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HARRISBURG, Pa. - Radioactive dust unexpectedly blew out of a pipe being cut by workers during weekend maintenance at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant, and officials on Monday were trying to determine exactly how and why it happened.

WASHINGTON - Since the 1997 international accord to fight global warming, climate change has worsened and accelerated — beyond some of the grimmest of warnings made back then.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Federal officials are investigating a radiation leak at Three Mile Island, scene of the worst U.S. nuclear power accident, but said on Sunday there was no threat to public health or safety.

Protecting Jungles: One Way to Combat Global Warming

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday appealed for wide-ranging cooperation with the United States on areas such as climate change and defense as he started a high-profile state visit.

MAUNA LOA OBSERVATORY, Hawaii - The readings at this 2-mile-high station show an upward curve as the world counts down to climate talks: Global warming gases have built up to record levels in the atmosphere, from emissions that match scientists' worst-case scenarios.

GENEVA (AFP) - Flooding in the world's major port cities caused by melting icecaps could cause up to 28 trillion dollars (18 trillion euros) in damage in 2050, environmental group WWF said in a report Monday.

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Gordon Brown warned fellow world leaders on Sunday that they "cannot afford to fail" to strike a substantial deal on climate change in Copenhagen next month.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - A pair of astronauts zipped through the third and final spacewalk of their mission Monday, installing an enormous oxygen tank at the International Space Station and accomplishing everything else on their list.

BRUSSELS (AFP) - The UN's top climate negotiator voiced optimism Monday that a deal can be salvaged next month at world talks on global warming, but said US President Barack Obama must offer a target and financing.

BRASILIA, Brazil - British pop star Sting says Brazil's government should listen to the voices of local indigenous groups before building a massive hydroelectric dam in the Amazon rain forest.

"Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate" (National Geographic, 295 pages, $28), by Stephen H. Schneider: Stephen H. Schneider, winner of one of those $500,000 genius grants, has written a witty, informative and impassioned account of perils he sees in global warming and what to do about them.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of animal species thrive in the ocean depths beyond the reach of sunlight, between 200 to 5,000 meters below the surface, an international team of scientists has reported after nearly 10 years of research.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Astronauts from the US space shuttle Atlantis began the third and final spacewalk of their mission aimed at building the International Space Station, NASA reported on Monday.

NATRONA, Pa. - The federal government and the Allegheny County Health Department have sued Allegheny Ludlum Corp. and a contractor for alleged air pollution violations at a slag dump near Pittsburgh.

A member of the first three-person space crew whose flight was onboard a vehicle he helped design, cosmonaut Konstantin Feoktistov passed away at age 83 on Saturday, according to a statement by the Russian space agency Roscosmos.

NEW ORLEANS - The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

DALI, China (AFP) - In the mountains above the southwestern Chinese town of Dali, dozens of new wind turbines dot the landscape -- a symbol of the country's sky-high ambitions for clean, green energy.

PARIS (AFP) - The East Antarctic icesheet, once seen as largely unaffected by global warming, has lost billions of tonnes of ice since 2006 and could boost sea levels in the future, according to a new study.

LONDON - A leading climate change scientist whose private e-mails are included in thousands of documents that were stolen by hackers and posted online said Sunday the leaks may have been aimed at undermining next month's global climate summit in Denmark.

COPENHAGEN - Sixty-five world leaders have said they will attend the Copenhagen climate summit in December, and several more have responded positively to invitations, Danish officials said Sunday.

The deep sea is teeming with thousands of species that have never known sunlight, explorers now say.

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Sixty-five world leaders have confirmed they will attend next month's U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen which Danish officials hope will bring strong political commitment for a new treaty to combat global warming.