Health & Science

• Monday, December 31st 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  The inconvenient truth of global change marked 2007

  

  It can be said that the year that is coming to an end will be remembered for the weather related erratic news and the Nobel Peace Prize jointly shared by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and environmental campaigner former US vicepresident Al Gore that helped turn public opinion awareness into global concern.

• Saturday, December 29th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  WWF: gorilla, jaguar and lynx continue to drastically decline

  The number of animals, plants and other organisms continued to decline in 2007, but for some the threat of extinction had been successfully warded off, the environment organization the WWF said Thursday.

• Saturday, December 29th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Four companies accused of huge oil spill in Patagonia

  The government of the province of Chubut, Argentine Patagonia, formally accused before a court of justice several oil corporations for the crude spill which washed along four kilometers of the provincial coast damaging rich marine resources and limiting tourist industry prospects.

• Thursday, December 27th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Chile life expectancy increases to 78, says UN report

  Chile now ranks 27th worldwide with a life expectancy of 78.3 years, according to a U.N. report on average ages in 177 countries. The figure represents a four-year increase since 2000. Chile has also moved past the United States, which fell to number 29 with an average life expectancy of 77.9.

• Thursday, December 20th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  NYT on Bali: “No real breakthroughs in climate change”

  

  Earlier this week we published an article from the United Nations which expressed satisfaction with the recent Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. Basically the UN said that after “the successful conclusion of the landmark conference” in Bali, “developed and developing countries alike must continue to build on the momentum generated by the meeting”.

• Monday, December 17th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  World's sea levels rising twice faster than predicted

  

  The world's sea levels could rise twice as high this century as UN climate scientists have previously predicted, according to a study. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change proposes a maximum sea level rise of 81cm (32in) this century.

• Sunday, December 16th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Last minute compromise reached at Bali climate talks

  

  Two weeks of international climate talks marked by bitter disagreements and angry accusations culminated Saturday in a last-minute U.S. compromise and an agreement to adopt a blueprint for fighting global warming by 2009. Now comes the hard part

• Saturday, December 15th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Climate change has no respect for borders, warns Ban Ki-moon

  

  Global warming impacts everyone regardless of national borders, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday, calling on negotiators at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia, to overcome differences and agree on a road map to tackle the issue.

• Friday, December 14th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  Past decade warmest on record: 0.41 Celsius above average

  

  The past decade has been the warmest on record, with this year's global mean surface temperature 0.41 degrees Celsius, or 0.74 degrees Fahrenheit, above the 1961-1990 annual average, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization Who announced this week.

• Sunday, December 9th 2007 - 20:00 UTC

  South Korea declares state of disaster in oil-spill coastline

  

  The South Korean government has declared a “state of disaster” along a stretch of coastline affected by the country's worst ever oil spill. A fleet of 100 ships are fighting to contain the (66.000 barrels) 10-000 ton spill, but emergency workers have been unable to prevent the oil washing ashore.