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Over the last few years, I became aware of this hidden revolution taking place around the world: the buying up of vast swaths of land by foreign entities from beneath its occupiers. Soaring grain prices in 2007/2008 led to countries such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea worrying about their national food security and buying up overseas land.

If you want to see global warming's signature, look to the Arctic. Up north, the air is warming and the ice is melting. As all of that reflective ice goes away, the Arctic Ocean is soaking up more sunlight, further enhancing warming. Melting Arctic ice is also contributing significantly to sea level rise.

As the latest round of climate talks begin, it seems clear that the world will warm by at least 2 °C. But that's no reason to give up the fight

Environmentalists fear the move by the privately held investment firm based in the US will accelerate exploitation of the region Guggenheim Partners, a privately held investment firm based in the US, which manages more than $125bn worth of assets on behalf of its clients, has confirmed it is setting up a new fund dedicated to making investments in the Arctic region.

Measurements from the 1960s to the early 1990s, backed up by a wide range of data and a number of independent studies, showed there were substantial declines in the amount of the sun's energy reaching the Earth's surface. This reduction is known as "global dimming". The observed "dimming" has strong regional differences across the globe.

Global warming could be slowed down if governments cleaned up what's known as black carbon from industry and cooking fires, 50 of the world's leading atmospheric scientists said on Tuesday.

The eerily lethargic sun shows no signs of perking up, solar physicists say. The sun may wallow in inactivity for the next decade - or longer, which could affect Earth's climate as well as the health of orbiting satellites.

The head of the UN's Population Fund, Babatunde Osotimehin, talks to Annie Kelly about the key issues driving the debate around population and food security

Inaccurate information, poor management and nature have all combined to unleash one of Thailand's worst floods in decades. When the newly elected government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra took office in early August, it wasted no time in rolling out populist policies catered to its up-country supporters, putting in motion the legacy of Yingluck's brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a military coup five years ago and later convicted and exiled for corruption.

Thailand's prime minister has urged Bangkok residents to get ready to move their belongings to higher ground as the country's worst floods in half a century begin seeping into the capital's outer districts. The warning came one day after the government opened several floodgates in a risky bid to let built-up water flow through the city's canals toward the sea.

A study by an independent scientific project, set up in the wake of the "Climategate" email affair, concludes the Earth really is warming.