<p>China plans tougher pollution limits and heavier penalties in a revision of its air pollution law, state-run news agency Xinhua said, as the government battles to reduce smog that takes hundreds of thousands of lives each year. The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is considering a draft that would impose fines of up to 1 million yuan ($160,000) or even shut down factories that exceed emission limits, Xinhua reported last Monday.

<p>Ecuador halted environmental cooperation deals with Germany worth some 43 million euros to the Latin American country after German lawmakers tried to visit an Amazon rainforest recently opened for oil production, the foreign minister said December 19. President Rafael Correa in 2007 asked wealthy countries to donate $3.6 billion to help protect the environmentally sensitive rainforest known as Yasuni in exchange for promises not to drill for the oil beneath it. In 2013, he scrapped the plan and authorized drilling after the proposal brought in a fraction of what he had sought.

<p>Danish wind company Vestas&nbsp;won a contract&nbsp;to provide 365 turbines for a 310 megawatt wind power project in Kenya.&nbsp;The <a href="http://ltwp.co.ke/the-project/project-profile">Lake Turkana Wind Power </a>project will be the largest of its kind in Africa, and is expected to generate 15-20% of Kenya’s electricity needs when completed. According to project developers, the site is a&nbsp;unique location&nbsp;that is favorable for wind.