LOS SAUCOS, Mexico (Reuters) - Dense clouds of migrating monarch butterflies used to snap branches and cast shadows across the forests of central Mexico, but severe weather is posing a new threat to the annual phenomenon. The yearly 2,000-mile journey, which takes four generations of butterflies to complete, starts in Canada and ends in the Mexican state of Michoacan, which ...

The Canadian government unveiled a new North American avalanche danger scale to warn backcountry skiers and others entering avalanche terrain of dangers. The scale also provides the first international standard for the use of icons in avalanche warnings. "This is the most comprehensive and complete avalanche warning system designed to date," Canadian Environment Minister Jim Prentice said in a statement ...

US ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual said Wednesday that Mexico's clampdown on drug traffickers could provoke more violence in the short term. In comments to Mexican media days after deadly attacks on US citizens and their families in Ciudad Juarez, Pascual warned of a possible escalation of violence. "It's possible that the measures they (the Mexican authorities) are ...