A strong earthquake jolted people awake Saturday in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and nearby Puerto Rico. There were no immediate reports of damages.

The magnitude 6.1 quake was the strongest to hit Puerto Rico in 20 years, according to Christa von Hillebrandt, director of the seismic network on the Mayaguez campus of the University of Puerto Rico.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck was centered about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Anegada in the British Virgin Islands.

The text message from the elephant flashed across Richard Lesowapir's screen: Kimani was heading for neighboring farms.

The huge bull elephant had a long history of raiding villagers' crops during the harvest, sometimes wiping out six months of income at a time. But this time a mobile phone card inserted in his collar sent rangers a text message. Lesowapir, an armed guard and a driver arrived in a jeep bristling with spotlights to frighten Kimani back into the Ol Pejeta conservancy.

Kenya is the first country to try elephant texting as a way to protect both a growing human population and the wild animals that now have less room to roam. Elephants are ranked as 'near threatened' in the Red List, an index of vulnerable species published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Officials say a strong earthquake has hit Russia's North Caucasus region, an uncommon occurrence for the region. No reports of damage or injuries have been immediately reported.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the quake hit around 1 p.m. Saturday and registered as a preliminary magnitude of 5.9. It was centered northeast of the Chechen capital, Grozny.

Russian news agencies say it was felt throughout the North Caucasus. Interfax says the quake rattled Grozny for more than 30 seconds.

Russia's Caucasus Mountain region sees occasional earthquakes. Most buildings are not reinforced against severe structural shocks and even small quakes can cause serious damage.

The entire Oregon coast has been closed to mussel harvesting due to marine toxins.

The booming prices for Venezuelan oil, Brazilian soy beans and Chilean copper that brought prosperity to Latin America are heading for a bust that threatens to erode the hard-won gains of its poor and newly ...

Cuba is limiting how much basic fruits and vegetables people can buy at farmers' markets, irritating some customers but ensuring there's enough _ barely _ to go around.

The museum exhibits are taken from the Old Testament, but the special effects are pure Hollywood: a state-of-the-art planetarium, animatronics and a massive model of Noah's Ark, all intended to explain the ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is expected to release its initial forecast for this year's citrus harvest.

At the J.S. West and Cos. poultry farm, 500,000 chickens are squeezed six at a time into wire cages where they must share 2 square feet of space.

MOTHS MOVE: Moths, like those collected here on El Ceibo, are among the tropical species who may face difficulties with global warming.

The U.S. Agriculture Department accused a Michigan farmer of an illegal harvest, but Robert Cleary insists his crop stayed in the ground.

Some rural Zimbabweans facing one of the hungriest years they could remember have been forced to live on a meal a day and in some cases only on wild fruits, the U.N. food aid agency said Thursday.

Just what Floridians want: more cockroaches. University of Florida researchers warn that a growing interest in raising the creepy crawlers as lizard food could create new varieties of cockroaches.

Southeast Asian countries should strengthen their regulations to shield people from potentially harmful food and agricultural products that move easily across borders in the era of free trade, health officials said Thursday.

The scandal over tainted Chinese milk and dairy products was expected to be raised in a two-day meeting of health ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Manila, Philippine Health Secretary Francisco Duque III said.

'Presently, our governments are confronted with the fear engendered by melamine milk products finding their way into our local markets,' Duque said in a speech. 'Such is the trade-off of globalization _ that is, a globalization without effective and coordinated global governance.'

Disaster assistance from Tropical Storm Fay is being made available to agriculture producers in 59 of Florida's 67 counties, the state announced today.

Gov. Phil Bredesen has requested a federal agricultural disaster designation for 11 more counties suffering from drought.

The Associated Press 2 comments Karl Merk, center, and his surgeons Christoph Hoehnke, right, and Edgar Biemer, left, attend a news... Karl Merk, center, and his surgeons Christoph Hoehnke, right, and Edgar ...

"Elevators play a crucial role in getting food from the farm to the grocery store," said Andrew McKenzie, associate professor of agricultural economics and agribusiness.

Perennial college football powerhouse Penn State University is promoting glossy trading cards similar to those collected by sports fans.

Mental health counselors were on the alert Tuesday for calls from people depressed or possibly suicidal about money woes, after an unemployed financial manager killed five family members and himself.