17 | December | 2008 | Stephen Leahy, International Environmental Journalist

wed-outdoor-disp-low-res_pa1 By Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Dec 1 (IPS) – As the world community meets in Poland this week to find solutions to the climate crisis, the George W. Bush White House is chaining the United States’ tiller to prevent a change of course by President-elect Barack Obama by passing new anti-environmental rules and regulations at a furious pace.

Nearly a million hectares of public wildlands in Wyoming and Utah are being opened up to oil shale extraction, the Endangered Species Act is being gutted, as are regulations regarding factory farm operations, the Clean Air Act, and removing mountaintops to dig for coal and more, said a coalition of environmental groups.

“There are many last-minute changes and some are draconian,” said Josh Dorner of the Sierra Club, an environmental NGO. Continue reading →

wed-child-tree-planting1 By Stephen Leahy

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Dec 8 (IPS) – Malaria kills a child every 30 seconds, but a new diagnostic breakthrough may cut that devastating death toll, Canadian scientists announced Sunday.

The discovery of “biomarkers” — a telltale biological signature in children’s blood — that identify two of the most lethal forms of malaria was revealed at the annual meetings of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in New Orleans, Louisiana last week.

“A child with a fever may be treated in a clinic with anti-malarial drugs, but that won’t be enough to treat cerebral malaria,” said Conrad Liles, a tropical disease specialist affiliated with Toronto’s McLaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health (MRC). Continue reading →