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The World Environment News is a daily environmental update bringing you all the latest environmental stories, pictures and video from across the globe, courtesy of the Reuters news service. if it’s happening in the world of environment, it’s happening in the World Environment News.
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Latest News (179 stories)
Rothschild, Prince Of Wales Invest In Green Start-Up
Photo: Luke MacGregor
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: UK
Author: Adveith Nair
The Prince of Wales' private estate and financier Jacob Rothschild are among a group of investors who plan to invest more than 65 million pounds ($103 million) in a clean technology start-up focused on producing energy from organic waste matter.
EU Poised For Tar Sands Vote, Stalemate Likely
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
An EU vote on Thursday on a draft law to label fuel from tar sands as highly polluting is likely to produce a stalemate, EU sources said, marking a draw in a long lobbying tussle between oil giant Canada and environmentalists.
Iran Defiant As U.N. Nuclear Talks Fail
Photo: Khamenei.ir
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: VIENNA/TEHRAN
Author: Fredrik Dahl and Parisa Hafezi
The U.N. nuclear watchdog ended its latest mission to Iran after talks on Tehran's suspected secret atomic weapons research failed, a setback likely to increase the risk of confrontation with the West.
IMO To Discuss CO2 Curbs For Ships, Industry Frets
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: UK
Author: Jeff Coelho
The International Maritime Organization will next week debate market-based measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions from ships, but the world's major shipping associations on Wednesday said the timing is not right for such measures to be applied.
German Ministers Agree To Speed Up Solar Cuts
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: GERMANY
Author: Markus Wacket
The German government has agreed to accelerate the next round of cuts in state-mandated photovoltaic incentives by three months to April 1 after a record-breaking expansion of solar power in 2011, government and industry sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Ontario Won't Alter Local Content In Green-Energy
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: CANADA
Author: Nicole Mordant
The Canadian province of Ontario's review of its pioneering green energy program will not alter controversial rules that require local content for all projects, the province's energy minister said on Wednesday.
Canadian Solar To Build Factory In Japan: Report
Date: 23-Feb-12
Author: Swetha Gopinath
Canadian Solar Inc plans to build a factory in Japan and is currently in negotiations with local governments in Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures, the Nikkei reported.
EU Air Emission Law Opponents Agree Counter Measures
Date: 23-Feb-12
Country: RUSSIA
Author: Jennifer Rankin
Countries opposed to an EU law which forces the world's airlines to pay for their emissions have agreed a basket of retaliatory measures but will leave it up to each country to chose among them, Russia's deputy Transport Minister said on Wednesday.
U.S. Won't Allow More Fungicide In Orange Juice: FDA
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: USA/BRAZIL
Author: Anna Yukhananov and Peter Murphy
The U.S. health regulator on Thursday declined a request by orange juice producers to allow a higher tolerance of a banned fungicide in juice imports, a decision that will force Brazil to stop exporting concentrated orange juice to the United States.
Brazil's Lupatech Expects $408 Million Deal In 3 Weeks
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Reese Ewing
Troubled Brazilian oil services and equipment provider Lupatech (LUPA3.SA) said on Friday it expects to clinch a deal in three weeks with its main shareholders for 700 million reais ($408 million) in new capital to help it avert bankruptcy.
Mexico, U.S. Sign Cross-Border Deep Water Oil Deal
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: MEXICO
Author: Andrew Quinn
Mexico and the United States signed an agreement on Monday to help U.S. firms and Mexican oil monopoly Pemex exploit deep water oil resources in the Gulf of Mexico that straddle the countries' maritime boundaries.
Temblor Rattles New Madrid Earthquake Zone In Missouri
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Bruce Olson
A small earthquake centered in the New Madrid Seismic Zone in southeastern Missouri was felt in several states in the Midwest early on Tuesday but no damage or injuries were reported, authorities said.
Tough Rules Sought To Keep Invasive Species From Great Lakes
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Andrew Stern
Ships entering the Great Lakes should be made to kill all the creatures that hitch a ride in their ballast tanks, environmental groups said on Tuesday, challenging as too lax a proposed government standard to combat invasive species.
Mosaic Settles Lawsuit Over Florida Mine Expansion
Date: 22-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Ernest Scheyder
Mosaic Co said it has settled a lawsuit filed by environmental groups including the Sierra Club that will now allow the fertilizer producer to expand a major phosphate mine in South Fort Meade, Florida.
