Environment News
World leaders given an F on climate as Thunberg joins Swedish school strikers
STOCKHOLM Greta Thunberg joined other young climate activists protesting outside the Swedish parliament on Friday for the first time since she embarked on a four-month overseas voyage to attend climate conferences in New York City and Madrid.
Massive bushfires send Australia's clean and green reputation up in smoke
SYDNEY Breathing masks are selling out in Sydney with the city enveloped in the smoke from bushfires sweeping across a large swath of Australia's east coast, damaging the country's clean and green reputation.
Earthquake rattles Afghanistan, Pakistan and Indian Kashmir
ISLAMABAD/KABUL An earthquake shook some buildings in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kashmir state in India on Friday, witnesses said.
Five dead as storm strikes Iberian Peninsula
LISBON A storm sweeping across Spain and Portugal has killed at least five people, damaged buildings, cut power lines and forced authorities to shut roads hit by flooding and fallen trees, officials said on Friday.
Fishermen cry foul as China bids to fix drought-hit lake
WUCHENG, China After wading through mudflats, Fan Xinde, a 36-year-old fisherman, sifts old copper coins from the debris scooped from the bed of a dwindling river that feeds China's biggest freshwater lake, the Poyang. | Video
Switzerland switches off nuclear plant as it begins exit from atomic power
MUEHLEBERG, Switzerland Switzerland's Muehleberg nuclear power station went off the grid on Friday after 47 years, marking the end of an era as the shutdown starts the country's exit from atomic power.
Irving Oil's New Brunswick refinery, Canada's biggest, drops 2020 carbon cut pledge: documents
Irving Oil, operator of Canada’s largest oil refinery, has abandoned a pledge to cut carbon output by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020, replacing it instead with a goal to keep its performance on climate change competitive with rivals, according to documents reviewed by Reuters.
Water around Rio Tinto's Madagascar mine is high in lead, uranium: study
JOHANNESBURG Water downstream of a Rio Tinto mine in southern Madagascar contains high concentrations of uranium and lead, potentially endangering local residents who depend on a nearby lake and river for drinking water, a study released on Friday found.
Australian PM apologizes for vacation as firefighters killed in huge blazes
SYDNEY Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison issued a rare public apology on Friday and cut short a Hawaiian vacation in response to mounting public anger after two volunteer firefighters were killed battling bushfires sweeping the country's east coast.
Dutch court tells government to step up climate change fight
AMSTERDAM The Dutch High Court on Friday ordered the government of the Netherlands to step up its fight against climate change and cut greenhouse gas emissions faster than planned.