That decision Monday came after the parliamentary commission for energy, technology and the environment visited the country’s National Nuclear Energy Agency, which is known as Batan, during the weekend.

“Indonesia can no longer rely on non-renewable energy sources such as gas and coal to generate electricity in future,” said Teuku Riefky Harsya, chairman of the commission, in a statement.

Coal is estimated to account for 44 percent of state-owned utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara’s total energy production this year with natural gas another 26 percent.

Hudi Hastowo, head of Batan, told The Jakarta Globe the agency wouldn’t operate nuclear plants but would act as a supporting partner in providing technical advice.

Building a nuclear plant was a long-term project for Indonesia, Hastowo said, that could take at least 10 years.

“We now have to convince all stakeholders to support the plan,” he said.

The agency has carried out a feasibility study on the construction of nuclear plants in Indonesia, covering such issues as safety and the environment. Batan said the country’s uranium reserves in Kalimantan are capable of producing 1,000 megawatts of electricity for 150 years.

As for safety, Hastowo said that Indonesia would carefully evaluate safety measures in building nuclear power plants because the agency is party to the 1994 Vienna Convention on Nuclear Safety.

Noting that the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency is “very strict” in issuing permits for a country to build a nuclear power plant, he said that an IAEA inspector last November unofficially endorsed Indonesia’s capacity to build a nuclear power plant.

While Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s administration has yet to present a detailed proposal to Parliament on the building of nuclear facilities, the Antara news agency reported the president as saying, “I believe that nuclear power plants will not leak if managed properly.”

But the nuclear option “carries high-level risks for which Indonesia is not well prepared,” said Richard Tanter, an expert on Indonesia’s nuclear program at Australia’s Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

“There are very serious volcanic and seismic risks,” Tanter said.

Indonesia, faced with increasing electricity needs, encounters regular blackouts that hamper industrial production and discourage investors.

Hikmat Soeriatanuwijaya, a campaigner for Greenpeace Southeast Asia, said it was too early for Indonesia to embark on the nuclear path, the Globe reports.

Soeriatanuwijaya said the government should first explore geothermal energy. Indonesia’s untapped geothermal energy accounted for 40 percent of the world’s total reserves, he said.

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Wildlife biologist Nicos Kassinis told the Cyprus Times lakes spilling over their shores were attracting the birds.

“We had around 6,000 in January, 3,000 in February, and though we do not have the figures yet, we expect around 1,500 this month,” he said.

However, the high water levels have created a deadly problem for the birds around a salt lake in southern Larnaca, Kassinis said.

The water has encroached over land that was once used for clay pigeon shooting and is widely littered with lead shot.

So far, 35 flamingos have died, and Kassinis said their livers showed lead concentrations several times the toxic level.

As far as a remedy, Game Director Pantelis Hadjiyerou said it wasn’t feasible.

“I do not think that cleaning will be appropriate, because the destruction to the ecology from the cleaning would be worse than the effects of the lead that is there,” he said.

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The Erie County Sheriff’s Department said the dog was first spotted Monday night on the ice near Westfield. The department’s Air One Helicopter tracked the canine down Tuesday morning and Capt. Kevin Caffery was lowered from the chopper to rescue the dog, WGRZ-TV, Buffalo, N.Y., reported Wednesday.

However, Caffery said the dog fled shortly after being turned over to the Westfield Fire Department and had to be rescued from the ice a second time.

The captain said the incident was an opportunity for rescuers to keep their skills sharp in the event of a human in similar danger.

The dog, which belonged to a Farnham man, had been missing for four or five days. He was taken a veterinarian to be checked out.

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All American Gator, a business specializing in turning gators into meat and leather products, said it has already taken three pythons since the state-sanctioned action against the reptiles in the Everglades in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties began last week, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported Wednesday.

Brian Wood, the company’s president, said he pays $5 for each python brought to the business in Hallandale Beach and turns the hides into custom leather products. The products are bound for his retail shop, Exotic Leather Fashions, and he said the meat will be served to family and friends.

The state-sanctioned python hunt runs through April 17.

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In Defense of Animals filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, accusing the zoo of “knowingly exposing offspring to an unacceptably high risk of infection with the often-fatal elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus.”

“It is grossly irresponsible for the St. Louis Zoo to continue breeding elephants, knowing that any infant born there faces a high risk of disease and death,” said Catherine Doyle, IDA campaign director. “IDA is calling on the USDA to stop the reckless breeding of elephants in herpes-affected zoos by adopting a policy that protects calves from unnecessary suffering and horrific deaths.”

