Scientists said Tuesday they have for the first time looked inside an overheating lithium-ion battery, using sophisticated X-ray imaging to identify ways to make the ubiquitous technology safer.

Light and rechargeable, the Li-ion battery powers our world -- everything from mobile phones, cameras and computers to electric cars and recently also e-cigarettes.

The United States intends to "set an example for the world" in fighting climate change, Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, adding that the issue is a U.S. foreign policy priority.

"Our ambassadors will be directed to develop meaningful commitments and creative solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," Kerry said in an op-ed in The Hill newspaper, a Washington publication covering Congress and politics.

Russian officials said Tuesday an unmanned Progress spacecraft carrying supplies to the International Space Station had suffered a glitch, after a successful launch earlier in the day.

"The ship reached orbit but the full volume of telemetry (data transmissions) is not being received," a spokesman for the mission control told AFP.

The use of air conditioning may rise dramatically by the end of the century, requiring far more electricity and sending pollutants into the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, researchers warned Monday.

Refrigerators and air conditioners release hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which can be thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and leading to global warming.

Older cats may get seizures after hearing certain loud, high-pitched sounds like keys rattling, tin foil crinkling, or a metal spoon banging against a food dish, researchers said Monday.

Even sounds as ordinary as tapping on a computer keyboard, hammering a nail or the noise of a clucking tongue could set off a temporary seizure, mainly in cats over the age of 10, said the report in the Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery.

The earthquake that devastated Nepal and left thousands of people dead shifted the earth beneath Kathmandu by up to several metres south, but the height of Mount Everest likely stayed the same, experts said Tuesday.

The massive 7.8-magnitude quake on Saturday was the Himalayan nation's deadliest disaster in more than 80 years, killing more than 4,300 people and causing massive destruction.

Thailand seized 3 tons of ivory hidden in tea leaf sacks from Kenya in the second-biggest bust in the country's history, one week after the biggest seizure, customs officials said Monday.

The 511 elephant tusks worth $6 million, bound for Laos, were seized upon arrival Saturday at a major port in Chonburi province in eastern Thailand. The bust came after customs officials received a tip-off in Laos and Thailand and tracked the containers from Kenya, Customs Department Director-General Somchai Sujjapongse told reporters.

Crowded Japan has got a little bit roomier after a 300-meter (1,000-foot) strip of land emerged from the sea and attached itself to the coast, experts said Monday.

The extra stretch of coastline at the town of Rausu on Hokkaido island has risen as high as 10 meters from the sea surface in some places, exposing what used to be the ocean floor to the elements.

The EU has cleared 19 controversial genetically modified products including human food, animal feed and cut flowers, the European Commission said Friday.

The new lines are produced by companies including US giants Monsanto and DuPont, and German firms Bayer and BASF.

Scientists are getting their best look yet at the DNA code for the woolly mammoth, thanks to work that could be a step toward bringing back the extinct beast.

Researchers deciphered the complete DNA code, or genomes, of two mammoths. The new genomes are far more refined than a previous one announced in 2008.