Environment

KOLKATA/DHAKA (Reuters) – A powerful cyclone pounded eastern India and Bangladesh on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and destroying thousands of homes, officials said, leaving authorities struggling to mount relief efforts amid a surging coronavirus outbreak. The populous Indian state of West Bengal took the brunt of Cyclone Amphan, which barrelled out of the

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has not yet decided whether to grant requests from the oil refining industry to reduce biofuel blending mandates this year, agency chief Andrew Wheeler told lawmakers in a hearing on Wednesday. The oil industry and several state governors had asked the EPA to issue a nationwide waiver

(Reuters) – The center of tropical storm Arthur is forecast to continue to move away from the east coast of the United States, the U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) said on Monday. Arthur, the first named storm of the 2020 Atlantic hurricane season is located about 110 miles (175 kilometers) north-east of Cape Hatteras North

LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal, which usually attracts huge mounds of rubbish from other European states because of its low waste management fees, has suspended imports of trash until the end of 2020 to protect domestic landfill capacity, the government said on Saturday. FILE PHOTO: Imported waste is seen piled at the port of Leixoes in

(Reuters) – A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 struck a remote, sparsely populated area of Nevada about halfway between Reno and Las Vegas early on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey said In Nye County, at the epicenter of the quake, a sheriff’s dispatcher said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

FILE PHOTO: Desert locusts are seen on a tree at a ranch near the town of Nanyuki in Laikipia county, Kenya, February 21, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner DUBAI (Reuters) – Iran may use its military for a second year to help fight locusts that have invaded the south of the country, an Agricultural Ministry official was

LISBON (Reuters) – One of the many victims of the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be Portugal’s nascent progress in recycling waste, environmental campaigners say. FILE PHOTO: Trucks with garbage are seen at the Recivalongo landfill in Sobrado Portugal, January 8, 2020. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante Portugal, which recycles around 28% of its urban refuse, below the

FILE PHOTO: A cow stands on caked mud before a small patch of water at a dam as the region deals with a prolonged drought near Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, January 18, 2020. Picture taken January 18, 2020. REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s second biggest city of Bulawayo limited access to tap water to just one

LONDON (Reuters) – London-listed The Renewables Infrastructure Group (TRIG) said on Friday it has completed the acquisition of a 36% stake in a 396 megawatt (MW) offshore wind farm in the German North Sea. Commercial operations commenced in June 2019 at the Merkur wind farm and the project benefits from a feed-in tariff for the

MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine authorities started moving 200,000 people away from their homes in coastal and mountainous areas because of fears of flooding and landslides as a typhoon made landfall on Thursday, disaster officials said. Typhoon Vongfong, the first to hit the country this year, slammed into the eastern Philippines packing winds of 155 kph

(Reuters) – U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will co-chair a climate change panel for presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden, giving him a prominent liberal voice that could help garner his party’s full support. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) participates in a Census Town Hall at the Louis Armstrong Middle School in Queens, New

FILE PHOTO: A man walks by the logo of French cosmetics group L’Oreal in the western Paris suburb of Levallois-Perret, France, February 7, 2020. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes (Reuters) – Comestics group L’Oreal (OREP.PA) said on Tuesday it was launching a 150 million euros ($162.99 million) programme of climate change initiatives and financial aid to support vulnerable

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Coal power plant construction will push ahead in Asia despite falling electricity demand and environmental concerns as policymakers prioritise boosting economies crippled by the coronavirus pandemic, analysts say. FILE PHOTO: Coal barges are pictured as they queue to be pull along Mahakam river in Samarinda, East Kalimantan province, Indonesia, August 31, 2019.

LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal will use long-range drones and other surveillance means to reinforce the monitoring of summer wildfires, officials said on Monday, responding to concerns over the country’s readiness to tackle forest blazes during the coronavirus pandemic. FILE PHOTO: Flames of an approaching forest fire are seen near the small village of Gondomil, near

TORONTO/WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) – Canada’s oil patch has endured five years of existential threats that have pruned weaker companies, but now its strongest firms are trying to navigate the coronavirus pandemic, which has set off the worst crisis in the oil industry in 40 years. FILE PHOTO: Western Canadian canola fields surrounding an oil pump

ROME (Reuters) – A skier was killed in an avalanche on Saturday morning in the Dolomites near the ski resort of Cortina d’Ampezzo in northern Italy, Italy’s alpine rescue corps said. The victim was a 23-year-old Italian man who was skiing with a group, including his brother, when the avalanche hit, said the rescue corps