World Environment News - Planet Ark
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 (197 stories)
Wal-Mart, in China, pushes suppliers down green path
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: CHINA
Author: Wan Xu and David Stanway
Wal-Mart Stores Inc has given global suppliers five years to comply with its environmental rules or risk being pushed off U.S. shelves at the world's largest retailer, expanding a sustainability campaign launched in 2009.
Rains help shrink drought but High Plains still parched
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Carey Gillam in Kansas City
Many areas of the drought-stricken United States continued to see improvement over the last week as steady rains started recharging parched soils, but for key agricultural areas of the U.S. Heartland, there was little relief, according to a climatology report issued Thursday.
Experts fear Hurricane Sandy could do more damage than Irene
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Ben Berkowitz
As Hurricane Sandy makes its way toward the eastern seaboard of the United States, disaster experts and meteorologists warn that the mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states face dangerous winds and heavy rains that could trigger flooding in the coming days.
Louisiana requests trial to decide $1 billion spill claim against BP
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Chris Baltimore
The state of Louisiana has asked a federal judge to declare a jury trial to decide on its claim for more than $1 billion from BP Plc to compensate the state for economic losses resulting from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Japan winter could be milder than usual, would curb kerosene demand
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: JAPAN
Author: Risa Maeda
Japan will see mostly normal to above-average temperatures this winter, the country's official weather forecaster said on Thursday, implying demand for electricity and kerosene for heating may be restrained.
EU environment ministers in disarray over "hot air"
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: LUXEMBOURG
Author: Barbara Lewis
EU talks to agree tactics ahead of an international climate summit in Doha next month ended in disarray on Thursday, after coal-dependent Poland led opposition to more ambitious attempts to curb atmospheric pollution.
Suit filed to block deer shoot in Washington park
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Ian Simpson
Animal rights activists filed a lawsuit on Thursday to try to stop a plan to cull deer in a Washington park, saying it would create a "killing field" in the heart of the U.S. capital.
Tropical Storm Tony becomes a post-tropical cyclone: NHC
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: Bangalore
Author: Shruti Chaturvedi
Tropical Storm (TS) Tony has become a post-tropical cyclone, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in its latest bulletin on Thursday.
Hurricane Sandy leaves trail of destruction in Cuba
Date: 26-Oct-12
Country: HAVANA
Author: Jeff Franks
Hurricane Sandy hit Cuba with a surprising jolt on Thursday, slamming the island with winds that reached 110 miles per hour and leaving a trail of destruction, especially in the historic city of Santiago de Cuba.
Green energy would save EU trillions by 2050: report
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: BRUSSELS
Author: Barbara Lewis
A green revolution to make EU energy almost totally carbon-free by 2050 would generate 3 trillion euros ($3.9 trillion) in fuel savings, a report commissioned by environmental campaigners said.
China to encourage private investment in energy: white paper
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: CHINA
Author: David Stanway
China will seek to encourage more private investment in its state-dominated energy sector, according to a new industry white paper published by official news agency Xinhua on Wednesday.
Italy faces huge fines over illegal landfills
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: BRUSSELS
Author: Charlie Dunmore
The European Commission asked the EU courts on Wednesday to impose huge fines on Italy for not cleaning up hundreds of illegal waste landfill sites.
Bulgarians to vote on new nuclear plant after government reversal
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: BULGARIA
Author: Tsvetelia Tsolova
Bulgarians will vote on whether to build a new nuclear power plant in the Balkan country's first referendum since the fall of communism in 1989, parliament ruled on Wednesday.
Fukushima situation stable but still precarious: regulator
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: VIENNA
Author: Fredrik Dahl
The situation at Japan's stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant has been stabilized but is still precarious, more than a year and a half after disaster struck, a senior Japanese regulatory official said on Wednesday.
China to approve only a few new reactors by 2015
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: CHINA
Author: David Stanway
China will approve a small number of new nuclear reactors before 2015 to be built only in coastal regions, the government said on Wednesday, as it unveiled a raft of measures to spur private investments in energy.
