Botanists believe they have discovered one of the world's largest carnivorous plants in Southeast Asia. The giant pitcher plants were located in Palawan, central Philippines by a team led by UK botanist Stewart McPherson. The second largest species, now called Nepenthes attenboroughii has been named in honor of the UK's world-renowned natural history presenter Sir David Attenborough. The new discovery measures about 30 centimeters in diameter and are formed in the shape of a large ...

A U.S. senator met Saturday in Myanmar with detained pro-democracy leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, an eyewitness said. The meeting with Jim Webb, a Democrat from Virginia, lasted about 40 minutes, an eyewitness said. It was not known what they discussed. Webb is the first member of Congress to visit Myanmar in more than a decade. Though he is not in the country on behalf of the State Department, his trip may indicate a shift in America's hardline stance against ...

First-time visitors to this hamlet on the Nam Song River can be forgiven for feeling a little lost. With shirtless young backpackers drinking beer and sun tanning, it looks more like an Ibizan beach town than a Laotian village. But, no, you didn't take a wrong turn at the Thai border. This is Vang Vieng — farm town turned full-moon party, smack in the middle of a communist state. Once a resting place for opium-addled sojourners on sweet, slow ...

Everyone has heard of the worm at the bottom of the bottle, but what customs officials in Miami found kicked that up a few notches. United States Customs and Border Protection officers conducting a routine inspection on Wednesday seized a cobra and other poisonous snakes in a bottle believed to be "snake wine." Customs officials said the snakes, mixed in a glass container containing some form of alcohol, were inside an express mail package from Thailand. Jose Castellano, ...