About a dozen killer whales trapped under sea ice appeared to be free after the ice shifted, village officials in Canada's remote north said Thursday, while residents who feared they would get stuck elsewhere hired a plane to track them down.

The whales' predicament in the frigid waters of Hudson Bay made international headlines, and locals had been planning a rescue operation with chainsaws and drills before the mammals slipped away.

Hong Kong's name may mean "fragrant harbour", but cargo ships burning dirty fuel in what is one of the world's busiest ports add to a foul layer of pollution that kills more than 3,000 people a year.

Now the government is vowing to get tough, with activists hoping mandatory restrictions on shipping emissions will be among a raft of measures announced next week aimed at making the city more environmentally friendly.

Western Australians were bracing Friday for a cyclone with residents warned to batten down for storms and destructive winds gusting up to 140 kilometers per hour (90 mph).

Cyclone Narelle was estimated to be 525 kilometers (325 miles) north of Exmouth and 505 kilometers north-west of Karratha near the Pilbara mining region and moving southwest at 13 kilometers per hour.

The U.N.'s climate science panel bemoaned Wednesday a fresh leak of data from a landmark report on global warming that it will start releasing this year.

"Clearly, it is regrettable, all the leaked material is in draft form, internal working documents," Jean-Pascal van Ypersele, vice president of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told Agence France Presse.

Astronauts chosen for a manned mission to Mars could be in serious trouble if their sleep patterns are disrupted on the lengthy journey, a 520 day simulation has found.

"The success of human interplanetary spaceflight, which is anticipated to be in this century, will depend on the ability of astronauts to remain confined and isolated from Earth much longer than previous missions or simulations," said David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania, who co-authored the sleep study.

Breeding season is underway for the endangered tortoises of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, whose mating and nesting habits are carefully watched by wildlife specialists hoping to save them from extinction.

Nesting began last month at Galapagos National Park and will be monitored through June to determine how many female tortoises have prepared nests and how many hatchlings are likely to emerge.

Japan will launch a survey of its Pacific seabed, an official said Thursday, hoping to find rare earth deposits large enough to supply its high-tech industries and reduce its dependence on China.

Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology will start the probe from January 21 on the seabed near Minamitorishima island, some 2,000 kilometers (1,250 miles) southeast of Tokyo, he said.

Astronauts chosen for a manned mission to Mars could be in serious trouble if their sleep patterns are disrupted on the lengthy journey, a 520 day simulation has found.

"The success of human interplanetary spaceflight, which is anticipated to be in this century, will depend on the ability of astronauts to remain confined and isolated from Earth much longer than previous missions or simulations," said David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania, who co-authored the sleep study.

Record temperatures across southern Australia cooled Wednesday, reducing the danger from scores of raging wildfires but likely bringing only a brief reprieve from the summer's extreme heat and fire risk.

Australia had its hottest day on record Monday with a nationwide average of 40.33 degrees Celsius (104.59 degrees Fahrenheit), narrowly breaking a 1972 record of 40.17 C (104.31 F). Tuesday was the third hottest day at 40.11 C (104.20 F). Four of Australia's hottest 10 days on record have been in 2013.

Animal rights activists claimed a major victory Tuesday in their campaign to stop global airlines from transporting monkeys for use in laboratory experiments.

In a statement, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said it had been told by United Airlines that it would ban the transport of primates to laboratories under the terms of its cargo policy.