A television advertisement for a heart stent that promotes the product's potential benefits but seems to play down the medical risks may deceive the public and should be reviewed by federal regulators, according to a commentary in The New England Journal of Medicine. The 60-second ad for the Cypher stent, made by the Cordis subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, fails to warn consumers adequately about the potential dangers of receiving a stent, two cardiologists argued in the essay, to appear in next Thursday's issue but already available online.

The polar bear, whose Arctic hunting grounds have been greatly reduced by a warming climate, will be placed under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne announced Wednesday.

MANILA: When the Australian miner Rusina started to extract nickel from its mining concession on the island of Luzon in March, the first major problem it faced was what to do about a highly organized illegal mining operation. The illegal miners working on Rusina's property did not feel the need to conceal their activity. Dozens of trucks, bearing the logo of a local contractor, lined up at the mine site to cart the stolen nickel ore away. "The brazenness is incredible," Rusina Mining's managing director, Robert Gregory, said.

HONG KONG: On the day of the Sichuan earthquake, I happened to be in Bengkulu, the province of Sumatra, Indonesia, which has been experiencing almost weekly quakes that measure about 5 on the Richter scale, following one that measured 8.5 last September. Despite its magnitude, that earthquake killed just 25 people. This raises the question: What combination of nature, chance, human activity and government competence determines the death toll when a cyclone, earthquake or tsunami strikes?

More than 60,000 people may have died as a result of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar, and at least 1.5 million are homeless or otherwise in desperate need of assistance. The Burmese military junta, one of the most morally repulsive in the world, has allowed in only a trickle of aid supplies. The handful of United States Air Force C-130 flights from Utapao Air Base here in Thailand is little more than symbolic, given the extent of the need.

BEIJING: China's capital recorded its first death from hand, foot and mouth disease on Wednesday as the authorities tried to contain the spread of the potent virus just three months before the city hosts the Olympic Games. The illness has sickened tens of thousands of children across the country and killed at least 42 people. A child died Sunday on the way to a hospital, according to Xinhua, the official news agency, which cited a Beijing Health Bureau spokeswoman, Deng Xiaohong. The director of the health bureau's publicity office, contacted by telephone, declined to comment.

JUNEAU, Alaska: Conservationists swoon at the possibility of it all. Here in Alaska, where melting arctic ice and eroding coastlines have made global warming an urgent threat, this little city has cut its electricity use by more than 30 percent in a matter of weeks, instantly establishing itself as a role model for how to go green, and fast.

Some public health experts are questioning why menthol, the most widely used cigarette flavoring and the most popular cigarette choice of black American smokers, is receiving special protection as Congress attempts to regulate tobacco for the first time. The legislation, which would give the Food and Drug Administration the power to oversee tobacco products, would try to reduce smoking's allure to young people by banning most flavored cigarettes, including clove and cinnamon.

DHAKA, Bangladesh: Potatoes are not traditionally high on the menu for the 140 million people in Bangladesh, but a surge in rice and wheat prices has prompted the government to popularize the humble spud as a substitute food. "Think potato, grow potato and eat potato," was the main slogan of a three-day potato festival in Dhaka last week.

DETROIT: Nissan Motor plans to sell an electric car in the United States and Japan by 2010, raising the stakes in the race to develop environmentally friendly vehicles. The commitment is the first by a major automaker to bring a zero-emission vehicle to the U.S. market. Nissan also expects to sell a lineup of electric vehicles globally by 2012.