Another nine were injured and countless more may be missing, the Red Cross said.

Heavy rains sent rocks and mud crashing down on the villages in the mountainous district of Bududa on Monday, about 275 kilometers (170 miles) northeast of the capital Kampala. At least 15 homes were destroyed, said Catherine Ntabadde of the Uganda Red Cross Society.

“Last night district authorities requested all people in high risk places to move to a school that we are using as a primary camp,” Ntabadde said Tuesday.

No bodies have been recovered due to the heavy debris that has buried some of the victims 100 meters deep, Ntabadde said. Additional equipment is expected to arrive in the remote area Wednesday to assist in the excavation.

Landslide kills 25 on Philippine island ravaged by rain

The Red Cross is working alongside members of the Ugandan army to relocate more than 1,000 people.

“People are a bit reluctant to move until an incident like this happens. People want to stay near their homes and find out what happened to their loved ones and their belongings,” Ntabadde said.

Torrential downpours regularly cause landslides in the eastern part of the country, particularly in areas where heavy logging has left the land stripped of vegetation.

Last August, at least 23 people died when a massive landslide swallowed homes in the Bulambuli district, about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Kampala.

In 2010, another landslide in the same region killed at least 87.

Rain, terrain slow recovery efforts after Uganda landslide

CNN’s Aliza Kassim and journalist Sumit Galhotra contributed to this report.

The new Egyptian President, Mohammed Mursi, faces immense challenges on the domestic front, having inherited a politically divided country with a heavy legacy of corruption, poverty, rampant unemployment and security problems.

Externally, Egypt's new leader will also encounter a number of serious challenges, the most prominent of which are relations with Israel, the US and Iran. Here is a look at some of the most pressing issues.

The Mursi-Shafiq battle in the runoff has left Egypt politically divided, as reflected in Mursi's narrow victory.

More than 12 million voters decided to support Mubarak's last prime minister. This represents a challenge to Mr Mursi who will now have to embark on serious steps towards national reconciliation.

Building bridges with those who voted against him, particularly liberals and Copts, appears to be an immediate priority.

"No-one can run a country while knowing that half of the country is not with him," political analyst Hasan Abu-Talib told Nile News TV on 24 June.

In this context, Mr Mursi will also have to dissociate himself from the Muslim Brotherhood and prove that he is indeed "a president for all Egyptians".

Relations with the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (Scaf) will likely be a thorny issue for Mr Mursi.

As the presidential runoff started, the Scaf issued a supplementary constitutional declaration which has cut down much of the president's powers.

The Scaf has given to itself temporary legislative powers following the dissolution of parliament, and has secured complete control over all army affairs, including the defence budget, the appointment of commanders and the extension of their service.

The president can declare war, but only after the approval of the Scaf.

Under the new declaration, the Scaf will also form a new constituent assembly, should the current one be scrapped by the court looking into lawsuits filed against it.

On the domestic front, Mr Mursi has two equally important issues on his plate: security and the economy.

Despite a recent slight improvement, public security has deteriorated since the 25 January revolution. There has been a rise in killings, abductions and car theft, amid widespread possession of weapons.

Also, working with the security apparatus that has for decades clamped down on his group will be a difficult challenge for the new president.

Equally challenging is the domestic economy. More than 40% of Egyptians live below the poverty line. The country's economic situation has generally worsened since the revolution.

The withdrawal of investments, the closure of a large number of factories and persistent strikes in various sectors have taken their toll on the economy.

More than half of Egypt's foreign reserves have already been eroded.

Prior to Mr Mursi's victory, concern had been voiced in Egypt that a win for the Muslim Brotherhood's candidate could have a negative effect on relations with the Gulf as some states there may not be happy about a Brotherhood candidate being at the helm.

In March, statements by Muslim Brotherhood spokesman Mahmud Ghuzlan caused tensions with the United Arab Emirates and other Gulf states.

Mr Ghuzlan was reported to have made hostile remarks about the UAE after Dhahi Khalfan, the Dubai police chief, said he would ask Interpol to issue a warrant to arrest well-known cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi. Al-Qaradawi had accused the UAE of deporting Syrian activists and their families from the Gulf state.