The virus strikes young Asian elephants born in captivity and causes death through internal hemorrhaging.

The group has filed complaints against three other zoos over the same issue — the Houston Zoo, the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle and the Oklahoma City Zoo.

“The only sure way to prevent new (elephant herpes) cases is to stop breeding elephants in herpes-affected zoos,” said Dr. Elliot Katz, IDA president and a veterinarian. “The USDA must move swiftly to insure that zoos do not expose more innocent calves to this devastating disease.”

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“We are reducing sodium because it’s good for consumers, and, if done properly, it’s good for business,” said Rhonda Jordan, Kraft’s president for health & wellness.

“A growing number of consumers are concerned about their sodium intake and we want to help them translate their intentions into actions,” Jordan said.

The company had cut sodium as much as 30 percent in many items before setting the new goal of sodium reduction.

For Kraft, a pinch of salt makes a huge difference. A 10 percent reduction in two years takes more than 10 million pounds of sodium out of the country’s collective diet, the statement said.

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The meeting of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, the world’s largest oil cartel, ended with a statement that said “continued positive signs” in the global economy were threatened by “mounting and potentially unsustainable public debt in the most advanced economies.”

OPEC also said trade was threatened by “rising protectionism,” and further noted that the “marginal” rise in demand expected this year would be “more than offset” by increased production among non-OPEC countries.

On balance, “2010 is likely to witness a decline in the demand for OPEC crude oil for the third consecutive year,” the statement said.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange, April delivery light sweet crude prices swung down from a recent peak of $82.93 per barrel to $82.29 per barrel, off 64 cents.

Heating oil prices lost 0.0186 cents to $2.1209 per gallon. Reformulated gasoline blendstock prices shed 0.0177 cents to $2.292 per gallon. Henry Hub natural gas futures lost 0.054 cents to $4.249 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average price for unleaded gasoline rose to $2.789 per gallon from Wednesday’s $2.776, AAA said.

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The drought, the worst in memory, has left more than 20 million people short of drinking water in Yunnan and Guizhou provinces.

“The horsebean and rape (crops) has withered in the field and we’re running out of grain in the house,” said Shiyanzi resident Li Shaorong, adding he uses “only a few drops of water every other day” to rinse his eyes.

The drought has devastated crops of fruit, tea, rubber, coffee, flowers and other crops key to the local economy.

The region has seen no rain in six months and some communities since January have been rationing just enough water to keep people alive, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

While China’s southwestern region is experiencing severe drought, the nation’s northern and central provinces have had excessive snow, a change some scientists attribute to climate change.

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Officials said the competition awards up to $300,000 in recognition of original and viable solutions that can help improve the way the United States develops and uses energy.

The competition’s three areas are new energy source development, energy efficiency improvements and innovations that fight climate change.

Officials said the competition is open to U.S. residents 18 years of age or older at the time of entry. Entrants must submit a comprehensive proposal before May 22.

An expert panel of judges will select up to five finalists to present their submissions in October. Entries will be judged on the basis of creativity, scalability, commercial viability and sustainability.

“Securing the nation’s energy future will require innovative ideas that maximize existing resources, create sustainable and diverse energy supplies, and significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” said Stephen Brand, ConocoPhillips senior vice president for technology.

ConocoPhillips and Penn State awarded the 2009 prize to a team that created a hydrokinetic machine that converts the movement of water from river and ocean currents into electric energy regardless of tidal current strength.

More information is available at www.conocophillips.com/energyprize.

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Fijian disaster-management officials say they have received reports of several deaths in the Lau group of islands resulting from Hurricane Tomas, but the police cannot confirm them until the restoration of communications, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported Tuesday.

Public buildings and hospitals have been destroyed, and roofs ripped off by the hurricane’s 155 mph winds.

Seventeen-thousand people have been evacuated to more than 200 shelters, the ABC said.

Hurricane Tomas, which had first moved through the north, is currently affecting the smaller low-lying islands in the east.

“In the northern division, what we get is roofs blown off, houses flattened, trees being broken,” said Anthony Blake, a relief coordinator with Fiji’s disaster-management organization, DISMAC.

“In the eastern division in the Lau Group, we’ve got unconfirmed reports where whole villages have had roofs blown off and people are taking shelter in caves.”

UNICEF spokesman Tim Sutton says there’s also a health problem.

“Fiji has been suffering from an outbreak of typhoid for the last month or so, so with people congregating in evacuation centers there is the potential for that also to explode.”

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