The report presents a mixed picture. Over the past 25 years, there have been notable improvements in child well-being in the group of countries examined in this report: steady decline in child mortality, overall reduction in adolescent suicide and increase in school completion rates. But the last five years have …
French emissions exchange BlueNext has taken its first step toward a carbon trading platform in China with a deal to offer its clients a database of Chinese carbon-cutting projects, its chairman said on Thursday. Serge Harry said that the agreement with China-Beijing Environment Exchange should put information about available Chinese …
The possibility of component replacement and extending the lifetimes of existing plants are very attractive to utilities, especially given lingering public opposition to constructing new nuclear plants, while some governments see them as a way of limiting carbon emissions and power price rises. But economic, regulatory and political considerations have …
Rich nations as a group are unlikely to reach the deep 2020 cuts in greenhouse gas emissions urged by developing nations as part of a new UN climate treaty, the top US climate envoy said on Friday. China, India and other developing nations say the rich must do most to …
Life evolved when the ocean nickel levels dropped evolution of life was preceded by a great rise in the atmospheric oxygen levels. There are a couple of theories as to what triggered that rise. While both talk about a decrease in the number of bacteria that produce methane (methanogens) and …
Plans for the world's most comprehensive carbon-trading scheme face defeat or parliamentary delay after Australia's opposition said on Tuesday it will try to postpone a vote on the laws this year. The decision by the Liberal-National coalition during a party meeting adds uncertainty over the final shape and start date …
France and Germany suggested on Monday that rich nations should collectively guarantee deep cuts in greenhouse gases by 2020 while giving flexibility to laggards such as the United States to catch up later. France said the idea, floated at talks among 17 top greenhouse gas emitters including China, United States, …
Scientists have said they had identified the toxin in a species of mushroom that killed seven people in Japan in recent years. In an article published in Nature Chemical Biology on Monday, the researchers said they isolated the poisonous compound in the mushroom, Russula subnigricans, and confirmed its toxicity by …
Brazil's wind energy sector is expected to take off this year, boosted by the government's first auction for projects in the renewable energy source on November 25. Following are some of the main investments, current and planned, in the sector. - Enerfin, a unit of Spain's Elecnor, operates the biggest …
Protesters in the Amazon basin have forced Peru's state energy company to shut its crude oil pipeline, a company official said on Monday as the government tries to end weeks of demonstrations over natural resources. Indigenous communities have blocked roads and waterways to pressure the government to revoke investment laws …
Protesters angry over oil and natural gas developments in Peru's resource-rich Amazon vowed on Friday to defy the government and step up demonstrations that have disrupted operations at energy companies. A private-sector source told Reuters that as many as 41 vessels serving energy companies are stuck along jungle rivers, unable …
Coastal states have now made their bids for vast new areas of continental shelf You never know what may come in handy. That is the principle behind the rush for the seabed that reached a climax of sorts this week with the deadline on May 13th for lodging claims to …
France and Pakistan have agreed to cooperate in the nuclear field, officials said Friday, with Islamabad claiming an important breakthrough in its bid to be seen as a responsible nuclear power. Following talks between France's President Nicolas Sarkozy and counterpart Asif Ali Zardari, the French leader's office said he had …
When it was introduced in Europe, people associated the potato with disease In 1769, the wheat crop failed in France. Bread, the French staple, disappeared from boulangerie shelves. There was rioting in the streets of Paris and hordes of undernourished people looted bakeries. The French monarchy which had just scraped …
Bangladesh and Russia on Wednesday signed an agreement on peaceful use of nuclear energy enabling Dhaka to launch negotiations with Moscow to set up nuclear power units in Bangladesh.
Energy service contractors must cut their charges to oil and gas companies to ensure both parts of the industry thrive after the current crisis, the chief executives of two of the world's largest oil companies said on Tuesday. Energy service companies must drop their charges to reflect tighter margins since …
With swine flu now widespread in the United States, the World Health Organization reported Monday that the disease had widened globally, too, with 20 countries reporting 985 laboratory confirmed cases, compared with 18 countries reporting 898 confirmed cases on Sunday. Colombia and El Salvador were the latest countries to join …
Getting a staggering mileage of over 3,800 kilometres per litre plus seems unlikely, but this is the standard of fuel economy the teams competing in the Shell Eco-marathon project will be trying to achieve. The three-day event begins at the Euro Speedway Lausitz
The Arctic Council, a forum for climate issues and environmental protection, agreed on close and increased cooperation in carrying out research on the Arctic and identified a number of measures, including a binding guideline for ship operation and revising the guidelines for oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. The …
- European Union ministers called on Thursday for urgent action to tighten hunting controls on sharks, which are seriously threatened by chronic overfishing and one of the world's most vulnerable predators. Only two out of dozens of shark species in EU waters have annual catch quotas, instituted about a year …
