From the "It Never Ends" Department, Global Warming Section

After years of insisting that global warming is a contested issue and not demonstrably linked to human activity, the White House signalled some softening on the issue by referring to "the serious challenge of climate change" in this year's State of the Union speech, and by subsequently claiming that this administration has taken steps to address the problem. Reuters reports today, however, that the Bush administration continues to work behind the scenes to suppress efforts to tackle the environmental crisis:

The United States is battling to stop next month's Group of Eight summit in Germany from pushing for urgent talks on a new deal to fight global warming after the Kyoto Protocol lapses in 2012.

In a draft of the final communique for the June 6-8 summit seen by Reuters, Washington wants taken out references to the urgency of the climate crisis and the need for a U.N. conference in Bali in December to open talks on a new global deal.