Democrats purge climate-change sceptics (Independent) Environmentalists in the United States say they hope the removal of global-warming sceptics from powerful positions on Capitol Hill will present a new opportunity to force the Bush administration to tackle climate change. [News Source]

EU carbon trade pact put at risk. More than 50 European economists and the Worldwide Fund for Nature have warned that European Union governments risk undermining the bloc's innovative emissions trading scheme by handing out too many permits to pollute. [News Source]

Earlier pollen seasons extend misery. Children’s Mercy Hospital study findings fit a growing body of research from around the world that links global warming to earlier, longer and more miserable allergy seasons - and possibly rising rates of asthma. [News Source]

Championing change. Will the changing political climate in Washington affect the congressional debate on climate change and global warming? [News Source]

Climate change melting fabled African glaciers. Climate change is melting a legendary ice field in equatorial Africa and may soon thaw it out completely, threatening fresh water supplies to hundreds of thousands of people. [News Source]

Interview-Climate change affects health too-scientist. Deadly heatwaves, hurricanes and spreading malaria infections appear to be just the obvious toll of global warming on people's health, said a scientist leading efforts to unravel how environmental change threatens lives. [News Source]

Protect forests to soak up emissions, says Kew director. The world must pay to protect tropical rainforests from further destruction if it is to combat rising greenhouse gas emissions, Britain's most eminent plant scientist warned yesterday. [News Source]

Critics say U.N. climate talks lagging. Environmentalists complained that negotiators for industrial nations are moving too slowly at a U.N. conference to set controls on global-warming gases after the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012. [News Source]

Rising seas may turn millions into refugees. Nations must make plans to help tens of millions of "sea level refugees"if climate change continues to ravage the world's oceans. [News Source]

Canada wants to join Asia-Pacific climate change pact. Canada wants to join the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, a senior official said Friday ahead of APEC talks in Hanoi, Vietnam next week. [News Source]

Sen. Boxer promises U.S. policy shift on global warming. Sen. Barbara Boxer on Thursday promised major policy shifts on global warming, air quality and toxic-waste cleanup as she prepares to lead the U.S. Senate's environmental committee. [News Source]