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Global warming is blamed for walrus stampede deaths Associated Press - December 14, 2007 4:23 PM ET ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Some scientists blame the deaths of thousands of Pacific walruses on the disappearance of sea ice caused by global warming. The walruses died in stampedes earlier this year as they crowded on shorelines along the Asian side of the Bering Strait, which separates Alaska from Russia. An expert with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says the lack of sea ice during the late summer and early fall led to a "pretty sobering year" that was "tough on walruses."...

BY CLIFFORD MAY As America's ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton was the White House's most effective defender. Now, as an ex-diplomat, he has become among the administration's toughest critics. But he critiques from the right, not the left, which probably explains why the elite media are not eager to focus on what he has to say. The son of a Baltimore firefighter who attended Yale Law School on scholarship, Bolton combines a combative nature with a keen intellect. He is a conservative without the prefix - neither neo-con (he's skeptical about nation-building and democracy promotion) nor paleo-con...

Tomorrow's cruise ship will sail through the air, not the water By Joshua Tompkins John MacNeill LIFTOFF! On a pressurized plane, windows like these would explode outward . The Aeroscraft does not fly high enough to need pressurization. This is not a Blimp. It's a sort of flying Queen Mary 2 that could change the way you think about air travel. It's the Aeroscraft, and when it's completed, it will ferry pampered passengers across continents and oceans as they stroll leisurely about the one-acre cabin or relax in their well-appointed staterooms. Unlike its dirigible ancestors, the Aeroscraft is not lighter...

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. Senator Hillary Clinton says she's pleased the Bush administration and a United Arab Emirates company have agreed to delay the company's takeover of significant operations at six major American ports. But the New York Democrat says she's still opposed to the deal and plans to introduce legislation that would block Dubai Ports World or any other company owned by a foreign government from operating U-S ports. Clinton said critical infrastructure like ports must be operated by the United States, not foreign-owned companies. She made the comments yesterday in an appearance in Miami Beach. Clinton, who is seen...

ST. LOUIS—The first humans to spread across North America may have been seal hunters from France and Spain. This runs counter to the long-held belief that the first human entry into the Americas was a crossing of a land-ice bridge that spanned the Bering Strait about 13,500 years ago. The new thinking was outlined here Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The tools don’t match Recent studies have suggested that the glaciers that helped form the bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska began receding around 17,000 to 13,000 years ago, leaving very little...

(Snip) –Seattle coach laments having to ‘take on the guys in the striped shirts, too DETROIT - No appreciation or consolation in Seattle for the Seahawks, at least not yet. Nope, they were still stuck in frustration. The post-Super Bowl parties went into early Monday morning as the Seahawks at least tried to celebrate their season, instead of their somber Sunday. Later, coach Mike Holmgren tried to refocus the team, momentarily, on what it had done and what it still may do. (Snip) –And the Seahawks were still stinging from a few officials’ calls that went against them, such as...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States threatened on Tuesday to delay the two-year United Nations budget unless reforms are approved by the end of the year, a move that could cause havoc for U.N. operations. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said Secretary-General Kofi Annan and his staff have acknowledged they might not have all management and other reform proposals until February, after the December 31 budget deadline. Although a U.N summit document calls on Annan to provide "recommendations to the General Assembly for decision" during the first quarter of 2006, Bolton said this was too late. "I don't think we...

<p>THE PRESIDENT: Nearly five months ago, I nominated John Bolton to be America's Ambassador to the United Nations. I chose John because of his vast experience in foreign policy, his integrity and his willingness to confront difficult problems head-on. I told the nation that John Bolton would provide clear American leadership for reform at the United Nations. I told them that he would insist upon results.</p>

The Elizaphant is in Harrisburg,Pa for a LIVE event on C-Span at 3:30 PM EDT. Please Ping all her fans.

Inuit 'Poisoned from Afar' Due to Climate Change 2 hours, 1 minute ago By Amran Abocar TORONTO (Reuters) - The Inuit living in the Arctic region are being "poisoned from afar" as climate change takes its toll on the area and threatens their existence, the head of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference said on Wednesday. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chairwoman of the group that represents about 155,000 Inuit in the Arctic regions of Canada, Russia, Greenland and the United States, said Inuit were paying dearly for the actions of people elsewhere. "The Inuit have now become the net recipients of toxins coming from...

<p>PHILADELPHIA — Four teenagers charged with beating a 16-year-old boy to death plotted the killing for weeks and listened to the Beatles song "Helter Skelter" (search) several dozen times before the murder, according to an alleged confession read in court.</p>