SAN FRANCISCO – The Sierra Club is launching its own television series, teaming up with filmmaker Robert Greenwald to tell stories about individuals and communities fighting for environmental justice. “Sierra Club Chronicles” is a half-hour show that will air monthly. It is scheduled to premiere Thursday night on Link TV, …

ARUSHA, Tanzania – Rocks and boulders tumbled down Mount Kilimanjaro on Wednesday and crashed into a group of climbers sleeping in tents before their final ascent of Africa’s highest mountain. Three foreign climbers and an unknown number of guides were killed. A sudden change in weather at Kibo peak dislodged …

LOS ANGELES – Paris Hilton is accused of spewing “vicious lies” about an altercation with a romantic rival at a London nightclub, and harassing a business promoter in two lawsuits set for court this month. The first suit pits the hotel heiress-actress against diamond heiress-actress Zeta Graff, who is seeking …

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Syria and Iran are willing to help stabilize Iraq, as the Iraq Study Group recommended, but both countries will want something in return and neither has a magic solution to the chaos, Mideast officials and analysts said. Arabs paid close attention Wednesday to the group’s …

Washington, D.C. – On the issue of how Democrats will approach tax policy now that they control Congress, much attention has been paid to one thing — whether taxes will go up. For now, incoming House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., says he will stay away from the …

NEW YORK – Frantic family members are pleading for help in the search for a South Carolina husband and wife who seem to have vanished on their way to New York City last week. Wayne and Dianne Guay, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., were expected in the Ridgewood section of Queens …

A reminder of info I wrote about earlier. If you are mailing at the last minute try www.redroller.com to compare shipping costs. I found that it was able to find shipping at half the cost I had earlier found. A number of viewers e-mailed that they saved, too. Anita Vogel …

Following are selected quotes from Gerald R. Ford: On how he would like history to remember him: “I hope and trust that people and historians 50 years from now will write that the Ford administration took over in a very turbulent, controversial period, and we healed the wounds and that …

DENVER – A major snowstorm blew across Colorado toward the Plains on Wednesday, dumping more than a foot of snow in some places and forcing the airport to close, stranding thousands of holiday travelers. Authorities at times shut down major highways in parts of six states. The National Weather Service …

SYDNEY, Australi – Qantas Airways said Thursday it had accepted an $8.64 billion takeover offer from a private equity consortium including Australia’s Macquarie Bank and the Texas Pacific Group — one of the biggest corporate buyouts in Australian history. Qantas Chairman Margaret Jackson said the board had unanimously agreed to …