The time has come for the government to get off the oil industry's back

The runaway rise in international oil prices, which recently crossed $100 a barrel, has put Indian oil companies in a spot. Even as their costs rise, they are unable to raise prices to get the resources needed for acquiring oil assets or otherwise build the infrastructure needed for oil security.

Nippon Oil Corp said Friday it has received a carbon credit of around 4.49 million tons from the United Nations for its oil development project in Vietnam. The certified emission reduction credit, granted for the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions in the Rang Dong oil field in southern Vietnam, is the largest one-time CER credit to be approved by the Clean Development Mechanism Executive Board, Japan's largest oil distributor said.

POLITICS and jittery equity indices are making the global carbon credit markets nervous. Carbon credit prices have plunged in the last few weeks. This could be troubling for major supplier India, which sold 20 million carbon credits in 2007, and has a larger number in the pipeline. The bad news is there is little likelihood of things settling down any time soon.

Human infections of bird flu have been entirely avian in origin and reflect strains circulating locally among poultry and wild birds.

A zoo in Vietnam has admitted that it auctioned two dead Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) to animal traffickers, which wildlife conservationists say is in violation of international

Hundreds of Vietnamese villagers ransacked a proposed titanium mining site on December 28, which they fear will pollute the soil and the ground water. Over 300 protesters destroyed machinery and