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As climate change progresses, the planet may lose more plant and animal species than predicted, a new modeling study suggests. This is because current predictions overlook two important factors: the differences in how quickly species relocate and competition among species, according to the researchers, led by Mark Urban, an ecologist at the University of Connecticut. Already evidence suggests that species have begun to migrate out of ranges made inhospitable by climate change and into newly hospitable territory. "We have really sophisticated meteorological models for predicting climate change," Urban said in a statement. "But in real life, animals move around, they...

HELSINKI (AFP) – Finnish researchers called for a revision of climate change estimates Monday after their findings showed emissions from soil would contribute more to climate warming than previously thought. "A Finnish research group has proved that the present standard measurements underestimate the effect of climate warming on emissions from the soil," the Finnish Environment Institute said in a statement. "The error is serious enough to require revisions in climate change estimates," it said, adding that all climate models used soil emission estimates based on measurements received using an erroneous method. The institute said that while emissions from soil were...

(CNSNews.com) – President Obama and his White House counterterrorism adviser on Thursday accepted responsibility for attempted terror attack on Christmas Day that could have knocked an airliner out of the sky over Michigan. Although Obama called for increased accountability, no one was fired: “I am less interested in passing out blame than I am in learning from and correcting these mistakes to make us safer,” the president said. “For ultimately, the buck stops with me. As president, I have a solemn responsibility to protect our nation and our people. And when the system fails, it is my responsibility.”

Browne admits 'we underestimated Taliban' By Toby Helm, Chief Political Correspondent (Filed: 19/09/2006) Britain and Nato seriously underestimated the resilience of the Taliban when sending troops into Afghanistan, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary has admitted. British troops are facing a hard fight in Afghanistan Addressing the Royal United Services Institute in London, he said the task had proved “harder than we expected”. But he urged Nato countries who are now resisting sending extra troops to think again. The Taliban’s tenacity in the face of massive losses has been more than we expected,” Mr Browne said. Referring to Nato’s attempts to...

Canadians brought about a minority Conservative government on Monday by electing a House of Commons in which 60 percent of the members will be out to destroy it. That is, they gave Prime Minister-elect Stephen Harper's Conservative party 124 seats, outgoing Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals 103, the socialist New Democratic Party 29, and the Bloc Quebecois (whose declared purpose is to take Quebec out of Canada), 51. There was one independent. As soon as the results were in, Martin announced that he would not lead the Liberals in another election. The Conservatives formed a government that 36.3 percent of...

Bird flu cases 'under-estimated' The team quizzed nearly 46,000 people in Vietnam The number of cases of bird flu in humans may have been hugely under-reported, a study says. Swedish researchers interviewed nearly 46,000 people from Vietnam, where there have been 87 cases of bird flu, the Archives of Internal Medicine reported. They found that more than 8,000 had had flu-like symptoms and up to 750 cases could have been down to sick birds. Under-reporting was possible, experts said, but unlikely to be as much as the Karolinska Institute study suggested. Lead researcher Anna Thorson said the study - the...

So, under the most trying conditions, the master coalition-builder crafted the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance that shocked our spooks and diplomats by dominating the January election. The other big winners--Shiite religious leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, and Kurdish leaders Talabani and Massoud Barzani--turned out to be the very same group Mr. Chalabi had united under the banner of his Iraqi National Congress in the '90s, and which had widely been written off as "exiles." Mr. Chalabi had enough support to make a credible bid for the prime minister's post, only to drop out in the face of strong U.S.-Iranian lobbying (what's...