Scientists to probe Antarctica for sea rise clues | Environment | Reuters

...The scientists will also see if the shelf was "collapsing because of global warming or whether localized warming is to blame."

News - Environment: The swallows have arrived

Fed up with cold weather and gloom, tens of thousands of European visitors have flocked to Durban to take advantage of the city's sunny warmth.

Two weeks earlier than usual, huge numbers of migratory barn swallows have arrived at one of South Africa's biggest roosting areas, at Mt Moreland, north of the city.

EU leaders agree on financial rescue, deadlock on climate

The other major issue on the leaders' agenda was climate change.

This saw Italy throw its weight behind Poland and seven other member states from Central and Eastern Europe in threatening to veto EU proposals to cut the bloc's greenhouse gas emissions to 20 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020.

"Yes, we have to limit CO2 (carbon dioxide) emissions, but this must be done with a global agreement, because it's not conceivable that the EU should be the only one to do it when the other major producers of CO2 don't," said Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, echoing similar complaints by US President George W Bush.

Sarkozy shot back: "We can't question our (climate) goals, they have to stand, and the timetable has to stand. We have to find a position before January. If we scale back our targets, if we change the deadlines, we'll count for nothing. If some people want Europe to count for nothing, let them say so."

Despite the rancour, there were some humourous moments in Brussels.

Berlusconi once again raised eyebrows by suggesting that Russia should join the European Union, while Poland's premier and president, bitter rivals back home, ignored each other during the meeting.

President Lech Kaczynski had previously been forced to charter his own plane to Brussels after being left behind by Prime Minister Donald Tusk.