In the depths of a freezing winter in 2005, European politicians anguished, as they do during many winters, about supplying heat to millions of homes and businesses. It was a good time for the Russian energy giant Gazprom to strike a deal with European utility companies to construct a hugely ambitious 1,200-km pipeline that would extend from the wilds of Siberia through the Baltic Sea to the German coastline and, starting in 2012, deliver about 55 billion cu m of ...

In Western societies, disposing of a dead body has come down to two choices: there's burial, and there's cremation. Occasionally, a corpse is donated to science, but even those remains usually make their way to the crematorium in the end. But since climate change has piqued the world's environmental awareness, it has become clear that death, despite being the most natural of processes, is bad for the environment. Coffins, most of which are made from nonbiodegradable chipboard, ...

It has become virtually an article of faith among America's chattering class that the Western intervention in Libya cannot be considered a success unless Muammar Gaddafi is removed from power. Reacting to President Obama's speech on Libya last week, CNN's Eliot Spitzer said, "If ... we begin to pull back militarily, that is a very dicey political proposition for the President, to withdraw until we have gotten that moment of clear success, the elimination of Gaddafi." On ...

One horrible day 1,600 years ago, the wisdom of many centuries went up in flames. The great library in Alexandria burned down, a catastrophe at the time and a symbol for all ages of the vulnerability of human knowledge. The tragedy forced scholars to grope to reconstruct a grand literature and science that once lay neatly cataloged in scrolls. Today, with little notice, more vast archives of knowledge and expertise are spilling into oblivion, leaving humanity in danger of losing ...

When the first tremors began in the parched, rock-ribbed mountains of western Sicily last week, most of the 3,000 people of Salaparuta took refuge on the slopes just below their hilltop town. There, among their goats and grapevines, they waited in the chilly night for the danger to pass. At 3 a.m. the earth rolled again, at first gently, then with a sickening sway. Before their eyes, Salaparuta crumbled apart like a child's sand castle. Within 30 seconds, the nine-century-old ...

Thanks to a flooded plant in Atlanta and a broken bakery in Tennessee, Kellogg Co. confirmed last week that it will have to ration its Eggo shipments well into next year. Considering the brand claims nearly 70% of the frozen-waffle industry, the shortage has been called a national calamity, further proof of global warming's reach, a sign of the apocalypse, evidence of a corporate conspiracy and a good opportunity to cash in. Like many of Western civilization's ...

The United States on Friday sought clarification from Iran in response to its counter-offer involving shipping low-enriched uranium for refining abroad, senior administration officials said.Clinton told CNN that Western officials were working to determine what the Iranians are willing to do -- whether Tehran's decision is final or an interim statement. Iran sent its response Thursday to the IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog. The agreement was designed to reduce the amount of material Iran has to possibly make a nuclear ...

There is a well-known saying in Afghanistan: "You can rent an Afghan, but you can't buy him.""There's been an amnesty program for low-level Taliban in place for many years now and thousands of people have taken advantage of it," he said. "So this is not entirely a new idea. The idea of bribing people, local guys, to come over. ... It's one of the most cost-effective ways to get people to lay down their arms, either to negotiate a peace ...

Low visibility was to blame for a helicopter crash that killed 10 Americans on Monday in western Afghanistan, the U.S. Army said Wednesday.

Three Drug Enforcement Administration personnel were among 14 Americans killed when three helicopters went down in Afghanistan on Monday, a law enforcement source said. The joint international security force killed more than a dozen enemy fighters while searching the compound, ISAF said. The site was thought to harbor insurgents tied to narcotics trafficking in western Afghanistan. The militants were killed in a firefight when insurgents confronted the joint force. As the force was leaving, a helicopter "went down due to ...