Washington

Rice to make historic trip to Libya

Rice to make historic trip to LibyaWashington  - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will travel to Libya this week in a further step of renewing relations between the two countries after decades of tension.

Rice will be the first secretary of state to visit Libya since 1953 and will meet with Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi after arriving from Portugal on the September 4-7 trip.

Rice's visit comes after the two countries agreed to establish a fund to compensate the families of the US victims of terrorist attacks involving the Libyan government, and after Tripoli abandoned weapons of mass destruction programmes in 2003.

Residents cope with Gustav aftermath; more storms approach

Residents cope with Gustav aftermath; more storms approachWashington  - US Gulf Coast residents were reeling from the impact of Hurricane Gustav, the monster storm that had 2 million people fleeing their homes before winding down to a tropical depression Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of anxious evacuees were unable to return home, and officials warned they would have to stay in shelters, motels or with friends for a few more days.

Storms delay space shuttle Atlantis' move to launch pad

Storms delay space shuttle Atlantis' move to launch pad W

Thawing of permafrost is likely to boost global warming

Global WarmingWashington, September 2: A new assessment has determined that the thawing of permafrost in northern latitudes, which greatly increases microbial decomposition of carbon compounds in soil, is likely to boost global warming.

According to the assessment in the September 2008 issue of Bio Science, permafrost thawing will dominate other effects of warming in the region and could become a major force promoting the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) and thus further warming.

Wolves prefer eating salmon than deer

WolfWashington, September 2: A new research has suggested that wolves actually prefer fishing to hunting, by showing that when salmon is available, wolves will reduce deer hunting activity and instead focus on seafood.

The research was carried out by Chris Darimont from the University of Victoria and the Raincoast Conservation Foundation, Canada, which led a team of researchers in studying the feeding habits of wolves in a remote 3,300km2 area of British Columbia.

Global warming is the greatest in past decade

Global WarmingWashington, September 2: A research has indicated that global warming has been the greatest in the past decade, with surface temperatures in the Northern Hemisphere found to be warmer over the last 10 years than any time during the last 1300 years.

In fact, if the climate scientists include the somewhat controversial data derived from tree-ring records, the warming is anomalous for at least 1700 years.

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