By Rupert Wingfield-Hayes 8 November 2013 (BBC News) – Engineers at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant are preparing to extract the first of thousands of fuel rods from the wrecked reactor-four building. This delicate task is a major step on the long road to making the site safe, reports the BBC’s Rupert Wingfield-Hayes. If you open […]
8 November 2013 (Al Jazeera) – The deadliest known outbreak of a measles-like virus in bottlenose dolphins has killed a record number of the marine mammals along the U.S. Atlantic coast in recent months, officials said Friday. A total of 753 bottlenose dolphins have washed up from New York to Florida from July 1 until […]
3 November 2013 (AAP) – The federal government has approved a massive coal mining project in central Queensland that will be the largest in the country. Environment Minister Greg Hunt approved the 37,380 hectare Kevin’s Corner project on Friday. The mine, to be operated by a joint India-Australia consortium, GVK-Hancock, is the first to be […]
By Aaron Akinyemi2 November 2013 (International Business Times UK) – The bushfires that have ravaged large swathes of Australia are now advancing towards Sydney, the country’s biggest city. The bustling metropolis has been enveloped in a shroud of smoke due to bushfires burning to the west, with iconic landmarks such as the Sydney Opera House […]
Oct 22, 2013 (NOAA) – Heavy smog has shrouded much of eastern China, and air quality levels have been dropped to extremely dangerous levels. The heavy smog is caused by industrial pollution, coal and agricultural burning, and has been trapped by the mountains to the west and wind patterns. The thick haze of smog is […]
By Antoni Slodkowski and Mari Saito25 Oct 2013 IWAKI (Reuters) – Tetsuya Hayashi went to Fukushima to take a job at ground zero of the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. He lasted less than two weeks. Hayashi, 41, says he was recruited for a job monitoring the radiation exposure of workers leaving the plant in […]
(Boston Globe) – Agrochemical spraying in Argentina has increased ninefold, from 9 million gallons in 1990 to 84 million gallons today. Yet the South American nation has a hodgepodge of widely ignored regulations that leave people dangerously exposed, and chemicals contaminate homes, classrooms, and drinking water. Doctors and scientists are warning that uncontrolled spraying could […]
22 October 2013 (AP) – Visibility shrank to less than half a football field and small-particle pollution soared to a record 40 times higher than an international safety standard in one northern Chinese city as the region entered its high-smog season. The manager for US jazz singer Patti Austen, meanwhile, said the singer had cancelled […]
By Richard Wolf15 October 2013 WASHINGTON (USA TODAY) – Dealing a potential blow to the Obama administration and environmentalists, the Supreme Court agreed Tuesday to consider limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases. The court accepted six separate petitions that sought to roll back EPA’s clout over carbon dioxide emissions from power […]
By Justin McCurry 15 October 2013 FUKUSHIMA (The Guardian) – Dressed in a hazardous materials suit, full-face mask and hard hat, Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, left his audience in no doubt: “The future of Japan,” he said, “rests on your shoulders. I am counting on you.” Abe’s exhortation, delivered during a recent visit to […]
