April 24, 2013 01:19 AM By Mohamad El Amin The Daily Star BEIRUT: Fresh analysis of offshore seismic surveys of Lebanon are showing that tapping into Lebanon’s gas wealth might be easier than first thought, said experts at a major oil conference Tuesday. “On the old 2-D data, we had initially thought that the main […]

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April 23, 2013 01:46 AM By Lysandra Ohrstrom The Daily Star BEIRUT: Even if Lebanon manages to overcome domestic obstacles and begin producing natural gas from its potential offshore hydrocarbon reserves, seismic shifts in the global energy market may forestall its dream of becoming an energy-exporting nation. International experts at the Oil and Gas conference […]

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by Omar Obeidat | Apr 23, 2013 | 23:43 AMMAN –– The uninterrupted flow of gas supplies from Egypt, albeit below the original agreed on amounts, cut down the Kingdom’s oil import bill by JD172 million in the first two months of 2013. According to a report on Jordan’s external trade, released Monday by the […]

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April 22, 2013 01:29 AM The Daily Star SIDON, Lebanon: Future Bloc MP Bahia Hariri saluted the Sidon municipality Sunday for a project to eliminate a hazardous landfill in the city, during an event to celebrate student artistic projects. Hariri’s comments were made during a ceremony awarding certificates of excellence to students attending public and […]

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Environmental Protection Ministry is pushing forward legislation that would deal with deficient maintenance of cooking gas canisters. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.22, 2013 Inspection and enforcement of the placement and maintenance of cooking gas canisters is deficient and endangers public safety, the Environmental Protection Ministry said Sunday. The ministry has formulated a bill that it […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 04/23/2013 Councilman Reuven Lediansky merges members from Tel Aviv Green Movement and Let Live parties under one unified hat called “Green Transformation.” Just in time for Earth Day and six months ahead of the Tel Aviv-Jaffa municipal elections, one city councilman has launched a new movement with a revamped environmental platform. With […]

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April 22, 2013 By Samya Kullab BEIRUT: The walk down Damascus Road to Downtown can be disorienting for pedestrians forced to navigate narrow, broken sidewalks and distracted by the cacophonyof bulldozers ripping open the earth. The idea that what was once the Green Line – now littered with dilapidated structures – could be transformed into […]

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by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 23, 2013 | 23:26 AMMAN — If Jordan invests in environmental conservation, it can generate 50,000 job opportunities and over JD1.3 billion in revenues in a decade, according to a report released on Tuesday. The report, which was prepared in cooperation with the French Development Agency and related authorities, seeks […]

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Sobhieh Suleiman has finally moved back to her newly rebuilt home five years after fleeing the fighting that destroyed Nahr El Bared refugee camp in northern Lebanon. But something was missing for the 62-year-old, known by her friends as Om Maher. Thanks to ANERA’s rooftop garden project Om Maher has found it: a garden of […]

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By Charlie Hoyle MASAFER YATTA (Ma’an) — “Life is hard, but I won’t leave the village,” Zahira al-Jundi says. Despite winter rainfall which has painted green patches on the rolling south Hebron hills, the 145 residents of Tuba face a daily struggle to access the most basic levels of water needed to survive. Like 70 […]

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RAMALLAH, April 16, 2013 (WAFA) – Israel’s policies and practices in relation to water in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) amount to a system of “water-apartheid,” said a new study by the human rights group, al-Haq, published Tuesday. The report, “Water For One People Only: Discriminatory Access and ‘Water-Apartheid’ in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” said […]

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Maintenance of artesian wells ongoing as water per capita drops by half by Hana Namrouqa | Apr 18, 2013 | 22:37 Updated: Apr 18, 2013 | 22:37 AMMAN — Authorities have rented scores of private wells in Mafraq Governorate to meet the surging demand for water as summer approaches, according to a government official. The […]

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Plan could keep money issues from getting in the way of cleanup. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.17, 2013 Many Israeli waterways are still polluted despite the billions of shekels that have been spent on sewage treatment plants in the past few years, according to a study commissioned by Zalul Environmental Association. The reason, says Zalul, […]

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Base sitting on river bank spilled toxic substances for years; IDF officials suspected of failure to report lack of sewerage, obstructing justice Amir Ben-David Published: 04.17.13 An IDF navy base may have been complicit in dropping toxic waste into the Kishon River, which has allegedly made many divers and Navy soldiers seriously ill over the […]

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Sarah Marsh – Reuters/ BERLIN Qatar is racing to develop efficient solar-powered cooling technology to counter the searing heat of the Middle Eastern summer in its stadiums during the 2022 soccer World Cup, a senior organizing committee official told Reuters. Nasser al-Khater, the organizing committee’s communications and marketing director, also said the tiny gulf state […]

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AMMAN –– The Attarat Power Company (APCO) announced Wednesday that six internationally renowned engineering and construction companies have submitted proposals to construct Jordan’s first oil shale-fired power plant. APCO said in a statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times that the company would evaluate the submitted bids to start more detailed negotiations with the preferred contractors. […]

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April 19, 2013 01:01 AM By Lysandra Ohrstrom BEIRUT: Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell and Total are among the 46 international oil companies to prequalify to bid for offshore gas exploration contracts in Lebanon, caretaker Energy and Water Minister Gibran Bassil announced Thursday. Though two decrees demarcating the 10 maritime exploration blocks to be auctioned off […]

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On average, West Bank Palestinians have access to about 70 liters of water a day per person; inside the Green Line, communities use about 300 liters per person. By Lauren Gelfond Feldinger | Apr.12, 2013 Deep beneath the Israeli coastline and the West Bank mountains, groundwater flows back and forth in ancient, natural stone basins, […]

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Low rainfall in February and March wiped out record amounts of precipitation in December and January, according to Israeli Meteorological Service. By Zafrir Rinat | Apr.10, 2013 February and March this year were the driest for the past 50 years and overturned the country’s precipitation balance, which had looked promising at the beginning of winter, […]

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YNET / JERUSALEM POST BELOW Noble Energy: Israel may deter investors Head of American energy company leading natural gas exploration off country’s coast criticizes decision to nearly double tax rates on gas profits after his company already invested $1 billion in offshore field Associated Press / YNET Published: 04.12.13 The head of the US company […]

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