Category: Environment

WASHINGTON, January 26, 2009 (AFP) – President Barack Obama on Monday is expected to issue new regulations allowing several US states to set tougher car emissions and fuel efficiency standards, the New York Times reported, citing administration officials.He also will direct the Department of Transportation to immediately begin drafting automobile fuel-economy regulations to comply with […]

QUITO, January 6, 2009 (AFP) – A team of Ecuadoran and Italian researchers have discovered a unique species of pink land iguanas living on the Galapagos Islands, the scientist who wrote the report told AFP. “It is surprising to have found in the 21st century a find of this magnitude,” said Washington Tapia, head of […]

TOKYO, January 4, 2009 (AFP) – Japan’s Pacific coast was lapped by minor tsunami waves Sunday after a string of powerful earthquakes off Indonesia, the country’s meteorological agency said.Waves up to 40 centimetres (1.3 feet) reached the Pacific coasts of islands from the Okinawan chain to the main island of Honshu, the agency said. The […]

SYDNEY, January 2, 2009 (AFP) – A sharp slowdown in coral growth on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef since 1990 is a warning sign that precipitous changes in the world’s oceans may be imminent, scientists said Friday. Rising sea temperatures are blamed on global warming caused by the build-up in the atmosphere of greenhouse gases such […]

LAM TUTUI, December 25, 2008 (AFP) – When the deadly waters of the Asian tsunami smashed into this fishing village in Indonesia’s Aceh province four years ago, not one house was left standing.Now there are too many of them. Recovery has been uneven in the dozen countries hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean disaster, which […]

YANGON, December 13, 2008 (AFP) – Military-run Myanmar announced Saturday it would hold an auction of precious gems in Yangon early next year, despite economic sanctions banning their international trade.Europe also intensified economic sanctions on the regime after a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last year, while Washington and human rights groups have urged gem […]

SINGAPORE, December 12, 2008 (AFP) – More than one million people on Indonesia’s Sumatra island are vulnerable to a massive earthquake and tsunami potentially more destructive than one which struck four years ago, scientists who released a study Friday warned. The quake and tsunami are likely within the next few decades, they said. On December […]

ROME, December 5, 2008 (AFP) – Twenty-one animal species, including the cheetah, three dolphin families and an Egyptian vulture, were added to the list of those in danger of extinction by a UN conference that ended Friday. Six other bird species as well as manatees have also been placed on the list of animals benefiting […]

PARIS, November 17, 2008 (AFP) – Scientists unveiled Sunday the first direct evidence that massive floods deep below Antarctica’s ice cover are accelerating the flow of glaciers into the sea.How quickly these huge bodies of ice slide off the Antarctic and Greenland land masses into the ocean help determine the speed at which sea levels […]

Nov 17, 2008 (LBO) – Pollution of the seas around Sri Lanka is increasing mainly because of pollutants from land, the Marine Pollution Prevention Authority (MPPA) has warned.MPPA chairman Ranjith Kularatne said most people were not aware that 90 percent of the pollution of the island’s waters came from activity on land. These include pollutants […]

JAKARTA, October 23, 2008 (AFP) – A species of cockatoo feared to have become extinct has been “rediscovered” with the sighting of a handful of breeding pairs on a remote Indonesian island, researchers said Thursday. Ten Yellow-crested Abbott’s cockatoos were found on the Masalembu archipelago off Java island, the Indonesian Cockatoo Conservation group told AFP. […]

Oct 21, 2008 (LBO) – A host of Sri Lankan companies, especially plantations firms, have submitted proposals for projects to earn carbon credits by reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Ministry of Environment officials said. To receive instant alerts from LBO on your Dialog mobile type ‘lbo’ and send to 678 Most of the projects are for […]