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By Ben Blanchard and Lucy Hornby BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China marked the start of the Year of the Dog on Sunday with fireworks and dumplings, as the biggest holiday in the Chinese world reached a crescendo. In Beijing, residents were allowed to set off fireworks and firecrackers in the city for the first time in 12 years, and used the opportunity with gusto, filling the sky into the early hours with brightly coloured explosions. At midnight on Lunar New Year's Eve in Shanghai, China's r ...

OVER THE NORTHERN GULF COAST (AP) -- Last year's record hurricane season didn't just change life for humans. It changed nature, too. Everywhere scientists look, they see disrupted patterns in and along the Gulf of Mexico. Coral reefs, flocks of sea birds, crab- and shrimp-filled meadows and dune-crowned beaches were wrapped up in -- and altered by -- the force of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Dennis. "Nothing's been like this," said Abby Sallenger, a U.S. Geological Survey oceanographer, durin ...

PARLIER, California (AP) -- Acres of leafless vineyards surround this town in California's San Joaquin Valley, the bare branches a stark reminder that in the middle of winter, there is little work in the fields. Traditionally, many of the migrants who crossed the border illegally to plant and harvest return home to Mexico by the time the winter fog unfurls over California's farm belt, emptying towns such as Parlier. That annual migration has slowed dramatically in the past few years as tougher ...