Reuters - Chinese troops on Saturday eased pressure on a swelling "quake lake" that had threatened hundreds of thousands of people, with water gushing into a man-made sluice in an operation monitored by satellite.

AP - Strong storms smashed houses, deluged neighborhoods and left thousands without power across the Midwest on Friday in the latest round of fierce weather. Hot temperatures baked the region even as residents coped with the lack of electricity.

AP - The space station's huge new Japanese lab got even bigger Friday when the astronauts attached an attic to it for extra storage.

AP - The Phoenix lander is getting ready to sniff the Martian soil for signs of life-friendly elements after scooping up a handful of dirt near the north pole, researchers said Friday.

AP - Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay have been all but wiped out, but amateur conservationists are signing on to the growing hobby of home aquaculture to help bring the struggling bivalves back.

AP - Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo.

AFP - Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it had developed a new zero-emission fuel-cell vehicle that has a longer cruising distance than previous models and can operate in freezing temperatures.

AP - More strong thunderstorms were forecast across the nation's heartland Friday as a low pressure system continues it trek across the Plains. Forecasters said the greatest threat for severe weather was in Illinois.

AP - The newest space station addition, a giant Japanese science lab, is about to get bigger. After installing TV cameras and removing covers during a spacewalk Thursday, the astronauts at the linked shuttle and station got ready for their next challenge: attaching a storage shed to the bus-size lab. The 210-mile construction job was set for Friday afternoon.

AP - More than three years after a poacher shot off her upper beak, a bald eagle named Beauty can finally live up to her name — with the help of volunteers.

AFP - Cairn India, a unit of British exploration firm Cairn Energy Plc, has secured rights to explore oil and natural gas deposits off Sri Lanka's coast, the island's petroleum minister said Friday.

AP - The U.S. military intercepted a ballistic missile Thursday in the first such sea-based test since a Navy cruiser shot down an errant satellite earlier this year.

AP - New Orleans is giving residents until July to vacate federally issued trailers intended as temporary housing after Hurricane Katrina.