AP - Zoologists have captured the first photos of the okapi in the wild, saying Thursday they offered evidence that the animal once mistaken for a unicorn has managed to survive war and poaching in a park in a lawless swath of Congo.

AP - Hurricane Ike's gargantuan size — not its strength — will likely push an extra large storm surge inland in a region already prone to it, experts said Thursday.

AFP - The South African government Thursday approved trials on genetically-modified sorghum in a bid to improve nutrition in Africa, an official statement said.

Reuters - At least three people were killed as violent anti-government protests mounted in Bolivia on Thursday, creating havoc in its natural gas industry and increasing tensions with the United States.

AFP - NASA has taken a giant leap in the next stage of manned space flight with Wednesday's successful completion of a final step in the design process for the Ares I rocket, on course to launch in 2015, and put Americans back on the moon by 2020.

AP - A scandal involving sex, drugs and — uh, offshore oil drilling. It's a strange mix, and it couldn't have come at a worse time for those in Congress pressing to expand oil and gas development off America's beaches while trying to stave off an election-year rush by Democrats to impose new taxes and royalties on the oil industry.

AP - Gleaming skyscrapers, the nation's biggest refinery and NASA's Johnson Space Center lie in areas that could be vulnerable to wind and damaging floodwaters if Hurricane Ike crashes ashore as a major hurricane.

AP - After a deadly and destructive trip across the Caribbean, Hurricane Ike began to move across the Gulf of Mexico, where it was expected to strengthen before plowing into Texas.