Huge haze clouds over the Indian Ocean contribute as much to atmospheric warming in Asia as greenhouse gases and play a significant role in the melting of the Himalayan glaciers, according to a new study.

Bush announced plans for a global conference on reducing greenhouse gas emissions to take place in September 2007. The EU, UN, and many other industrial countries have been invited. This conference has been criticized as an effort to divert attention from the UN summit on climate change taking place three days before the conference, during which current US policies may come under attack.

China produced 6,200 million tons of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels and making cement last year, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said Tuesday on its Web site. That pushed it past the United States, which produced 5,800 million tons of the gas, the agency said.

The mounting quest for oil alternatives threatens drastic increases in heat-trapping global warming pollution and severe impacts on popular habitats across the United States and Western Canada unless clear safeguards are adopted quickly, according to a new analysis released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

China has unveiled its first national plan for climate change, saying it is intent on tackling the problem but not at the expense of economic development.