Turkey: 3 Germans fined for collecting endangered reptiles

Three Germans have been fined about 44,565 U.S. dollars for collecting endangered snakes, lizards and plants in Turkey, local media reported.

Ukraine claims over $16 bln from Gazprom under gas contracts. (Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk)

Naftogaz of Ukraine has lodged claims with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce (SCC) to demand compensation of loss and amendments to a gas transit contract with Russia's Gazprom.

Japan Court Halts Restart of 2 Reactors

A court in Japan issued an injunction Tuesday blocking a power company from restarting two of its nuclear reactors.

Nuclear regulators had already cleared Kansai Electric Power to restart the No. 3 and No. 4 reactors at a plant in the western province of Fukui according to new standards put in place following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

Ukraine’s Naftogaz sues Gazprom for $6 billion in Stockholm arbitration (Gazprom’s report)

The Ukrainian national energy company Naftogaz is claiming $3.2 billion compensation from Gazprom in a lawsuit filed with the Stockholm Arbitration Tribunal for lower gas transit via Ukraine and related interest, according to a report released by Gazprom on Thursday...

A dynamite catch - Global Times

 

Two foreign fishing boats suspected of conducting illegal fishing  activities are blown up by the Indonesian navy in Ambon Bay, Indonesia, on Sunday. The destruction of the Papua New Guinea-flagged vessels follows a government ruling requiring the sinking of almost all foreign ships illegally fishing in the waters of Indonesia. Photo: IC
A dynamite catch - Global Times

Fresh lawsuit filed against planned restart of nuclear reactors in Japan

Nine residents filed for an injunction order on Friday to suspend the planned restart of four nuclear reactors in western Japan, local media reported.

The nine people, who are from Fukui, Kyoto and Osaka prefectures, claimed that there is an "actual and looming risk" of nuclear accidents, and requested the Fukui District Court to call off the planned restart of four reactors at Takahama and Oi nuclear plants.

Indigenous community clashes with loggers in the Amazon

Trucks filled with timber from illegal logging operations in the Amazon have been stopped in their tracks by an indigenous village protesting the continued exploitation of their lands.
With little or no support from the local or federal authorities, the Pukobjê-Gavião people in Maranhão state, Brazil, are refusing to stand aside as their forests are destroyed by illegal loggers.
The Pukobjê-Gavião have blocked four trucks and a tractor filled with fresh timber from leaving their lands. 
Frederico Pereira Guajajara, a member of the neighboring Indigenous Land “Arariboia”, says he was assaulted as he began filming the Pukobjê-Gavião protests as the trucks were trying to leave their land.

The future of the Amazon uncertain | Greenpeace International

For ten years, the fate of Brazil’s forests have hung in the balance as the future of the Forest Code has been up for grabs. We’ve see the debate over the law come to a head over the last few years, as the agribusiness sector pressed the Congress for major changes to the law and the scientific community and 80% of the public opposed drastic changes to the law.
Today, President Dilma has ignored the call of the people of Brazil and taken final steps to approve a new law that opens the Amazon up for destruction. 
President Dilma Rouseff announced today, approval of the provisional measures of the new Forest Code with 9 partial vetoes,  making the law that has protected the Amazon for almost 70 years a thing of the past, paving the way for new areas of expansion for the agribusiness sector and granting amnesty for past forest criminals. Vetoes sound like a a drastic measure but in reality they will do nothing new to protect the Amazon. ........The future of the Amazon uncertain | Greenpeace International