USA - The International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) charter states that the organization's purpose is to look for human induced climate change. The Non-governmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) does not have this problem.
IRAN - Confidential intelligence documents obtained by The Times show that Iran is working on testing a key final component of a nuclear bomb.
CHINA - Rising from the bowels of the earth are giant trucks laden with coal. One after another they lumber past. Just the wheels of each truck are double the height of a man.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - The president of the UN climate summit has urged delegates to "get to work" after protests from developing nations forced a suspension of several hours. Talks resumed late on Monday after the president, Danish minister Connie Hedegaard, addressed some of the developing countries' concerns.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK - There's a storm brewing - a storm of information, that is, in climate and environmental research. People are wading through the turbulence, trying to make sense of it all. At the eye of the storm is a unique new web site called Climate One-Stop.
USA - Jordan McFarland, a 14-year-old boy from Virginia, is weak and struggling to walk after coming down with a reported case of Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) within hours after receiving the H1N1 vaccine for swine flu. McFarland left Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children in a wheelchair nearly a week after developing severe headaches, muscle spasms and weakness in his legs following a swine flu shot.
UK - So that's it. The swine flu pandemic of 2009 is over. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has acknowledged that the pandemic "may have peaked in parts of the northern hemisphere". In the UK, cases have been declining for four weeks and are now only just above baseline levels. Swine flu is not going to return this side of Christmas.
USA - For two years, our space agency has refused Freedom of Information requests on why it has repeatedly corrected its climate figures. A leading researcher threatens to sue to find more inconvenient truths.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK – Iranian Prime Minister Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe plan to address negotiators at international climate talks in Copenhagen next week.
WASHINGTON, USA - Democrats plan to allow the government's debt to swell by nearly $2 trillion as part of a bill next week to pay for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The amount pretty much equals the total of a year-end spending spree by lawmakers and is big enough to ensure that Congress doesn't have to vote again on going further into debt until after the 2010 elections.
SWITZERLAND - Switzerland's recent vote to ban the construction of new minarets has shocked and angered Muslims around the world. But the controversial move also reflects A GROWING SENSE OF UNEASE AMONG OTHER EUROPEANS who have trouble coming to terms with Islam's increased visibility.
EUROPE/GREECE - Amid continuing concern over the economic situation in Greece, following this week's cut in its credit rating, FT Deutschland reports: "EUROPE REFUSES TO ASSIST GREECE IN CASE IT GOES BANKRUPT. Instead, governments, central bank chiefs and the European Commission now demand hard spending cuts".
UK/EUROPE - The Telegraph reports that the Treasury's Pre-Budget Report shows that Britain's net contributions to the EU are set to rise from £4.8billion in 2009/10 to £6billion in 2010/11, an increase of £1.2 billion. This means that Britain's contributions have doubled in just three years from £3billion in 2008/09.
UK - The Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, CONTINUES TO DENY THAT ISLAMIST EXTREMISM IS BEING TAUGHT IN STATE-FUNDED SCHOOLS. Mr Balls has spent much of the past seven days defending two primary schools run by supporters of this deeply nasty, racist and segregationist group after the Tories attacked his department's decision to give them £113,000 of public money.
OSLO, NORWAY - President Barack Obama entered the pantheon of Nobel Peace Prize winners Thursday with humble words, acknowledging his own few accomplishments while delivering a robust defense of war and promising to use the prestigious award to "reach for the world that ought to be."