Climate change is making forest fires around the world bigger and more intense, increasing the threat to people and the environment and costing countries millions in damage and firefighting expenses, the United Nations said Thursday.

Accused of dragging his feet on global warming, President Bush on Thursday proposed that by 2008 the countries that emit the most greenhouse gases come up with long-term goals to curb emissions.

An Ohio State University professor famous for his climate change research in glacier fields is one of this year's recipients of the National Medal of Science from the White House.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday was looking in San Francisco Bay for a whale carcass, fearing it might be one of the two wayward whales that had swum up the Sacramento River by accident.

Climate change is making forest fires around the world bigger and more intense, increasing the threat to people and the environment and costing countries millions in damage and firefighting expenses, the United Nations said Thursday.

The U.S. Coast Guard on Friday found a dead whale carcass in San Francisco Bay, but officials quickly determined it was not one of the wayward humpbacks that had swum up the Sacramento River by accident.