The Gulf Co-operation Council spokesman at the time described Mr Ghuzlan's remarks as "irresponsible", as such comments "could impact relations between Egypt and the rest of the Arab region."

Following Mr Ghuzlan's statement, Mr Khalfan also accused Muslim Brotherhood supporters in the UAE of using social media to stir up opposition to the Gulf's ruling elite.

Relations with Israel and the US are among the most difficult challenges facing Mr Mursi.

As a pragmatist, he will likely be keen to respect the peace treaty with Israel and maintain good relations with the US and the West.

In his first televised address, he emphasised that he will honour all international treaties and agreements signed by Egypt.

The challenge here will emanate from the fact that many Egyptians, including the Muslim Brotherhood itself, used to accuse the Mubarak regime of being subordinate to the US. If Mr Mursi does not visibly change Egypt's policy in this regard, this will very likely cast a negative impact on his image at home.

Mr Mursi's stance on Iran is another important issue. For decades, Egypt's former governments have steered clear of opening up relations with Iran.

In recent years, there have been fears of growing Shia influence in the Arab world, and attempts to penetrate Egypt. Although Al-Azhar and the Salafists in Egypt worry about any Shia presence in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood's stance on Iran has always been positive.

Mr Mursi has reportedly told the Iranian news agency Fars that he is looking forward to strengthening relations with Iran "to create a strategic balance in the region" – although a spokesman for Mr Mursi denied that he had done an interview with Fars.

Any efforts by Mr Mursi in this direction may face opposition at home and have implications abroad, in the light of the stance adopted by the US, Israel and the West against Iran.

Relations with the Nile Basin countries will be another important task for Mr Mursi. He will need to build bridges between Egypt and these states in order to resolve the issue of sharing the waters of the Nile.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad. For more reports from BBC Monitoring, click here

Oil-rich Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 amid political turmoil and against a backdrop of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh.

Caspian oil is now flowing through a pipeline running from Baku through Georgia to the Turkish port of Ceyhan, providing western countries with ready access to a vast new source of supply. Environmental groups have protested that the cost of this benefit is unacceptable.

Azerbaijan has large gas reserves too.

Azerbaijan became a member of the Council of Europe in 2001. Often accused of rampant corruption and election-rigging, ruling circles walk a tightrope between Russian and Western regional geo-strategic interests.

As the Soviet Union collapsed, the predominantly Armenian population of the Nagorno-Karabakh region stated their intention to secede from Azerbaijan. War broke out. Backed by troops and resources from Armenia proper, the Armenians of Karabakh took control of the region and surrounding territory.

In 1994 a ceasefire was signed. About one-seventh of Azerbaijan's territory remains occupied, while 800,000 refugees and internally displaced persons are scattered around the country.

Azerbaijan was in the media spotlight in June 2007 when Russian President Vladimir Putin offered the US the use of the Gabala radar station for missile defence as an alternative to using bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Click on the interactive above to see how investment in the renewable energy sector has developed in recent years, the technologies attracting the most funding and the regions and countries making the biggest financial commitment to clean energy.

So is the world finally going green?

The figures come from The Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2012 report, a UN Environment Program backed study that has tracked the finance flowing into green energy across the world since 2004.

It found that renewables accounted for 44% of all new energy generation capacity added last year, up from 34% in 2010 and just 10.3% back in 2004.

The source for most of this finance came from the private sector, according to the report. Investment from the private domain in research and development of new technologies was almost double that of governments and public bodies.

While Europe attracts most of the investment, the renewable energy sectors of emerging economies such as India and China have been given the biggest boost.

China overtook the U.S. in terms of total annual investment in renewable energy in 2009 and attracted more money than any other country ($52.2 bn) in 2011.

India meanwhile saw the fastest expansion rate for any large renewables market last year, with a 62% increase in capital funding.

But while investment in green energy has been on the rise it still lags far behind traditional fuel sources in terms of contribution to global power supplies.

Only 6% of the world’s energy requirements (excluding large hydropower, like dams) were generated by renewable sources in 2011.

