The death toll from Typhoon Parma rose to 16 after the powerful storm sparked landslides in two northern villages in the Philippines.

PADANG, Indonesia (Reuters) - Rescue teams combing the rubble in the shattered Indonesian city of Padang said on Sunday there was little hope of finding more survivors of a massive earthquake that authorities say may have killed 3,000 people.

Latest typhoon kills 16 in Philippines, sparing capital, then heads toward Taiwan

Indonesian villagers use bare hands to dig out corpses in 4 quake-destroyed hamlets

With the world's oceans absorbing six million tonnes of carbon a day, a leading oceanographer warns of eco disasterCarbon-dioxide emissions are turning the waters of the Arctic Ocean into acid at an unprecedented rate, scientists have discovered. Research carried out in the archipelago of Svalbard has shown in many regions around the north pole seawater is likely to reach corrosive levels within 10 years. The water will then start to dissolve the shells of mussels and other shellfish and cause major disruption to the food chain. By the end of the century, the entire Arctic Ocean will be corrosively acidic."This is extremely worrying," Professor Jean-Pierre Gattuso, of France's Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, told an international oceanography conference last week. "We knew that the seas were getting more acidic and this would disrupt the ability of shellfish - like mussels - to grow their shells. But now we realise the situation is much worse. The water will become so ac

Germany and France aim to be kingmakers as revitalised European Union prepares to give former PM Blair the top jobEuropean leaders led by Angela Merkel of Germany and Nicolas Sarkozy of France will act swiftly to make the EU's reform charter a reality after Ireland's Yes vote, despite the lone resistance of Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic.The strong endorsement of the Lisbon treaty by the Irish after eight years of divisive attempts to rewrite the EU's rule book, has sparked the jockeying for position over the plum jobs that it creates, with Tony Blair now a clear favourite to become the first permanent EU president.The posts of president of the council and that of a new foreign policy chief with enhanced powers are among the biggest changes under the treaty. But the appointments will not be made in isolation. Who gets what will be intricately linked to the share-out of portfolios in the new European Commission, which will be strongly debated in the coming weeks."In the e

After receiving promises of riches from the government, farmers in a Kenyanvillage turned over hundreds of acres of precious farmland to a plant calledjatropha, used to make biofuel. Then their crops failed. The farmers are nowdemanding answers

Official Stepped Down After Appearing Drunk at News Conference; Death Under Investigation

8 US soldiers, 7 Afghans killed in militia attack on outposts in remote eastern Afghanistan

BEIJING (Reuters) - North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il made a rare appearance at Pyongyang's airport on Sunday to personally greet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the start of a top-level visit likely to test the North's stance on nuclear disarmament.