Singapore's air quality worsened further reaching "hazardous" levels late Thursday as thick smog from forest fires on Indonesia's neighboring island of Sumatra choked the city-state.

Thick gray smoke blown in by southerly winds smothered the island, shrouding the skyline and creeping into homes, with many residents avoiding going outdoors.

For the first time in decades, skygazers are in for the double spectacle Monday of a swollen "supermoon" bathed in the blood-red light of a total eclipse.

The celestial show, visible from the Americas, Europe, Africa, west Asia and the east Pacific, will be the result of the Sun, Earth and a larger-than-life, extra-bright Moon lining up for just over an hour from 0211 GMT. 

Fossils from a unique plant-eating dinosaur found in the high Arctic of Alaska may change how scientists view dinosaur physiology, say Alaska and Florida university researchers.

A paper published Tuesday concluded that fossilized bones found along Alaska's Colville River were from a distinct species of hadrosaur, a duck-billed dinosaur not connected to hadrosaurs previously identified in Canada and Lower 48 states.

A rare Sumatran rhino in Indonesia is pregnant with her second baby and expected to give birth in May, raising new hope for the critically endangered species, conservationists said Tuesday.

Only about 100 Sumatran rhinos are believed to exist in the entire world so the pregnancy is seen as tremendously good news for those trying to save the animals from extinction.

U.S. animal rights activists filed an unusual lawsuit on Tuesday on behalf of a macaque monkey who snapped selfie photographs, arguing it owned the photos rather than the nature photographer involved.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of six-year-old Naruto, seeking to have the macaque "declared the author and owner of his photograph."

An Irishman was extradited to the United States to face charges of trafficking in rhinoceros horns and faces five years in prison if guilty, U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday.

Patrick Sheridan is accused of using a "straw buyer" to purchase two black rhino horns from a taxidermist in Texas, prosecutors said. Sheridan and co-defendant and fellow Irishman Michael Slattery then took the horns to New York to sell on the black market.

Major U.S. companies including Walmart, Starbucks and Nike vowed Wednesday to move completely to renewable energy in the long term as part of a global effort against climate change.

The non-profit Climate Group announced the latest additions to its campaign during a week of events in New York that aim to build momentum for a global agreement to fight climate change.

Indonesia has revoked the licence of a timber supplier and suspended the operations of three palm oil plantation operators over fires that have blanketed Southeast Asia in haze, an official said Tuesday. 

The illegal blazes in Indonesia have sent smog floating over the region in recent weeks, causing thousands to fall ill, worsening air quality and reducing visibility in the archipelago, as well as in neighboring Singapore and Malaysia. 

On the remote rocky shores of the western United States, low tide brings visitors to wave-splashed tide pools to marvel at ocean wonders usually hidden from view. 

But recently, largely missing from the bounty are the biggest draw: a rainbow-hued array of starfish.

A critically endangered Sumatran elephant who had patrolled Indonesia's jungles to help protect threatened habitats has been killed for his tusks, an official said Monday, sparking a surge of anger online.

Yongki, a tame creature who worked with teams of elephant keepers, was found dead close to the camp where he lived in a national park on the western island of Sumatra, said park official Timbul Batubara.