From fighters to friends, Vick's pit bulls learn new life

His back resting comfortably against her chest, Hector nestles his massive canine head into Leslie Nuccio's shoulder. The big dog -- 52 pounds -- is social, people-focused, happy now, it seems, wearing a rhinestone collar in his new home in sunny California. But as Hector sits up, deep scars stand out on his chest, and his eyes are imploring.

Hector ought to be dead, Nuccio knows -- killed in a staged fight, executed for not winning or euthanized by those who see pit bulls seized in busts as "kennel trash," unsuited to any kind of normal life. Instead, Hector is learning how to be a pet. (CNN)

Inspirational Basketball Player Defies Disability

Dax Crum plays division 1 basketball, averaging 18.6 points per game, even though he was born without a right hand. His coach says, "They ought to build a monument of him, all about defying the odds and playing for the right reasons." (FOX Sports)

NHLers to help ice global warming

NHL hockey is going green.

In a first for a major North American professional sports league, the National Hockey League Players Association is teaming up with the David Suzuki Foundation to promote action on climate change. And players are taking the lead by buying carbon credits to offset the environmental impact of their extensive travel during season play. (Toronto Star)

Dolls for World Peace

Elderly women in an assisted living center are recapturing life by making dolls for children in Darfur. Two thousand dolls have been made, each one soft and cuddly to serve the smallest child, and the project has grown. Dolls for World Peace has become "an intergenerational effort as disabled adults, girl scouts and people from the homeless shelter have joined them in making dolls." (Good News Network)

Woman Searching for Father Discovers She's Been Working In His Home

A Vietnamese woman searching for her father worked at his home in Taiwan for seven months without realising who he was. (AP)

Simon Cowell to Leave His Millions to Charity

Music mogul Simon Cowell has vowed to leave the majority of his $200 million fortune to a variety of children's and animals charities upon his death, writing it into his will. (Good News Network)

Mexico City Rolls Out Women-Only Buses

Groping and verbal harassment is an exasperating reality for women using public transportation in this sprawling capital, where 22 million passengers cram onto subways and buses each day. Some men treat women so badly that the subway system has long had ladies-only cars during rush hour, with police segregating the sexes on the platforms.

But that hasn't helped women forced to rely on packed buses, by far the city's most-used form of public transportation — until this week.

Acting on complaints from women's groups, the city rolled out "ladies only" buses, complete with pink signs in the windshields to wave off the men. (AP)

New Jersey scraps plan to buy Amazon rainforest timber

The city council of Ocean City in New Jersey voted 6-0 last Thursday to cancel a $1.1 million purchase of ipê timber originating in the Amazon rainforest. The move came after a campaign by environmental groups, including Ecological Internet, which runs Forests.org, a forest news web site. (Mongabay.com)

Huge kite helps container ship across Atlantic

Inventor expects major drop in fuel costs and warming emissions

Oil at more than $90 a barrel is concentrating minds in the shipping industry. Higher fuel costs and mounting pressure to curb emissions are leading modern merchant fleets to rediscover the ancient power of the sail. (Reuters)

Brazil to crack down on deforestation

Brazil will combat rising deforestation in the Amazon by sending extra federal police and environmental agents to areas where illegal clearing of the rain forest jumped dramatically last year, officials said Thursday. (AP)

In Papua New Guinea, mothers take charge

In a simple but striking example of grass roots development, a group of villagers on a remote island some 30 kilometers off Papua New Guinea’s northern coast have funded and built their own medical aid station. (One Country via Great News Network)

Customer Leaves $400 Tip For Waitress

It's well-known how important tips are for waiters and waitresses, but one local waitress got a tip this week that changed her life. (KMBC-TV)

Update: Bin Laden's Son Wants to be Peace Ambassador

Iraqi Boy Sends Messages of Peace in a Bottle

An Iraqi teenager who has endured tremendous loss hopes to end the hatred with a unique message. He and his friends are working towards peace by sending messages of hope and unity in bottles down the Euphrates River. The 14 year-old says he loves all the people of Iraq and hopes to encourage brotherhood among the sects with the peace messages. (CNNVideo)

Observant Teacher Likely Saves Student's Life

A Florida kindergarten teacher is credited with saving a student's life after she noticed the 5-year-old girl wasn't making eye contact and walked with a wobble. The teacher suggested the girl see a neurologist, who found a golf-ball sized tumor at the base of Sophie's brain.

