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The first concrete steps by Congress to fulfil Barack Obama's promise to green America's economy were seen around the world today as a significant step forward, though they remain far short of what scientists say is needed to solve ­global warming.Democratic leaders in Congress said yesterdaytoday they had defied conventional wisdom that they would be unable to ­persuade representatives from oil and coal, rust belt and southern states to support a bill. The slightly weakened draft now calls for a 17% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020. 'It's a legislative Susan Boyle. Everyone underestimated it until it started to sing,' said Ed Markey, who chairs the subcommittee on climate change.Democrats hope to finish the draft in a week. Their initial compromise fell short of what some environmentalists in the US and in the international community hoped for. They said it failed to send a strong enough signal of the US commitment to action and would undermine efforts to reach

If the Catholic Church was really as Dan Brown portrays it, the best-selling author should be careful he does not meet with an "accident" the next time he is running around the Vatican, smoking out co...

What's up with bullpens around baseball? Relievers' ERAs are at their highest in years, according to stats. Managers with perennially steady 'pens are seeking a cure, Scott Miller says.

Let’s face it: if you were a celebrity, you’d be doin’ everything around you. And you could…because you would be a celebrity, and everyone would want a piece of your sweet, sweet celebrity junk. But as history has shown us, gettin’ down with too many anonymous people means you’ll feel the burn, quite literally. Oh [...]

The General Mining Law of 1872 is like a vampire. As the world around it has changed, the law looks the same today as it did when the United States was recovering from the Civil War and women didn't have the right to vote.

Through sophisticated statistical analyses and advanced computer simulations, researchers are learning more about the genomic patterns of human population structure around the world.

Automaker GM plans to cut its Saturn brand at the end of the year, though it was once meant to be the automaker's answer to fuel-efficient cars coming from Japan. Saturn was first built in Spring Hill, Tenn. Though Saturn left Tennessee a few years ago, many in and around that town still cling to its past.

Study finds traces of cocaine, amphetamines and opiates in atmosphere around Madrid and BarcelonaAir in parts of Madrid and Barcelona is laced with at least five drugs, most prominently cocaine, a study has found.The Superior Council of Scientific Investigations, a Spanish government institute, said it had also found trace amounts of amphetamines, opiates, cannabinoids and lysergic acid, a relative of LSD, in two air-quality control stations, one in each city.It said there was no reason for alarm. 'Not even if we lived for 1,000 years would we consume the equivalent of a dose of cocaine by breathing this air,' said one of its scientists, Miren López de Alda.The group stressed that 'in no case should these levels be considered representative of the air in the two cities'. It said the tests were done in areas where drugs were likely to be consumed.In Madrid, the test site was close to a ruined building believed to be used by drug dealers. In both cities the studies were carried out close

Some of the biggest news in the Apple-focused blogosphere this week centers around Apple's upcoming June 8 Worldwide Developers conference. There's the news, certainly, of what Apple said it'll deliver, and then there's the predictions of what might or might not show up -- a new iPhone, perhaps?

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) PELOSI: ... take the time to read this to you. Throughout my career, I have been proud to have worked on human rights and against torture around the world. I say this with great pride because it has been a great focus of my time both even before I came to Congress and here. ...