Beijing officials on Wednesday denied a report by a U.S. environmental expert alleging they have been fiddling with figures to make it look as if the city's air pollution is falling ahead of the Olympic Games. Environmental consultant Steven Andrews wrote in the Wall Street Journal last month that after studying the statistics he found that scientists have stopped including data from two of the more heavily polluted monitoring stations in the city and that the criteria for judging the level of smog was changed two years ago. Andrews said that without these changes, Beijing would have fallen far short of its targets for reducing pollution levels in 2006 and 2007.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co said Tuesday it has developed a recycling technology to recover metals from plastic-coated wires and plastics used in electric and electronic equipment without causing hazardous side effects. Developed in cooperation with Kusatsu Electric Co, the new technology uses the catalytic properties of titanium oxide to facilitate the recovery of inorganic substances such as metals by transforming plastics and other organic substances into harmless gases, Matsushita said. With the technology, mixed plastic waste, which is regarded as non-recyclable and destined for incineration or landfill, is treated and changed into nontoxic gases, said the company, known for its Panasonic brand.

Lehman Brothers Inc said Tuesday it will start trading carbon credits in Japan, becoming the first global investment bank to link the Japanese and European carbon markets. Lehman Brothers has become the first foreign financial firm to open an account in Japan's national registry system for trading in Certified Emission Reductions, the company said. A CER is a carbon credit developed by carbon offset providers that is certified as being equivalent to one ton of carbon dioxide under the mechanism defined by the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming. The carbon offset scheme allows emitters of greenhouse gases to pay another party to undertake to remove an equivalent amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Some 85% of 151 surveyed local governments including Japan's 47 prefectures do not keep taps on the conditions of people who have developed mesothelial tumors due to asbestos exposure, a parliamentary research office said in a survey report Thursday. Of the 151 local governments, 76% were found to have not been exchanging information about the victims with labor standards inspection offices, which recognize situations of sufferers of work-related illnesses caused by asbestos.

TOKYO

TOKYO

A record number of 28 of Japan's 47 prefectures issued photochemical oxidant smog warnings in 2007, including Niigata and Oita prefectures, which issued warnings for the first time, the Environment Ministry said in a report Tuesday. The number of people who reported health problems due to the smog, which causes symptoms such as eye and throat pain, reached 1,910 in 14 prefectures, the ministry said. Warnings were issued in Saitama on 32 days, the highest number, followed by Kanagawa on 20 days, and Chiba and Tokyo on 17 days.