Environment

• Saturday, June 26th 2010 - 04:42 UTC

  Lula da Silva skips G20 because of floods and presidential election

  

  Brazilian President Lula da Silva has cancelled plans to attend the G-20 economic summit in Toronto, Canada after flooding in the northeast of the country left at least 51 people dead and 120,000 others homeless.

• Thursday, June 24th 2010 - 05:56 UTC

  Uruguay concerned with Argentina’s construction of atomic power plant

  

  Uruguay is considering an alleged Argentine violation of the UN Nuclear Security Convention since it was never notified of the construction of the Atucha II atomic power plant, 100 kilometres to the north of the capital Buenos Aires and which is one of the country’s main public works.

• Tuesday, June 15th 2010 - 05:09 UTC

  UK doubling inspection and reviewing standards of drilling rigs

  

  Britain is doubling inspection of drilling rigs after the BP oil spill, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne informed Parliament. He told MPs a review of standards had been carried out but with the beginning of exploration in deeper waters west of Shetland, “we must be vigilant”.

• Monday, June 14th 2010 - 04:04 UTC

  Viral epidemic for third year in a row ravages French oyster farms

  

  French oyster-growers are facing ruin because of a viral epidemic that for a third year in a row has been wiping out millions of baby shellfish. From the Mediterranean coast to the bay of Arcachon on the Atlantic and now Brittany, farmers have been watching in dismay in recent weeks as the virus once again moved northwards, keeping pace with the rising sea temperature.

• Friday, June 11th 2010 - 23:23 UTC

  Chilean Senators want International Whaling Commissioner ousted

  

  Chilean senators Juan Pablo Letelier and Guido Girardi met this week with the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Fernando Schmidt, to plead the removal of Chilean Cristián Maquieira from his position as chairman of the International Whaling Commission.

• Wednesday, June 9th 2010 - 06:08 UTC

  Obama looking for “whose ass to kick” in the BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill

  

  In his angriest words yet after being widely criticized for his response to the Gulf oil spill, President Barack Obama said he was talking to experts because he wants to know “whose ass to kick.”

• Tuesday, June 8th 2010 - 05:42 UTC

  World Ocean Day 2010: opportunities and challenges

  

  The United Nations Organization (UN) celebrates on Tuesday 8 June World Ocean Day under the theme: 'Our oceans: opportunities and challenges'. The UN General Assembly instituted this celebration from 2009, by its resolution 63/111, issued 5 December, 2008.

• Tuesday, June 8th 2010 - 03:53 UTC

  Petrobras controls spill at offshore rig while transferring oil to ship

  

  Brazil’s government managed oil and gas corporation Petrobras announced Monday it had controlled an oil leak at an offshore platform in the Campos Basin, 160 kilometers from Rio do Janeiro.

• Saturday, June 5th 2010 - 05:44 UTC

  Environmentalists march to protest building of dams in Patagonian Chile

  

  In honour of June 5, World Environment Day, activist groups and artists will march this weekend to protest efforts by electric companies to build hydroelectric plants in southern Chile.

• Saturday, June 5th 2010 - 00:43 UTC

  Wales will have the largest offshore wind farms in the world

  

  Construction work will begin next year on one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world, an energy firm has announced. The £2 billion Gwynt y Mor wind farm will have 160 wind turbines around 10 miles off the north Wales coast near Colwyn Bay and Llandudno.