[posted by Tina Bellon on Reuters, August 11, 2018] A California jury on Friday found Monsanto liable in a lawsuit filed by a man who alleged the company’s glyphosate-based weed-killers, including Roundup, caused his cancer and ordered the company to pay $289 million in damages. The case of school groundskeeper Dewayne Johnson was the first lawsuit to go to trial alleging glyphosate causes cancer. Monsanto, a unit of Bayer AG...

[posted by Ludwig Burger on Business Insider, August 23, 2018] Bayer said the number of US lawsuits brought against newly acquired Monsanto has risen to about 8,000 from 5,200 previously, after Monsanto was ordered to pay damages for not warning of alleged cancer risks of glyphosate-based weedkillers. “The number of plaintiffs in both state and federal litigation is approximately 8,000 as of end-July. These numbers may rise or...

[posted by Jonathan Watts on The Guardian, July 21, 2018] On a planet of billions, nine represent the strong minority battling murder in the global corruption of land rights. Individually, they are stories of courage and tragedy. Together, they tell a tale of a natural world under ever more violent assault. The portraits in this series are of nine people who are risking their lives to defend the land and environment in some of the...

Il caldo che uccide

[The Economist, 28 luglio 2018. Traduzione di Federico Ferrone per Internazionale] Sodankyla, una città nella Lapponia finlandese poco più a nord del circolo polare artico, ha una temperatura media annua appena superiore allo zero. Gli abitanti aspettano con ansia il breve periodo di luglio quando il clima è simile a quello estivo. Quest’anno sarebbero stati felici anche con molto meno. Il 18 luglio il termometro ha toccato i 32,1...

[posted by Adam Vaughan on The Guardian, 24th July 2018]   Shale gas firm Cuadrilla has been given the green light by the government to start fracking at a well in Lancashire, after the energy minister issued the first fracking permit since a new regulatory regime was introduced. Fracking is expected to begin in late August or early September at the Preston New Road site, between Blackpool and Preston, which has been the focus of...

[posted on Global Witness, July 24th, 2018]   Global Witness today reveals that at least 207 land and environmental defenders were killed last year – indigenous leaders, community activists and environmentalists murdered trying to protect their homes and communities from mining, agribusiness and other destructive industries. Severe limits on the data available mean the global total is probably much higher. Murder is the most...