"A group of Japanese whalers has failed to win an injunction against U.S. anti-whaling activists, as a federal judge refused their request for protections from boats owned by the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society.

The ruling was made in Seattle, where the whalers' group, the Institute for Cetacean Research, had filed suit. In addition to restraints on Sea Shepherd, the whalers were hoping the judge would impose a freeze on the activists' finances."

"One young child in four around the world is too malnourished to grow properly, a major new investigation reveals."

TransCanada Corp, the backer of the Keystone XL pipeline project, on Tuesday again pushed back its already delayed schedule for building the pipeline. That may signal that the company believes current GOP gymnastics in Congress, trying to force the pipeline to be built, will have little effect -- but that conditions will be more favorable after the 2012 election.

"Snow drifts reaching up to rooftops kept tens of thousands of villagers prisoners in their own homes Saturday as the death toll from Europe's big freeze rose past 550.

More heavy snow fell on the Balkans and in Italy, while the Danube river, already closed to shipping for hundreds of kilometres (miles) because of thick ice, froze over in Bulgaria for the first time in 27 years.

"Concern is growing that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan is no longer stable after temperature readings suggested one of its damaged reactors was reheating."

"PPG Industries has been selling house paint high in lead content in the African nation of Cameroon for years, and although it says it stopped production of that paint late last year, it has rejected a request that it recall or accurately label its lead paints now selling in stores there."

"As a satellite study released today by Nature shows, the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets have already begun contributing more to the planet's rising seas than the melting of ice caps and glaciers. It is a trend that overthrows conventional understanding of how melting is partitioned, while reaffirming that sea levels are rising as expected."

"The Chinese government said on Monday it will ban the country's airlines from participating in a European Union scheme to charge for carbon emissions from flights into and out of Europe and ban airlines from charging customers extra because of the EU plan."

Chris Buckley reports for Reuters February 6 2012.
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"Opponents Of EU Airline CO2 Scheme To Meet In Moscow" (Reuters) [30]

"HONG KONG -- On Midway atoll in the North Pacific, dozens of young albatross lie dead on the sand, their stomachs filled with cigarette lighters, toy soldiers and other small plastic objects their parents have mistaken for food."

"Oil, gas and mining industries are battling a late addition to the 2010 financial reform law that requires energy companies to disclose their payments to foreign governments."