VENEZUELA: The Cost of the World’s Cheapest Gasoline

The world’s most inexpensive gasoline is sold in Venezuela, through a longstanding subsidy programme that benefits car owners while depriving the oil industry of a large source of funds for reinvesting.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Widespread Opposition to Power Plants

Not only the five mega-dams planned for two pristine rivers in southern Chile have drawn opposition from environmentalists, local residents and indigenous groups, but other major hydropower and thermoelectric projects have as well.

ENERGY-US: Obama Faces Hungry Nuclear Industry

As Democratic President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office in a few weeks, he faces a hungry nuclear industry that wants to be included in his energy plan.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Arctic Is the Canary in the Coalmine

Nearly 1,000 scientists and representatives of indigenous peoples from 16 countries have braved a major winter storm to share their findings and concerns about the rapidly warming Arctic region at the International Arctic Change conference in Quebec City.

DEVELOPMENT-INDONESIA: Farming On The Edge

She wore a scruffy, batik turban for protection against the midday sun. Aas Juasih, 42, looked satisfied with the paddy growing on the ‘illegal’ sawah (paddy field) that she has been cultivating for more than 15 years.

ENVIRONMENT: EU Bank ‘Financing Destruction’ in Africa

The European Union is financing ecologically and socially destructive projects in Africa, a Brussels conference has been told.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Bush Quietly Passes Dozens of New Rules

As the world community meets in Poland this week to find solutions to the climate crisis, the George W. Bush White House is chaining the United States' tiller to prevent a change of course by President-elect Barack Obama by passing new anti-environmental rules and regulations at a furious pace.

BRAZIL: Using Science and Thinking Small to Relaunch Biofuels

Clean and renewable energy sources are the new "El Dorado" in these times of economic crisis and global warming. While most people, it seems, want to have a car, travel and consume endlessly, the planet is giving us signs that it can no longer withstand a production model based on fossil fuels.

TRADE: Report Sees Bonanza for U.S., Iran if Sanctions Scrapped

Think of it as a stimulus package without deficit spending: Were the United States to normalise trade relations with Iran and were the Islamic Republic to liberalise its economy, Washington could cut its fuel costs and add tens of billions of dollars to its economy, say U.S. exporters.

POLITICS-US: The Second Coming of Newt Gingrich

Ten years ago, Newt Gingrich was forced to resign as speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. Now, in a desperate search for leadership, Republican National Committee members are debating whether to turn back to the past and tap the ever-ready Gingrich.

SRI LANKA: Oil Futures Gamble Burns 300 Million Dollar Hole

The Sri Lankan government is grappling with a costly 300 million dollar payout to Citibank and Standard Chartered Bank (SCB), following a disastrous oil futures contract between the banks and the state-owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC).

CLIMATE CHANGE-LATIN AMERICA: Frightening Numbers

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean need billions of dollars to deal with the economic impact of climate change - funding that is not easily found on the international market.

FINANCE: China Takes Lead on Green Investing

China's efforts to green its financial sector have earned a thumbs-up from U.S. environmentalists, who say regulators here could learn from Beijing's recent success in stimulating investments that don't despoil the planet.

DEVELOPMENT-VIETNAM: Rare Criticism of Dams Surface

While arguments against the development of hydropower dams on the Mekong River and its tributaries have from time to time emerged in Vietnam’s state-controlled press, rarely have government officials been as open with their criticism as they have in recent months.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Patagonia Dams On Hold

Environmental groups in Chile welcomed the decision by the HidroAysén energy company to seek a nine-month extension of the environmental impact assessment phase of a controversial project to build five hydroelectric dams in wilderness areas in the south of the country.

CLIMATE CHANGE: World Willing to Pay More for Green Energy

A new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global network of research centres, finds that a majority of people in 21 nations support greater use of alternative energies like wind and solar and modifications to make buildings more energy efficient, even if costs more in the short term.

PERU: My Mining Deposits Are Under Your House

"Just imagine you’re told you have to leave your house, your livestock, the graves of your loved ones, and then they take you to an unfamiliar place without even asking you what you think about it. How would you feel?" asks Eduardo Sueldo, the local environment delegate in a highlands village in southern Peru.

MIDEAST: On Top of Humanitarian Disaster, A News Blackout

Israel has imposed a virtual news blackout on the Gaza Strip. For the last ten days no foreign journalists have been able to enter the besieged territory to report on the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's complete closure of Gaza's borders for the last two weeks.

ARGENTINA: Companies Pocketing Gas Subsidy for the Poor

Companies that produce and distribute liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Argentina are benefiting from large government subsidies aimed at bringing down the price of the fuel, which 40 percent of the population depends on for cooking and heating.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Opposition to Mekong Dams Overflows at Meet

In what looked like a blitzkrieg rally, about a dozen hand-held 'No Dams' signs appeared out of nowhere in the packed conference hall at a public forum here on the construction of dams in the Mekong region.

EU-RUSSIA: Arms Overshadow Talks

Brinkmanship over weapons overshadowed a summit between the European Union and Russia held in the French city Nice Nov. 14.