Environment

• Monday, July 11th 2011 - 07:46 UTC

  Airline industry test second generation bio-fuels from algae to coconut oil

  

  After decades of waiting, commercial airlines have been given the go-ahead to use fuel made from algae, wood chips and other plants with obscure names. Test flights in recent years by Continental, Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have shown that planes can fly on everything from coconut oil to jatropha, a plant that grows in the tropics.

• Monday, July 11th 2011 - 07:40 UTC

  Millions of tons of plastic debris in oceans lethal threat for whales and dolphins

  

  Millions of tons of plastic debris dumped each year in the world's oceans could pose a lethal threat to whales and dolphins, according to a scientific assessment to be presented at a key international whaling forum this week.

• Saturday, July 9th 2011 - 06:43 UTC

  Volcanic ash again cancels hundreds of flights in the Southern Cone

  

  Clouds of ash spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano again grounded flights at airports in Uruguay and Argentina, where a major football tournament is being held. Scores of local and international flights were delayed or cancelled in and out of Buenos Aires, regional airport authority Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 said on its website on Friday.

• Wednesday, July 6th 2011 - 22:51 UTC

  Australian airline to experiment with eucalyptus oil as aviation fuel

  

  A commercial scale plant supplying Virgin Australia with aviation fuel derived from eucalypt trees could be up and running by 2014, announced on Wednesday the airline. In conjunction with three partners a demonstration plant in Western Australia is planned for 2012 and fully operational facility within three years

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 16:29 UTC

  How seafood, oil and tourism made ’squidionaires’ and the Falklands’ rich

  

  Caroline Graham from London's Mail on Sunday visited the Falkland Islands for a week and chance had it she arrived when a commercial oil strike was announced by one of the several companies exploring offshore the Islands.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 15:44 UTC

  Uruguay and Brazil move closer to a partnership in wind power projects

  

  Uruguay’s state owned power company UTE moved closer to linking with Brazil’s Eletrobras for wind projects after its board gave the go-ahead to explore a partnership.

• Tuesday, July 5th 2011 - 06:14 UTC

  Argentina announces aid for areas suffering from the volcanic ash cloud

  

  Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner announced a package of measures to mitigate the effects of ash spewing from Chile's Puyehue volcano that has upended air travel, tourism and farming in Patagonia.

• Sunday, July 3rd 2011 - 11:42 UTC

  Biosphere reserve in Chilean Patagonia gives hope for preservation of the huemul

  

  The United Nations added 18 new sites to its global list of biosphere reserves, (including one in Chilean Patagonia) bringing the total to 581 in 114 different countries, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 13:00 UTC

  Fishermen recover giant dead squid off Florida coast

  

  A trio of fishermen in the US state of Florida said they made an unusual find about 12 miles off the coast of Jensen Beach -- a dead giant squid measuring 23- to 25 feet.

• Friday, July 1st 2011 - 06:46 UTC

  Desforestation in Brazil doubles, in anticipation of an amnesty for illegal logging

  

  Deforestation rates in the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s biggest rain forest, more than doubled last month as farmers become more confident they’ll be granted amnesty for illegal logging.