Climate

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The keepers of the "Doomsday Clock" plan to move its hands forward next Wednesday to reflect what they call worsening nuclear and climate threats to the world.

TOKYO (Reuters) - Small tsunami waves hit northern and eastern Japan on Saturday after a powerful north Pacific earthquake prompted tsunami warnings across northern and eastern Japan and Russia, as well as Alaska.

BASEL (Reuters) - Efforts to tap energy deep below the earth's crust to provide power for homes in the Swiss city of Basel may have to be scrapped after setting off tremors.

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union will sabotage its aim of getting developed nations to cut greenhouse gas emissions sharply if it sets a lower target for itself than it seeks for the rest of the world, Greenpeace said on Tuesday.

Swedish researchers have come up with a cunning way of using a satnav system to cut vehicle greenhouse gas emissions, The Guardian reports.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has come up with an earthquake prediction system which relies on the behavior of snakes, state media said on Thursday, two days after two quakes struck off neighboring Taiwan.

Bad news for buyers of ecological Christmas presents and seekers of environmental quick fixes: offsetting carbon emissions by planting extra trees might not work as well as we had all hoped. It always seemed too easy, didn't it?

MCMURDO STATION, Antarctica (Reuters) - The first Adelie penguin chicks of the season -- black fluffballs small enough to hold in the hand -- started hatching this month, and the simple fact that there are more of them in the south and fewer of them further north is a sign of global warming, scientists say.

GENEVA (Reuters) - 2006 is set to be the world's sixth-warmest year since records began 150 years ago, the World Meteorological Organization said on Thursday, offering more evidence of a trend most scientists blame on greenhouse gases.

AMUNDSEN-SCOTT SOUTH POLE STATION, Antarctica, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The snow squealed and crunched as the U.S. Air Force ski-plane slid to a stop at the bottom of the world.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Human increases in carbon dioxide emissions are thinning the Earth's outer atmosphere, making it easier to keep the space station aloft but prolonging the life of dangerous space debris, scientists said on Monday.

SEA ICE OFF CAPE EVANS, Antarctica (Reuters) - Scientists are literally fishing for clues to global warming's impact on earthly life by drilling holes in the Antarctic ice.