The Dead Sea is shrinking because its natural water sources, which flow from Syria and Lebanon, have been diverted for farming and drinking water. Reuters Jul 30, 2015 see http://www.haaretz.com/beta/1.668685 for visuals A neglected grove of date palms, their leaves long fallen, trunks drooping in the searing heat at the lowest point on earth, is […]

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08/13/2015 Enormous controversy surrounds the proposed natural gas structure that will be brought before the cabinet for a vote on Sunday.\ Opposition politicians led most articulately by the Zionist Camp’s MK Shelly Yacimovich have railed against it, claiming that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, National Infrastructure, Energy and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz and others have proven […]

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Three West Bank villages partly cut off from running water during the hottest month of the year, angering residents who point out that the quota for neighboring Jewish villages is much higher. Elior Levy Published: 08.10.15 Three Palestinian villages have been suffering from a water shortage for over a week during the hottest month of […]

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By Laila Azzeh – Aug 08,2015 – Ajloun Governorate contains 140,000 dunums of forests that cover 34 per cent of its total area (Petra photo) AMMAN — It took firefighters four hours on Saturday to extinguish a “huge” blaze in Ajloun, 70km northwest of the capital, that destroyed 500 trees on more than 40 dunums […]

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By Rana Husseini – Aug 08,2015\ The 29.82mcm Mujib Dam in Karak, some 130 kilometres south of the capital, is one of the Kingdom’s 10 major dams (Petra photo) AMMAN — Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) officials on Saturday said they are considering importing a hollow ball cover system to place in major dams and reduce […]

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AMMAN — The Energy and Mineral Resources Regulatory Commission (EMRC) said Saturday it dealt with 141 cases of electricity theft during the heatwave that affected Jordan over the past week. The commission notified the legal departments at power companies of the cases, and legal measures will be taken against violators, EMRC Chief Commissioner Farouq Hiari […]

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AMMAN — The load on the national power grid surged to an unprecedented 3,300 megawatts (MW) on Tuesday during the heatwave that affected the Kingdom this week, the Energy Ministry said Thursday. The national grid’s capacity currently stands at 4,000MW. In a report on the malfunctions witnessed during the hot spell, which began easing off […]

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By Omar Obeidat – Aug 10,2015 AMMAN — Having air- conditioning units in houses may have been seen as a luxury a few years ago, but the hot summer this year has made it a must for the majority of Jordanians. According to several homeowners and traders interviewed by The Jordan Times, fans are no […]

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Nocturnal heat records were broken in many areas of the country; Monday set a new record for power consumption. Omri Efraim, Gilad Morag, Hassan Shaalan 08.03.15 Sunday was the hottest day of the year in Israel, and the high temperatures continued into Monday and don’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. In quite a […]

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Lebanon’s residents partly to blame for trash crisis: minister August 11th, 2015 Industry Minister Hussein Hajj Hasan placed partial blame on Lebanese citizens Tuesday for the country’s ongoing trash crisis, saying that when the state fails to find solutions for crises, the people must play a role in filling the void. “Citizens have no right […]

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Philip Issa| The Daily Star BEIRUT: South of the Shatila roundabout, there are a few dozen scrapyards where men work patiently to sort through metals and plastics. This is how Lebanon’s bulk recycling is done, with hammers, engines and tractors. Many who work these jobs are from Syria, and they are compensated better than most […]

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Lebanon’s biggest landfill closed last week – but government officials have so far failed to find a new dumpsite. Ash Gallagher | 30 Jul 2015 09:00 GMT | Environment, Politics, Lebanon, Middle East Beirut, Lebanon – Tucked away behind a gas station, along the vibrant, nightlife-friendly streets of Beirut’s Mar Mikhael neighbourhood, lies a restaurant […]

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Lebanon’s capital drowning in an ocean of trash – Al JAzeera Residents are burning garbage in the streets as politicians fail to find a solution for mountains of uncollected trash. Nour Samaha | 26 Jul 2015 14:55 GMT | Environment, Health, Politics, Middle East, Lebanon Beirut – Hundreds of protesters showed up in the sweltering […]

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by SHARON UDASIN 07/27/2015 Each year, about 2.5 million cubic meters of excess soil and building debris are simply buried or removed illegally to open spaces. Aiming to see 98 percent of the country’s excess soil salvaged for reuse by 2040, the Finance Ministry’s Planning Administration will be presenting a new program on the matter […]

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As the Tel Aviv Municipality introduces new recycling bins, we go back to the days when sanitation workers used to collect wastewater from outhouses, when dust covered the city’s streets, when the first garbage trucks arrived and when trash piled up on the streets during the Sanitation Department’s strikes. Noam (Dabul) Dvir Published: 07.27.15 Tel […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 07/27/2015 Customers would be required to pay 30 agorot for bags, with the price dropping to 20 agorot after two years and then to 10 agorot after four years. Members of the Ministerial Committee for Legislation unanimously approved the Environmental Protection Ministry’s request to apply the law of continuity to a bill […]

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State comptroller report determines government’s lack of overall policy and lack of regulation contributed to a monopoly in the sector. Yaron Druckman Published: 07.21.15 MK Eitan Cabel, the chairman of the Knesset’s Finance Committee, said Tuesday that Economy Minister Aryeh Deri has agreed to sign off on the proposed natural gas plan, but only if […]

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Bassam Fattouh| The Daily Star Lebanon’s waters are believed to hold large hydrocarbon reserves, making offshore Lebanon an attractive location for oil and gas companies. While developing and monetizing these reserves will entail many geological and technical challenges, a key policy challenge that Lebanon will have to face is how to manage oil and gas […]

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By SHARON UDASIN 07/26/2015 Move comes following pressure from Environmental Protection Ministry. Following pressure from the Environmental Protection Ministry, four factories in the Haifa Bay region will soon be connected to natural gas for the first time, the ministry announced on Sunday. The Haifa District Committee for Planning and Building recently approved the connection, after […]

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By Petra – Jul 26,2015 – Last updated at Jul 26,2015 AMMAN — The Energy Ministry is implementing two projects to establish solar power plants with a capacity of 10 gigawatt hours per year, funded by the Spanish government, the ministry’s spokesperson, Haidar Gammaz, said Sunday. The first project (2.17 megawatts) costs JD3.5 million and […]

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