Reuters

Top solar power executives voiced fears on Wednesday that their industry's stellar growth over the past few years might stall due to a global shortage of polysilicon, the main component of solar cells. By Georgina Prodhan

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao visits India this week with the race between the world's two most populous nations to secure the energy they need to fuel their growing economies likely to be on the agenda. Story by Emma Graham-Harrison

A group of former national security officials on Monday took up the cause of weaning U.S. drivers from their oil addiction -- normally the realm of environmental groups -- and asked the Bush administration to spend $1 billion on lighter, more fuel-efficient automobiles. By Chris Baltimore

Iraq's parliament erupted in acrimony at only its second sitting on Tuesday and journalists were thrown out after lawmakers berated leaders for failing to agree on a new government, two months after historic elections. By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Mariam Karouny

European Union leaders have backed a goal for ambitious cuts in greenhouse gases by 2020 but dropped a longer-term target for 2050, despite support from environment ministers earlier this month. By Jeff Mason

Nuclear power is back in vogue but talk of a revival in Europe may be premature unless governments offer incentives to persuade companies to invest in new reactors, analysts say. By Anna Mudeva

Mercury released primarily from coal-fired power plants may be contributing to an increase in the number of cases of autism, a Texas researcher said on Wednesday. By Jim Forsyth

President Bush on Wednesday selected Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a magnet for controversy as one of the leading architects of the Iraq war, as his choice for World Bank president. By Adam Entous

Effective control of forest fires may prove crucial in the fight against global warming since blazes from Alaska to Indonesia spew out vast amounts of heat-trapping gases, Canadian foresters said on Thursday. By Alister Doyle

A photo of Mount Kilimanjaro stripped of its snowcap for the first time in 11,000 years will be used as dramatic testimony for action against global warming as ministers from the world's biggest polluters meet on Tuesday. By Jeremy Lovell

With snowpacks at a quarter of normal levels and sunny, warm days well ahead of the summer months, the home state of the "rainy city" of Seattle declared a drought emergency on Thursday.

Australian scientists have found that deforestation along the Amazon River in South America was reducing rainfall and causing climate change in the region.

Canada's minority Liberal government, in a snub to President Bush (news - web sites), said on Thursday it would not take part in the controversial U.S. missile defense system, which is unpopular with many Canadian voters. By David Ljunggren

A weak El Nino and human-made greenhouse gases could make 2005 the warmest year since records started being kept in the late 1800s, NASA scientists said this week. By Timothy Gardner

A global study has identified nine new environmental "hot spots," areas of great ecological diversity that are under threat and together shelter most of the planet's endangered plant and animal species.

Africa's poor millions risk bearing the brunt of the global warming crisis unless urgent action is taken now, a Nigerian scientist said on Wednesday. By Jeremy Lovell

Thirty-one U.S. troops were reported killed in a helicopter crash and five more died in insurgent attacks Wednesday in the deadliest day for American forces since they invaded Iraq 22 months ago. By Matt Spetalnick

Green lobbyists and several U.S. cities hope a lawsuit against U.S. development agencies will force the government to act on global warming, even though President George W. Bush has long insisted there's no scientific proof linking human activity to warming. By Timothy Gardner

Iraqis reacted with anger, frustration and resentment Friday after many returned to Falluja to discover their homes in rubble and their livelihoods ruined following last month's U.S. offensive. By Fadil al-Badrani

The United States is facing increasingly deadly attacks in Iraq because, as in the Vietnam war, it failed to honestly assess facts on the ground, according to a new think tank report.

European Union leaders agreed on Thursday to offer Turkey a date of Oct. 3, 2005 to begin negotiations on its membership of the bloc. But the 25 leaders were still debating the vexed issue of Turkish recognition of Cyprus.

Long-term instability in Iraq could give birth to an "Iraqi Hitler" if citizens continue to feel humiliated and despondent, Iraqi President Ghazi Yawar has said.

The United States showed no signs of budging in its opposition to the Kyoto protocol Monday as U.N. climate change talks began, a month after President Bush's reelection and Russia's ratification of the agreement.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has accused the U.S. military of using tactics "tantamount to torture" on prisoners at the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.

Arctic peoples aim to team up with tropical islanders in a campaign against global warming, arguing that polar bears and palm-fringed beaches stand to suffer most.

The economic policies of President Bush have set the country on a dangerous course that will likely end in crisis, Princeton economics professor Paul Krugman told Reuters in an interview.

People around the globe largely mistrust their political leaders and nearly half fear the world will be less safe for their children, according to a survey issued on Thursday.

Fighting in Falluja has created a humanitarian disaster in which innocent people are dying because medical help cannot reach them, aid workers in Iraq said today.

Deaths of Iraqis have soared to 100,000 above normal since the Iraq war mainly due violence and many of the victims have been women and children, public health experts from the United States said Thursday.

James McCarthy, a professor of biological oceanography at Harvard University and former co-chair of the impacts group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change agreed said it is impossible to say any one storm or drought is caused by climate change.