The U.S. Forest Service is preparing to close thousands of caves and former mines across the eastern United States in an effort to control a bat-killing fungus.

Bats afflicted with a mysterious and deadly disorder might be able to make it through winter with the help of heated boxes placed in hibernation caves, a pair of researchers say.

The 38-year-old woman who ignited a fierce right-to-die debate that convulsed Italy and dragged in the Vatican died Monday just as lawmakers in Parliament rushed to pass a bill designed to keep her alive.

The woman at the heart of a bitter right-to-die debate died Monday, just as lawmakers began debating a bill designed to keep her alive, news reports said. Eluana Englaro, 38, had been in a vegetative state since she was in a car accident 17 years ago.

Italian senators raced Monday to discuss a bill designed to keep a woman in vegetative state from having her feeding tube disconnected, the latest twist in a right-to-die case that has consumed Italy.

Italy’s health minister declared Sunday there were problems with the clinic hosting a woman in a hotly debated right-to-die case, as the government appeared to be trying a new tactic to keep her alive.

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday affirmed the need to protect life even while suffering, making a last-minute intervention as Italy grapples with a fiercely debated right-to-die case.

Pope Benedict XVI has reaffirmed the need to protect life, adding his voice to a bitter right-to-die debate that has gripped Italy.

Italy’s government issued an emergency decree Friday to prevent a woman in a vegetative state from having her feeding tubes disconnected, stepping into a bitter right-to-die debate that has divided the country.

A mysterious and deadly bat disease discovered just two winters ago in a few New York caves has now spread to at least six northeastern states, and scientists are scrambling to find solutions before it spreads across the country.