Bolivia, US seek to heal strained ties
4 July 2008 - Top Bolivian and US officials sought to heal their nations' strained relations Thursday in their first meeting since a raucous protest outside the American embassy sent the US ambassador back to Washington for security consultations. The 3 July meeting was the first since demonstrators mobbed the US embassy in La Paz on June 9. Both sides called the meeting 'positive'. (more)

Historic China-Taiwan flights take off
4 July 2008 - Historic regular flights between Taiwan and China began on Friday, in a show of conciliation between the long-time rivals that could bring large numbers of mainland Chinese visitors to the island. No such regular flights, aside from a few charters on select holidays, have flown since 1949, when defeated Nationalist forces fled to Taiwan after the Chinese civil war. (more)

Meeting with Dalai Lama envoys confirmed by China
4 July 2008 - China confirmed on Thursday that a senior communist Party official had met envoys of the Dalai Lama. It was the highest level meeting since dialogue resumed in 2002 and the second closed-door meeting since rioting erupted in Tibet in March. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. The Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for the Himalayan region. (more)

Russia: Prime Minister Putin calls for transfer of recreational site in response to ecological concerns
4 July 2008 - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for the transfer of a proposed Olympic bobsleigh site over ecological concerns, Russian media reported. The planned Sochi-2014 Winter Olympics venue, next to a mountain nature preserve above Russia's summer resort city on the Black Sea, was criticized by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) last month as 'environmentally unfriendly'. 16 alternative sites have been proposed by an environmental organization. (more)

Spain: Lending booms to solar energy plants, says Reuters Loan Pricing Corp
4 July 2008 - Lending to Spanish photovoltaic solar energy plants is booming ahead of a September review of subsidy increases introduced last year, bankers working in the sector said. Project finance loans to the Spanish photovoltaic sector have jumped since the improvement of subsidies to 44 euro cents, paid for energy produced in photovoltaic plants which is then plugged into the national grid. Lending to Spanish photovoltaic plants has risen to $3.59 billion in the year to date from $230.9 million in 2007, according to Reuters Loan Pricing Corp data. (more)

Turkey clears Syria border mines, boosts trade hopes
4 July 2008 - Turkey aims to complete mine clearance along its border with Syria this month before opening a border crossing businessmen hope will spur the local economy by opening it to trade with their southern neighbour. The initiative marks a fresh step in improving relations between the two countries, which came close to conflict a decade ago over the presence in Syria of Kurdish guerrilla leader Abdullah Ocalan. (more)

US: Farmers' markets thrive
4 July 2008 - Higher prices have not deterred shoppers from buying their produce from farmers' markets. Fed by the new environmental trend to buy locally, the sites are a throwback to a more traditional style of commerce and have have risen in popularity every year since 1994 when the US Agriculture Department first began collecting data on the operations. This year alone more than 4,500 farmers' markets will be operating across the United States, an increase of 21 per cent from just four years ago, with revenue topping $1 billion. (more)

US: Freeze lifted on public land solar development applications in six Western states
4 July 2008 - The Bureau of Land Management on Wednesday said it reversed an earlier decision freezing solar project applications in six Western states and would accept new applications. The BLM decision effects solar development on public land in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. The applications have the potential to generate 70 billion watts of electricity, enough to power about 20 million homes in the United States. (more)