Lunches for over 200 million hungry schoolchildren in the developing world will be delivered, thanks to a commitment of $80 million by leading restaurant company YUM! Brands.

The pledge to the UN World Food Program was made during the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) in New York, which coincides with the UN high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals– the eight targets for slashing poverty, hunger, illiteracy and other socio-economic ills by 2015.

Josette Sheeran, the chief of YUM! Brands, the parent firm of TACO Bell, Pizza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken, said, “This incredible expression of generosity shows what can be done when the private sector joins with a major humanitarian agency to help meet the needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable children.”

Automakers in the US led by General Motors and Toyota are racing to bring rechargeable electric cars to the mass market in response to increasing customer and regulatory demands for improved fuel economy and low emissions, reported Reuters. “On Tuesday, Chrysler unveiled three electric car prototypes and said it would bring one to market by 2010.” Reuters provides in this article a neat rundown on electric vehicle progress at each of the six major automakers in the U.S.

The U.S. Senate’s passed a bill that would extend $18 billion in tax credits for renewable energy for eight years. The measure, which is expected to be approved by the House of Representatives and President Bush, gives businesses a 30 percent tax credit to offset the development costs of solar and other clean energy projects. (Environmental News Network)

Solar power, properly harnessed, could solve the world’s energy problems. In the race to produce energy from the sun’s rays, Europe’s first commercial solar-thermal-electricity plant is at the forefront of a growing movement for green power. In Seville, in the south of Spain, 624 moving mirrors reflect sunbeams onto a 115-meter-high white tower that uses the concentrated heat to boil water, making steam that spins an electric turbine 97 times a second. (A Bloomberg Exclusive)

Thanks to Sun Star for the tip!