Category: Environment

{{Smog-hit China is set to pass a new law that would give Beijing more powers to shut polluting factories and punish officials, and even place protected regions off-limits to industrial development, scholars with knowledge of the situation said.}}

Long-awaited amendments to China’s 1989 Environmental Protection Law are expected to be finalised later this year, giving the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP) greater authority to take on polluters.

While some details of the fourth draft are still under discussion, it has been agreed that the principle of prioritising the environment above the economy will be enshrined in law, according to scholars who have been involved in the process. The fourth draft is due to be completed within weeks.

“(Upholding) environmental protection as the fundamental principle is a huge change, and emphasizes that the environment is a priority,” said Cao Mingde, a law professor at the China University of Political Science and Law, who was involved in the drafting process.

The first change to the legislation in 25 years will give legal backing to Beijing’s newly declared war on pollution and formalize a pledge made last year to abandon a decades-old growth-at-all-costs economic model that has spoiled much of China’s water, skies and soil.

Cao cautioned that some of the details of the measures could be removed as a result of bureaucratic horsetrading.

The MEP has called for the law to spell out how new powers can be implemented in practice, but the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planning agency, prefers broader, more flexible principles.

reuters

{{South Korea’s state health insurer is suing three tobacco firms, including the local unit of Philip Morris, to offset smoking-related treatment costs.}}

The local arm of British American Tobacco has also been named in the lawsuit, along with market leader at home, KT&G Corp.

The insurer is seeking an initial sum of $52m (£31m) in damages.

The state insurer has said previously it spends more than $1.6bn each year on treating smoking-related diseases.

South Korea’s National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) said in a statement: “Smoking is a serious issue affecting people, particularly the youth and women.

“So we will push ahead with this suit with a strong determination, for the future of our nation and sustainability of our health insurance.”

The lawsuit from NHIS comes days after South Korea’s Supreme Court said there was a lack of proof that smoking causes lung cancer.

The country’s highest court made the statement when it threw out a lawsuit filed against the government and formerly state-run KT&G, in a legal fight that dates back to 1999.

In that lawsuit, 36 cancer patients and family members claimed that KT&G added elements to their cigarettes that increased the risk to smokers’ health and raised the chance of addiction.

{{Industry value}}

According to industry estimates, the tobacco industry in South Korea is valued at about $9.3bn. About a quarter of South Korean adults smoke.

KT&G Corp has a majority foothold, with a market share of about 60% and annual sales of $2bn.

The local units of Philip Morris and BAT together have a combined market share of 33%.

Japan Tobacco has the smallest market share in South Korea of about 6%. It was not named in the lawsuit.

The country’s ministry of health and welfare drew up new anti-smoking regulations in 2012. As part of the new measures, smoking in restaurants will be banned from next year.

BBC

{{A new study covering 17 EU countries says that far more honeybees are dying in the UK and other parts of northern Europe than in Mediterranean countries.}}

The European Commission says it is Europe’s most comprehensive study so far of bee colony deaths.

Winter mortality was especially high for bees in Belgium (33.6%) and the UK (29%) in 2012-13. But in spring-summer 2013 France was highest with 13.6%.

Bumblebees and other wild bees were not studied, nor were pesticide impacts.

The study, called Epilobee, described 10% as an acceptable threshold for bee colony mortality – and Greece, Italy and Spain were among the countries with rates below that threshold.

The mortality percentages are national estimates based on representative samples. All 17 countries applied the same data collection standards, the report says.

The survey covered almost 32,000 bee colonies.

But there is also much concern about death rates among wild bees, which are vital pollinators too.

Last year the EU introduced a ban on four chemicals called neonicotinoids which are used in pesticides.

They are believed to be linked to the collapse of bee colonies across Europe, though there is a heated scientific debate over the chemicals’ impact and many experts say further studies are needed.

The Commission wanted pesticide impacts to be included in the Epilobee study, but it was overruled by member states’ governments.

{agencies}

{{In November 2013, a baby volcanic island rose from the sea out of a volcanic blast in the Bonin Islands about 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) south of Tokyo, on the western edge of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” a hotbed of seismic activity.}}

Named Niijima, the newcomer boiled the sea and spewed steam, ash and lava fragments into the air.

Some thought the small black cone — which sprouted just offshore of a larger volcanic island called Nishino-shima — might slip back into the sea, vanishing under pounding waves. But Niijima kept growing.

Now a satellite image taken March 30, 2014, by the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 shows that Niijima has actually overtaken Nishino-shima.

Together, the conjoined islands measure about 3,280 feet (1,000 meters) across, officials with NASA’s Earth Observatory said.

The landmass has also tripled in height since December, now rising more than 196 feet (60 m) above sea level.

The smashed-together islands mark the top of a giant submarine volcano that had not erupted since a major outpouring in 1973 to 1974, according to the Japanese Coast Guard.

Lava flows are now most active in the southern portion of the new landmass, and plumes of ash continue to rise, with tiny particles seeding a stream of white cloud puffs overhead.

“The intermittent, pulsing shape of the cloud stream might be a reflection of the volcanic eruption itself,” officials with NASA’s Earth Observatory wrote.

“Strombolian explosions are essentially bubbles of lava and gas rising from Earth’s interior in pulses. Underwater, sediment appears to be stirred up in a green plume that stretches eastward from the island.”

{Livescience}

{{A major earthquake of magnitude 8.2 struck off the coast of northern Chile on Tuesday, causing five deaths and triggering a tsunami that pounded the shore with 2-meter-tall waves.}}

Officials said the dead included people who were crushed by collapsing walls or were killed by heart attacks.

The government evacuated Chile’s northern coast and President Michelle Bachelet declared the area a disaster zone, promising troops and police reinforcements to maintain public order while damage was repaired after landslides blocked roads.

“We’re leaving with the children and what we can, but everything is clogged up by people fleeing buildings by the beach,” said 32-year old Liliana Arriaza, who was driving away with her three children.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was shallow at 12.5 miles below the seabed and struck about 100 km northwest of the mining port of Iquique near the Peruvian border.

Mining in the world’s No. 1 copper producer did not appear significantly interrupted, but about 300 prisoners took advantage of the emergency and escaped from a female penitentiary in Iquique.

About 26 of the women were soon recaptured, authorities said, while security forces fanned out through the area amid reports of power outages and isolated looting.

Photos showed Chileans calmly evacuating coastal areas on foot, with policemen helping bundled-up elderly people and some residents loading up vehicles with their belongings.

Some schools were being used to shelter people, and classes were canceled in most of the country on Wednesday. LATAM Airlines said it had canceled some flights to and from Antofagasta, Iquique and Arica in northern Chile.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake generated a large tsunami with the biggest wave reported at about 2 meters.

The Chilean navy said the first big wave hit the coast within 45 minutes. Early on Wednesday Chilean authorities canceled their tsunami warning for most coastal areas.

{reuters}