Ukraine rail crash unleashes toxic cloud: Hundreds of Ukrainians were evacuated from their homes yesterday after a train derailed and released a cloud of toxic gas that affected 14 villages. Twenty people were poisoned and required hospital treatment, but a government spokesman said there was no threat to their lives. The Independent

China faces rising costs from pollution: China’s smog-choked cities and contaminated waterways are leaving many people sick and unable to work, in turn fomenting unrest and threatening the country’s economic growth, an international think-tank said Tuesday in a government-requested report. The Washington Post

Turtle population decline can be reversed – scientists: Scientists and conservationists are meeting in Malaysia to explore ways of reversing the sharp decline in the numbers of the world’s biggest turtle. — ABC Online

Second quake-linked radiation leak probed: Authorities Tuesday were investigating if Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s huge nuclear plant in Kashiwazaki, Niigata Prefecture, had suffered another radiation leak from the previous day’s powerful earthquake, after finding 100 drums of low-level atomic waste had fallen over and some had broken open. — The Japan Times