In the face of skyrocketing petrol prices, the New Zealand government has said that it would delay the introduction of a new petrol rates under the emissions trading scheme (ets) for two years.

Senator John McCain sought to distance himself from US President George W. Bush on Monday as he called for a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions in the United States to combat climate change. Mr McCain, in a speech at a wind power company, also pledged to work with the European Union to diplomatically engage China and India, two of the world's biggest polluters, if they refuse to participate in an international agreement to slow global warming.

For a change, and climate change that is, lawyers today talked on the issues other than legal ones. They spoke on how the climate change issue was not just about more development, but doing it differently with stricter green rules in place and the need for a stringent pro-environment legal framework for the country.

Climate change will be a direct threat to the rule of law. It is this and the fact that "current legal systems do not take into account complexities of consequences of global warming' that leading lawyers in India are now coming together for a "legal response to challenges of climate change' in the world.

"Most of the environmental compliance laws have outlived their utilities and loopholes in these laws quite prominent" There are more than 200 operative pieces of environmental legislations that need a relook to mitigate the adverse impact of the climate change in the country, the Bar Association of India (BAI) said on Thursday.The BAI is set to take up the matter with the Central government soon .

Next US President Urged To Outline Climate Policy NORWAY: April 10, 2008 OSLO - The next US president should signal a shift in global warming policies before taking office to help a UN meeting in Poland in December take steps to work out a new climate treaty, Poland said on Wednesday. Under President George W. Bush, the United States is the only rich nation opposed to the UN's Kyoto Protocol capping greenhouse gas emissions until 2012. Many nations expect a shift under Bush's successor, whether a Democrat or a Republican.

White House Hopefuls Woo Gore, Focus On Climate US: April 10, 2008 WASHINGTON - Democratic White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak often about green jobs, emissions cuts and renewable energy. But they have more than global warming on their minds when they talk of environmental policy. The long-term goal may be saving the planet, but the short-term one is winning the backing of former Vice President Al Gore.

DEMOCRAT presidential candidate Barack Obama has said he would consider putting former US vice-president Al Gore in a cabinet-level position or higher if he wins the presidency. His offer came as polls showed him closing the gap with rival Hillary Clinton in the next primary state to vote, Pennsylvania. A woman at a town hall meeting in Wallingford, Pennsylvania, asked Senator Obama whether he would consider asking Mr Gore, now a climate change campaigner, to join his cabinet