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Italy declared a state of emergency after an oil spil in a small river reached the country’s longest river, Po. Authorities failed to contain the slick due to heavy rains. Green groups fear the spill could contaminate Po river valley, an important agricultural region. About 600,000 litres of diesel spilled into the river after a sabotage at a fuel depot. Authorities have launched an investigation. Romania has imposed a tax on fast foods—hamburgers, chips and fizzy drinks with high sugar and fat content. The tax would earn US $1.37 billion in revenue, said the government. The UK government has announced a discount of 25 per cent on the purchase price of electric cars and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles from January 2011. A constitutional court of Germany overturned a 2008 anti-terrorism law that requires telecom data to be kept for six months. Responding to complaints by 35,000 people, it said the law is an infringement of privacy in telecommunications. People in Lithuania are protesting after the government increased the electricity prices four times following the closure of its nuclear power plant. The EU insisted on the closure of the Soviet-era plant as a condition of Lithuania’s membership of the bloc. About 50 ships, including ferries with thousands of passengers on board, remained stuck in the ice-covered Baltic Sea for 24 hours on March 4. The region faces the worst winters in 15 years. Madagascar’s political crisis is hitting its education system. The government has cut the education budget by 30 per cent after foreign countries suspended aid, which accounts for 75 per cent of the country’s budget, saying the African country is under a military regime. About 31,000 victims of toxic waste dumping in Ivory Coast by oil trader Trafigura received US $45 million in compensation after a four-year legal battle. Ugandan authorities are relocating 35,000 villagers away from hillsides where a mudslide killed more than 300 people and submerged three villages in the first week of March. At a climate change policy meeting in Beijing, China’s top climate change negotiator, Su Wei, said the country has no intention of capping greenhouse gas emissions for the time being as the economy is still developing.
Water levels in the Mekong River are at a record low, the worst in 20 years, posing a threat to water supply, navigation and irrigation in Thailand, Laos and southern China, said the Mekong River Commission. The Mongolian government has requested US $4 million in UN aid to clean up carcasses of 2.7 million heads of livestock that died during the country’s worst winter in decades. The carcasses will pose health risks once the snow melts in June. Thai officials seized two tonnes of tusks at Bangkok’s main airport. The shipment, originated in South Africa, had arrived in Thailand on an Emirates flight from Dubai and was destined for Laos. An estimated sale value of the ivory is US $3.6 million. The worldwide trade in ivory has been banned since 1989. Bolivia has temporarily suspended exports of corn and sorghum to contain the rising price of the grains. It is a major exporter of the grains in Latin America. Green groups sued the US Wildlife Service for illegally allowing farmers to grow GM crops in sanctuaries. Scientists have discovered an area in the North Atlantic Ocean where plastic debris accumulates, just like the great Pacific garbage patch in the North Pacific Ocean.
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