Science News

AFP - Anti-whaling campaigners on Wednesday denied charges that they had harassed Japanese whalers searching for a missing crewman in Antarctic waters and said they were simply trying to help.

AP - Radical conservationists who have been chasing Japanese whalers in the Antarctic Ocean said Wednesday they were heading to Australia to refuel their ship, a day after Japan argued they were pirates who should be barred from refueling.

AP - The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday.

AFP - Some 200,000 US households will no longer get cheap heating oil from Venezuela after the state-owned CITGO subsidiary announced it was dropping the program due to falling oil prices, the organization in charge of distributing the oil said Tuesday.

AP - The Grand Canyon, Mount Everest and Loch Ness will vie with more than 200 other spectacular places in the next phase of the global competition for the New 7 Wonders of Nature, organizers said Wednesday. The 261 nominees from 222 countries include some of the most famous mountain peaks, lakes, and other attractions, such as the Great Barrier Reef and Niagara Falls.

LiveScience.com - Every smoker knows it's tough to kick the habit. In fact, just seeing a photo of someone smoking is enough for would-be quitters to ditch their best intentions and light up "just one more," research now shows.

AFP - Japan said Tuesday it would ask Australia and other nations to refuse port calls for refuelling by anti-whaling activists who have been dogging its whaling fleet in the Antarctic.

AP - Japan said Tuesday it plans to ask Australia and possibly New Zealand and Chile to ban an anti-whaling protest ship from using their ports to refuel, heightening a cat-and-mouse game in Antarctic waters between Japan's whaling fleet and the conservationists.

AP - A cold front stretching from the Southeast to the Northeast was expected to trigger showers and thunderstorms early Tuesday, while heavy rain was expected in the Pacific Northwest.

The Christian Science Monitor - Thermometers are plunging across Europe, and so is the pressure in the natural-gas pipelines connecting the continent with its key supplier, Russia.