A British backpacker has died while trekking through the Indonesian jungle after she drank suspected tainted alcohol, police said Saturday. Cheznye Emmons, 23, was travelling with fellow Briton Joseph Cook, 21, through lush rainforest on Sumatra island, where many tourists go to see endangered orangutans, according to a police report into the incident. The pair, accompanied by a third tourist, drank four bottles of local whisky called Mansion on April 20, according to the document.

WASHINGTON - The Energy Department on Friday conditionally approved a Texas company's proposal to export liquefied natural gas, only the second such project allowed to move forward amid a production boom that has led to glut of domestic natural gas. The action would allow Freeport LNG Expansion L.P. to export up to 1.4 billion cubic feet of liquefied natural gas per day from its terminal near Freeport, Texas, south of Houston. The DOE said granting such a permit for shipments to countries that do not have free trade agreements with the U.S. was in the public interest.

Below is information on the current background air quality in some of Europe's major cities based on data taken from http://www.airqualitynow.eu and recorded at 8:25 am GMT May 17.  City Quality Amsterdam  Very good [16] Berlin  Very good [23] Brussels  N/A Krakow  N/A Oslo  N/A Prague  Very good [16] London  Very good [19] Madrid  Very good [7] Paris  Good [39] Stockholm  Good [43] Zurich  Very good [8] Legend

A Japanese research team has found a more effective and less costly way of recovering rare earths from mineral ores by using salmon milt, it said Friday amid global interest in the materials essential for producing high-tech products such as hybrid car motors and mobile phone parts.