AP - Superstar swimmer Michael Phelps and his Club Wolverine teammates were headed for an afternoon practice for the U.S. Olympic trials when the tornado sirens sounded.

AP - There's a 50-50 chance that the North Pole will be ice-free this summer, which would be a first in recorded history, a leading ice scientist says.

AP - Defiant residents of this eastern Missouri community lost one struggle against the relentless Mississippi River Friday, but quickly prepared for another.

AP - The Navy has adopted a new plan for training in Hawaii waters that it says will allow it to accelerate some exercises and hold them more frequently while continuing to limit the effects of its sonar on marine mammals.

Reuters - The largest study ever of bird genetics has uncovered some surprising facts about the avian evolutionary tree, U.S. researchers said on Thursday, including many that are bound to ruffle some feathers.

AP - The International Whaling Commission voted down Thursday a request by indigenous Greenland fishermen to kill 10 humpback whales a year.

AFP - Martian dirt is apparently good enough for asparagus to grow in, NASA scientists said Thursday, as they announced the results of a soil analysis collected by the US Phoenix Mars lander.