
World temperatures will cool slightly this year but 2008 will remain among the top 10 hottest years on record (since 1850), predicted British weather experts and the University of East Anglia.

The eruption of Llaima, one of the most active volcanoes in Chile has had an impact in the neighboring province of Neuquén, Argentina, where a yellow alert is on and an emergency plan has been elaborated.

Smoking has been banned in bars in the capitals of France and Germany but the laws will not be enforced immediately.

A volcano in southern Chile erupted on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash, and forcing the evacuation of about 150 people, officials said.

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.
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.
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.
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.

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.

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.