Plant growth declines as warming causes drought

WASHINGTON – Plant growth that had been spurred by global warming has reversed, despite temperatures that continue to rise.

Researchers say the change could affect food security and development of biofuels.

The amount of carbon taken up by growing plants increased from 1982 through 1999 as temperatures rose and the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100819/ap_on_sc/us_sci_warming_plants

Giant ice island breaks off Greenland

WASHINGTON – A giant ice island has broken off the Petermann Glacier in northern Greenland.

A University of Delaware researcher says the floating ice sheet covers 100 square miles — more than four times the size of New York's Manhattan Island.

Andreas Muenchow, who is studying the Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada, said the ice sheet broke off early Thursday. He says the new ice island was discovered by Trudy Wohlleben of the Canadian Ice Service.

Not since 1962 has such a large chunk of ice calved in the Arctic, but researchers have noticed cracks in recent months in the floating tongue of the glacier.

Moscow deaths double amid smog to 700 people a day

MOSCOW – Deaths in Moscow have doubled to an average of 700 people a day as the Russian capital is engulfed by poisonous smog from wildfires and a sweltering heat wave, a top health official said Monday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/eu_russia_fires

Has Russia's Heat Wave Changed Stance on Climate Change?

Russians are not used to heat waves. When the high temperatures that have overwhelmed Russia over the past six weeks first arrived in June, some 1,200 Russians drowned at the country's beaches. "The majority of those who drowned were drunk," the Emergencies Ministry concluded in mid-July, citing the Russian habit of taking vodka to cool off by the sea. But while overconsumption of vodka is a familiar scourge in Russia, extreme heat is not, and as the worst heat wave on record spawns wildfires that are destroying entire villages, Russian officials have made what for them is a startling admission: global warming is very real.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/08599200808100

Death toll from Pakistan floods rises to 1,100

PESHAWAR, Pakistan – The death toll from massive floods in northwestern Pakistan rose to 1,100 Sunday as rescue workers struggled to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by the raging water.

Hundreds of new wildfires break out in Russia

Russia – Hundreds of new fires broke out Sunday in Russian forests and fields that have been dried to a crisp by drought and record heat, but firefighters claimed success in bringing some of the wildfires raging around cities under control.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100801/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_fires