Population

Growth in the world's population is slowing, meaning pressure on natural resources such as drinking water and crop land will ease, according to a report by Population Action International. Despite the slowdown, the report said, the world's population of more than 6 billion—four times as many as were alive in 1900—still will double by 2050.

Bees

On a remote island in Canada, French and Canadian bees are busy producing what scientists hope will be a new superbee, resistant to deadly varroa mites that have crippled the global honey market. French queen bees, which have shown signs of resistance to the bug, were flown over to mate with Canadian bees, who have not proved as hardy against the mites. Although only about the size of a pinhead, the varroa mite can destroy tens of thousands of bees in only six months by feeding and reproducing off the blood of larvae. Over the past 20 years, the parasite has devastated honeybee colonies all over the world.

Locusts

More than four million acres of agricultural land have been sprayed with pesticide in a bid to combat swarms of locusts in Russia's Volgograd region. A 20-kilometer wide cloud of green Asiatic locusts, each the size of a sparrow, has swept onto farmland from neighboring Kazakhstan. Locusts have also invaded southern Siberia's Omsk region.

Temple Mount

Palestinian leaders warn Israel that a plan to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem could provoke a war in the Middle East. The warning comes after the Chief Rabbinical Council announced that it was setting up a committee to "realize our rights and sovereignty on the Temple Mount." Ikrema Sabri, the Mufti of Jerusalem, says that building a synagogue there would start a war and "only God knows where it would lead." Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, the most senior Islamic administrator at al-Haram al-Sharif, appealed to Israel: "Don't play with fire, this is not politics, this is religion, and if something happened, God forbid, you will find millions of Muslims willing to sacrifice their souls for our holy places."

European Union

The European Union is moving closer to developing its own military force apart from NATO, forcing some of its members to either abandon a cherished tradition of neutrality or be left behind. The term "neutral" is going out of fashion in Europe in favor of the fuzzier "militarily nonaligned." Officials in EU neutrals Sweden, Finland, Austria and Ireland say this has made it easier for them to join fully in the EU's common security and defense policy while maintaining at least a fig leaf of neutrality. The new EU assertiveness is part of a growing European confidence spawned by the economic success of the 15-nation bloc and a desire to play a larger role on the world stage.

Cloning

» The cloned barnyard has a new resident: the pig, a creature researchers say holds promise for growing organs to replace ailing hearts, livers and kidneys in humans. "Pigs have an enormous potential for" transplanting organs to humans, said Tony Perry, a Rockefeller University researcher. "This is a breakthrough toward that goal."
» The creators of Dolly the Sheep are halting their research into genetically modifying pigs for human organ transplants. The decision is motivated in part by fears that transplanting animal organs into people could unleash deadly new viruses among the human population. Pigs are physiologically one of the closest animals to humans, and so of particular interest to scientists looking to fill a shortage of transplant organs.

Weapons

Reversing a downward trend, the U.S. and most other nations are spending more on weapons despite a sharp decline in Russia and Eastern Europe, a State Department study shows. The U.S. is by far the biggest arms exporter, with shipments more than four times greater than runner-up Britain's. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, is the leading importer of military goods, buying more than 2 times as many as China, ranking second. On the average, the world spent $145 a person for military forces in 1997, the most recent year covered in the study, a sharp drop from the peak of $271 per person in 1987. Overall, world military spending rose to $842 billion in 1997, an increase of $32 billion, or 2%, from the previous year.