In the papers today

Fresh legal challenges are expected to hamper plans to build new nuclear power stations in the UK. .The government expects further attempts to take it to court in the coming months as it brings forward its plans for nuclear, according to leaked documents prepared by the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform, and seen by the Financial Times

Gordon Brown is under pressure to suspend rises in fuel duty after it emerged that the Treasury is set to pick up an unexpected £3 billion tax windfall from the soaring price of oil. Farmers and road hauliers threatened the Prime Minister last night with nationwide fuel protests in the run-up to Christmas unless the Government passed on some of the extra income to motorists - The Daily Telegraph

The international effort to curb man-made emissions of greenhouse gases – as enshrined in the Kyoto protocol – is a miserable failure that needs to be swept away and replaced, according to a new report. Climate policy after 2012, when the Kyoto agreement comes to an end, will disintegrate unless the principles behind the present treaty are overhauled and a new approach is taken, says the study, published in the journal Nature – The Independent