Free Republic

Germany’s environment minister has called for the controversial gas extraction technique known as “fracking” to be made illegal. Her comments came ahead of an emergency energy summit. The country’s 16 state premiers were set to meet on Tuesday evening in Berlin in an attempt to smooth over disagreements around the financing of the country's switch over to renewable energy, known as the Energiewende. Ahead of the meeting, Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks said Germany should never consider turning to fracking as a solution for its energy needs, despite the success of the technology in the USA. Fracking involves blasting water mixed...

Dec. 16, 2004 23:28 | Updated Dec. 16, 2004 23:37 Shinui MK Yehudit Naot dies By TONY JASSEN Shinui MK Yehudit Naot, the former Environmental Minister died Thursday evening in Haifa at the age of 60. She had been suffering from throat cancer. Naot, elected to the Knesset in 1999 on the Shinui party list, was Environmental Minister from February 2003 until leaving her position in September to focus on treating her throat cancer. She was the first minister in history to request the Environmental portfolio. She leaves behind a husband and three children. Yosef Lapid, chairman of Shinui, described...