AFP - Indonesia launched two tsunami alert buoys with US help Wednesday to boost an early warning system for the country worst hit by the 2004 killer wave, the US embassy said.

AP - Space shuttle Discovery pulled away from the international space station on Wednesday and began its journey home, ending a nine-day visit highlighted by the installation of a new Japanese lab.

AP - Archaeologists in Jordan have discovered a cave underneath one of the world's oldest churches and say it may have been an even more ancient site of Christian worship. But outside experts expressed caution about the claim.

AP - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head — much like the fabled, mythical unicorn — has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

AFP - The United States has called for a review of international law to regulate the killing of whales for scientific research in an apparent bid to plug a loophole exploited by Japan, which is accused of slaughtering the creatures.

AFP - The seven astronauts of the US shuttle Discovery bid farewell Tuesday to their three colleagues at the International Space Station after a busy mission to install Japan's first space laboratory.

Reuters - Rising rivers and swollen reservoirs caused severe flooding across the U.S. Midwest on Tuesday as residents in the region braced for yet another drenching.

AP - Lesser prairie chickens have been reduced to a fraction of their population across five states, says a conservation group that is ratcheting up the pressure on the federal government to provide more protection for the rare bird.

AP - The astronauts aboard the orbiting shuttle and station complex shook hands and hugged goodbye Tuesday as the doors swung shut between their spacecraft on the eve of undocking.

AP - Long-tailed macaque monkeys have a reputation for knowing how to find food — whether it be grabbing fruit from jungle trees or snatching a banana from a startled tourist. Now, researchers say they have discovered groups of the silver-haired monkeys in Indonesia that fish.

AP - The United Nations environment agency unveiled a new atlas Tuesday that shows what the agency says are the dramatic effects of climate change on Africa.