Brazil defends plans for sugarcane in Amazon: Brazilian agricultural officials and biofuel industry representatives defended using already devastated parts of the Amazon rainforest to grow sugarcane for ethanol, denying such cultivation would harm the region. Brazil’s extensive use of ethanol and other biofuels has put it at the forefront of global efforts to fight climate change. But the country is also home to most of the Amazon rainforest, which scientists say plays an important role in cooling the Earth. IHT

Global warming: bad news for gnus: The annual wildebeest migration is one of nature’s most spectacular photo-ops. More than a million wildebeest — also known as gnus — crossing from the Serengeti in Tanzania to Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve and then back again in the search of fresh grass makes for some dramatic action shots, as massive herds travel across the plains before plunging into the Mara River to swim to greener pastures. The photos from this year’s migration are just as dramatic, but for a different reason. This time, piles of wildebeest carcasses line the riverbanks, after 10,000 of the animals drowned trying to cross the Mara at the start of their journey back east to the Serengeti. Time

More legal battles loom over pollution: A $4.6 billion settlement Tuesday by one of the last holdouts among polluting power companies signals the end of a long legal debate over acid rain — and a tougher battle ahead over carbon dioxide and the use of fossil fuels. The agreement with American Electric Power Co., struck just as the company was to defend itself in court, ends an eight-year battle over reducing smokestack pollution that drifted across Northeast and mid-Atlantic states and chewed away on mountain ranges, bays and national landmarks. Government officials praised the deal as the largest environmental settlement in the nation’s history. New York Times

Big business ‘failing to tackle climate change’: The UK’s top companies are failing to face up to climate change, with less than half of the FTSE 350 companies introducing schemes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report released today. The second annual report from the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a New York-based independent organisation which works with shareholders and corporations to disclose their greenhouse gas emissions, found that only 38% of the companies that responded to its survey have put in place emissions reduction schemes with targets. Guardian

Plasma TV ‘off limits’ – watch this space: Most current plasma television sets would be banned from sale in Australia within a year under onerous mandatory energy requirements recommended in a report commissioned by the Federal Government. The consulting firm Digital CEnergy, which prepared the report for the Government’s Australian Greenhouse Office, also recommends a second tier of even tougher restrictions that would then ban almost all current LCD models from the market in April 2011. The Age