A new report launched Tuesday by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research states that not all countries are on track to meeting the deadline of removing anti-personnel landmines by 2010 and the list includes the United Kingdom for clearance of the Falklands/Malvinas.
President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday he hopes a spat with Spanish King Juan Carlos doesn't spiral into a diplomatic crisis but that Venezuela doesn't need Spanish investment.
Brazil's government controlled oil corporation Petrobras has cut out from plans to help develop Venezuela's Mariscal Sucre offshore natural-gas field, which was to become the source of the gas to be pumped through the 20 billion US dollars projected Southern Gas Pipeline.
Three clue names will remain in the cabinet of elected Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner: cabinet chief Alberto Fernández; Planning minister Julio de Vido the man responsible for upgrading Argentina's energy infrastructure and Foreign Affairs minister Jorge Taiana, it was reported in Buenos Aires.
A major earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, toppling power lines, closing roads and sending terrified residents into the streets. The first reports from the area indicate that two people were killed and dozens injured. However copper smelting in the world's largest mining area resumed a few hours later. The quake was also felt in the capital Santiago as well as neighboring Peru and Bolivia.
Brazilian Indians and officials urged U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who this week visited the Amazon basin, to rally international support to protect the world's largest rain forest.
Government officials and scientists from around the world are gathered in Valencia, Spain, for a United Nations conference that will culminate with the release later this week of a seminal report on addressing the impacts of climate change.
US retail sales and producer price figures have pointed to a weakening of demand in the world's largest economy. The first month of the 2008 federal budget showed a 55.6 billion US dollars deficit.
The European Parliament voted Tuesday to include airlines in the EU strategy to cut greenhouse gases, giving all carriers flying within or into the 27-nation bloc until 2011 to offset some of their emissions by buying carbon dioxide allowances on the open market.
The world's largest travel fair opened this week in London with a strong focus on green issues highlighting the ever-increasing pressure on the tourism industry to promote environmentally friendly ways of seeing the world.