Environment

Nearly 200 countries agree to extend Kyoto Protocol that limits the greenhouse gas output of some rich countries after hard-fought sessions and despite objections from Russia.

Energy Secretary Ed Davey unveils what he called the biggest transformation of Britain’s electricity market since privatisation as the emphasis switches to low-carbon power.

Confirmed cases of the deadly tree disease ash dieback are now so widespread that controlling the illness without a cure will pose “long term problems”, the environment secretary warns.

As the Exxon Valdez heads for the scrapyard, the Indian workers charged with breaking up the tanker responsible for one of the world’s biggest environmental disasters say she could still be lethal.

As MPs table a Commons motion calling for the government to do more to tackle tree diseases, there is criticism that cures for ash dieback are being held back by red tape.

Britain’s economic growth will be further damaged by fresh confusion over windfarms and renewable energy, warn leading businesses such as Marks and Spencer and Aviva.

Britain is to ban imports of ash in an attempt to prevent 80m ash trees being lost to a new and rare fungal disease that has already caused devastation in Europe.

The Great Storm of 1987 dramatically changed the landscape of southern England, but some involved in the environmental recovery process say it transformed our woodlands for the better.

More than 35 people die when a pleasure boat collides with a passenger ferry and sinks off of Hong Kong overnight. The search is underway for more bodies.

Flash floods kill at least nine in southern Spain and 35 are injured when a tornado sweeps through a fairground and knocks over a ferris wheel. A British woman is among those reported missing.

An influential committee of MPs calls for a moratorium on drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic until companies can operate there without harming the fragile polar environment.

Badgers beware: the first fulll-scale cull of the animals across England could begin within days. On Channel 4 News, Queen guitarist Brian May debates the cull with a Gloucestershire farmer.

Extensions to houses and business properties will be made easier as part of a package of government measures to help kick start the economy.

The New Orleans that stands in the path of the latest hurricane to hit the US is a very different city from the one devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.