Updated Aug 31, 2010, 2:18 pm
Jennifer A. Johnson
/Cronkite News Service
Purchases of everything from bath towels to jeans have boosted demand for cotton and improved prospects for growers in Arizona and around the world. U.S. farmers have booked sales double last year’s — 6.25 million bales.... Read more»
Posted Aug 31, 2010, 5:25 am
Jennifer Gaie Hellum
/Cronkite News Service
Under the shade of soaring Ponderosa pines, a young frog wriggles free from a man’s hand and swims across a muddy pool. “There he goes – number 10,000,” says Mike Sredl, who coordinates the Arizona Game and Fish Department’s effort to restore the Chiricahua leopard frog.... Read more»
Posted Aug 27, 2010, 4:35 pm
Marian Wang
/ProPublica
Earlier this week, major news outlets ran with headlines about how a new microbe has been found eating up BP’s oil, and how microbes have degraded the hydrocarbons so efficiently that the vast plumes of oil in the Gulf are now undetectable. No joke.... Read more»
Posted Aug 27, 2010, 2:45 pm
Neva Khan
/Special to GlobalPost
The Pakistan floods have affected more people than the Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Pakistan earthquake and the Haiti earthquake put together. The United Nations appeal for Pakistan remains less than 60 percent funded. Substantial additional amounts have been pledged — but pledges don’t buy clean water or sanitation.... Read more»
Posted Aug 26, 2010, 5:03 pm
Aamir Latif
/GlobalPost
In humanitarian role, US military tries to win over hearts and minds in Pakistan, where massive floods have affected almost one-fourth of the country over the last three weeks, killing more than 1,600 people and displacing millions.... Read more»
Posted Aug 24, 2010, 5:51 pm
Marian Wang
/ProPublica
Preliminary tests show that a lack of oxygen in part of the Gulf of Mexico caused thousands of fish to die, according to Louisiana authorities quoted by the Los Angeles Times.... Read more»
Posted Aug 24, 2010, 2:18 pm
Pascale Bonnefoy
/GlobalPost
SANTIAGO, Chile — In his first conversation with the trapped miners through a remote phone device on Monday, Chile Mining Minister Laurence Golborne learned what the miners wanted most: Food, toothbrushes and beer. They also wanted to sing the national anthem.... Read more»
Posted Aug 23, 2010, 11:00 am
H.M. Naqvi
/Special to GlobalPost
In the wake of Pakistan’s devastating floods, a refugee crisis swells. Pakistan’s freak floods, brought about by heavy rains that began in July, have affected more than 20 million people. More than 1,600 have died and hundreds of thousands have been displaced.... Read more»
Posted Aug 23, 2010, 8:42 am
William Dowell
/GlobalPost
With an area the size of Italy now underwater and largely inaccessible, Pakistan needs immediate massive relief that the United States has the logistics capability and resources to provide. The scale of the disaster is so vast that even large international aid agencies are struggling to reach many areas.... Read more»
Posted Aug 20, 2010, 1:17 pm
Marian Wang
/ProPublica
Just how much of the oil spilled in the Gulf is still there? Depends on what the meaning of “is” is. NOAA is hedging some of its estimates, and not in a good way. About three-quarters of the oil that spilled into the Gulf from BP’s ruptured well is still in the environment.... Read more»
Posted Aug 20, 2010, 11:54 am
Morgan Smith
/Texas Tribune
The beleaguered BP Texas City refinery faces two lawsuits: “BP collects… fines like speeding tickets,” says an attorney who’s represented BP workers. “A million dollars doesn’t register on the BP corporate books… They look at a million-dollar fine as a nuisance and the cost of doing business.”... Read more»
Posted Aug 19, 2010, 3:10 pm
Aamir Latif
/GlobalPost
Raging floodwaters have inundated almost one-fourth of Pakistan, forcing the country’s military to switch its focus from fighting the Taliban in the country’s restive northern tribal belt to a massive rescue and relief effort.... Read more»
Posted Aug 17, 2010, 4:41 pm
Gabrielle Giffords
/U.S Representative
Having the largest solar power plant in the world in our backyard is not just a reminder of solar’s limitless potential. It is a testament to the fact that solar is a technology and economic driver that doesn’t need to wait for tomorrow. It already is here, bringing benefits to our state and nation.... Read more»
Posted Aug 17, 2010, 7:38 am
Miriam Elder
/GlobalPost
The deadly forest fires ravaging the Russian countryside have wiped out a quarter of Russia’s grain crop, prompting the country to ban all wheat exports as of Sunday and inflaming worries of a global food crisis.... Read more»
Posted Aug 9, 2010, 9:41 am
Marian Wang
/ProPublica
A decade-old environmental assessment by offshore drilling regulators called for more research on Corexit dispersant, warned that deepwater spills were difficult to stop, and cautioned that such spills could “permanently cover water bottoms and wetlands.”... Read more»