WASHINGTON - IF GREENLAND'S ice melts at moderate to high rates, ocean circulation by 2100 could shift and cause sea levels off the Northeast coast of North America to rise by about 31 to 50 centimeters more than other coastal areas, researchers report on Wednesday in Geophysical Research Letters.

'Major northeastern cities are directly in the path of the greatest rise,' researcher Aixue Hu of the National Center for Atmospheric Research said.

WASHINGTON - THE amount of heat-trapping carbon dioxide seeping into the atmosphere will increase by nearly 40 per cent worldwide by 2030 if ways are not found to require mandatory emission reductions, a US government report said on Wednesday.

The Energy Information Administration said world energy consumption is expected to grow by 44 per cent over the next two decades as the global economy recovers and continues to expand.

DHAKA - CONSERVATIONISTS in Bangladesh and India on Wednesday launched a search in the world's largest mangrove forest for endangered Bengal tigers following a cyclone that killed at least 180 people.