The connection between global warming and increasingly prevalent insect infestations is tenuous, say experts, although climate is driving certain insect population changes.

The cap was removed Thursday as a prelude to raising the massive piece of equipment underneath that failed to prevent the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.

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Using a diamond-anvil cell to recreate the high pressures deep within the earth, researchers have found unusual properties in an iron-rich magnesium- and iron-oxide mineral that may explain the existence of several ultra-low velocity zones at the core--mantle boundary.

AP - The Coast Guard is backing off its earlier report that an oil sheen about a mile long was spreading following a platform explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Benchmark oil for October delivery rose $1.11 to settle at $75.02 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Reuters - The Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Environmental Protection Agency will roll out more regulations on greenhouse gases and other pollution to help fight climate change, but they will not be as strong as action by Congress, a senior administration official said.

Reuters - An oil and gas platform operated by Mariner Energy burst into flames on Thursday and unleashed a mile-long oil sheen into the Gulf of Mexico, in the region's first major offshore disaster since BP's oil spill began in April.

All 13 people aboard the rig, which exploded Thursday morning, were rescued from the water. The Coast Guard said initial reports of an oil sheen on the water could not be confirmed.

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HATTERAS ISLAND, North Carolina (Reuters) - Hurricane Earl took aim at North Carolina on Thursday and was on track to lash its barrier islands with dangerous winds and pounding surf before cutting a path up the U.S. East Coast to Canada.

An Australian newspaper, citing "a senior figure in the global energy industry," said Anadarko may be a target

GENEVA (Reuters) - About 45 nations met on Thursday to seek ways to raise billions of dollars in aid to help the poor combat climate change as the United Nations warned them of a long haul to slow global warming.

AP - Midwest farmers who sold corn to bankrupt ethanol producer VeraSun Energy Corp. have been receiving official letters asking for most of that money back.

LiveScience.com - Mass extinctions have served as huge reset buttons that dramatically changed the diversity of species found in oceans all over the world, according to a comprehensive study of fossil records. The findings suggest humans will live in a very different future if they drive animals to extinction, because the loss of each species can alter entire ecosystems.

A researcher in Israel has developed an improved tool for translating lizard body lengths to weights. The new equations calculate this valuable morphological feature to estimate the weight of a lizard species in a variety of different ecosystems.

Reuters - About 45 nations met on Thursday to seek ways to raise billions of dollars in aid to help the poor combat climate change as the United Nations warned them of a long haul to slow global warming.

AFP - There is no sign of an oil spill after a rig caught fire in the Gulf of Mexico, a spokesman for rig operator Mariner Energy said.

Four members of the environmental group had clung to the rig for two days to protest drilling in the Arctic. They were forced to abandon their protest because of a storm. The rig is owned by Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy.

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AFP - UN climate chief Christiana Figueres on Thursday warned that a string of weather calamities showed the deepening urgency to forge a breakthrough deal on global warming this year.