International
Critical Climate Talks Begin in Copenhagen
"The largest and most important U.N. climate change conference in history opened Monday, with organizers warning diplomats from 192 nations that this could be the best, last chance for a deal to protect the world from calamitous global warming."
"Study Finds No Brain Tumor Link With Mobile Phones"
"A very large, 30-year study of just about everyone in Scandinavia shows no link between cellphone use and brain tumors, researchers reported on Thursday."
"Top Climate Change Expert Hopes Science Got It Wrong"
"Germany's top climate researcher says he hopes he and his fellow scientists around the world have got it all wrong about global warming. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, head of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, told Reuters he gets no pleasure at all in being a prophet of doom and hopes he and his colleagues have overlooked effects that could still arrest climate change."
"Melting Glaciers Release Frozen Toxicants"
"The release of toxics once bound within glaciers may be a little-anticipated consequence of climate change. Adverse effects are likely occurring, or could occur, on almost every continent."
New Chiefs at UN Nuclear, Chemical Weapons Agencies
"A new top inspector took charge Tuesday of the International Atomic Energy Agency as it faces one of the most turbulent periods in its 52-year history." Also: "The newly elected chemical weapons chief says he will pursue the last seven holdouts — including Israel, Egypt and Syria — to get them to sign a disarmament treaty and submit weapons stockpiles for inspection."
"25 Years After Bhopal, Institute Still Reducing MIC"
"Twenty-five years ago Thursday, a leak of the chemical methyl isocyanate -- MIC -- killed thousands of people who lived near a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. It was the worst industrial disaster in history. Since then, residents of the Kanawha Valley have lived with and periodically complained about the huge stockpile of MIC at a sister facility, the former Carbide plant in Institute."
"International Banks Join to Support Strong Climate Deal"
"The heads of the world's largest international financial institutions today called for a comprehensive agreement to combat climate change at this month's United Nations conference in Copenhagen and agreed to further coordinate their own efforts to help achieve the meeting's ambitious goals."
UN Credentialing Limits Reporters' Access to Copenhagen Talks
Non-profit media, online media, freelancers, student journalists, and even some mainstream media are having trouble getting credentials to cover the climate treaty talks in Copenhagen Dec. 7-18, 2009. While one root of the problem may be capacity of the building, a key issue is whether non-profits, bloggers, and freelancers are truly legitimate media.
"El Nino Set To Continue Into First Quarter Of 2010: WMO"
"An El Nino weather pattern warming the Pacific Ocean and linked to drought in South Asia is likely to continue through the first quarter of 2010, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Tuesday."