Pedal power pays as Bike Account interest rises: The number of cyclists entering central Melbourne has doubled in the past year, according to the first comprehensive study of cycling in the City of Melbourne. Melbourne City Council’s inaugural Bicycle Account summarises cycling trends, behaviour and safety in the CBD and inner suburbs. — The Age

Solomon Islands exports live dolphins to Dubai: The Solomon Islands will export 28 live dolphins to Dubai, it was confirmed yesterday, four years after a similar shipment to Mexico sparked an international outcry. The mammals were to be removed from their pens at Gavutu Island near the capital, Honiara, and loaded on to two DC-10 aircraft, said Robert Satu, director of Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Center and Exporters Ltd. — Independent

China’s drive for wealth means end of our low-carbon dreams: Hu Jintao wants to make every Chinese twice as rich by 2020. He has done it once – in just five years, income per capita doubled to $2,000 (£983) – and the only obstacle in the Chinese President’s path is the fuel needed to stoke the boiler in China’s locomotive. The president needs more copper, iron ore, zinc and natural gas. Above all, he needs more coal to keep the power stations humming nicely and more oil for Chinese cars and lorries. If Mr Hu had a message for the world in his address to the Communist Party National Congress, it was this: we will burn our coal and, if we have to, we will burn yours, too. — Times

Amazon rainforest fires “worst” in memory: Fires continue to rage in the Amazon, according to local reports. John Cain Carter, a rancher who runs Aliança da Terra, an environmental accountability group for agricultural operators, says that the fires are the worst he has ever seen in the region.
“I have never seen fires this bad,” he told mongabay.com. “The fires are even worse than in 1998´s El Niño event.” — Monga Bay