The Obama administration wants to ensure that legislation being crafted by Congress to fight global climate change does not violate international trade rules and backfire on US exports, the top US trade official said in a letter to a Republican lawmaker.

US greenhouse gas emissions rose 1.4 percent in 2007, compared to the previous year, the US Environmental Protection Agency reported on Wednesday.

The report also indicates that US emissions of climate-warming gases such as carbon dioxide and methane rose 17.2 percent from 1990 to 2007.

President Obama and his team have alternated praise for the goals of President George W. Bush

A US Border Patrol agent who tried to import rare tortoises in a box labelled "scorpions" pleaded guilty on Tuesday to animal-trafficking charges, the Justice Department said.

It turns out that scorpions also draw an extra look from federal agents.

A portion of the revenue from any U.S. system capping carbon emissions must go toward softening the impact of higher energy prices on consumers, a White House official said on Wednesday.

Joseph Aldy, special assistant to the president for energy and the environment, said building a clean energy economy will not be easy.

President Barack Obama will be flexible about climate change legislation moving through Congress, the White House said on Wednesday, indicating some wiggle room on his demand for full auctioning of carbon emissions permits to industry.

Washington: Scientists claim to have made a major breakthrough which could stop patients rejecting organ transplants, without using immunosuppressants.

An international team, led by the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, has in fact discovered a method of adjusting the immune system for just long enough to receive a tissue transplant and accept it as

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Monday urged tighter controls on cruise ships and tourists in Antarctica to prevent further environmental damage to the fragile region.

Addressing an international meeting on both the Antarctic and the Arctic, Clinton said as tourism increases to Antarctica there must be more regulations governing that travel.

The Empire State Building is going "green" in a model project that will save about US$4.4 million a year on energy.

Completed in 1931, the Art Deco building immortalised in the film "King Kong" has been named by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World. It is currently undergoing a $500 million renovation, including $100 million to go "green".

The United States is ready to take a leading role in tackling climate change, President Barack Obama said on Sunday, receiving a cautious welcome from European Union hosts at talks in the Czech capital Prague.