One of the world’s biggest glaciers, holding enough water to raise global sea levels by about six metres, is under threat from warming ocean temperatures.

All 52 passengers who spent Christmas and New Year trapped on an icebound Russian research vessel in Antarctica have been airlifted from the ice in a dramatic rescue mission.

The day before astronaut Commander Laurel Clark died in the shuttle disaster she sent an e-mail home to family and friends.

One of the crew of Columbia sent an e-mail home to friends and family the day before she died, it was revealed today.