The Independent

Critics of US food aid subsidies say they help cause obesity among Americans and starvation among Africans. By Leonard Doyle

As drought continues to wreak havoc on China's farmland, agriculture experts are considering moving away from the traditional staple food - rice - and encouraging farmers to plant potatoes instead. By Clifford Coonan

Israel attempted to damp down calls for moves to end the isolation of Hamas yesterday by warning that it would be a "huge mistake" to try to reconcile it with its rival Fatah. By Donald Macintyre and Anne Penketh

Torrential monsoon rains that have killed more than 2,000 people in north-east India, Bangladesh and Nepal in recent weeks are now devastating north-west India and neighbouring Pakistan. By Nina Lakhani

Russia planted a rust-proof titanium flag on the seabed beneath the North Pole yesterday, marking the start of a new global struggle to claim the vast mineral wealth of the Arctic Ocean.

They call it the Asian Brown Cloud. Anyone who has flown over South Asia has seen it – a vast blanket of smog that covers much of the region.

500 drawings by children who escaped the violence are to be submitted to the International Criminal Court as proof of war crimes by Sudanese forces

After many months of frustration and delay, the UN last night authorised the deployment of an intervention force of up to 26,000 UN and African peacekeepers in Darfur in a fresh attempt to halt the conflict and suffering in the impoverished region.

After 1.7 million deaths and nearly 30 years, the first of Pol Pot's henchmen is charged with crimes against humanity

A quiet Washington suburb has become the focus of America's climate change schism after an act of vandalism by environmental activists. Leonard Doyle reports

Are our seasons beginning to change? And, if so, what can this mean for our glorious British countryside?

A green transport policy? New figures show how 30 years of failure has put Britain on the road to gridlock and pollution. By Ben Russell, Nigel Morris and James Macintyre

The people of Tuvalu are on the front line of climate change, and their heroic efforts to stave off the effects can only be applauded. They are confronting a rise in the sea level that is even faster than envisaged.

Veu Lesa, a 73-year-old villager in Tuvalu, does not need scientific reports to tell him that the sea is rising. The evidence is all around him. The beaches of his childhood are vanishing. The crops that used to feed his family have been poisoned by salt water. By Kathy Marks

Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq. By Leonard Doyle

Conservationists in Uganda are fighting a last-ditch battle to stop the destruction of a forest reserve by a sugar corporation friendly with the government. By Daniel Howden

The Live Earth organiser answers your questions

Live Earth was watched by two billion people on a day when 20 million tons of carbon were emitted, a square kilometre of the Antarctic ice shelf was lost and a major new study, exclusively revealed by the 'IoS', shows the damage we are doing worldwide.

Yesterday was a remarkable day. Alan Johnston came home. The Tour de France started in London. Lewis Hamilton was given pole position at Silverstone. Thousands converged on Wembley for the Live Earth concert and, good heavens, the sun came out. If ever there was a day for celebration, this was it.

The multi-home-owning, jet-setting headliner of Britain's Wembley gig says she will follow Al Gore's green blueprint for superstars. Jonathan Owen reports.

A heady day of loud music and tips about loft insulation. By Alice Jones

The sons of Hillary and Tenzing speak out about climate change: "Believe us, it's a reality" By Cahal Milmo and Sam Relph

Nigeria's largest state, Kano, was embroiled yesterday in separate court battles against two of the West's largest multinationals who are both accused of actions that posed a serious damage to the health of Nigerian children. By Andy McSmith

As Britain tried to cope with a fresh deluge of rain yesterday, Baroness Young, the head of the embattled Environment Agency, has admitted that her £500m budget is too small to cope with the extreme flooding that has put parts of Yorkshire and the West of England under water. By Colin Brown

The world's first floating wind turbine could be up and running in under two years after the German engineering giant Siemens teamed up with a Norwegian energy group yesterday to try to generate electricity in the middle of the North Sea. By Claire Soares

Cyclones devastate parts of Pakistan, floods wreak havoc in Texas, wildfires threaten Athens. And this is just the start, reports David Usborne

US public opinion is rapidly waking up to the threat posed by global warming, despite the best efforts of the Bush Administration and much of industry to deny the problem. By Leonard Doyle

Behind the climate crisis lies a global issue that no one wants to tackle: do we need radical plans to reduce the world's population? Chris Rapley sparks the debate

· Up to £250m a year needed, say insurers · Death toll rises to four as hundreds are evacuated. By John Vidal, Helen Carter, Martin Wainwright and Rachel Williams

Heavy rain looks set to bring more floods across Britain as emergency services battleto cope with the effects of the monsoon summer conditions. By Jonathan Brown