Oil lease sale blocked: In a preliminary ruling, a US federal court has recently blocked the US administration's plan to allow oil companies, access to the sensitive wetlands near the vast Teshekpuk

controversial bill: A new bill that seeks to set up Sri Lanka's National Authority on Tobacco and Alcohol has kicked off a huge controversy. The bill aims at reducing consumption and bans

The Chinese government recently announced that it will close down around 4,000 small coal mines annually, over the next three years. Zhao Tiechui, head of the state administration of Coal Mine Safety

• Army contractors halted operations at the Newport Chemical Depot, in western Indiana, as nearly 500 gallons of caustic wastewater containing hydrolysate, leaked into a sealed area at the facility. This plant is used for destroying Cold War era chemical weapon VX.

Indians from western Venezuela demanded a halt to coal mining in their region and called government efforts to formalize their ownership of ancestral lands a "fraud'. The protesters said three mines