This afternoon's news

From AP:

Dennis ... is the earliest Category 4 hurricane on record in the Caribbean, and the earliest hurricane to grow this strong, this early in the season, according to the National Hurricane Center.

From Reuters:

The storm headed on a northwest track that threatened key oil and natural gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico, where a quarter of U.S. production comes from ... In the Gulf of Mexico, energy companies had pulled hundreds of workers off oil rigs and shut down some crude and natural gas production.

From the Guardian:

Environmentalists said the summit had failed to make any progress on climate change and blamed Mr Bush for blocking action by the other leaders. The president of the Royal Society, Lord May, labelled the communique on climate change a "disappointing failure".

He said: "Make no mistake, the science already justifies reversing - not merely slowing - the global growth of greenhouse gas emissions."