EARTH

A small but increasing flow of cocoa beans is being smuggled out of Ivory Coast as exporters halt shipments from the top grower due to a political crisis, sending global prices to one-year highs.

New vehicle imports into Nigeria declined 18 percent in 2010, reflecting weak credit growth in sub-Saharan Africa's second-biggest economy in the wake of a $4 billion bank bailout the previous year.

The Portuguese government wants to cut the compensation companies must pay to fire workers by a third, as part of its drive to boost the economy's competitiveness, Labour Minister Helena Andre said on Monday.

Looks like one company has had enough of the rare earth shortages.

Ice sheets in Greenland are melting faster than ever before, according to new research.

Melting of Greenland ice sheet set new record in 2010, as some areas in the second largest ice body in the world experienced melting for longer duration last year, says a research conducted by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and City College of New York.

The Ministry of Land and Resources of China on Wednesday has brought 11 rare earth mines under states control, in order to improve the protection, utilization of the country's strategic resources and drive up prices of the element in global markets.

Research shows that jobs in the green sector in California grew by three percent over a period when the total employment growth in the state grew by one percent

China's exports of vital rare earth elements used for numerous high-tech goods slipped almost one-tenth last year but the overall value rocketed as quota cuts lifted international prices, data showed on Wednesday.

NASA's hubble space telescope captured two dramatically different face-on views of the spiral galaxy Messier 51 or M51, dubbed the Whirlpool Galaxy.

Toyota Motors Corp is developing new type of electric motor which does not require rare earth metals to cut its dependence on rare earth metals and lower costs.

China said on Tuesday its rare earth exports rose 14.5 per cent in the Jan-Nov period of 2010 as prices more than doubled, with most of the shipments going to Japan, Europe and the United States.

Libya has abolished taxes and custom duties on locally-produced and imported food products in response to a global surge in food prices, Oea online newspaper reported.

A dark coronal hole at the Sun center was captured in extreme ultraviolet light by NASA's solar dynamics observatory. As the Sun continues to rotate, the high speed solar wind particles blowing from this hole will likely reach Earth in a few days and may spark some auroral activity.

Wondering what may have caused approximately 5,000 red-wing blackbirds to fall dead from the sky over Arkansas on New Year's Eve?

Melting of West Antarctic icesheet as a result of global warming may lead to disappearance of three-fourths of Europe’s alpine glaciers by 2100 and an increase in sea levels by four metres by the year 3000, said a study.

Ocean warming of up to 5 degree Celsius is likely to trigger widespread collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet by the year 3000 as well as lift sea levels by 4 meters (13 feet), says a study.

A team of scientists at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have found that the moon has a core similar to Earth's.

Space shuttle Discovery's final mission is delayed again due to additional small cracks on the shuttle's tank. The mission is now off until late February.

The recent spate of energy diplomacy between china and United States have resulted in China slash export quotas of rare earth mineral by half in 2011.

Japanese researchers at the Kyoto University have broken the rare earth import jinx as they have created a new alloy which resembles rare metal palladium, bringing a sigh of relief to countries depending on Chinese exports of rare earth metals.