Reuters - A new round of storms dumped a half foot or more of rain across parts of the U.S. Midwest on Wednesday, dealing fresh trouble to a region already struggling with billions of dollars in flood damage.

AFP - Individual human genomes change throughout a person's life influenced by environmental or nutritional factors which may explain why illnesses such as cancer come with age, a study said Tuesday.

AFP - The International Whaling Commission agreed Tuesday to put off votes on a Japanese bid to resume commercial whaling and an environmentalist initiative to create a whale reserve in the South Atlantic.

Reuters - Divers scouted for bodies in first-class cabins on a capsized ferry in the Philippines on Wednesday looking for more than 700 people still missing in the disaster.

AP - Substantially improving the accuracy of hurricane intensity predictions could take years and tens of millions of dollars, the National Hurricane Center's director said Tuesday.

Reuters - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Tuesday that the global economy was being strained by costly energy but said U.S. economic fundamentals were sound.

AP - Pandas living in earthquake-hit southwest China are facing a food shortage and some have been evacuated to temporary shelters because of the threat of landslides and other hazards, an official said Tuesday.