The appetite-curbing hormone leptin influences brain circuits that tell us when we are hungry and when we are full, according to a study released Monday that could help in the fight against obesity.

The mysterious "mass suicide" of 152 dolphins washed up on Iran's coast over the past month has alarmed environmentalists, with the blame pointed at regional fishing practices, officials said on Monday.

China now has 106 billionaires, seven times as many as last year, according to a list published Wednesday that underlined the rapidly growing economic muscle of the Asian giant.

Europe needs to take drastic action to reverse complex environmental issues that have shortened the life expectancy of its people by almost a year, the European Environmental Agency said Wednesday.

A member of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party has died after torture and interrogation, a rights group said Wednesday, as possible talks between her and the junta failed to develop.

Fresh from summit diplomacy with North Korea, South Korea's government now faces an entirely new challenge -- trying to set international quality and size standards for condoms.

Blood transfusions may do more harm than good for a majority of patients because banked blood begins to lose a key gas almost immediately after it is donated, researchers said Monday.

The 2006 runner-up has been moved up to first position after American Floyd Landis was stripped of the title for doping.