BEIJING — From taxi tailpipes in Paris to dung-fired stoves in New Delhi, air pollution claimed seven million lives around the world in 2012, according to figures released Tuesday by the World Health Organization. More than one-third of those deaths, the organization said, occurred in fast-developing nations of Asia, where rates of cardiovascular and pulmonary disease have been soaring.

Ms. Khatun now lives in a bamboo shack that sits below sea level about 50 yards from a sagging berm. She spends her days collecting cow dung for fuel and struggling to grow vegetables in soil poisoned by salt water. Climate scientists predict that this area will be inundated as sea levels rise and storm surges increase, and a cyclone or another disaster could easily wipe away her rebuilt life. But Ms. Khatun is trying to hold out at least for a while — one of millions living on borrowed time in this vast landscape of river islands, bamboo huts, heartbreaking choices and impossible hopes.

When Maori settlers arrived in New Zealand in the 13th century, they were greeted by some formidable inhabitants: the moa, nine species of flightless birds up to 12 feet tall.
Over the next century or so, the moa disappeared. Their very existence was unknown until the 19th century, when excavations of Maori shell heaps revealed oven-charred skeletons, gizzard stones and eggshells.

PARIS — The United Nations’ highest court on Monday ordered Japan to halt its annual whaling hunt in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, saying that its present program was not being carried out for scientific purposes, as Japan has claimed.
In a 12-to-4 judgment, the International Court of Justice in The Hague found that Japan was in breach of its international obligations by catching and killing minke whales and issuing permits for hunting humpback and fin whales within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, established by the International Whaling Commission.

Paper is the fourth biggest consumer of energy among all industrial sectors, according to the International Energy Agency. It is also fourth largest industrial emitter of carbon dioxide, producing 237m tonnes in 2011. Of the total, China accounted for 91m tonnes, North America 56m tonnes and Europe (OECD countries) 36m tonnes.
In March 2011, the European Commission set a challenging target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 80 per cent by 2050. In November 2011, the paper industry launched its own 2050 road map, which analysed how to achieve this target.

TTO - Chi cục Bảo vệ thực vật tỉnh Tây Ninh cho biết ngành bảo vệ thực vật tỉnh vừa thả 220.850 cặp ong ký sinh để trừ bệnh rệp sáp hồng trên gần 300ha mì tại 30 xã thuộc 7 huyện và thành phố tại Tây Ninh.

TT - Giới săn ảnh sếu đầu đỏ cho biết từ đầu năm đến nay, lượng sếu về kiếm ăn và sinh sống tại vùng đồng cỏ bàng Phú Mỹ, huyện Giang Thành, Kiên Giang rất ít, chỉ đếm trên đầu ngón tay.
Trong khi đó, hàng trăm con sếu đầu đỏ được ghi nhận đang tụ hội về khu bảo tồn Anlung Pring rộng 217ha ở khu Aparasát, thuộc ấp Thốt Nốt, xã Ton Hon, huyện Kampontrach, tỉnh Kampốt, Campuchia.

The movement for fossil-fuel divestment has swelled to what an Oxford University study calls the fastest-growing divestment movement in history, one with the potential to shift the political ground beneath the fossil-fuel lobby’s feet. There are more than 500 campaigns globally—including on some 400 college and university campuses in the United States, along with city and state governments and major religious institutions. Ten colleges and more than twenty cities—including Seattle, San Francisco and, as it happens, Cambridge, Massachusetts—have committed to divest.

But now they are finding their nets weighed down by an invasive species: the crépidule, or Atlantic slipper shell, a curious type of sea snail that has spread from the East Coast of the United States.
“As a businessman, I see an opportunity here,” he said, after extricating a snail, still alive, from its shell with a knife.
The slipper shells, which he affectionately calls “the problem,” could become a delicacy — served either raw or cooked, he said.
The community of Cancale now finds itself torn between disgust and relief at Mr. Clément’s project to fish and sell the sea snails for consumption.

Never mind what people say - in my opinion, Vietnam has the most freedom in the world.
My neighbor died recently. For a whole week they played drums and gongs all the time except occasionally when dozens of women gathered to pray to Amitabha loudly chanting a single word for three hours straight.