Chevron said Friday that it had no intention of apologizing for the environmental damage to the Amazon rain forest for which an Ecuadorean court ruled it responsible. Attorneys for both sides have said that if Chevron apologized, its legal liability of $18 billion would have been cut to $9.5 billion. Ecuador’s judiciary had set Friday as the deadline for an apology. James Craig, a Chevron spokesman, said an apology would be “a false admission of responsibility.” Chevron has no assets in Ecuador, so the plaintiffs must to try to collect the award abroad.

A delegation comprising judge of International Court of Arbitration (ICA) and Indian Secretary Water Resources, are to inspect 969 MW Neelum Jhehlum Hydroelectric Project to weigh Pakistan's arguments against construction of 330 MW Kishanganga Hydroelectric Project in held Kashmir, well informed sources told Business Recorder.

The sources said one member of the delegation has already reached Islamabad whereas others are expected on Friday evening or Saturday.

The delegation will stay in Pakistan for two days.

A federal court judge on Friday denied a Chevron Corp bid to prevent Ecuadorean plaintiffs from collecting on an $18 billion damages award against the U.S. oil giant over pollution in the Amazon jungle.

The oil company in November had asked Manhattan federal court judge Lewis Kaplan to freeze the plaintiffs' assets in order to be assured payment in the event it were to win its fraud lawsuit in federal court against the Ecuadoreans.

An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Chevron should pay the $18 billion damages award.

KOCHI: The subsidy announced by the state government for setting up waste treatment units in apartment complexes will strengthen the efforts of the Kochi Corporation and the CREDAI Clean City movement to make Kochi the first city with such units in all residential buildings.

China voiced its deep concern and opposition on Thursday to a European Union plan to counter airline emissions and called for talks to resolve the issue a day after China's major airlines refused to pay any carbon costs under the new law.

From January 1, all airlines using EU airports fall under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), and could be forced to pay fines of 100 euros ($128) for each tonne of carbon dioxide emitted for which airlines have not surrendered carbon allowances.

British oil giant BP is pushing US energy services firm Halliburton to pay for all the costs BP incurred in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the worst environmental disaster in US history.

In a US federal court filing, BP said that it was seeking full repayment of damages from Halliburton, alleging it fraudulently putting a defective cement seal on a deepwater well, causing a deadly explosion and pollution of the Gulf and neighbouring states.

A Chinese court accepted a lawsuit that claims leaks from offshore oil-production facilities operated by ConocoPhillips caused $78 million in damages to local fishermen, state-run media reported.

Acceptance of the suit indicates forward momentum in a legal process that could result in additional costs for the U.S. company. The leaks at oil platforms operated by ConocoPhillips in China's Bohai Bay have left the company with a damaged image and led to the closure of one of the country's largest offshore oil production bases.

BP's $20 billion oil spill fund has halted payments to eligible victims until a U.S. federal court clarifies an order issued in December, according to a notice posted on the fund's website.

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana had asked the fund, called the Gulf Coast Claims Facility, to pay into a court supervised escrow account 6 percent of the gross settlement amount. The funds from the escrow account would be used to meet certain legal expenses incurred by the plaintiffs' lawyers.

Delta Air Lines said on Tuesday it has added a $3 surcharge each way on fares purchased in the United States for flights between the United States and Europe, a move that would help offset the cost of the EU's new Emissions Trading Scheme.

Delta is the first major U.S. airline to raise the price of U.S.-to-Europe flights since the European Union's carbon law kicked in on Sunday. Europe's highest court last month backed the controversial EU law to charge airlines for carbon emissions on flights to and from Europe.

An Ecuadorean appeals court on Tuesday upheld a ruling that Chevron Corp should pay $18 billion in damages to plaintiffs who accused the U.S. oil giant of polluting the Amazon jungle and damaging their health.

A judge ordered Chevron to pay $8.6 billion in environmental damages last February, but the amount was more than doubled to about $18 billion because Chevron failed to make a public apology as required by the original ruling.