New Scientist: European Union leaders have unanimously agreed a deal on tackling climate change, which would see EU greenhouse-gas emissions drop to 20% below 1990 levels by 2020. Nine eastern European countries had threatened to veto the deal over the proposal to auction off emission permits. Until now, European nations were given a certain number of permits to emit greenhouse gases. Under the next phase of the European trading scheme, the permits were to be auctioned off to the highest bidders, …