International

"Scientists have uncovered what appears to be a further dramatic increase in the leakage of methane gas that is seeping from the Arctic seabed."

A Japanese whaling vessel hit and sunk a stealth-technology trimaran speedboat used by the Sea Shepherd Society to harass that nation's "research" whaling, which supplies the nation's appetite for otherwise-illegal whale meat. All the activists were rescued and none were seriously injured, according to early reports. Two videos show the incident from two perspectives, as each side blamed the other.

"A dark legacy of the Vietnam War is creating a whole new set of problems. ...Why hundreds of thousands of Vietnam vets with Agent Orange–related diseases have been made to suffer without VA health care."

"When presidents and prime ministers departed the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen last month, they left behind a vast legal tangle that experts have barely begun to unravel."

"Mahe Noor left her village in southern Bangladesh after Cyclone Sidr flattened her family's home and small market in 2007. Jobless and homeless, she and her husband, Nizam Hawladar, moved to this crowded megalopolis, hoping that they might soon return home. Two years later, they are still here."

"Due to human activities, the world's animal and plant species are disappearing at a rate some experts put at 1,000 times the natural progression, the United Nations said January 1, marking 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity."

"Just as wars over oil played a major role in 20th-century history, a new book makes a convincing case that many 21st-century conflicts will be fought over water."

"A Canadian firm says U.S. use of defoliants in Vietnam has left perilous dioxin levels, but that the issue is solvable."