Nor have clean tech companies escaped the volatility of financial markets. The average share price of companies on the WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index fell by 40% in 2011, while austerity measures in many developed countries have weakened the policies set up to encourage renewable energy investment.

CNN asked two experts in the field about the trends shaping the figures from the report and what it might mean for the future.

Dr Karlheinz Knickel is the head of the Frankfurt School for Climate and Sustainable Energy Finance. Kirsty Hamilton meanwhile is an expert at the Renewable Energy Finance Project at UK-based think-tank Chatham House.

CNN: What is driving increased investment in renewable energy as displayed in the GTRE report?

Karlheinz Knickel: On a global level I guess it’s the increasing prices of fossil fuels. This reflects increasing scarcity worldwide which of course provides incentive to look for alternatives. Probably it’s also more ambitions of countries to go for clean energy and alternative energy supplies.

Of course the third biggest factor is climate policy and the need to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gasses.

CNN: How does investments in renewables compare to investment in fossil fuels?

KK: It’s about half at the moment between fossil fuels and renewable for new technology investment.

One important factor however is that there remains substantial subsidies for fossil fuels. Globally we have $400 billion for fossil fuels and I think a comparable figure for renewables is just $66 billion. This shows the massive support provided to fossil fuels irrespective of the technology related questions.

CNN: Does the increasing amount of private sector investment in clean tech disprove the notion that renewables can’t be profitable?

Kirsty Hamilton: Private financiers aren’t going to go into renewables unless there is a commercial benefit, particularly now.

At the moment however renewables still need government subsidies. Nevertheless you have to set this question of policy in the context of whether there is a level playing field between conventional energy and renewable energy and even energy efficiency, and that’s not the case.

CNN: How has the financial crisis impacted public and private investment in renewables?

KK: I actually think in terms of a medium or long term trend it doesn’t mean too much because these larger factors, scarcity of fossil fuels and the business opportunities, the need to change for climate reasons, all that has a much bigger influence.

KH: In the first response to the financial crisis you had government stimulus packages, which created the backdrop of more confidence and renewables was part of an economic growth and jobs story.

What’s different now is that the economic conditions have become much tighter. This hasn’t happened everywhere but austerity has been pinching in on renewable policy and frankly any policy that’s had government support behind it.

I think it’s important to say that financiers are looking for stable policy. There have been some very poorly managed changes to renewables policy adding to the sense in some markets, such as the EU and probably the U.S. as well, that governments are just not confirming their commitment in this direction.

CNN: Why do some renewables attract more investment than others?

KK: It’s hard to generalize. One should be careful interpreting rapid growth in, for example the U.S. this year. One of the background factors is that the relatively supportive (government) renewable programs are being discontinued.

I think there was a huge investment in 2011 but there may be quite a traumatic fall in 2012 and 2013.

KH: The scale of investment is going to be towards the more mature technologies because there is a longer track record there, and less risk, for example in onshore wind and solar energy.

Offshore wind is attracting a lot of interest as a growth sector, but risks go up as it goes further offshore.

Essentially, more finance will come in where there are lower technological risks.

CNN: Why is investment in renewables seemingly growing faster in developing world countries like India and China?

KK: Countries (like China and India) see opportunities to export technologies worldwide and they are doing that at the lowest prices.

They really have strong companies and competitiveness with often lower production costs. With their rapid rate of change and demand for energy and good modern services, there is a great risk.

But I think I can say for China and India and probably for others that it has been recognized that we are going too much into fossil fuels, accelerating carbon dioxide emissions in a very traumatic way.

KH: It’s important not to generalize but a couple that one would draw out is that it’s been a tougher investment environment in many of the European and U.S. markets in recent years.

India and China meanwhile have attracted finance and are creating a strong, positive investment environment so money is able to go to those markets.

Dubai: The Community Development Authority (CDA) has opened a community centre in Hatta which will receive service requests related to volunteering services and community support services such as financial benefits, payment of rent, connection of electricity to new homes, and payment of tuition fees for people with disabilities for all nationals residing in Hatta.

