Arctic nations agreed on Wednesday to crack down on soot that is darkening ice around the North Pole and hastening a thaw that they also blamed on global warming.

Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Champika Ranawaka said yesterday that the level of development of a nation cannot be gauged through its levels of Gross Domestic Production (GDP) or Human Development Index (HDI) but more so through environmental factors.

PARIS: Updating the waterwheel to generate electricity and compete with solar and wind

The 2008 Icelandic fisheries exhibition began on October 2 near, Iceland

ICELAND authorities shot a polar bear they had hoped to save after it was found hundreds of kilometres from its natural habitat. It was the second bear to be killed in two weeks in Iceland, where sightings of the threatened species are rare. It had apparently travelled several hundred kilometres atop an ice floe. Despite protests after the first bear was killed, the animal was shot when it panicked and charged a group of journalists. Bear sightings have lent credence to warnings that climate change is creating a more perilous habitat by melting Arctic ice.

A strong earthquake rocked Iceland on Thursday, damaging roads and buildings in one town and sending frightened residents running into the streets. Police in Selfoss, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of the capital Reykjavik, said they had received no reports of injuries and that damage to buildings in the area had been relatively minor. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 3:46 p.m. (1546 GMT), 6.2 miles (10 km) beneath the earth's surface. In Selfoss, a small southwestern town near the quake's epicentre, dozens of panicking people poured into the streets.

Four countries have entered a race to become the world

Iceland Prime Minister Geir Haarde, who since 2006 has presided over this small country that derives 80 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources, has been named the greenest political leader by NEWSWEEK. Iceland's happy status