As glaciers melt and rivers dry up, coal-fired power stations multiply: On a bad day – which can be hundreds in a year – the ancient city of Linfen in the northern province of Shanxi is environmental hell. Named by the World Bank last year as having the worst air quality on Earth, its 3.5 million people more often than not choke on coal dust; its soil and its rivers are covered with soot, and its Buddhas are blackened and shrouded in a toxic mist. Guardian

UK ‘must set emissions control example’ to China: A senior British official says there is no point in the West blaming China for the massive impact its industrial growth is having on the environment. John Ashton, the leading climate change official at the British Foreign Office, says rich nations must take the lead in cutting their carbon dioxide emissions and proving to China that lower-carbon technology can pull its people out of poverty. ABC Online

Ontario offers grants for ‘green cars’: Ontario on Tuesday offered financial incentives to encourage production of “green” cars and fuels, the latest sign of competition among Canada’s provinces to address global warming. In a speech at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the province would offer grants totaling $625 million for promotion of more efficient technologies throughout the auto industry. Canada’s auto industry is the largest in North America and has been buffeted by the diminishment of the big American-owned automakers. Washington Post

Is the Amazon longer than the Nile?: Brazilian researchers claim they have evidence proving that the Amazon is the longest river in the world, some 65 miles (105 km) longer than the Nile, reports BBC News. Guido Gelli, director of science at the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, said researchers have traced the origin of the Amazon to Mismi, a snow-covered mountain in southern Peru. The generally accepted origin of the Amazon is further north, making it the second longest river after the Nile, which is 4,157 miles (6,690 km) long. Monga Bay