VANCOUVER - Wildfires, peat fires and controlled burns on farming lands kill 339,000 people worldwide each year, said a study released on Saturday that is the first to estimate a death toll for landscape fires.

BRUSSELS - Governments opposed to the European Union's new carbon emissions tax for airlines should not underestimate its determination to curb climate-changing gases, the EU's climate chief warned Friday.

LONDON - The World Bank is likely to increase the size of its green bond issues to a range of $300 million to $500 million this year to attract large bond funds to the environmental debt market, said an official at one of its lead managing banks.

LONDON - Global warming will get worse as agricultural methods accelerate the rate of soil erosion, which depletes the amount of carbon the soil is able to store, a United Nations' Environment Programme report said on Monday.

CAPETOWN - A pair of African penguins glide over the water while a pod of dolphins approach in the background.

LONDON - The argument that renewable energy should be favoured because it will create "green jobs" - a view held by environmental groups, policymakers and companies in the renewables sector - is trumping economic logic and leaving consumers out of pocket.

LONDON- People in cities can grow enough of lettuce, beans and tomatoes for consumption by utilising roof tops of the building they stay in.

UNITED NATIONS - The United Nations Thursday recognized two US teens as International Forest Heroes for their efforts to cut the use of Southeast Asia palm oil, production of which is linked to rainforest destruction.

WASHINGTON - The first new US nuclear power plant in a generation won approval Thursday as federal regulators voted to grant a license for two new reactors in the southern state of Georgia.

SHANGHAI - Environmental accidents are on the rise in China, mainly due to chemicals industry-related traffic and industrial mishaps, and the costs of such damage to the economy are rising.