Fires are spreading fast across vast Siberian forests in a reminder of last year's worst drought on record which killed dozens of people and forced Russia to suspend grain exports.

The Emergency Ministry said on Sunday on its web site www.mchs.gov.ru that around 100,000 hectares of forestry was caught up in fires, mainly in the Far East as well as in the oil-rich Siberian province of Khanty-Man

Leading Russian companies Gazprom, Zarubezhneftegaz and Inter Raoues are keen to develop Pakistan's energy sector and will contribute to the building of power generating facilities and developing gas fields in Pakistan.

This assurance was given to President Asif Ali Zardari during his first three-day state visit to Russia (May 11-13) during which the leadership of both the countries held in- de

The eight Arctic nations pledged Thursday to create international protocols to prevent and clean up offshore oil spills in areas of the region that are becoming increasingly accessible to exploration because of a changing climate.

The Arctic Council

Iran has started the nuclear reaction at its Bushehr power plant, the Russian company that built the reactor said in a statement on Tuesday that indicated Iran is close to wrapping up work on the site that has dragged on for more than three decades.

Rich countries have missed a U.N.

Climate change cut global wheat and corn output by more than 3 percent over the past three decades compared to growth projections without a rise in temperatures, a study found on Friday.

COMMUNISM, Lenin said, was

Global warming is already cutting substantially into potential crop yields in some countries

Supreme Court has directed Ministry of Environment to take action against environmental polluters, but a pressure group within the industrial sector has been effective in blocking the actions over the last two years.

Quickening climate change in the Arctic including a thaw of Greenland's ice could raise world sea levels by up to 1.6 meters by 2100, an international report showed on Tuesday.

Such a rise -- above most past scientific estimates -- would add to threats to coasts from Bangladesh to Florida, low-lying Pacific islands and cities from London to Shanghai.