U.S. Energy Secretary wants to cut carbon in the Americas Skip related content
U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu urged officials from the Americas on Monday to throw their weight behind a new initiative to reduce carbon emissions and make cities in the Western Hemisphere more energy efficient. Chu launched the "Low Carbon Communities of the Americas" program at an event on energy and climate change that was put together after presidents at the Fifth Summit of the Americas in April agreed to collaborate more on green energy issues.
Australia's forests key to fighting global warming
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Ancient Australian forests are key to fighting climate change and contain the world's most dense carbon store, eclipsing tropical rainforests as efficient greenhouse gas absorbers, scientists said on Tuesday. Towering Mountain Ash forests covering Victoria state's cool highlands hold four times more carbon, or around 1,900 metric tons of carbon per hectare, than tropical forests, scientists at the Australian National University said.
U.S. faces security threat from climate change: Kerry
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global warming threatens U.S. security by leaving important military hubs vulnerable to rising seas and possibly fomenting anti-American sentiment, U.S. Sen. John Kerry said on Monday. There is "scarcely an instrument of U.S. foreign policy" that was not vulnerable to climate change, which scientists say will raise sea levels by melting glaciers and ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica, Kerry, a Democrat, said at a Council on Foreign Relations meeting.
Court orders $507.5 million damages in Exxon Valdez spill
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A federal appeals court on Monday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp to pay $507.5 million in punitive damages stemming from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, plus 5.9 percent interest running from the 1996 trial judgment, the opinion said. The amount is a fraction of the $5 billion in punitive damages originally awarded to fishermen, Alaska natives, business owners and other litigants by a jury in 1996, and equals the compensatory damages agreed to in a subsequent settlement, the opinion said.
Bangladesh and China top U.N. disaster risk index
GENEVA (Reuters) - Asian countries led by Bangladesh and China dominated an index produced on Monday by the United Nations that estimates which populations are most at risk from earthquakes, floods, cyclones and landslides. The Mortality Risk Index was issued by the U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) before a four-day meeting of the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction opening on Tuesday at which 1,800 officials and experts will examine natural catastrophes.
Australians demand more action on climate change
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Hundreds of environmental activists took to the streets of Australia's main cities on Saturday, saying the Labor government was not doing enough on climate change. The protests came ahead of a vote in the upper house Senate next week on the government's planned emissions trading scheme, which the protesters regard as inadequate.
Indonesia forest fires fan regional haze concern
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia may experience more severe forest fires this year because of an extended dry season, officials said on Monday, raising the prospect of choking smoke blowing across neighboring states. As well as being unhealthy, the smog can cause major economic disruption costing the tourism, transport and farming sectors billions of dollars.
Code of conduct urged for Africa farm land grabs
CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - African countries may need to put in place a code of conduct to govern farmland purchases on the continent by foreigners, an agribusiness conference heard on Monday. In a bid to overcome reliance on food imports, countries in Asia and the Gulf have been at the forefront of farmland purchases in the world's poorest continent, where millions survive on subsistence farming.
Wildfire rages near Athens, threatens homes
ATHENS (Reuters) - A wildfire raged uncontrolled through forest land in the outskirts of Athens, threatening homes and power lines, a fire brigade official said on Monday. Fanned by strong winds, the fire which quickly spread across the slopes of Mount Hymettus which overlooks the Greek capital, sending thick clouds of smoke over the city.
Australia to oppose Japan coastal whaling plan
CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia will oppose a compromise deal that would allow Japan to resume coastal whaling in return for scaling back its annual whale hunt near Antarctica, Environment Minister Peter Garrett said on Monday. An International Whaling Commission (IWC) panel is seeking an agreement at its annual meeting next week to allow Japan to hunt minke whales off its coast in exchange for cutting back its controversial yearly "scientific" hunt.
A family has been left distraught after their huge pet Burmese python escaped from its cage and strangled their two-year-old to death.
