- El Salvador Congress votes to end ban on metal mining
- Five things to know about Panama Canal, in Trump's sights
- NBA fines Minnesota guard Edwards $75,000 for outburst
- Haitians massacred for practicing voodoo were abducted, hacked to death: UN
- Inter beat Como to keep in touch with leaders Atalanta
- Mixed day for global stocks as market hopes for 'Santa Claus rally'
- Man Utd boss Amorim questions 'choices' of Rashford's entourage
- Trump's TikTok love raises stakes in battle over app's fate
- Is he serious? Trump stirs unease with Panama, Greenland ploys
- England captain Stokes to miss three months with torn hamstring
- Support grows for Blake Lively over smear campaign claim
- Canada records 50,000 opioid overdose deaths since 2016
- Jordanian, Qatari envoys hold talks with Syria's new leader
- France's second woman premier makes surprise frontline return
- France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
- Netanyahu tells Israel parliament 'some progress' on Gaza hostage deal
- Guatemalan authorities recover minors taken by sect members
- Germany's far-right AfD holds march after Christmas market attack
- European, US markets wobble awaiting Santa rally
- Serie A basement club Monza fire coach Nesta
- Mozambique top court confirms ruling party disputed win
- Biden commutes almost all federal death sentences
- Syrian medics say were coerced into false chemical attack testimony
- NASA solar probe to make its closest ever pass of Sun
- France's new government to be announced Monday evening: Elysee
- London toy 'shop' window where nothing is for sale
- Volkswagen boss hails cost-cutting deal but shares fall
- Accused killer of US insurance CEO pleads not guilty to 'terrorist' murder
- Global stock markets mostly higher
- Not for sale. Greenland shrugs off Trump's new push
- Sweden says China blocked prosecutors' probe of ship linked to cut cables
- Acid complicates search after deadly Brazil bridge collapse
- Norwegian Haugan dazzles in men's World Cup slalom win
- Arsenal's Saka out for 'many weeks' with hamstring injury
- Mali singer Traore child custody case postponed
- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- Sweden says China denied request for prosecutors to probe ship linked to cut undersea cables
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- Global stock markets edge higher as US inflation eases rate fears
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- 'Devastated' Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Philippines says to acquire US Typhon missile system
Holy icy chill, Batman! Freezing bats saved in Texas
It was a rescue worthy of Batman.
A wave of frigid air triggered "hypothermic shock" in a colony of bats clinging to their roost beneath a bridge in Houston, a sprawling city in Texas.
Nearly frozen, the bats began losing their grip and falling to the pavement from nine meters (30 feet) up, the Houston Humane Society reported on its Facebook page.
The Mexican free-tailed bats "are tiny, and have minimal body fat, so they are not able to live long when laying exposed on the ground in freezing temperatures," the Humane Society explained.
As the cold wave intensified last Thursday, the group launched a bat rescue, gathering up 929 bats from the ground under the Waugh Bridge, and providing them heat and nutrition.
Volunteers joined in the effort and more than 1,500 bats were taken in by the weekend, kept warm at the shelter or in the attic of society wildlife director Mary Warwick.
Most only needed warmth and water, but the most affected were placed in incubators and fed intravenously.
"Amazingly, most of (the) bats have survived," the society said.
With temperatures climbing to 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius) on Wednesday, the society released "close to 700" of the bats back to the bridge, leaving them free to swoop through the skies for insects.
Bat watching is a popular pastime in Texas, and a number of bridges have huge colonies.
The Waugh Bridge in Houston, Congress Bridge in Austin and Camden Street Bridge in San Antonio all draw visitors at dusk, when the bats leave en masse for nightly feeding forays.
P.Costa--AMWN