ROME, Sept 11, 2007 (AFP) - Climate change has warmed up the Mediterranean Sea and threatens its rich animal and plant life, Italy's Institute of Marine Research (ICRAM) warned in a new report Tuesday.

The alarm bell came a day before the start of a national conference on climate change in Rome.

The experts said a cold current emanating from the Gulf of Trieste off northern Italy, which allowed the waters of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean to mix, had vanished since 2003 due to warming.

ATHENS, Aug 31, 2007 (AFP) - Lower temperatures and lighter winds helped bring fires around the Mediterranean under control on Friday but six Croatian firefighters were found dead and in Greece authorities feared a new Heat Wave.

The Croatian firefighters, who included a 17 year-old and two 19 year-olds, died on Thursday after being cut off while battling a wildfire in a national park on the Adriatic island of Kornat, the fire brigade said.

ATHENS, Aug 30, 2007 (AFP) - While Greece edged closer to mastering forest fires that have killed more than 63 people, other countries on the Mediterranean and the Adriatic struggled with deadly woodland blazes Thursday.

In Algeria, forest fires fed by winds off the Sahara and still burning out of control in the north of the country had claimed eight lives in the past 48 hours, said the country's civil protection services.

MOSCOW, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Russia is aiming to restore a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean, the navy's chief of staff said Friday at the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

'For the Black Sea fleet, the Mediterranean has the highest strategic importance,' the RIA Novosti and Interfax news agency quoted Admiral Vladimir Masorin as saying in the Ukrainian port city.

'I think a permanent presence of the Russian navy should be restored there using the forces of the North and Baltic fleets.'

MOSCOW, Aug 3, 2007 (AFP) - Russia is aiming to restore a permanent naval base in the Mediterranean, the navy's chief of staff said Friday at the base of the Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

'For the Black Sea fleet, the Mediterranean has the highest strategic importance,' the RIA Novosti and Interfax news agency quoted Admiral Vladimir Masorin as saying in the Ukrainian port city.

'I think a permanent presence of the Russian navy should be restored there using the forces of the North and Baltic fleets.'