"UNITED NATIONS -- Devastating flooding that has swamped one-fifth of Pakistan and left millions homeless is likely the worst natural disaster to date attributable to climate change, U.N. officials and climatologists are now openly saying.'

"OTTAWA -- Rising demand for food from the fast-growing economies of the world has provoked a staggering $38.6 billion cash offer for a Canadian fertilizer company." The move came as climate-related drought and heat were driving global food shortfalls.

"From Norway to New Delhi, leaders are struggling to define the World Bank's role in eradicating energy poverty while keeping a lid on carbon emissions."

"Twenty-five years after the worst known outbreak of pesticide poisoning in U.S. history, an agreement is announced that phases out all uses of aldicarb. Manufacturer Bayer CropScience agreed to stop producing the highly toxic insecticide, used to kill pests on cotton and several food crops, by 2015 in all world markets."

"Fires across Russia, record floods in Pakistan, a huge Greenland iceberg -- this current unprecedented sequence of extreme weather events 'matches' scientific projections of more frequent and intense extreme weather events due to global warming, says an organization of meteorologists from 189 countries."

"'Monkey see, monkey do' is about to be put to the test. Seems some cooped-up orangutans, finally moved into more spacious outdoor digs at a Dutch zoo, have forgotten how to swing through the trees. So the zoo, Ouwehands Dierenpark Rhenen, is bringing in Olympic gymnast Epke Zonderland to re-teach them."

"U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he has never seen anything like the flood disaster in Pakistan, and urged foreign donors to speed up assistance to the 20 million people affected."

"In the race to build hybrid cars and wind turbines to feed growing demand for green technology, China has one clear advantage, it holds the world's largest reserves of rare earth metals and dominates global production."