The Independent

The combined forces of population growth and urbanisation are creating a planet of slums, where the urban population will have doubled by 2030, according to a report released by the United Nations today. By Daniel Howden

Torrential rain that swept across Britain brought chaos as hundreds of homes were evacuated and stranded motorists plucked to safety from their vehicles. By Jonathan Brown

US could have acted sooner if experts had reached consensus. By Jonathan Owen

Climate change has become a major security issue that could lead to "a world going up in flames", the United Nations' top environment official has warned.

India's economy is booming but its roads are a throwback to pre-industrial times. That is about to change when a flood of cheap vehicles come on the market. Andrew Buncombe reports from Delhi

In the last decade, climate change has raced up the political and corporate agenda. Even non-believer George W Bush now concedes that an international framework is needed to tackle this growing problem

Using our questionnaire, you can calculate the size of your own carbon footprint - and begin planning how to reduce it. Answer all the questions that are relevant - some may not be - and try to be as truthful as you possibly can

Clint Eastwood, the Hollywood actor and director turned smalltown mayor, and a development grouphave been denied permission to cut down more than 15,000 rare pine trees and build a private golf course on California's Monterey peninsula. By Leonard Doyle

A war in Gaza threatening to redraw the map of the Middle East. By Donald Macintyre

Scientists have criticised a major review of the world's remaining oil reserves, warning that the end of oil is coming sooner than governments and oil companies are prepared to admit. By Daniel Howden

Dixons Store Group, Europe's biggest electrical chain, is to pioneer a phase-out of energy-guzzling stand-by functions on TVs and DVD players that drain electricity and waste money. By Martin Hickman

'Opinion and fact should be clearly divisible. The truth is, a large part of the media today not merely elides the two but does so now as a matter of course. In other words, this is not exceptional. It is routine. The metaphor for this genre of modern journalism is The Independent newspaper.

The Full Speech: 'The media is a feral beast, tearing people to pieces'

There were fears of an environmental disaster last night after a coal freighter ran aground in massive seas off a beach north of Sydney and threatened to break up, spilling its fuel. By Kathy Marks

Ministers act to counter health risk from dumped computers and Wi-Fi technology. Marie Woolf and Geoffrey Lean report

Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney General, faces questions over allegations he ordered British investigators to conceal from an international corruption watchdog the existence of secret payments to a Saudi prince.

Protecting the rainforests offers the world one last crucial breathing space

As leaders of the world's richest countries meet, this is the proof that they could do much more for the poor. By Paul Vallely

Can dancing really help save the planet? It does at this Dutch disco. Josh Sims takes to the dancefloor

The clear water of the Min river in the Jiuzhaigou National Park is a candidate for the cleanest in China. It is filtered by 108 lakes as it makes its way down from the glaciers of this vast nature reserve before feeding into the Yangtze river. By Clifford Coonan

Inuit, the people who live farther north than anyone else, are the canary in the global coal mine

One of the most prominent members of the Inuit community will today plead for an end to the expansion of Stansted Airport and deliver a devastating critique of the link between Britain's cheap flights culture and the effects of climate change on his people. By Cahal Milmo

For three days and three nights, these African migrants clung desperately to life. Their means of survival is a tuna net, being towed across the Mediterranean by a Maltese tug that refused to take them on board after their frail boat sank. By Peter Popham

More than 320 civilians were among a threefold increase in the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli security forces last year, according to Amnesty International. By Donald Macintyre

NO to CO2 emissions targets. NO to a successor to Kyoto. NO to a carbon trading market. As Blair leaves Washington, US hardens stance on climate change. By Daniel Howden

He may have made the definitive film on climate change and come within a hanging chad of becoming the most world's most powerful man but Al Gore's status did little to protect him from another force of nature - Bob Geldof. By Cahal Milmo

Solar and wind power will be unaffordable to all but the "wealthiest homes" it was claimed yesterday after the Government cut the maximum grant for their installation by 83 per cent. By Martin Hickman

The makers of a Channel 4 documentary which claimed that global warming is a swindle have been accused of fabricating data by one of the scientists who participated in the film.

The crisis began on Friday when Abdullah Gul, who comes from the Islamic-rooted AK Party, failed to win enough votes in Parliament to take the symbolic post of president, first held by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

The map of Greenland will have to be redrawn. A new island has appeared off its coast, suddenly separated from the mainland by the melting of Greenland's enormous ice sheet, a development that is being seen as the most alarming sign of global warming. by Michael McCarthy