Khalid Al Kamda, Director General of CDA, said: “This initiative reflects CDA’s vision to enhance social standards in Dubai and will aim at driving the service sector in the emirate according to the directives of a wise leadership to provide excellence in customer service.”

He said that the CDA will, through this centre, communicate with people in this area to meet their demands, and work on designing and developing service-related plans and initiatives. The centre will be open to customers from 7:30am to 2:30pm.

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A Miami man shot dead by police as he chewed the face off a homeless person only had marijuana in his system, a coroner has found.

Eugene was shot and killed by a police officer after he ignored warnings to stop eating Mr Poppo's face.

Armando Aguilar, of Miami's Fraternal Order of Police, told a CNN affiliate at the time he believed the suspect could have taken a type of drug known as bath salts, citing four past overdoses in the Miami area where people had also removed their clothes and gone berserk.

Eugene's family told the Associated Press that he was not violent and did not drink or do drugs other than marijuana.

"There's no answer for it, not really," Eugene's younger brother, Marckenson Charles, said. "Anybody who knew him knows this wasn't the person we knew him to be. Whatever triggered him, there is no answer for this."

Dr Bruce Goldberger, director of toxicology at the University of Miami, said while the coroner's office is known for its thorough work, it would be a challenge to keep up with the pace of new formulations for synthetic drugs.

"There are many of these synthetic drugs that we currently don't have the methodology to test on, and that is not the fault of the toxicology lab," Dr Goldberger said.

"There is no one test or combination of tests that can detect every possible substance out there."

Rikkia Cross, Eugene's girlfriend, told the Miami Herald she is convinced the attack was the result of something "supernatural".

"Somebody did something to him, somebody put something on him. I know for sure that wasn't Rudy," she said.

Mr Poppo is recovering from the attack in a local hospital but will need additional surgery before he can consider reconstructing his face, doctors have said.

EMAL has announced the launch of a new added value product in 2012: foundry aluminium which is mainly used in the automotive sector. The addition of foundry to Emal’s portfolio is part of its long term vision of producing more value added products as it develops into one of the world’s largest single-site aluminium smelters.

Total annual production at the Al Taweelah will rise to 1.3 million metric tonnes once the Phase II expansion is completed in 2014.

Emal President and CEO, Saeed Fadhel Al Mazrooei, said, “As a world-leading company, operating in a global market, it is important that Emal is flexible to changing demand. The automobile sector is an important and growing segment in the aluminium market, and Emal is not only well placed to manage this growing demand both in terms of our product development and marketing strategy, but also well placed to respond to customer demand for flexibility while retaining our commitment to provide quality products at value cost.”

By 2013 total annual sales of Emal is forecasted to increase by 5%. Currently Asia (excluding China) is Emal’s biggest regional market with 50% of total sales based on 2011 sales figures. Emal sales in Europe are projected to grow from 23% in 2011 to 35% by 2013. Overall sales growth will be achieved by concentrating on growing countries such as Japan and Germany, with strong automotive markets.

On the development of foundry products at Emal, Al Mazrooei added, “It is another important step forward as it will expand our customer base and help grow the business for the future prosperity of the country.”

Release Date: 06/25/2012Contact Information: Kris Lancaster, (913) 551-7557, lancaster.kris@epa.gov

Environmental News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Kansas City, Kan., June 25, 2012) – EPA has completed its review of the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality’s new and revised water quality standards. The Clean Water Act (CWA) requires states to review water quality standards every three years and submit new or revised standards to EPA for review and approval.

The approved standards include new and revised surface water criteria to protect aquatic life and human health; new and revised public drinking water supply criteria; numeric nutrient criteria for lakes; and new use designations for four lakes.

“We value the state’s commitment to protecting its waters by establishing water quality standards and adopting numeric criteria that significantly increase environmental protection of Nebraska’s lakes, rivers and streams,” said Karl Brooks, regional administrator.

EPA oversees the protection of water quality as required by the CWA. The Agency is working with the public, community leaders, local and state agencies to meet the growing needs and demands of our water resources.

EPA’s June 22, 2012, decision letter provides a more detailed description of EPA’s review and the basis for this action. The decision letter is available at www.epa.gov/region7/newsevents/legal.
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