2007 set to be world's warmest

The coming year is set to be the hottest on record worldwide due to global warming and the El Nino weather phenomenon, Britain's Meteorological Office said yesterday.

After 2006 which was forecast last month to be the sixth warmest on record globally, the Met Office said the combination of factors would push average temperatures this year above the record set in 1998.

"This new information represents another warning that climate change is happening around the world," said Met Office scientist Katie Hopkins.

The world's 10 warmest years have all occurred in the last 12 years, according to the United Nations' weather agency.

The highly respected Met Office, which makes a global forecast every January with the University of East Anglia, said it expected the world's average temperature to be 0.54 degrees Celsius about the 1961-1990 long-term average of 14 degrees.