Science News

MELBOURNE, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Australian scientists say they are a step closer to diagnosing and vaccinating against a puzzling facial cancer driving Tasmanian devils toward near-extinction.

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The California Science Center has been sued for canceling a film that attacked the science of evolution and promoted intelligent design, court records say.

Ammonia-treated U.S. beef questioned ... Observatory finds thousands of galaxies ... Swine flu still strong in E. Europe, Asia ... Tobacco seen as future auto fuel ... Health/Science news from UPI.

BUENOS AIRES, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Amid worries over Argentina's agricultural sales abroad, Argentine fisheries have been hit by falling exports and prospects of ever decreasing yields because of decline in marine life in the country's waters, industry scientists said.

LONDON, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The director of Britain's National Science Learning Center, known for bringing excitement back into Britain's science classes, was made a knight Thursday.

JAKARTA, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Indonesia has completed the first part of a three-part system to provide rapid early warnings against tsunamis, officials said.

BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The preliminary deals signed by Angola's state oil company, Sonangol, Wednesday to develop two small fields in the most dangerous part of Iraq constituted a major breakthrough for Baghdad's high-risk drive to attract international oil companies to help it restore its flagging fortunes and transform the global energy market.

BEIJING, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- With the world's highest level of greenhouse gas emissions and the largest market in the world by floor space, building "green" is becoming the architectural trend in China.

SHADEGAN, Iran, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Iranian emergency responders are struggling to protect a massive wetland from fires and contamination from an oil well that exploded early this week.

MOSCOW, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Ukraine will raise the rate it charges for the transit of Russian natural gas to Europe by more than 58 percent in 2010, Russian gas monopoly Gazprom said.

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- A court in the Netherlands said it would hear a case against supermajor Royal Dutch Shell brought by Nigerian farmers complaining of environmental damage.

MOSCOW, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The number of oil spills from pipelines operated by Russian-Anglo venture TNK-BP in 2009 dropped 70 percent compared with 2005 levels, the company said.

ASTANA, Kazakhstan, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The government of Kazakhstan announced it became the largest uranium miner in the world amid nuclear trading concerns with Iran.

BOULDER, Colo., Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency's $2.2 billion Herschel Space Observatory has found thousands of galaxies in early stages of formation, scientists said.

NEW YORK, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- World leaders embrace the idea that global climate change requires attention but differ on the best way forward, the U.N. secretary-general said in New York.