"Scores of the US's richest people have pledged $1 million or more towards a new attempt to reinvigorate the American left and counter the powerful Republican political machine," writes David Teather.

The chairman of ExxonMobil, Lee R. Raymond, has announced that he will retire at the end of the year. Kert Davies, research director at Greenpeace U.S.A. told the New York Times that "there is a spectrum of corporate behavior on global warming and Exxon is the epitome of denial and deception.

Mediaweek reports that new voluntary guidelines issued by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) on Direct-to-consumer advertising "contain few requirements that will add to marketers' ethical and legal burdens in creating drug ads." The guidelines, it reports "do little to go beyond a press release PhRMA issued on July 21, which merely 'enco