Category: Environment

LUNUGAMWEHERA, May 17, 2010 (AFP) – In the early hours of a hot dry day, four orphaned elephants begin a bumpy truck ride back to the jungles of southern Sri Lanka where they had been rescued from near certain death. The four baby jumbos — now aged five and six — are ready to leave […]

May 17, 2010 (AFP) – At least three people were killed and about 75,000 people were driven out of their homes as monsoon rains lashed Sri Lanka on Monday, the disaster management centre said. Some roads in the capital and in worst-hit central and southern Sri Lanka have been rendered impassable, the centre’s assistant director […]

May 06, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s coastal lagoons could be threatened by rapid sedimentation as a side-effect of fresh mangroves planted by humans for protection against a possible future tsunami, a researcher has warned. “However this activity ranked highest among investments made both by government and non-governmental organizations,” Samarakoon told a forum organized by […]

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2010 (AFP) – The first US offshore wind farm project won government approval Wednesday after nearly a decade of battles involving environmentalists, Indian tribes and others. The big Massachusetts project approved by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar is seen as a giving a major boost to wind power in the United States even […]

NEW ORLEANS, April 27, 2010 (AFP) – Robotic underwater vessels raced Monday to stave off an environmental disaster by stopping 42,000 gallons of oil a day from streaming into the Gulf of Mexico from a sunken rig. A slick measuring 48 miles (77 kilometers) by 39 miles at its widest points has developed 30 miles […]

SYDNEY, April 5, 2010 (AFP) – Australian authorities were attempting Monday to stabilise a stranded Chinese coal carrier which is threatening to break up on the Great Barrier Reef and spill more oil into the pristine waters. The Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Saturday when it hit a shoal off the eastern state of […]

PARIS, March 14, 2010 (AFP) – Scientists revealed Sunday for the first time how some snakes can detect the faint body heat exuded by a mouse a metre (three feet) away with enough precision and speed to hunt in the dark. It has been known for decades that rattlesnakes, boas and pythons have so-called pit […]

LOVOZERO, March 2, 2010 (AFP) – In a billowing cloud of white, Russia’s Arctic herders drive thousands of panting and wild-eyed reindeer through the knee-deep snow to the first slaughter this year. But warm winters in recent years have forced herders here in the far northern Kola Peninsula to delay for months the rounding up […]

Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – Community organizations in Sri Lanka’s dry zone could get apply to get a grant of up to 9000 US dollars under a program that promotes environmental friendly agriculture, water and waste management, the World Bank has said. The lender’s Colombo office is calling application to give grants under its Civil […]

SANTIAGO, February 28, 2010 (AFP) – One of the largest earthquakes on record killed at least 300 people in Chile on Saturday and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean that forced Japan on tsunami alert almost a day later. In an address to the nation, President Michelle Bachelet said two million Chileans had […]

Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – A tsunami generated by a large earthquake in Chile could reach the coasts of several Asian countries on Sunday, with Indonesia first in line at around 0300 Greenwich time followed by Japan and Philippines, a US government warning said. A Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) message says waves could reach […]

Feb 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has re-opened two wildlife parks in the country’s south and east which are famed for migratory birds and elephants, after an internal conflict which had kept them closed had ended, a top official said. Since the parks opened last week a few visitors had trickled in, but officials […]