scale fishing and farming return, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Thursday.

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Water birds in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta are under threat because much of their habitat was destroyed by Cyclone Nargis, a report said Thursday.

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ A South Korean team led by disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk said Thursday it has created 17 clones of an endangered dog breed popular in China.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) _ First they saw one. Now three endangered newborn Sumatran tiger cubs have been sighted by staff at a New Zealand zoo six days after they were born. The triplet tiger cubs' mother, Molek, gave birth last Thursday but zoo staff have stayed away from their enclosure to allow the 8-year-old mother to bond with her cubs, keeper Sandra Rice said Wednesday.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) _ A government minister warned on Wednesday that a drought crisis needed urgent attention or a crucial Australian river system could suffer permanent ecological damage by October.

BEIJING (AP) _ Giant panda habitat in China's Sichuan province, the endangered animal's main preserve, was devastated by last month's massive earthquake, a forestry official said.

TOKYO (AP) _ The Group of Eight summit next month is not the proper forum for settling the contentious issue of midterm targets on carbon emissions because it is being tackled by the United Nations, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda said Tuesday.