Obama will decide new auto fuel efficiency targets

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will not finalize new auto fuel efficiency standards, as it had planned, due to historic uncertainty gripping U.S. manufacturers, officials said on Wednesday.

Thousands shiver in Europe's big chill

PARIS (Reuters) - Temperatures plunged to record lows in Germany and heavy snow forced normally sunny Marseille to close its international airport as freezing winter weather gripped much of Europe on Wednesday.

Australia refuses Japan on whaling activist block

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Australia has rejected a Japanese request to block anti-whaling activists from re-supplying, saying Thursday their ship would be allowed to dock at an Australian port before returning to harass whalers in the Southern Ocean.

Yellow submarine to probe Antarctica glacier

PUNTA ARENAS, Chile (Reuters) - A yellow robot submarine will dive under an ice shelf in Antarctica to seek clues to world ocean level rises in one of the most inaccessible places on earth.

Enbridge cleaning up spill at oil sands terminal

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Enbridge Inc, Canada's No. 2 pipeline firm, said a malfunctioning valve at an oil storage facility in the oil sands region of northern Alberta this week spewed out 4,000 barrels of oil, but the spill was mostly contained on the grounds of its tank farm.

Groups seek Syncrude charges over 500 duck deaths

CALGARY, Alberta (Reuters) - Environmental groups took the first step on Wednesday to convince a court to charge Canada's largest oil sands producer with the deaths of 500 ducks, an incident that brought worldwide attention to the ecological impact of the huge energy resource.

NY Gov targets clean energy, health despite deficit

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York state should fight obesity, help more residents get health insurance and revive the upstate economy with a research consortium for hybrid car batteries and energy storage, Governor David Paterson proposed on Wednesday.

Climate change threatens Pacific, Arctic conflicts

CANBERRA (Reuters) - Climate change and rising sea levels pose one of the biggest threats to security in the Pacific and may also spark a global conflict over energy reserves under melting Arctic ice, according to Australia's military.

Japan to monitor greenhouse gases from space

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's space agency will launch a satellite later this month to monitor greenhouse gases around the world, officials said Wednesday, hoping the data it collects helps global efforts to combat climate change.

Bush to declare Pacific areas protected monuments

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush will designate nearly 200,000 square miles (518,000 sq km) of the Pacific ocean on Tuesday as a protected region, White House officials said, making the areas hands-off for oil drilling or other extraction procedures.