By Jeff Mason BERLIN (Reuters) - In the city where John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan gave defiant Cold War speeches, President Barack Obama will call on Wednesday for a renewed spirit of activism by the West in tackling 21st century challenges from nuclear proliferation to climate change. Fresh from a two day summit with Group of Eight leaders in Northern Ireland, Obama concludes his short European sojourn with a trip to Berlin, the German capital that he last visited as a presidential candidate in 2008. A lot has changed since then. ...

Pool Corp., which distributes supplies for swimming pools, cut its profit estimate for the year because cool, wet weather in North America and Europe is hurting its sales. The company said the unusually ...

In Alaska, houses are built to keep warm air in and cold air out, not the other way around. So with a record-setting heat wave scorching the state, residents are sweltering amidst temperatures soaring past 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

LONDON (AP) — The best advice for visitors to Britain — pack an umbrella — is more vital than ever.

Hawaii fishermen on Monday asked policymakers to address how runoff caused by land development harms reefs, fisheries and oceans when they consider how to cope with the effects of climate change. Ocean ...

Warmer and drier weather across North Dakota last week allowed farmers to get the last of their crops planted. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says in its weekly crop report that there were 5 days suitable ...

By Environment Correspondent Alister Doyle OSLO (Reuters) - Few religious communities have gone as far in fighting climate change as a church in Queensland, Australia, which has 24 solar panels bolted to the roof in the shape of a Christian cross. "It's very effective. It's inspired some members of our congregation to install panels on their homes," Reverend David Lowry said of the "solar cross" mounted in 2009 on the Caloundra Uniting Church, which groups three Protestant denominations. ...

By Environment Correspondent Deborah Zabarenko WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. mayors pledged Monday to make their communities more resilient to increasingly severe floods, droughts, extreme storms and wildfires, which they said was more efficient and cost-effective than disaster clean-up afterwards. Four dozen elected officials, from localities as diverse as Washington D.C., Des Moines, Iowa and Santa Barbara County, California, released a one-page plan which laid out actions such as using more renewable energy and making buildings and infrastructure more energy-efficient. ...

NEW YORK (AP) — Soybeans dropped as improving weather across the Midwest boosted the outlook for this year's crop.

Madagascar is famous worldwide for being the only place on Earth where the evolutionary freaks known as lemurs run wild. But Madagascar’s wealth of weird and wonderful species found nowhere else on Earth isn’t limited to peculiar primates with oversized eyes. Madagascar is also home to some of the rarest tortoises in the world, which in addition to being threatened by habitat loss and climate change, are also being pushed to the brink of extinction by the exotic pet trade.