Associated Press

When Bill Clinton took office in 1993, global warming was a slow-moving environmental problem that was easy to ignore. Now it is a ticking time bomb that President-elect Barack Obama can't avoid.

Is everything spinning out of control?

Marine who took pictures of Iraqi men, women and children killed by U.S. forces testified Thursday that he deleted the photos under an officer's orders and later lied repeatedly to investigators about what happened to the images.

If the devil is in the details, climate change negotiators are about to enter purgatory.

Under pressure to boost talks on a new global warming pact, Group of Eight environment ministers yesterday endorsed slashing greenhouse gas emissions in half by mid-century, but failed to agree on much more contentious near-term targets.

The world is losing momentum in the battle against global warming, the United Nations climate chief warned Saturday, urging environmental ministers from wealthy countries to revive the effort by setting clear targets for reducing greenhouse gases.

the gloomy shade deep in Africa's rain forest, the noontime silence was pierced by the whine of a far-off chain saw. It was the sound of destruction, echoed from wood to wood, continent to continent, in the tropical belt that circles the globe.

Democrat Dennis Kucinich abandoned his presidential bid Friday to focus on a tough race for re-election to Congress.

President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will sign a nuclear cooperation accord with the United Arab Emirates during his visit to the Middle East, he told the pan-Arab daily newspaper Al Hayat in an interview published Sunday at the start of the trip.

The next report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change should deal with the "frightening" possibility that the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets start melting at the same time, the chief UN climate scientist said today.

California sued the federal government Wednesday in its ongoing bid to set the country's first greenhouse gas limits on cars, trucks and SUVs, providing new data to show its program is superior to a federal plan. By Samantha Young

An already relentless melting

The only salmon farm in Northe

House Democrats pushed through a $50 billion bill for the Iraq war Wednesday night that would require President Bush to start bringing troops home in coming weeks with a goal of ending combat by December 2008. By Anne Flaherty

There's growing worry about global warming, but how much of it is the work of that power plant just outside town? And if Congress limits heat-trapping greenhouse gases, will it affect utility and electric bills? And who's the biggest corporate culprit when it comes to climate change? By H.

The economic costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are estimated to total $1.6 trillion - roughly double the amount the White House has requested thus far, according to a new report by Democrats on Congress' Joint Economic Committee. By Jeannine Aversa

Iran has met a key demand of the U.N. nuclear agency, handing over long-sought blueprints showing how to mold uranium metal into the shape of warheads, diplomats said Tuesday. By George Jahn

Oil prices that last week seemed on an inexorable path toward $100 a barrel slid more than $3 to the $91 level Tuesday after the International Energy Agency cut its demand forecasts and said crude supplies are rising. By John Wilen

Nowhere in America, it seems, are people more apprehensive about the prospect of a $3-a-gallon winter than in Maine.

Six U.S. troops were killed when insurgents ambushed their foot patrol in the high mountains of eastern Afghanistan, officials said Saturday. The attack, the most lethal against American forces this year, made 2007 the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion.

A federal judge has blocked the Army from conducting a second court-martial of 1st Lt. Ehren Watada of Honolulu, an Iraq war objector based at Fort Lewis, Wash., saying it's likely the second trial would violate his constitutional rights.

U.S.-led coalition troops battling suspected militants in southern Afghanistan lobbed a grenade that destroyed a house and killed 15 militants as well as a woman and two children, the coalition said Monday. By Fisnik Abrashi

Ships belching toxic fumes from diesel fuel contribute to the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Europe, Asia and the United States each year, claims a U.S. report released this week. By Cassie Biggs

Oil futures ended a turbulent session lower Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke issued a warning about economic growth that sent stocks tumbling and tempered some of the energy market's supply concerns. By John Wilen

Veterans make up one in four homeless people in the United States, though they are only 11 percent of the general adult population, according to a report to be released Thursday. By Kimberly Hefling

Legions of baton-wielding police clashed with lawyers to squash protests against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Monday, while international pressure mounted against the imposition of emergency powers that have led to more than 1,500 arrests. By Munir Ahmad

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the Pentagon will act on recommendations from a panel that said the Army needs 2,000 more military and civilian workers to better manage contracts after years of waste, fraud and abuse. By Richard Lardner and Lolita C. Baldor

Washoe, a female chimpanzee believed to be the first non-human to acquire human language, has died of natural causes at the research institute where she was kept. By Nicholas K. Geranios

Tropical Storm Noel brought heavy rain to the western Caribbean Tuesday as it pushed through Cuba and edged closer to Florida. Floods and mudlides across the region have killed at least 22 people. By Ramon Almanzar