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Reuters - Scientists have found the fossilized claw of a 2.5-metre (8-foot) sea scorpion, a nightmarish creature living before the age of dinosaurs.

AFP - Tropical storm Mitag bore down on the eastern Philippines on Wednesday, flooding large areas of the region and forcing the government to order large-scale evacuations, days after another killed 10 people in the country's south.

AFP - China will act to limit ecological damage from the Three Gorges Dam project amid growing alarm over the negative impact of the world's biggest hydroelectric facility, state media said Wednesday.

AFP - An animal rights group Wednesday criticised South Korea's top entertainer Rain for "dressing like a caveman" and urged him to set a good example to fans by ditching fur.

AP - Scientists have created the equivalent of embryonic stem cells from ordinary skin cells, a breakthrough that could someday produce new treatments for disease without the explosive moral questions of embyro cloning.

AFP - A major breakthrough in stem cell research which could eliminate the need for human embryos was hailed as a means of ending an ethical dilemma, but researchers cautioned against abandoning the study of embryonic stem cells.

AP - Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

AP - Several dozen desert bighorn sheep in southern New Mexico will be outfitted this week with new radio collars, enabling biologists to continue monitoring the endangered species.

AP - Congo is setting aside more than 11,000 square miles of rain forest to help protect the endangered bonobo, a great ape that is the most closely related to humans and is found only in this Central African country.

AP - Two spacewalking astronauts wired up the international space station's newest room Tuesday and, to NASA's delight, kept the next shuttle visit on track for early December.

AFP - A hardline environmental group said Tuesday it planned to intercept Japan's whaling fleet in Antarctic waters as soon as possible and prevent it reaching its quota of around 1,000 whales.

AP - A Japanese whaling fleet sailing toward waters off Antarctica to kill protected humpback whales was itself the target of a hunt Monday by environmental activists who vowed to disrupt the expedition.

AP - A juvenile humpback whale that got tangled in fishing gear and had been stranded off the Rhode Island coast over the weekend freed itself and swam off Monday as rescuers sought to aid it.

AP - Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Monday he is determined to raise Britain's already ambitious targets for cutting carbon emissions and to push the nation to the forefront of global efforts to tackle climate change.

AP - As pit crews made last-minute inspections to their cars Sunday at NASCAR's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani stressed the need for America to break its dependence on foreign oil.