International

"A Libyan intelligence officer convicted of the bombing of a Pan Am flight over Lockerbie, Scotland was released from prison following threats to British business interests, US State Department documents released by WikiLeaks reveal."

"The United States government lobbied the head of the U.N. climate panel to block the appointment of an Iranian scientist to a key position, saying it would be problematic, leaked U.S. diplomatic cables show."

The conservative Daily Telegraph yesterday published a headline saying glaciers were growing, when the story beneath it -- and the study it reported -- said glaciers were melting. That is, the headline stated the opposite of the truth, a convenience for deniers of climate change and opponents of regulating greenhouse gases. The Daily Telegraph's reputation on Fleet Street has been burnished in recent years by the publication of no less than four premature obituaries. Kate Sheppard of Mother Jones, pondering why the public are confused about climate change, concludes: "The press has really blown it on coverage of this and other issues of science on global warming in the past year."

"Residents of the Himalayas and other mountain areas face a 'tough and unpredictable future' as global warming melts glaciers and threatens worse floods and water loss, officials said during U.N. climate talks on Tuesday."

"The European Union wants to delay a deal to use carbon markets to reward countries which protect their tropical forests, beyond U.N. climate talks in Cancun, said EU climate commissioner Connie Hedegaard."

"The world's fishing industry is fast running out of new ocean fishing grounds to exploit as it depletes existing areas through unsustainable harvesting practices, according to a study published Thursday."

"Todd Stern, the chief American climate change negotiator, ... made clear at an afternoon press briefing that the United States was seeking an agreement that addresses all the major issues that make up the current climate change agenda. He said quite emphatically that he was not interested in some sort of face-saving partial deal that makes progress on some questions but kicks the more difficult problems down the road."

China is showing none of the hesitancy that marks the U.S. effort to train people for clean-energy jobs. One result is that China is poised to beat the U.S. in the contest for developing a clean-energy economy.

"This year is set to be among the three warmest since records began in 1850 and caps a record-warm decade that is a new indication of man-made climate change, the United Nations said on Thursday."