EARTH

In an unusually robust and emotional speech, German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned of "catastrophe" unless Russia changes course.

Expanding the search area to the Indian Ocean would be consistent with the theory that the 777 may have detoured to the west about an hour after take-off from the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

An environmental tax bill that China's legislators are reviewing would help combat smog - a chronic problem as the nation modernizes.

The sea-ice cover in the Southern Ocean in Antarctica has been relatively stable, while Arctic sea ice has been declining rapidly.

Zhou Yongkang is reportedly under virtual house arrest, while the government investigates charges of corruption against him and his colleagues.

As climate change accelerates ice melt and sea levels continue to rise, scientists warn that global warming jeopardizes our cultural heritage. They found that a rise in global temperatures of just over 5 degrees Fahrenheit would threaten 20 percent of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Researchers have found the oldest piece of the Earth's crust yet discovered, a zircon crystal that is 4.4 billion years old.

University of Hawaii scientists have been tracking the spread of debris from the tsunami that struck Japan in March 2011.

Seagoing drones could serve important roles in conservation and environmental safety.

Attention wanderlust would-be island-goers: TripAdvisor has located Earth’s most alluring dollops of land.

The man behind the Economist Intelligence Unit’s annual “liveability” report is the first to admit that “liveability” is a hard word to define.

Burke Museum officials were called in to investigate the discovery.

José Salvador Alvarenga has been called both the greatest survivor in recorded history and the world's best hoaxer. Who's telling the truth?

The Chinese spent most of their money on regular goods over the traditional New Year holiday, not on luxury items.

China's economy may not be growing as fast as before, but its demand for goods and commodities is as high as ever.

The Jakobshavn Glacier located in Greenland was measured moving at a record speed of 10 miles per year, a new study reports.

Beijing has ordered 15,000 factories to publicly report air-emission and water-discharge details in real time.

Agriculture was meant to be the theme of this week's AU summit, but CAR and South Sudan took center stage.

While piracy worldwide might be declining, incidents in West Africa have been increasing and Nigerian pirates may be to blame.

While extreme weather in the U.S. is in large part due to a “polar vortex” creeping down over the Northern hemisphere from the North Pole, scientists say weather patterns around the world are largely the result of climate change in Antarctica.

The direct action anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has released footage of dead whales aboard the Japanese ship the Nisshin Maru, claiming the ship was operating inside the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.