Muslim imams in Senegal have called on their followers to not to pay their electricity bills in protest against frequent power outage. Power cuts in Senegal have resulted in anger and frustration in the streets of the capital, Dakar, where blackouts can last up to ten hours.
The oil giant's chief executive Peter Voser stressed the oil industry's "shock" at the explosion at BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people, unleashed the worst oil spill in US history and claimed the scalp of BP chief executive Tony Hayward this week. "The Macondo blow-out and the related oil spill is a tragedy for everyone affected," Mr Voser said yesterday. "We were all shocked by the loss of life there, and the on-going and widespread impacts from the spill." But he also emphasised the need for continued deep-water oil production. "World-wide deep-water production has an important role to play in the global energy supply equation, with potential for production growth with supply diversity, and sustained investment in technology, jobs and services," he said.
The oil giant's chief executive Peter Voser stressed the oil industry's "shock" at the explosion at BP's Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico that killed 11 people, unleashed the worst oil spill in US history and claimed the scalp of BP chief executive Tony Hayward this week. "The Macondo blow-out and the related oil spill is a tragedy for everyone affected," Mr Voser said yesterday. "We were all shocked by the loss of life there, and the on-going and widespread impacts from the spill."
But he also emphasised the need for continued deep-water oil production. "World-wide deep-water production has an important role to play in the global energy supply equation, with potential for production growth with supply diversity, and sustained investment in technology, jobs and services," he said.
Britain's coalition government will commit 43 million pounds (€51.6 million) over 18 months to subsidising the uptake of electric cars, the Department for Transport (DfT) said on Wednesday (28 July).British motorists will receive up to 5,000 pounds towards the purchase of a low-carbon car from January 2011 to March 2012, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said. The amount committed on Wednesday is less than the 250 million pounds pledged by the previous Labour government over a five-year period. However, a press officer for the transport department denied that the new government had cut the number of cars it could subsidise.
British motorists will receive up to 5,000 pounds towards the purchase of a low-carbon car from January 2011 to March 2012, Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said.
The amount committed on Wednesday is less than the 250 million pounds pledged by the previous Labour government over a five-year period.
However, a press officer for the transport department denied that the new government had cut the number of cars it could subsidise.
REUTERS - A fleet of 6,000 bicycles for hire will hit the streets of central London on Friday when the city's mayor Boris Johnson launches a scheme intended to fuel a cycling revolution in the congested capital. The initiative, which follows similar projects in cities including Paris and Montreal, aims to ease overcrowding on London's commuter network, with 400 bicycle "docking stations" from Notting Hill in the west to the Tower of London in the east.
REUTERS - A fleet of 6,000 bicycles for hire will hit the streets of central London on Friday when the city's mayor Boris Johnson launches a scheme intended to fuel a cycling revolution in the congested capital.
The initiative, which follows similar projects in cities including Paris and Montreal, aims to ease overcrowding on London's commuter network, with 400 bicycle "docking stations" from Notting Hill in the west to the Tower of London in the east.
It seems quite useful as a scheme, for the intended use (short trips), I've only tried it once so far.
Boris is in fact a cyclist, so he's better than you would expect on this issue for a Tory.
They're just as dangerous as if they were a normal road (cos that's all they are). Just a waste of paint to me. keep to the Fen Causeway
But, this is how it starts. It takes a while for momentum to build, but it will and with it will come pressure to build true lanes and laws to back them up.
The real trick is to get enforcement of the idea that bike riders have ultimate rights, like in Amsterdam. I get the impression that causing havoc in the bike lane would get a car driver real trouble. Never underestimate their intelligence, always underestimate their knowledge.
Frank Delaney ~ Ireland
According to a news report in Spiegel Online, Chancellor Angela Merkel is furious that Mr Oettinger missed the crucial meeting last Tuesday (20 July) to attend at a mid-level conference in Washington instead. At the Brussels meeting, the college of commissioners decided that loss-making mines in the EU must be closed down by autumn 2014. In the run-up to the decision, Berlin had been expecting EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia - whose native Spain also has many jobs dependent on government aid to mines - to suggest that the subsidy regime be extended for one last time until 2023. The expectation was that 2018 would be the final compromise - a year in line with the German government's domestic promises on the matter. According to the Spiegel Online report, Mr Oettinger's cabinet mailed Berlin the day before to suggest that a narrow majority would see the subsidies extended to the wished-for date. However, on the day itself the opposite occurred. Mr Almunia was outnumbered by a flank of commissioners saying that they would agree only to a short extension to the subsidies or their immediate end. And Mr Oettinger, to the chancellor's chagrin, was in Washington attending a 'clean energy' conference. A conference to which Germany itself only sent a state secretary rather than a minister.