Street kids get lessons in life at surf school

South African surfer Gary Kleynhans started free surfing classes for the street kids in his beach town. "Seven years later, he can boast of a generation of black, underprivileged kids who have not only learned to ride waves, but also picked up some important life skills – discipline, respect, and punctuality – along the way." (CS Monitor)

Progress being made on many fronts, says UN health agency chief

Progress in many areas of public health are a cause for optimism, the head of the United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) told the agency’s Executive Board in Geneva today.

Assessing the events of the past year, WHO Director-General Margaret Chan pointed to three particularly encouraging trends: an increased willingness to invest in health systems; recognition of the reality of climate change by world leaders; and the resurgence of interest in primary health care. (UN News Centre)

Major corporations to invest in UN-backed fight against AIDS, TB, malaria

The United Nations-backed Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria today announced the launch of the Corporate Champions programme, an innovative way for multinational companies to significantly invest in the fight against the three diseases. (UN News Centre)

Blind seal at LA zoo ready to meet visitors

Visitors can now see the Los Angeles Zoo's newest attraction but he can't see them.

A blind harbour seal named Alfred, which made its debut Friday, was rescued off the coast of New Jersey nearly a year ago and after a long search by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center the LA Zoo took him in October. (CBC)

US Farmers Show Grass Makes Better Ethanol than Corn

Farmers in Nebraska and the Dakotas have worked with the USDA to plant switchgrass and measure the native plant's ability to deliver Ethanol more efficiently than corn. The results are dramatic. Switchgrass delivers 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, compared with just roughly 25 percent returned by traditional corn-based ethanol.

Check out the Scientific American article that discusses the work of plant scientists and farmers that show that "switchgrass will store enough carbon in its relatively permanent root system to offset 94 percent of the greenhouse gases emitted both to cultivate it and from the derived ethanol burned by vehicles." (Good News Network)

An Astronomy Book the Blind Can Appreciate

Telescopes have captured astonishing images of far-away galaxies and other cosmic mysteries. Now, a new book called Touch the Invisible Sky is helping everyone appreciate those pictures, even people who can't see. (NPR)

11-Year-Old's Idea May Become Law

Boy's Initiative May Be Passed as Law to Help Feed Homeless

Adults usually initiate the laws, but there's no law that says kids can't too.

"I thought it pretty disturbing to see pounds, pretty much, of food being thrown away every single day," the 11-year-old said.

Jack Davis is only 11, but he had a pretty grown-up idea: He was disturbed to learn that Florida restaurants throw out food that could be given to the hungry and the homeless -- because the restaurant owners could be sued if anyone who ate the food became ill or developed food poisoning.

Jack had visited a homeless shelter on school field trips and he worried about people going hungry. "I realized that I could make a difference by trying to change the law," Davis said.

"If you think there's a problem in the world, you don't wait for other people to fix it. You have to try to fix it yourself." (ABC)

UAE About to Start Building Green City in Desert

The United Arab Emirates plans to start building a multi-billion-dollar green city in the desert in the first quarter of this year, as the oil producer looks to become a pioneer of alternative energy. The zero-carbon, zero waste city -- actually a town of up to 15,000 residents -- is being steered by Masdar, an initiative set up by the Abu Dhabi government to develop sustainable and clean energy. (Planet Ark)

Carbon-Neutral City in San Francisco Mayor's Environmental Plan

Inefficient fluorescent bulbs were the first targets Tuesday of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's newly unveiled environmental agenda.

Newsom's SForward program, announced in his inaugural address last week, seeks to lower the city's carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2010, and to make city government carbon neutral by 2020. (ABC News10)

New York City Council says big stores must recycle plastic bags

Large stores throughout the New York City must provide bins for recycling plastic bags under a bill passed Wednesday by the City Council. (Newsday)