Italy, a growing market for renewable energy, is on the road to becoming the first country to achieve "grid parity" - the Holy Grail of solar power, where costs of producing photovoltaic energy finally fall below retail electricity prices.

Europe took a surprise step towards reducing its dependence on Russian gas yesterday as two of its oil companies agreed to develop a big gas field in Kurdistan, Iraq's semi-autonomous region.

OMV, of Austria, and Hungary's MOLagreed the deal, which will feed the planned Nabucco pipeline.

Australia's government introduced carbon trade laws into parliament yesterday. But Kevin Rudd, the prime minister, faces a battle to get them passed into law and warned that he might need an early election if his reforms were blocked.

Climate change negotiations will not take proper account of the devastating impact of greenhouse gas emissions on the seas, hundreds of scientists attending the World Ocean Conference in Indonesia warned yesterday.

The US Congress must pass a "strong" climate change bill before the global warming summit in Copenhagen this December if it is to have a chance of persuading China and India to sign up to a new treaty, says Bill Clinton.

Democrats in the US House of Representatives are expected to announce a compromise move on Wednesday that would give the go-ahead to a bill to tackle global warming. Success would beat expectations in a political climate increasingly hostile to cap-and-trade.

The world's biggest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, is considering diversifying away from chips for the first time in its 22-year history to combat declining industry margins.

South Koreans are not cleaning their plates of fermented cabbage and spicy octopus, so the government is calling in foreigners for help.

The World Health Organisation is considering an overhaul of its pandemic rating system amid criticism that it provoked alarm by rapidly escalating its warnings over swine flu.

Officials at the agency's headquarters in Geneva said they were discussing changes to the six-point scale to make clear in the future the gravity of the threat posed by a new virus.

The US is set to move closer to a car scrappage scheme with a provision to be included in a controversial climate change bill.

The agreed scheme will offer rebates of $3,500- $4,500 on old vehicles traded in for more fuel-efficient new ones, according to one person familiar with the negotiations. The level of rebate will depend on the fuel efficiency of the new models.