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BBC: The latest attempt to stop the Gulf of Mexico oil leak has failed, the oil giant BP has said. BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the firm was now shifting to a new strategy to stop the spill. In the failed procedure - known as "top kill" - the firm had been blasting waste material and heavy mud into a ruptured well. US President Barack Obama said the continued flow of oil was "as enraging as it is heartbreaking". The worst oil spill in US history began ...

Thaindian: If you believe human activities in the last century or so are responsible for climate change you may have to think again - a new research says early hunters could have upset the atmosphere`s methane balance. While extensive hunting in North America drove mammoths and other large mammals to extinction, it could have also disturbed the methane balance of the atmosphere, sparking off the global cool spell that followed. The large grazing animals would have been producing plentiful ...

Carbon Positive News: Biomass energy has now surpassed oil to become Sweden's number one source for energy generation, according to Wood Resource Quarterly. Biomass now generates 32 per cent of all energy in Sweden, causing increased competition for pulpwood, WRQ reports in its latest market update. As a result, increased competition for logs and wood chips between the pulp industry and energy sector has pushed wood fibre prices to new highs in the country. Pulp-log prices in the first quarter of ...

Xinhua: The chance for a breakthrough in world's efforts to seal a legally binding deal on curbing global warming remains slim as a result of the current European debt crisis and U.S. reluctance to take bold actions to fight climate change, analysts say. After rounds of lengthy talks failed, people began to question the possibility of cutting a binding deal on fighting climate change in a few years: "Are the conditions right at this very moment? Would it make sense right now?" they ...

Independent (UK): The world's most damaging oil spill -- now in its 41st continuously gushing day -- is creating huge unseen "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, according to oceanologists and toxicologists. They say that if their fears are correct, then the sea's entire food chain could suffer years of devastation, with almost no marine life in the region escaping its effects. While the sight of tar balls and oil-covered birds on Louisiana's shoreline has been the most visible sign of the spill's ...

The year is 2100. Londoners and their guests need a pastiche of Arcadia in the heart of the capital. Peak summer daily temperatures are nearly seven degrees hotter than they were in 2000, and the city is far more crowded. By mid-afternoon the day's heat is starting to hang heavy, and will not disperse until the small hours. Evenings are febrile and nights fitful. Shaded open spaces draw people out of doors like a magnet summoning iron filings.

The world's most damaging oil spill - now in its 41st continuously gushing day ? is creating huge unseen "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico, according to oceanologists and toxicologists. They say that if their fears are correct, then the sea's entire food chain could suffer years of devastation, with almost no marine life in the region escaping its effects.

A tawny water fowl that lived in a tiny corner of Madagascar is extinct, wiped out by an introduced species of predatory fish and by nylon fishing nets, conservationists reported on Wednesday.

United Nations climate chief says Danish presidency's backing for US also derailed Copenhagen negotiationsA leaked letter from the United Nations' climate chief suggests the Copenhagen climate summit failed because the presence of 130 world leaders paralysed decision-making and the Danish presidency

They were not here now. Yet they had been. The area where their play had been most concentrated was trampled flat into a flask-shaped patch of dead grass, five by two metres across its lower bulb, with a five-metre corridor - the flask "neck" ? running back into dense vegetation. From this latter co

Water sampling shows almost 97% of bathing sites monitored in England and Wales at Europe's 'excellent' standardHolidaymakers heading for the seaside today will be rewarded with the cleanest beaches the country has enjoyed for 10 years.A record number of resorts in England and Wales have achieved Eu

They let us out of the studio to spend a night in the museum...It was our first ever recording in front of a live audience, taking over part of London's Science Museum to discuss the nature of genius. Making his first appearance on this podcast was genius personified Stephen Hawking, who opened a de

Wall Street Journal: The failure of BP's latest effort to stop the undersea gusher in the Gulf of Mexico leaves the Obama administration to face multiple political and policy challenges against the backdrop of an environmental disaster that could drag on for weeks. Despite an escalating federal response, Mr. Obama has faced growing criticism of his response to the worst oil spill in U.S. history. On Saturday Mr. Obama, in a statement, said the administration will pursue "any and all responsible means of ...

Inter Press Service: The welcome end to wars in the upper reaches of the Okavango River brings new pressures for development and the risk of unwelcome changes to the health of the river. A joint commission to manage the basin is developing tools to avoid this. The Okavango is best known for the rich wetlands of its inland delta in Botswana's Kalahari desert. The delta is protected as a valuable site for conservation and tourism in Botswana, but the same is not true for the river as it rises in Angola and ...

Guardian: We reached the edge of the oil spill near the Nigerian village of Otuegwe after a long hike through cassava plantations. Ahead of us lay swamp. We waded into the warm tropical water and began swimming, cameras and notebooks held above our heads. We could smell the oil long before we saw it – the stench of garage forecourts and rotting vegetation hanging thickly in the air. The farther we travelled, the more nauseous it became. Soon we were swimming in pools of light Nigerian crude, ...

Guardian: Mo Constantine's previous hits include bath bombs and Lush soap. If you haven't had the pleasure, just follow your nose: Lush shops have become familiar fixtures on the high street. You can smell their "zingy" ingredients a mile off. Constantine and her husband Mark (a familiar face on TV) have been tinkering with ingredients to "detox" bathtime since the 1970s, when they sold products to a fledgling Body Shop. They have taken on animal testing and the iniquities of trade in cosmetic ...

Guardian: As this piece is written, act one of the Gulf of Mexico tragedy continues, agonisingly, to unfold. We, the people of the region, keep hoping to leave behind the terrifying explosions and ghastly loss of human life, the dread invoked by black jets billowing endlessly from below and the floating oil spreading over an ever-growing area. We want to move on to act two, which will feature many dirty shovels, corpses of birds and people crying over the loss of a landscape they love. Act ...

Independent (UK): The year is 2100. Londoners and their guests need a pastiche of Arcadia in the heart of the capital. Peak summer daily temperatures are nearly seven degrees hotter than they were in 2000, and the city is far more crowded. By mid-afternoon the day's heat is starting to hang heavy, and will not disperse until the small hours. Evenings are febrile and nights fitful. Shaded open spaces draw people out of doors like a magnet summoning iron filings. The natural appearance of St James's Park ...

Reuters: BP Plc said on Saturday the complex "top kill" maneuver to plug its Gulf of Mexico oil well has failed, crushing hopes for a quick end to the largest oil spill in U.S. history already in its 40th day. The beleaguered London-based energy giant said its next option is a "lower marine riser package" that will not plug the well ruptured in a rig blast, but rather capture most of the oil on the sea floor and channel it to the surface for collection. BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward ...

Associated Press: President Barack Obama said Saturday that the failure of BP's latest effort to stop the damaging flow of oil into the Gulf of Mexico is "as enraging as it is heartbreaking." Obama commented after BP officials reached the disappointing conclusion that a dayslong effort to stop the flow of oil, known as a "top kill," by packing the well with mud had failed. It was the latest in a series of failed attempts by BP to cut off the flow of oil. BP will now try anew by cutting ...