SHANGHAI: A sharp drop in first-half profit at the biggest Chinese carmaker underlined how slowing economic growth and higher .fuel prices are putting the brakes on the Chinese auto sector.

SALT LAKE CITY: The best deal on fuel in the United States right now might be here in Utah, where people are waiting in lines to pay the equivalent of 87 cents a gallon.

CANBERRA: On the cracked gray clay of an ancient lake bed on the edge of Australia's outback, Guy Kingwill is at the frontier of a global rush to commercialize water.

ST.

Amazon deforestation jumped 69 percent in the past 12 months

Scores of people have protested in Beijing against a garbage disposal' plant that they say has been releasing noxious fumes into the air, with two demonstrators hurt in a scuffle with security officia

An earthquake that hit the southern Chinese provinces of I Sichuan and Yunnan has killed 25 people, damaged or destroyed more than 100,000 homes, and affected at least 600,000 residents, state media s

NEW ORLEANS: City officials ordered everyone to leave New Orleans beginning Sunday morning

MELBOURNE: Kirin, the Japanese brewer, is expanding its food business in Australia through the acquisition of Dairy Farmers by its National Foods division.

The acquisition, for 910 million Australian dollars, or $780 million, is intended to help it diversify away from a shrinking domestic beer market.

HOUSTON: American natural gas production is rising at a clip not seen in decades, pushing down prices of the fuel and reversing conventional wisdom that U.S. gas fields were in irreversible decline.

The new drilling boom uses advanced technology to release gas trapped in huge shale beds found throughout North America