Japanese adults are way ahead in math and literacy skills than their peers in 23 other countries, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published Tuesday.

The study, conducted in 22 OECD member states as well as Russia and Cyprus, involved tests on 166,000 people aged between 16 and 65.

Environmental campaigners WWF filed a complaint on Monday against a British oil company accused of intimidating the local population and endangering wildlife in the oldest nature reserve in Africa.

The wildlife charity claims that Soco International's oil exploration activities in and around Virunga National Park in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo put "people, animals and habitats at risk" and violate international guidelines issued by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in a complaint to that organisation.

Three American winners of the Nobel Prize for Medicine on Monday said scientific progress in the United States is in peril due to unprecedented funding cuts and ideological challenges.

The scientists were honored for their work on how cells organize their cargo and move molecules -- a process that contributes to normal body and brain function but is also at the root of neurological diseases, diabetes, and immune disorders.

Mating is such an arduous and frenzied process for some male marsupials that it literally kills them, according to new Australian-led research.

Scientists had wondered for decades why some species of insect-eating marsupials dropped dead after sex, with speculation including that they died from fighting or to leave more food for their offspring.

A cloud of pollution descended over Beijing at the weekend, shrouding the city and its famous cultural landmarks in a thick haze amid a U.S. warning against physical activity outdoors.

The Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said on its website Sunday that pollution levels in the city's six core districts was at 225-245.

When Russia first floated the idea of sending the Olympic flame to the International Space Station (ISS) ahead of next year's Winter Games in Sochi, most people treated it as a joke.

It was February 2011, three years before the launch of the sporting extravaganza, when a top-ranking official in Russia's space agency suggested featuring the ISS in the traditional torch relay ceremony.

Americans James Rothman and Randy Schekman and German-born researcher Thomas Suedhof won the 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine on Monday for discoveries on how proteins and other materials are transported within cells.

The Nobel committee said their research on "vesicle traffic" — the transport system of our cells — helped scientists understand how "cargo is delivered to the right place at the right time" inside cells.

Spain's government said Friday there is a limited risk of a big earthquake shaking the eastern coast after a string of small tremors linked to a vast offshore gas storage plant.

In the past month, some 400 earthquakes have rattled the Gulf of Valencia, where a depleted oil reservoir is being used as a giant gas storage facility. The activity has frightened residents but so far caused no damage.

A landmark agreement aimed at getting the global airline sector to cut carbon emissions by 2020 was approved by the general assembly of the United Nations group that oversees civil aviation.

Delegates from 184 member countries of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) ratified the agreement on Friday.

A Japanese study is claiming that toxic air pollution from China is to blame for high mercury levels atop the country's beloved Mount Fuji.

The research will likely do little to help simmering hostilities between the Asian giants, a relationship marred by historical animosities and territorial disputes.