* Astronomy

Canada's government Wednesday set aside 25 million acres of wilderness 11 times the size of Yellowstone National Park for conservation, a move that environmentalists called one of North America's most important acts of nature preservation.
The land in Canada's Northwest Territories is in three huge tracts that will be used to create a national park, a national wilderness area and a conservation area administered by native groups under treaty rights.
The areas are wild, scenic and remote. They have been eyed with increasing interest by diamond, uranium, and oil and gas developers, and the action Wednesday by Canada's ministries of Environment and Indian affairs will prevent mining, drilling and most logging in the areas.

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