Showers, taps, windows and home insulation will have to conform to environmental standards in the European Union, after lawmakers voted to widen the scope of existing "eco-design" regulations on Friday.

The move is aimed at weaning the 27-nation bloc off its heavy dependence on Russian gas and at cutting greenhouse gas emissions in the battle against climate change.

On a visit to North Korea, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, on Thursday predicted a continued stalemate in international efforts to stop the North from restarting its nuclear weapons program.

Europe should push for tighter laws to curb the illegal timber trade by making both importers and exporters get licenses to show their wood does not come from endangered rainforests, lawmakers said on Wednesday.

A guide book on Sri Lankan Birds written in the Russian language and published by the Russian based JMT Travels Tour Operators was launched recently at Sri Lanka Tourism. The book was officially handed over to Mr.

A strong undersea earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 jolted the far north of Japan and Russia's far east early on Sunday, a Japanese government agency reported, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

TOLYATTI, Russia

Russia's greenhouse gas emissions rose by a tiny 0.3 percent in 2007 to the highest in more than a decade, sharply lagging an oil-backed surge in economic growth, official data showed.

Russia's greenhouse gas emissions rose by a tiny 0.3 percent in 2007 to the highest since 1990s economic downturn caused by the break-up of the Soviet Union, according to data submitted to the United Nations.

Russian companies, frustrated by slow legal reforms, have abandoned costly projects to produce bioethanol from grain and are instead trying to make the environmentally friendly fuel component from other sources.