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Law report: The transfer of special waste was not by a 'carrier'

Shanks & McEwan (Southern Waste Services) Ltd v Environment Agency; Queen's Bench Divisional Court (Lord Justice Auld and Mr Justice Brian Smedley) 14 October 1997.

Nuclear fusion sets record

Europe's flagship nuclear fusion programme has achieved a new record power output, taking the world another small but significant step down the long road to a virtually unlimited, environmentally friendly fuel source. Earlier this week the Joint European Torus (JET) in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, set a new record by generating more than 12 megawatts of fusion power - the same process that fuels the sun. This set a record for the ratio of power generated to power input: JET achieved an "efficiency" of 50 per cent, double that achieved before.

...but will it be too late to save the countryside?

More than four million new households are likely to be formed by 2016, placing even more powerful pressures on the countryside, Jonathan Dimbleby, the president of the Council for Rural England, said yesterday.

Foster quits over Cabinet post snub

Tony Blair suffered his first ministerial resignation yesterday, just four days after coming into office.

Solution for chemical weapons

Scientists have developed a new process to help countries destroy huge stockpiles of chemical weapons. Nations which have ratified the Chemical Weapons Convention, which comes into force tomorrow, will have 10 years to get rid of their arsenals, which is usually done by incineration. But this produces toxic pollutants and is potentially hazardous, and a British company has come up with a solution which is said to be both safe and environmentally friendly.

Letter: Green Party offers long-term solutions

Sir: Sara Parkin ("Support goes to greenest candidate", 23 April) gave her reason for withdrawing from the Green Party as its failure to think strategically about how to work in the British electoral system.

RJB shares jump on 'clean coal' environment prospects

Shares in RJB Mining, Britain's biggest coal producer, leapt 10 per cent yesterday as hopes grew that a future Labour government would support its plans for a new generation of environmentally-friendly clean coal power stations.

Classical and Opera: EYE SIGHT ...probably the world's first ecological opera

There aren't many operas about animals. Yet at the peak of his productive late phase, the 70-year-old Leos Janacek managed to compose The Cunning Little Vixen. Janacek based the libretto on a contemporary newspaper cartoon strip about a vixen who is captured by a gamekeeper and escapes back to the woods to find a mate and to raise a litter. Aside from the vixen and fox, Janacek also creates cameo roles for a host of other creatures - a bass-voiced badger, choruses of female hens and woodbirds, insects (sung by children), and a few humans as well. The result is probably the world's first ecological opera... The fast-moving libretto, a healthy smattering of choreographed interludes, and a glittering orchestral tapestry all contribute to what can be a mesmerising operatic experience.

Letter: Baffling bypass

Baffling bypass

Ecological air of success

Steve Spartak pushes for the ozone-friendly Olympics in a clean, green world

Letter: Government must be greener

Sir: David Walker ("Whitehall's machinery needs an overhaul", 28 May) is right to highlight the inadequacies imposed by the structure of Government when it comes to addressing new challenges. This is nowhere more apparent than in the field of environmental protection where efforts to "green" the policy-making machinery have been frustrated by the failure of most Government departments to take environmental issues on board.

The earth now needs smarter friends

Successes of the past 25 years have been mere tactical victories in a long retreat for the environment, says Tom Burke

Better to be a mouse than a man

Better to be a mouse than a man
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'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong': The true effect of the badger cull

The true effect of the badger cull

'To farm I have to rape the countryside. It’s got to be wrong'
Theatre review: Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's The Cripple of Inishmaan

First night: The Cripple of Inishmaan

Daniel Radcliffe gives an admirably honest performance in Michael Grandage's comedy
Girls Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

Guides drop religious reference but pledge to self and the Queen

After 103 years, organisation changes oath to welcome 'all girls, of all faiths, and none'
Steve Tongue: Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago

Steve Tongue

Joe Kinnear was one of the boys and a breath of fresh air... 21 years ago
Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Bradley Wiggins' exit

Chris Froome: Free from 'pain in neck' after Wiggins' exit

Sky's lead rider says he is in fantastic form for the Tour and happy pecking order debate is over
Hannah England: I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess

Hannah England: Keeping Track

I've got the right times – now to focus on the chess
Beards, brawn and body art

Beards, brawn and body art

Meet London’s new batch of male models
Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

Scandi-geeks descend on Nordicana for fan-convention

British love of shows such as The Bridge, Borgen and The Killing shows no sign of fading
Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?

The Great Green Wall of Africa,

Behind the rhetoric what is really being done to combat desertification?
Laughter Inc: the cheering growth of the chuckle industry

Laughter Inc

The cheering growth of the chuckle industry
The bad science scandal: how fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research

The bad science scandal

How fact-fabrication is damaging UK's global name for research
To the manor born: The female aristocrats battling to inherit the title

Female aristocrats battle to inherit the title

A passionate protest is gathering pace among the women of Britain's aristocracy, who believe that men should no longer automatically inherit the family pile and title.
Love struck: Photographs of JFK's visit to Berlin 50 years ago reveal a nation instantly smitten

In pictures: JFK's visit to Berlin in 1963

Photographer Ulrich Mack accompanied Kennedy on the entire trip. The results are an astonishing record of a watershed moment.
Eat shoots and leaves: Mark Hix gets creative with fresh peas, mangetouts and sugar snaps

Mark Hix gets creative with English peas

English peas and their offsprings, such as mangetouts and sugar snaps, are great tossed into a salad, says our chef.
Ceviche with a smile: Chef Martin Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends

Chef Martin Morales: Ceviche with a smile

Morales has turned South America's elegant cuisine into one of London's hottest food trends