ENVIRONMENT-US: Wetlands Loss Left Gulf Coast Naked to Storm

Massive destruction of wetlands and rampant coastal development are among the reasons Hurricane Katrina may have killed thousands of people on the U.S. Gulf Coast and wreaked upwards of 25 billion dollars in damages.

POLITICS-US: Iraq War Splurge Hits Home at 230 kph

With state, local, and federal officials still grappling with the extent of the devastation and human suffering inflicted by Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and points east, suggestions that the already plunging political standing of Pres. George W. Bush could also be a major casualty of the disaster have begun taking hold.

ENVIRONMENT: The Endless Hurricane Season

Up to 12 more tropical storms are expected to follow Hurricane Katrina, the most destructive storm to ever strike the United States, and four may be major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

CUBA: Success in Biological Clean-Up for Oil Spills

Marine bacteria are the raw material for a product that has been applied in Cuba since 1992 to clean up oil spills at sea, in freshwater and in soils, and eyes are now on widespread application of this organic approach to an environmental problem.

SOUTH KOREA: Ethical Worries Dog Canine Cloning

The success of South Korean scientists in canine cloning has raised hopes of medical breakthroughs as also serious ethical questions, especially since the next animal on the line in laboratories here is man's genetic cousin, the monkey.

RIGHTS-US: The DNA Crusaders

The work of the Innocence Project is a "good news, bad news" story.

POLITICS: Swift U.N. Action Unlikely on Iran Nukes

The George W. Bush administration may like to see Iran face sanctions for its nuclear aspirations, but the political mood at the United Nations suggests that such punishment is not what the world community is ready for.

SCIENCE: Life in the Lab Can Be Cruel

Scientific experimentation with animals is controversial in Italy, not only because thousands of living beings are sacrificed for this purpose each year, but because many consider the practice useless.

POLITICS-US: Congress Balks at Bush’s Weird Science

U.S. Pres. George W. Bush's endorsement of the teaching of "intelligent design" as a theory of how the universe began, coupled with Sen. Bill Frist's backing of federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, points to an almost certain trainwreck between Congress and the White House - as well as open warfare between the scientific community and members of the conservative religious right.

CUBA: The Earth Trembles in the Caribbean Too

Frequently thrashed by the hurricanes that roar through the Caribbean region each year, Cuba knows something about disaster - including earthquakes, due to the proximity of its eastern-most point to the Bartlett-Cayman fault system.

TRADE-CARIBBEAN: Sugar Future May Still Be Sweet

Even as Caribbean diplomats battle for concessions to proposed drastic changes to the European Union's sugar price regime, the region's governments are hustling to ensure the industry's continued survival.

ENVIRONMENT: Glacial Meltdown Speeding Up

A huge Greenland glacier has suddenly accelerated dumping enormous quantities of ice and water into the North Atlantic Ocean.

POLITICS: India, US Open Can of Nuclear Worms

More than 30 years after the United States walked out of a nuclear cooperation agreement with India, because it conducted an atomic test, the two countries have agreed to resume collaboration in civilian nuclear energy.

PARAGUAY: The Sweet Herb of the Guarani

The growing commercial exploitation in Paraguay of ka'a he'ê ("rich herb" in the Guaraní language), traditionally used by indigenous peoples as medicine and sweetener, is emerging as a profitable alternative that allows farmers to generate income year-round.

ARGENTINA: New Observatory Measures Ozone Layer

An observatory to measure the thinning of the ozone layer, the first of its kind in Latin America, has begun to operate in southern Argentina.

SOUTH AMERICA: Biotech Opens Doors to Andean Development

The aid of the sweet potato for fighting vitamin A deficiency in Africa, and a biological agent that fights moulds which attack roses and bean crops are just two examples of how biotechnology is being used to make the most - socially and economically - of the biodiversity in South America's Andean region.

POLITICS: 10 Years On, Lab Works to Heal Bosnian Families

Like many Bosnian Muslims living abroad, Eldvin B leaves his current home each summer to return to his native Bosnia-Herzegovina.

G8 SUMMIT: Bush Increasingly Isolated on Warming

As U.S. President George W. Bush arrives at Gleneagles, Scotland for this year's Group of Eight (G8) Summit, he finds himself more isolated on the question of global warming than ever, at home as well as abroad.

SOUTH AMERICA: Amazon Nations Gear Up to Fight Biopiracy

Around 500 products based on plants native to Peru are registered in patent offices in the United States, Europe and Japan, but many of them may have been produced by breaking Peruvian laws on access to biodiversity and traditional knowledge.

CUBA: In Search of the Island’s First Inhabitants

Archaeological digs in Cuba could turn today's theories about the earliest humans here and the Antilles on their head. "We are just at the beginning of it all," says German archaeologist Jean Weining a bit cautiously.

RIGHTS-INDONESIA: Protests Rise Against Draft Anti-pornography Bill

A planned anti-pornography bill is drawing protests from activists who fear that the legislation could end up infringing on human rights in this largely Muslim country of 216 million people.