U.S. looks to old Arctic ship logs for climate change clues
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Ian Simpson
A project to help track Arctic climate change using volunteers to transcribe U.S. ship logs online was launched on Wednesday by the National Archives and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Billionaire Steyer sees clean energy in his future
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Peter Henderson
Billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer says he will focus on pushing California toward an alternative energy future when he steps down from the company he founded, Farallon Capital.
Hurricane Sandy hits southeast Jamaica, close to Kingston
Date: 25-Oct-12
Country: JAMAICA
Author: Horace Helps
Hurricane Sandy made landfall on the southeast coast of Jamaica on Wednesday afternoon, posing a major flood risk to low-lying areas near the capital Kingston, hurricane forecasters said.
Putin tells Russian gas exporters to look east
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: BOVANENKOVO/NOVO-OGARYOVO, RUSSIA
Author: Denis Pinchuk and Alexei Anishchuk
President Vladimir Putin ordered a rethink of Russia's natural gas export policy to take advantage of rising Asian demand, as giant producer Gazprom launched a huge Arctic field to supply Europe, where demand is falling.
IKEA to move to clean energy by 2020, protect forests
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: NORWAY
Author: Alister Doyle
IKEA, the world's largest furniture retailer, will shift to renewable energy by 2020 and grow more trees than it uses under a plan to safeguard nature that has won support from environmentalists.
Bird watchers descend on Rhode Island for rare sighting
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Daniel Lovering
Scores of bird watchers have descended on Rhode Island to glimpse a bird rarely seen on the U.S. mainland and that may have flown from as far away as Siberia.
Japan LNG demand has likely peaked: government official
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: SINGAPORE
Author: Bohan Loh and Ramya Venugopal
The spike in Japanese demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) triggered by a halt in nuclear power output in the wake of the Fukushima disaster may have peaked, as two reactors are back online and the summer demand season has passed, a senior government official said.
EU needs to decide carbon reform "without delay": draft
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: BELGIUM
Author: Barbara Lewis
A rapid rise in surplus EU carbon credits is expected to slow from 2014 onwards, but to tackle a short-term glut member states need to decide before the end of the year on a temporary fix, a European Commission draft document said.
British badgers granted stay of execution
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: UK
Author: Peter Schwartzstein
Britain has delayed a plan to shoot thousands of badgers to stop the spread of tuberculosis in cattle in the face of overwhelming public opposition to the cull.
Americans favor water recycling, but there's an "ick factor"
Date: 24-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Deborah Zabarenko, Environment Correspondent
Most Americans have scant understanding about their water supply, but they are concerned about it, and believe recycling water gives the United States an advantage over other countries, a survey said on Tuesday.
Argentine storms to help grain output, hurt quality
Date: 23-Oct-12
Country: SOUTH AMERICA
Author: Hugh Bronstein
Argentine grains output will benefit from this year's early and potent arrival of El Nino-related rains, but low crop quality linked to flooding is likely to undermine the expected increase in soy and corn volume.
Anbaric could help TenneT with German offshore link plan
Date: 23-Oct-12
Country: GERMANY
Author: Tom Kaeckenhoff, Rene Wagner and Markus Wacket
Institutional investors led by U.S. energy transmission developer Anbaric Transmission are interested in pumping up to 4 billion euros ($5.2 billion) into linking German offshore wind farms with the mainland.
Solyndra bankruptcy plan approved over U.S. objections
Date: 23-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Tom Hals
Solyndra, the solar panel maker that failed despite a $528 million federal loan, on Monday won court approval for its plan to repay creditors and end its politically charged bankruptcy, after a judge overruled objections by the U.S. government.
Italian scientists convicted over earthquake warning
Date: 23-Oct-12
Country: ITALY
Author: Alberto Sisto
L'AQUILA, Italy (Reuters) - Six scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in prison for manslaughter by an Italian court on Monday for failing to give adequate warning of an earthquake that killed more than 300 people in L'Aquila in 2009.
Appeals court: Kinder Morgan's Ruby Pipeline should get another look
Date: 23-Oct-12
Country: USA
Author: Dan Levine
A U.S. appeals court on Monday ruled that federal wildlife authorities improperly certified the Ruby Pipeline Project without taking into account its impact on groundwater wells and certain fish species along the route.