According to a news report in Spiegel Online, Chancellor Angela Merkel is furious that Mr Oettinger missed the crucial meeting last Tuesday (20 July) to attend at a mid-level conference in Washington instead.
At the Brussels meeting, the college of commissioners decided that loss-making mines in the EU must be closed down by autumn 2014.
In the run-up to the decision, Berlin had been expecting EU competition commissioner Joaquin Almunia - whose native Spain also has many jobs dependent on government aid to mines - to suggest that the subsidy regime be extended for one last time until 2023. The expectation was that 2018 would be the final compromise - a year in line with the German government's domestic promises on the matter.
According to the Spiegel Online report, Mr Oettinger's cabinet mailed Berlin the day before to suggest that a narrow majority would see the subsidies extended to the wished-for date.
However, on the day itself the opposite occurred. Mr Almunia was outnumbered by a flank of commissioners saying that they would agree only to a short extension to the subsidies or their immediate end. And Mr Oettinger, to the chancellor's chagrin, was in Washington attending a 'clean energy' conference. A conference to which Germany itself only sent a state secretary rather than a minister.
For once, the banishment of a buffoon to the EU was good for something. Though, not coming from a coal state himself, he was always a weak link for the Germano-Spanish coal alliance. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Forest fires fanned by strong winds swept across central Russia on Friday, killing at least 25 people and destroying hundreds of houses as the nation grapples with a record heatwave.
As Germany's wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007. It's no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed for hours after 10 wild boar broke through a fence and waltzed onto the road. Even worse, though, almost a quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, a good chunk of Germany's wild boar population remains slightly radioactive -- and the phenomenon has been costing the German government an increasing amount of money in recent years. According to the Environment Ministry in Berlin, almost €425,000 ($555,000) was paid out to hunters in 2009 in compensation for wild boar meat that was too contaminated by radiation to be sold for consumption. That total is more than four times higher than compensation payments made in 2007.
As Germany's wild boar population has skyrocketed in recent years, so too has the number of animals contaminated by radioactivity left over from the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. Government payments compensating hunters for lost income due to radioactive boar have quadrupled since 2007.
It's no secret that Germany has a wild boar problem. Stories of marauding pigs hit the headlines with startling regularity: Ten days ago, a wild boar attacked a wheelchair-bound man in a park in Berlin; in early July, a pack of almost two dozen of the animals repeatedly marched into the eastern German town of Eisenach, frightening residents and keeping police busy; and on Friday morning, a German highway was closed for hours after 10 wild boar broke through a fence and waltzed onto the road.
Even worse, though, almost a quarter century after the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown in Ukraine, a good chunk of Germany's wild boar population remains slightly radioactive -- and the phenomenon has been costing the German government an increasing amount of money in recent years.
According to the Environment Ministry in Berlin, almost €425,000 ($555,000) was paid out to hunters in 2009 in compensation for wild boar meat that was too contaminated by radiation to be sold for consumption. That total is more than four times higher than compensation payments made in 2007.
A panel of politicians has voted to remove the Galapagos Islands from the UN's list of World Heritage Sites in danger - in spite of a firm recommendation from scientists and officials who visited the islands that they should keep their status. The Pacific archipelago, whose unique wildlife inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution were included on the list in 2007 after scientists warned they were facing environmental disaster from mass tourism, immigration, development, overfishing and the invasion of alien species. Following a visit in April, a group of UN scientists raised concerns that port facilities in Ecuador, to whom the islands belong, and Galapagos were still not sufficiently bio-secure to prevent more alien species such as plants, fungi and even diseases being transported from mainland South America to the islands.
A panel of politicians has voted to remove the Galapagos Islands from the UN's list of World Heritage Sites in danger - in spite of a firm recommendation from scientists and officials who visited the islands that they should keep their status.
The Pacific archipelago, whose unique wildlife inspired Charles Darwin's theory of evolution were included on the list in 2007 after scientists warned they were facing environmental disaster from mass tourism, immigration, development, overfishing and the invasion of alien species.
Following a visit in April, a group of UN scientists raised concerns that port facilities in Ecuador, to whom the islands belong, and Galapagos were still not sufficiently bio-secure to prevent more alien species such as plants, fungi and even diseases being transported from mainland South America to the islands.
