EU rethinks biofuels guidelines

Europe's environment chief has admitted that the EU did not foresee the problems raised by its policy to get 10% of Europe's road fuels from plants

.

Recent reports have warned of rising food prices and rainforest destruction from increased biofuel production.

The EU has promised new guidelines to ensure that its target is not damaging.

EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said it would be better to miss the target than achieve it by harming the poor or damaging the environment.

Clampdown promised

A couple of years ago biofuels looked like the perfect get-out-of-jail free card for car manufacturers under pressure to cut carbon emissions.

Instead of just revolutionising car design they could reduce transport pollution overall if drivers used more fuel from plants which would have soaked up CO2 while they were growing.

Fuel made from plants like corn are driving up food prices

The EU leapt at the idea - and set its biofuels targets.

Since then reports have warned that some biofuels barely cut emissions at all - and others can lead to rainforest destruction, drive up food prices, or prompt rich firms to drive poor people off their land to convert it to fuel crops.

"We have seen that the environmental problems caused by biofuels and also the social problems are bigger than we thought they were. So we have to move very carefully," Mr Dimas told.

"We have to have criteria for sustainability, including social and environmental issues, because there are some benefits from biofuels."

He said the EU would introduce a certification scheme for biofuels and promised a clampdown on biodiesel from palm oil which is leading to forest destruction in Indonesia.

Some analysts doubt that "sustainable" palm oil exists because any palm oil used for fuel simply swells the demand for the product oil on the global market which is mainly governed by food firms.

US expansion

Mr Dimas said it was vital for the EU's rules to prevent the loss of biodiversity which he described as the other great problem for the planet, along with climate change.

On Monday, the Royal Society, the UK's academy of science, is publishing a major review of biofuels. It is expected to call on the EU to make sure its guidelines guarantee that all biofuels in Europe genuinely save carbon emissions.

In the US the government has just passed a new energy bill mandating a major increase in fuel from corn, which is deemed by some analysts to be useless in combating rising carbon dioxide emissions.

The bill also foresees a huge expansion in fuel from woody plants but the technology for this is not yet proven.

Mid-East talks on 'core issues'

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have begun talks in Jerusalem on what are seen as the most intractable issues in the peace process

These include the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a Palestinian state, Jewish settlements in the West Bank, refugees, security and water resources.

The talks are being led by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.

Three Palestinian militants died in an Israeli strike in Gaza on Sunday.

The vehicle in which the men were travelling through the Shati refugee camp near Gaza City was struck by an Israeli Air Force missile.

If we reach an agreement on all these issues, then we can say that we have reached a final agreement Mahmoud Abbas Palestinian Authority President

The raid had targeted militants involved in attacks on Israel, the Israeli military said.

One of the men has been named as Nidal Amudi, who was a senior member of the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a militant group linked to the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Another was identified as Mahir Mabhuh, who belonged to another group, while the identity of the third militant was unknown.

'Final agreement'

During a speech in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Sunday, Mr Abbas said the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams would begin discussion of the core "final stage issues" in the peace process at their meeting on Monday.

"If we reach an agreement on all these issues, then we can say that we have reached a final agreement," he said, adding that any peace treaty would have to resolve the disputes over all issues.

The talks come in the wake of an Israeli air strike in Gaza

Mr Abbas added that both sides would at the same time have to implement the first phase of the "road map" formulated by the Middle East Quartet in 2003, which suggests how a final settlement might be approached, and resolve economic and security issues in the West Bank.

The first phase of the road map requires:

• Both sides to issue statements supporting the two-state solution
• The Palestinians to end violence, act against "all those engaged in terror", draw up a constitution and hold elections
• The Israelis to stop settlement building activities and act with military restraint

A spokesman for the Israeli government, Mark Regev, also confirmed the negotiating teams would meet on Monday, and that they had received a mandate to discuss the core issues.

Hamas offer

Prospects for a comprehensive settlement were given fresh impetus by the US peace conference at Annapolis, Maryland, in November, after which Mr Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to restart talks after seven years.

OBSTACLES TO PEACE

US President George W Bush, who visited Israel and the West Bank last week, has said Israel and the Palestinians could sign a peace treaty within a year.

"I believe it's going to happen, that there will be a signed peace treaty by the time I leave office," he told reporters in Ramallah on Thursday.

In his speech, Mr Abbas said he had warned the president that the Palestinians could not move ahead in the negotiations while Jewish settlements continued to be built in the West Bank.

"We can't have negotiations while they are building houses all over," he added.

The Palestinian leader also said he was willing to restart talks with the Islamist movement, Hamas, if it relinquished control of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas ousted Mr Abbas's Fatah movement from the coastal territory in June following a week of violent clashes.

"I am ready to negotiate with Hamas even if the United States does not accept it," he said. "Such a dialogue is very important."

A Hamas statement denounced Mr Abbas's speech as "full of lies and fabrications".

Russia summons UK envoy over row

The Russian foreign ministry has summoned the UK ambassador amid an escalating row over the reopening of two British Council offices.

The Council's branches reopened on Monday despite a government ban.

Russia called the move a "provocation" and said it would not issue new visas to British Council staff.

The offices were ordered to shut last month in the latest clash over the fatal poisoning of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko in London.

The branches which reopened are in St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. The ban does not apply to the British Council's Moscow office.

'Inflaming tensions'

A statement on the Russian foreign ministry's website said: "Russia views such actions as an intentional provocation aimed at inflaming tensions in Russian-British relations.

UK-RUSSIA ROW Nov 2006: Alexander Litvinenko dies in London May 2007: UK accuses ex-KGB agent Andrei Lugovoi of murder July: Russia refuses UK request to extradite Mr Lugovoi July: UK expels four Russian diplomats July: Russia expels four British embassy staff December: Russia tells British Council to shut two offices Jan 2008: British Council re-opens both offices

"The Russian side will not issue visas to new employees sent to work in the (British) consular offices of St Petersburg and Yekaterinburg to carry out British Council work."

The UK embassy in the Russian capital declined to comment on the schedule of the ambassador, Sir Tony Brenton.

But BBC Moscow correspondent Richard Galpin says the envoy will appear at the Russian foreign ministry on Monday afternoon.

He says the escalating diplomatic crisis between the two countries is now coming to a head and it is not clear if either side is willing to back down.

The British Council, which aims to promote cultural and educational ties, was accused of violating Russian tax rules.

A spokesman for the Council insisted on Monday that its activities were "fully compliant with Russian and international law".

"We believe we're caught up in a political matter," the spokesman told the BBC News website.

'Valuable work'

The British Council's chief executive, Martin Davidson, said they would continue talking to the Russians in the hope of continuing their work.

He told the BBC: "We have to understand the issues, the problems they have with our work, but we believe [our work] is enormously valuable.

Russia has linked its action to wider British-Russian tensions

"We know ordinary Russian people believe it is of real value to them, as well of course to us here in the UK, to have that relationship with Russia."

The offices in Yekaterinburg are on the premises of the UK consulate-general.

The row came on top of continuing tensions over the death of former KGB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London in November 2006. He had been given a fatal dose of radioactive polonium 210.

The UK wants Russia to hand over businessman Andrei Lugovoi, whom UK investigators suspect of murdering Mr Litvinenko.

When Russia refused to extradite Mr Lugovoi, Britain expelled four Russian diplomats and Moscow followed suit.

Russian officials have described the action against the British Council as a retaliatory measure.