Ecuador Court Rejects Chevron Arbitration Ruling
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: Ecuador
Author: Eduardo Garcia
A court in Ecuador has rejected an order by arbitrators that an $18 billion pollution ruling against Chevron should be frozen, but the judges referred an appeal by the U.S. oil company to the country's Supreme Court.
Q+A: Will Moscow Talks Unleash Carbon Trade War Against EU?
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
A group of nations opposed to an EU law forcing all airlines to pay for their emissions meets in Moscow this week to debate possible retaliation, raising the risk of a trade war.
Kenya's Kengen To Raise $12 Billion For New Plants
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: KENYA
Author: Beatrice Gachenge
Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) said on Monday it planned to raise $12 billion to build six geothermal power plants that should generate 585 megawatts by 2016, as it pushes to diversify its power sources.
Record low Rainfall Puts UK On Drought Watch
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: UK
Author: (Reporting by Avril Ormsby
Large parts of Britain are facing a drought this year after groundwater reached levels not seen for more than 35 years, which could spell restrictions for farmers and households.
Rains Lift Hopes For Ivorian Cocoa Midcrop
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: Côte d'Ivoire
Author: Loucoumane Coulibaly
Russia Could Block Airlines From Emission Trading
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: RUSSIA
Author: John Bowker
Russia may prohibit its airlines from carbon emission trading in protest against a European Union law it says is unfair, state carrier Aeroflot said on Monday.
France Asks EU To Suspend Monsanto GM Corn Approval
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: FRANCE
Author: Gus Trompiz
France asked the European Commission on Monday to suspend authorization to plant Monsanto's genetically modified (GM) MON810 corn, the environment ministry said, as the country seeks to keep a ban on GM crops despite losing court rulings.
Rains Let Loose Land Mines, Shut Peru-Chile Border
Date: 21-Feb-12
Country: PERU
Author: Terry Wade in Lima and Fabian Cambero in Santiago
Flooding rivers in Peru and Chile have ruined houses, displaced people, and turned up something more sinister: land mines, which closed the border between the two countries on Monday.
House Republicans Seek More Documents In Solyndra Probe
Photo: Robert Galbraith
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Roberta Rampton
Republican lawmakers alleged on Friday that the Energy Department used a loan guarantee to a massive rooftop solar project as part of a last-ditch effort to bail out Solyndra, a solar panel maker that later failed.
Shell Moves Closer To Arctic Drilling With Spill Response
Photo: Luke MacGregor
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Ayesha Rascoe
Royal Dutch Shell's bid to drill in the Arctic this summer took another step forward on Friday when the U.S. Interior Department approved its oil spill response plan for the Chukchi Sea.
Analysis: EU Farmers Lose Out As Consumers Oppose GMOs
Photo: Thierry Roge
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: FRANCE
Author: Sybille de La Hamaide
European farmers are likely to fall behind in the competitive world grain market as EU consumer hostility to genetically modified organisms (GMOs) drives away research and prevents cultivation of high-yield and pest-resistant crops.
House Passes Keystone Bill, Senate Action Uncertain
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Roberta Rampton
The House of Representatives passed an energy bill on Thursday that would wrest control of a permit for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline away from President Barack Obama, who has put the project on hold.
Moscow Air Talks To Debate Measures Against EU: Draft
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
Nations opposing a European Union law that forces all airlines to pay for their carbon emissions will next week debate an array of counter-measures, a draft agenda seen by Reuters on Friday showed, raising the risk of an aviation trade war.
Panel Reinforces Ecuador Award Halt In Chevron Case
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: USA
Author: Braden Reddall
An arbitration panel reinforced an order that Ecuador's government seek to suspend an $18 billion court award against U.S. oil company Chevron Corp over pollution in the South American country's rainforest.
Poachers Kill 200 Elephants In Cameroon Killing Spree
Date: 20-Feb-12
Country: CAMEROON
Author: David Lewis
Poachers have killed more than 200 elephants in Cameroon in just six weeks, in a "massacre" fuelled by Asian demand for ivory.
Analysis: As Solar Panels Eclipsed, Installers In Limelight
Date: 20-Feb-12
Author: Matt Daily
A steep decline in solar panel prices is helping solar installers attract new capital, a trend likely to trigger consolidation in the fragmented industry and drive down the cost of putting the renewable energy system on rooftops.