The European Union must craft new financial incentives to "jump start" clean coal technology if it is to achieve ambitious targets to combat climate change, a leading lawmaker said on Monday. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is designed to trap carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants and heavy industry and store its underground. Supporters see it as a potential silver bullet in the fight against global warming.

The European Commission might again put pff a decision on whether farmers can grow more genetically modified crops when it holds a long-awaited biotech policy debate in May, officials said yesterday, Reuters reports from Brussels. After months of expectation, the Commission has finally decided on May 7 for a debate on its biotech policy, centred on what has been called the "Dimas package": after Stavros Dimas, EU environment commissioner and one-of the most GMO-wary commissioners.

The European Commission urged US President George W Bush on Thursday to be more ambitious in tackling climate change while welcoming his acceptance that the United States would need to curb greenhouse gas emissions. A spokesman for the European Union executive said Bush's plan to halt the growth of US greenhouse emissions by 2025, announced on Wednesday, fell far short of the action needed by developed countries to save the planet from potentially catastrophic global warming.

Nature Oasis Flourishes In Belgium's Coal Belt BELGIUM: April 14, 2008 GENK - Fringed by dark hills of coal waste and long-shuttered collieries, Belgium's first national park might seem a humble contender for the role of global model for conservation and economic regeneration. The pine woods and heather meadows of the Hoge Kempen park in northeastern Belgium sit on a small plateau above criss-crossing motorways and cooling towers in one of Europe's most crowded corners.

As doctors struggle to eradicate polio worldwide, one of their biggest problems is persuading parents to vaccinate their children.

Agriculture ministers of 10 eu countries voted against the approval of three genetically modified (gm) varieties of maize for use in the European market on September 26, but failed to block it. The move reflects divisions among eu nations over whether gm crops pose a risk to health.

Claims Belgian study