CHICAGO - ONLINE travel agencies, eager to spur spring bookings in the recession, are locked in a price battle that has some of them cutting fees and reimbursing customers if the price of their trip falls after they book.

Priceline.com on Thursday offered a promotional price guarantee on airline tickets and vacations.

ISTANBUL - THE WORLD'S leading conservation agency on Thursday said many species of freshwater fish, shellfish and insects in southern Africa were at threat from water extraction and habitat loss.

A study of 1,279 freshwater species across southern Africa found that 94 of them, or seven per cent, are at risk of extinction, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) said at the World Water Forum in Istanbul.

TOKYO - FUJITSU has launched the world's first e-book with a colour display in Japan, the company said on Thursday.

When used with a separate memory card, the paperback-sized gadget dubbed the 'FLEPia' can store the equivalent of 5,000 conventional books. It weighs 385 grams, is 12.5 milimetres thick and has a 20-centimetre 'electronic paper' display that can show 260,000 colours.