The National Park Service is contemplating doing just that: giving the 133,000-acre southern half of Badlands National Park back to its rightful owners

almost 300,000 people have been uprooted by violence, and families forage in the forests to escape anti-government rebels who raze their villages and child-abducting bandits. They raid and loot with impunity as the government has little control

On the eve of President Bush's trip to Africa, his administration has decided to drastically cut money for United Nations peacekeeping missions in war-torn countries there. Hmmm! Can you say economic stimluus package?

As the price of oil approaches $100 a barrel, the US military is scrambling to stretch their budgets to cover soaring energy costs. Isn't it high time that the parties who are benefiting from high energy costs help fund the war conducted on their behalf.

The "Lighting Africa" initiative, including a $12 million competition to design the best business model for providing light for Africans, hopes to do for cheap low-energy lighting what entrepreneurs have already done for cellphones.

A bit of sadness is a common companion of aging. Over time, after all, seniors may lose vigor, independence, and even loved ones. But when melancholy becomes outright depression, the elderly are at risk of diabetes, heart disease, and even suicide.

A reader in drought stricken Georgia of the "Ask Umbra" column struggles with whether to use paper plates to reduce water usage or use her dishes and use the water to wash them. A choice that many of us may face in the near future

Food flown into the UK will be stripped of its organic status unless it meets new stricter ethical standards, the Soil Association has warned.

Cairo - The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in the midst of one of its largest crackdowns against public dissent in a decade.

During Burma's short-lived uprising late last month, young dissidents risked their lives to smuggle news of their peaceful protest to the outside world. They may have been up against Internet censorship software designed in America, if a connection found