A LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner lands after a certification flight April 5, 2013 at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. The flight was the final certification test for the new battery system on 787, which has been grounded since January. (Stephen Brashear/Getty Images) WASHINGTON — Boeing's beleaguered 787 could be flying again within a week after federal officials approved a fix for its batteries, even though the root cause of a fire on one plane and smoke on another...

In this Sept. 26, 2006, file photo, knives of all sizes and types are piled in a box at the State of Georgia Surplus Property Division store in Tucker, Ga., and are just a few of the hundreds of items discarded at the security checkpoints of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport that will be for sale at the store. (AP Photo/Gene Blythe) (AP Photo/Gene Blythe) WASHINGTON -- Federal officials say they're delaying a policy that would allow passengers to carry small...

The Reed Flute Cave, a natural limestone cave in Guilin, Guangxi, China, dazzles tourists and visitors with its unique rock formations illuminated in multicolored lights. The artificial, ambient lighting creates a kaleidoscope of colors, and spotlights the stalagmites, stalactites and stone pillars of the 180 million-year-old cave, also called the "Palace of Natural Arts." Named after the reed that once grew at the entrance to the cave (and crafted into flutes), the Reed Flute Cave has been one of the...

Police stand guard under the shadow of the One World Trade tower as runners finish the 9/11 Memorial 5K Run/Walk on April 21, 2013 in New York City. (Photo: John Moore/Getty Images) NEW YORK — OneWorldTradeCenter already is New York's tallest building. And when the last pieces of its spire eventually rise to the roof, the 104-floor skyscraper that replaces the fallen twin towers will be just feet from becoming the highest in the Western Hemisphere. Officials had hoped that...

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) WASHINGTON -- Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has assured lawmakers the Obama administration will prevent the closure of 149 small airport towers as well as end furloughs of air traffic controllers nationwide as a result of legislation passed by Congress, according to officials involved in negotiations on the bill. The disclosure came as senators sought signatures on a letter to LaHood saying that that their support of the legislation "was based on the understanding that the contract...

City Methodist Church, Gary, Ind. With their domed roofs, majestic towers, elaborate arches and stained-glass windows, churches are some of the most beautiful structures in the world. But many of these historic buildings have been left abandoned, neglected and succumbing to nature. In his reports from abandoned cities such as Chernobyl, Ukraine and Varosha, Cyprus for his best-selling book "The World Without Us," Alan Weisman wrote that structures crumble as weather does unrepaired damage and other life forms create new...

This photograph taken from an aircraft shows an aerial view of Mount Everest and the Himalayan mountain range on April 3, 2013. (Prakash Mathema/AFP/Getty Images) KATMANDU, Nepal — Nepalese mountaineering officials say they are investigating reports of a fight between three foreign climbers and local Sherpa guides on Mount Everest. Dipendra Poudel of the Mountaineering Department said the three climbers — from Italy, Switzerland and Britain — were involved in arguments with some Sherpa guides on Sunday. Poudel says both...

View of Japan's highest peak, Mount Fuji, and other mountains covered with autumn leaves from a Hakone hot spring resort some 100kms west of Tokyo. TOKYO — Japan's iconic MountFuji looks likely to win recognition as a World Heritage site. The Agency for Cultural Affairs issued a notice Wednesday saying MountFuji was recommended for World Heritage status by the International Council on Monuments and Sites, a body affiliated with UNESCO. Formal approval is expected in June at a World Heritage...

A giant Rubber Duck created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman is towed along Hong Kong's Victoria Habour, May 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu) The weather in Hong Kong on Thursday was gloomy, but a new arrival provided a bright spot to the city's iconic skyline. A giant rubber duck, 46 feet tall and 55 feet long, sailed into Hong Kong's Victoria Harbor to cheers, a brass band, and the media's flashing cameras, according to CNN. The inflatable rubber duck, a...

(Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON -- Seventy-two airport towers and other air traffic control facilities that were slated to close at night due to budget cuts will get to stay open, the Federal Aviation Administration said Wednesday. The FAA had announced earlier this year that it would eliminate midnight shifts of air traffic controllers at 69 airport towers, two regional approach control facilities and one combination tower and approach control facility in order to meet across-the-board, automatic spending cuts required by...

A view of Tsim Sha Tsui West in Hong Kong. The photo is part of a series on Hong Kong cityscapes 'Vertical Horizon' by Romain Jacquet-Lagreze. (Photo: Romain Jacquet-Lagreze) With 1,248 skyscrapers above 100m (328 feet) in height, the most among any country in the world, Hong Kong is the world's most vertical city. In a series titled "Vertical Horizon," French graphic artist and photographer Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze captures Hong Kong's "architectural race to the sky" with breathtaking images of the...

The Lake Project 20, 2002 (Photo: David Maisel) In Black Maps: American Landscape and the Apocalyptic Sublime (, 2013), a collection of aerial photographs of environmentally impacted sites, captures surreal images of open-pit mines, clear-cut forests, rampant urbanization and sprawl, and zones of water reclamation. Though beautiful, Maisel's images tell a tragic story about the American landscape, and humankind's conflicted relationship with nature. Black Maps presents more than 100 photos that span Maisel's two-decade career. Here, we take a look...