Serious gaps in police investigation and the resulting lack of evidence combined with poor prosecution have allowed the court of district and sessions judge, West, to acquit a factory owner and others in the case where the dumping of highly toxic industrial waste in an open area was alleged to have caused the deaths of two children in Site town. Handed down on March 26, the judgment chided the police for having made misdirected efforts "for its own reasons' and for failing to prosecute the case properly.

After introducing a scheme to save electricity by popularising the use of energy-efficient CFL lamps, the state plans to undertake energy audit of all government buildings to help reduce power consumption by at least 10 per cent. This was announced by minister of forests and environment J.P.Nadda while launching the seven-week "seeti bajao, Shimla bachao' campaign to check littering of the "Queen of Hills' involving schoolchildren.

Green Works is attempting to save the world through office furniture. Its formula for social betterment might start with a nondescript conference table. On reaching the end of its useful life with a FTSE 100 company, Green Works will take it, save it from the landfill and help the environment. The company will then sell it at a discount to any number of charities, materially aiding their operations, or will dismantle it and recycle its components.

Where do you go when the burning rubbish dump near you emits the smell of burning plastic and you know it is toxic? Close the windows perhaps and wait till the wind has blown it away or just get used to it?

Washington: The world's beaches and shores are anything but pristine. Volunteers scoured 33,000 miles of shoreline worldwide and found 6 million pounds (3m kg) of debris from cigarette butts and food wrappers to abandoned fishing lines and plastic bags that threaten seabirds and marine mammals.

Probe on Baikal pollution: The Russian prosecutor's office has launched an inquiry into a paper and pulp mill suspected of polluting Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater reserve. The mill,

The amount of plastic littering British beaches is at its highest level since records began, according to the Marine Conservation Society. Nearly 4,000 volunteers scoured Britain's beaches as part of the survey (Copyright T Fanshawe) The organisation's Beachwatch 2007 Report shows that plastic litter on beaches has increased by 126% since the annual survey began in 1994. MCS campaigners say the rise is threatening marine wildlife which mistakes the plastic litter for food or becomes entangled in the debris.

The untreated industrial wastewater and irrigation returns have become the real threat to the aquatic life of the Chenab River, while the declining water flow of the river is aggravating the situation, a report of Punjab Irrigation Department has revealed.

Waste management company Greenstar has acquired Dunstable Waste Group, a Bedfordshire-based commercial waste disposal and recycling business trading as Firbank Chiltern. The new acquisition continues the company's move to become a fully integrated firm with interests across the whole of the UK. Last year, Greenstar acquired Verdant Group, a residential municipal services provider in the UK. Commenting on the acquisition, Greenstar chief executive Ian Wakel said: "This deal gives Greenstar a bigger footprint in the South East of England.

Besides directing the State Government to remove all encroachments on the Pallikaranai marshlands, the Madras High Court has directed the Chennai Corporation not to permit the four municipalities