Andrew Buncombe

Shattered minarets, smouldering buildings and bullet-scarred walls reveal the bitter battle waged between Pakistani troops and armed militant students for Islamabad's Red Mosque.

Two wars and a decade of sanctions have led to a huge rise in the mortality rate among young children in Iraq, leaving statistics that were once the envy of the Arab world now comparable with those of sub-Saharan Africa.

The Canadian government has disclosed that thousands fewer seals have been killed this year in the first stage of the country's infamous hunt - a clear indication of how melting sea ice has already led to the deaths of many of the mammals.

A delegation of Inuit is to travel to Washington DC to provide first-hand testimony of how global warming is destroying their way of life and to accuse the Bush administration of undermining their human rights.

The Bush administration has been accused of routinely misleading the public over the threat of global warming and of orchestrating efforts to try to suppress scientific findings that highlight the reality of climate change.

Environmentalists are unimpressed with George Bush's pledge to develop alternative sources of energy - accusing him of failing to confront the real issues driving climate change.

In a landmark decision, the Bush administration has concluded that global warming is endangering the existence of the polar bear - an admission that could force the US government to act to curb the emission of greenhouse gases.

The Bush administration could be forced to take action on global warming using a 30-year-old piece of legislation to control the nation's vast emissions of greenhouse gases.

The number of US troops being wounded in Iraq is now at its highest level for two years as American forces are confronted by increasing sectarian violence and a continuing insurgency.

'Downright criminal.' That's the verdict of a report into New Orleans' reconstruction, and the huge contracts handed to non-local firms

The great grandson of the Apache leader Geronimo has appealed to the big chief in the White House to help recover the remains of his famous relative - purportedly stolen more than 90 years ago by a group of students - including the President's grandfather.

Despite talk of withdrawal 'when the job is done', there are signs that coalition troops will be there for the long term

The campaign to try to force schools in the United States to teach an alternative to Darwinism has suffered a severe set-back after a judge ruled that to do so was a violation of the constitution.

The UN climate conference began 11 days ago. Representatives from 189 countries jetted in to Montreal. Tomorrow the talking stops, with little sign of action.

The United States will this week face intense lobbying in an effort to force concrete action from the Bush administration over climate change when ministers from around the world meet at a United Nations summit in Canada.

People who have returned to the devastated city of New Orleans are facing fresh problems from high levels of airborne mould, which experts say pose a serious health threat.

A quarter of a century ago, America's last frontier would have been frozen. Now the glaciers are shrinking - and local people know why. Andrew Buncombe toured Alaska to see the evidence

The Inupiat people have hunted whales for 1,200 years. Now the global battle over the future of these huge animals may also bring their traditional way of life to an end.

Fresh storm chaos is threatening the southern United States as another major weather system sweeps into the Gulf of Mexico bringing rain and 100mph winds as it bears down on those people recently devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

Two of the leading contenders to contest the next US presidential election have delivered an urgent warning to the United States on global warming, saying the evidence of climate change has become too stark to ignore and human activity is a major cause.

As the death toll of troops mounts in Iraq and Afghanistan, America's military recruiting figures have plummeted to an all-time low. Thousands of US servicemen and women are now refusing to serve their country.

Mexico is heading for political crisis after its Congress voted to impeach the leading candidate in next year's presidential election in what his supporters said was a naked act of obstruction.

The snow and ice of eastern Canada is set to turn red with blood once again as hunters prepare to embark on an operation to club or shoot up to 320,000 young seals.

Supporters of a plan to drill for oil in an Arctic wildlife reserve won an important victory in the US Senate yesterday, bringing the hugely controversial scheme a step closer to reality.

Vietnamese citizens who say they have suffered a lifetime of health problems after being poisoned by Agent Orange during the Vietnam War are suing the American chemical companies that provided the Pentagon with the toxic defoliant.

The quake that set off the devastating tsunami literally shook the Earth to its core, scientists believe, accelerating its rotation and shortening days by a fraction of a second. It may be necessary to add a "leap second" in years to come in order to correct the change.

Susan Sontag, the writer and activist who loudly criticised US foreign policy and military action in the aftermath of the 11 September attacks, died yesterday morning in New York.

The Bush administration's credibility was dealt a devastating blow yesterday when the commission investigating the attacks of 11 September said there was no credible evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had assisted al-Qa'ida - something repeatedly suggested by the President and his senior official

Whistleblower the White House wants to silence speaks to The Independent

The American weaponry likely to be deployed in any military strike against Iraq is so advanced and hi-tech that some was not even ready to be used in the operation in Afghanistan just 12 months ago.