Siberia

Russian environmentalists and opposition activists Wednesday condemned as "irresponsible" a bill on the disposal of nuclear waste that is being debated by the Russian parliament.

Dressed in the red and black uniform of the Cossacks, a sabre sheathed at her side, Yulia Tkachenko is the only woman "ataman" or leader of the legendary warriors, but there is no doubt who is in charge.

2 NKoreans enter SKorean consulate in Russia, seek asylum in the US, activist says. Two North Koreans who fled poor conditions at a Russian logging camp and later worked odd jobs sought asylum Tuesday at the South Korean consulate in an eastern Russian city, according to a human rights activist and news reports.

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service chief on Saturday confirmed the death of a prominent Islamist rebel who he accused of plotting a bomb attack on a Moscow-to-St Petersburg train that killed 26 people last year.

OSLO (Reuters) - Large amounts of a powerful greenhouse gas are bubbling up from a long-frozen seabed north of Siberia, raising fears of far bigger leaks that could stoke global warming, scientists said.

Methane is leaking into the atmosphere from unstable permafrost in the Arctic Ocean faster than scientists had thought and could worsen global warming, a study said Thursday.

42,000 year-old intact baby mammoth from Ice Age on display at The Field Museum in Chicago. Some 42,000 years after scientists say she fell into mud near a river and suffocated to death, an intact baby woolly mammoth from the Ice Age is to go on display for the first time in the United States at The Field Museum.

Tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species, flock each year to an unlikely haven sandwiched between high-rise Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the towering frontier of mainland China.

Tens of thousands of birds, including rare and endangered species, flock each year to an unlikely haven sandwiched between high-rise Hong Kong and Shenzhen, the towering frontier of mainland China.

The threat of extinction for the majestic Siberian crane is receding thanks to cooperation among countries including China, Russia and Iran, the UN said Wednesday.

SAYANO-SHUSHENSKAYA DAM, Russia (Reuters) - Russian Premier Vladimir Putin threatened on Wednesday to slap heavy fines on some of the country's top tycoons for not investing enough in the power sector, while praising Western investors.

The threat of extinction for the majestic Siberian crane is receding thanks to cooperation among countries including China, Russia and Iran, the UN said Wednesday.

Russian metals giant Rusal cut its annual aluminium output by 11 percent in 2009 but could increase it this year, the company said in its full year production results Monday.

Australia's Russian-born short-track skating hope Tatiana Borodulina vowed Thursday to come back fighting after her heart-breaking exit from the 500-metre race.

After 4,000 years, DNA suggests ancient Greenland man had risk of baldness and even dry earwax. Scientists have pieced together most of the DNA of a man who lived in Greenland about 4,000 years ago, a pioneering feat that revealed hints about his appearance and even an increased risk of baldness. It's the first genome from an ancient human, showing the potential for what one expert called a time machine for learning about the biology of ancient people.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists have sequenced the DNA from four frozen hairs of a Greenlander who died 4,000 years ago in a study they say takes genetic technology into several new realms.

Russian police break up opposition protests, detain scores of demonstrators. Russian police broke up anti-Kremlin protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday, and detained more than 100 demonstrators, including several opposition leaders.

Reopening Siberian plant to save jobs, raises fear of harm to world's largest freshwater lake. Management of a paper mill on the shore of the world's oldest and largest freshwater lake say the mill's reopening poses no accident risk to Lake Baikal's unique and fragile ecosystem.

Russian metals giant UC Rusal plunged on its Hong Kong stock market debut Wednesday but the controversial firm's boss expressed confidence about tapping the resources-hungry Chinese market.

Russian metals giant UC Rusal tumbled on its Hong Kong stock market debut Wednesday but the controversial firm's boss expressed confidence about tapping the resources-hungry Chinese market.