AFP - The World Wildlife Fund on Thursday criticised the release of four poachers who admitted to killing 18 rhinos in Zimbabwe, saying such lax law enforcement is unravelling conservation progress.

AP - Foul weather was forecast for the East on Thursday as a storm lingers off the coast of North Carolina, while the Plains, South and West were to be warm and clear.

AP - Egypt's antiquities council says that archaeologists have unearthed a 3,000-year-old red granite head believed to portray the 19th Dynasty pharaoh Ramses II.

AP - China launched a three-man crew into space Thursday, including one who will make the country's first spacewalk — its most challenging mission since its first orbital flight in 2003.

AP - Worldwide man-made emissions of carbon dioxide — the main gas that causes global warming — jumped 3 percent last year, international scientists said Thursday.

Reuters - The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday funded a $25 billion loan package for troubled automakers as part of a mammoth spending bill to keep the government running through March 2009, but the legislation did not extend a ban on offshore oil drilling.

AP - Flooding problems persisted Wednesday in the Upper Mississippi Valley, while strong winds blew in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.

AP - Could climate change dull the blazing palette of New England's fall foliage? The answer could have serious implications for one of the region's signature attractions, which draws thousands of "leaf peepers" every autumn.

AP - NASA is delaying next month's shuttle launch to the Hubble Space Telescope because of problems stemming from Hurricane Ike and replacement parts for the observatory.