-- Isaac is now a hurrican with winds over 74 mph

-- Louisiana and Mississippi face a significant risk of flooding

-- Isaac left at least 19 dead in Haiti on its way to the U.S...

Out of all of China's endangered species, the giant panda might be the most recognizable to outsiders. But within China, one of the most iconic conservation battles has been the fight to save the Tibetan antelope, which in the 1980s and '90s was threatened by poachers seeking its silky underbelly wool.

While many conservation campaigns have floundered in China, efforts to protect the Tibetan antelope – which became a touchstone for the country's fledgling citizen environmental movement – have shown some success...

The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday that the number of Syrian refugees fleeing to Jordan last week had more than doubled from the previous week, raising further fears of a growing exodus from Syria that threatens to overwhelm international relief efforts.

Speaking to reporters in Geneva, Melissa Fleming, the chief spokeswoman for the refugee agency, said that 10,200 Syrians had crossed into northern Jordan between Aug. 21 and Aug. 27, compared to 4,500 the week before. The refugees, she said, included an increasing number of unaccompanied children, among them orphans and children sent ahead by parents, sometimes without passports...

This week marks the start of the Republican national convention, followed next week by the Democratic convention. They are elaborate, heavily-scripted, expensive affairs -- this year, Congress has set aside $100 million for security and $18 million to each party for balloons, signs and other party material -- with little of the drama and excitement of years past.

Are political conventions still significant in the democratic process? Are they worth the cost?...

Women in Togo have called a week-long sex strike to back their call for the resignation of the country's president, the Associated Press reports.

The ban is supported by an opposition coalition of political parties, civic groups and movements in the west African nation. The coalition wants President Faure Gnassingbe, whose family has held power for decades, to resign...

Obama doesn't like cozying up to billionaires. Could it cost him the election?

As a candidate, Barack Obama said we needed to reckon with race and with America's original sin, slavery. But as our first black president, he has avoided mention of race almosat entirely. In having to be "twice as good" and "half as black," Obama reveals the false promise and double standard of integration...

Silent Spring's lost legacy, told in fifty parts...

10. The Environmental Protection Agency credits Silent Spring for its existence.

11. You can think of fracking as a hostage exchange program. A drill bit opens a hole a mile deep, turns sideways, and then, like a robotic mole, tunnels horizontally through the shale bedrock for another mile or more. The hole is lined with steel pipe and cement. To initiate the fracturing process, explosives are sent down it. Then, fresh water (millions of gallons per well) is injected under high pressure to further break up the shale and shoot acids, biocides, friction reducers, and sand grains deep into the cracks. Trapped for 400 million years, the gas is now free to flow through the propped-open fractures up to the surface, where it is condensed, compressed, and sent to market via a network of pipelines. The water remains behind...

Neil Armstrong, who made the “giant leap for mankind” as the first human to set foot on the moon, died on Saturday. He was 82.

His family said in a statement that the cause was “complications resulting from cardiovascular procedures.” He had undergone heart bypass surgery this month in Cincinnati, near where he lived. His recovery had been going well, according to those who spoke with him after the surgery, and his death came as a surprise to many close to him, including his fellow Apollo astronauts. The family did not say where he died...

Mitt Romney unveiled an energy plan Thursday that he said would make North America energy independent by 2020, at what would be the end of his second term as president.

His plan would allow states more control over the development of energy resources on federal lands within their borders, as well as aggressively expand offshore oil and gas drilling — including along the coasts of Virginia and the Carolinas — as part of a broader effort to reach energy independence...