Italy heat wave risks power cuts: Italy’s Government is facing calls to introduce a state of emergency to fight the threat of power cuts following the mildest winter since records began. With summer still weeks away, rivers and lakes in the worst-affected north of the country have never been drier. It is being taken as the latest sign that Italy could find itself on the frontline of the global warming war. BBC News

Over 90% of Australians concerned about climate change: More than 90% of respondents in a survey conducted by the country’s leading scientific body the Commonwealth, Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation believe climate change is a vital issue. The findings, conducted over a two-year period in New South Wales and Queensland ending in 2006, are among the most exhaustive ever conducted and contradicts Prime Minister John Howard’s claim that global warming is not the overwhelming issue facing Australians. All Headline News

Protect God’s creation: Vatican issues new green message for world’s Catholics: The Vatican yesterday added its voice to a rising chorus of warnings from churches around the world that climate change and abuse of the environment is against God’s will, and that the one billion-strong Catholic church must become far greener. At a Vatican conference on climate change, Pope Benedict urged bishops, scientists and politicians — including UK Environment Secretary David Miliband — to “respect creation” while “focusing on the needs of sustainable development”. Guardian

China to push for sustainable logging overseas: In a surprising move, China has developed guidelines for the establishment of sustainable forest plantations abroad by Chinese firms, according to the International Tropical Timber Organisation’s (ITTO) April 1 Tropical Timber Market Report. The move comes as China faces increasing criticism from environmental groups for pillaging the world’s forests to feed its rapidly growing economy. Monga Bay

What happened to the dolphins of the Humber?: The cold waters of the River Humber don’t sound like the natural habitat of the bottlenose dolphin — a creature with a penchant for warm seas. But research has revealed that the two most certainly have a history. A resident bottlenose dolphin population swam the waters of the Humber as far back as Anglo-Saxon times, according to scientists at Durham University — much to the delight of a Saxon settlement at Flixborough, on the river’s banks, which caught them for food. Independent