AFP - US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Monday that surging world crude oil prices were a "problem" and welcomed a call by oil-rich Saudi Arabia for talks with energy-hungry consumer nations.

AP - Elena Neralairen threw rocks at an aggressive Komodo dragon and scavenged for mussels on a remote Indonesian island where she and fellow divers were stranded for days after being swept away in treacherous currents.

AFP - More heavy storms were headed to the flood-ravaged US midwest Monday as the east coast wilted in a sweltering heat wave, the National Weather Service warned.

AP - Astronauts on the international space station Monday flexed some of the muscles on a robotic arm attached to a new Japanese lab they delivered and helped install on the orbiting outpost.

AFP - Top economic powers have declared that the world is entering a new era of nuclear energy amid rising concerns over high oil prices and global warming, but Germany stood firmly as an exception.

AFP - A Swedish diver who spent two nights marooned on an Indonesian island with four other Europeans told Sunday how she had to fight off an aggressive komodo dragon with her weight belt.

AFP - Astronauts from the Discovery shuttle completed the third spacewalk of the mission Sunday, putting more finishing touches on Japan's Kibo science lab and replacing an empty nitrogen tank.

AFP - One person died and another was missing as flooding inundated central Indiana, forcing evacuations and numerous boat rescues, a state official said.

AP - Shuttle Discovery's astronauts breezed through their third and final spacewalk Sunday, replacing an empty gas tank at the international space station and collecting a sample of dusty debris.

AFP - As world oil prices skyrocket, thousands of households in energy-poor Japan are taking part in an ambitious experiment to use fuel cells to light and heat their homes.

AP - Scuba divers swept away in strong currents survived 12 hours in shark-infested waters before scrambling onto a remote Indonesian island where they faced yet another threat: a Komodo dragon.

Reuters - Spacewalking astronauts slipped outside the International Space Station on Sunday to work on the outpost's cooling system and finish outfitting Japan's newly arrived Kibo research laboratory.