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Reuters - EU authorities plan to act this week to ensure that an unauthorized biotech rice detected in the United States does not enter the bloc's food chain, an official at the European Commission said on Tuesday.

AFP - London-listed energy group JKX Oil and Gas has said that its Ukrainian unit had signed a deal to supply gas to Anglo-Dutch giant Royal Dutch Shell.

AP - Pockmarked muck blots this formerly lush marsh on Cape Cod. Dead plant roots jut from barren mud once covered with wavy mats of marsh hay. New England scientists began noticing dead patches like this one near Lieutenant Island four years ago and called it sudden wetland dieback. Then more such spots were found.

AP - An endangered manatee made a rare appearance in Rhode Island waters during the weekend, a state marine biologist said.

AP - Researchers are studying whether microbes can be manipulated by science to expand the life of coal-bed methane wells in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming.

AP - Scientists on Monday called for radical action to improve global water management, saying one-third of the world's population faces water scarcity.

AP - A tiny ant has the fastest jaw in the animal kingdom — literally quicker than the blink of an eye.

AP - Astronomers say they have found the best evidence to date for "dark matter," that mysterious invisible substance that is believed to account for the bulk of the universe's mass.

AP - The St. Louis Zoo introduced reporters Monday to its 3-week-old baby elephant, a toddling 346-pounder who's already getting the hang of using her trunk.

AFP - Costa Rican scientists discovered what they said was a fossil belonging to an amphibious mammal that was previously unknown to the tropics, a local newspaper reported.

AFP - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is due in China for a visit aimed at forging closer energy and economic ties, as interest also centered on whether the trip would boost his anti-US platform.

Reuters - Japanese precision equipment maker Shimadzu Corp. said on Tuesday it and unlisted Singapore biotech venture Agenica Research Pte Ltd have found 10 proteins which could help develop drugs to diagnose or treat breast cancer.

AP - Bureaucracy and a lack of money are slowing the rebuilding of New Orleans nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina hit, Mayor Ray Nagin said Monday.

AFP - NASA said it was ready to resume regular space shuttle flights to complete construction of the International Space Station after three years of trying to eliminate safety flaws which led to the 2003 Columbia disaster.

AP - A woman has filed a lawsuit against a pet cremation service and a photo agency, claiming they used a photo of her posing with her dogs, Chickie and Tiny, without her permission.

AP - Birders from around the country have been coming to the Rio Grande Valley to catch sight of a Northern Jacana that is far north of normal range.

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AP - Scientists say the oxygen-starved "dead zone" along the Pacific Coast that is causing massive crab and fish die-offs is worse than initially thought.

Reuters - Oil giant BP is learning some lessons from pigs in its Alaska pipeline.