Environment news

• GMO food labels are coming to more US grocery shelves – are consumers ready?

  24-03-2016 23:09
  
  Kellogg and Mars are joining the ranks of businesses labeling genetically modified foods. Now, advocacy groups are waiting to see if the costly investment will pay offConsumers around the country will soon know just by looking at the packaging of popular brands such as Cocoa Puffs cereal or Yoplait yogurt whether or not they contain genetically modified ingredients. (The answer: they both do.) That’s because their maker, General Mills, plans to make that information visible on its products
  
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• Switzerland to hand Venezuela oil firm bank records to U.S. - Bloomberg

  24-03-2016 22:07
  In a widening corruption probe into Venezuela's state oil company by the U.S. Justice Department, Swiss regulators have agreed to provide U.S. prosecutors with records from at least 18 banks relating to the oil firm, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday. The request for information from the U.S. authorities was part of their investigation into bribery at Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) . U.S. authorities say they have traced over $1 billion (706.47 million pounds) to a conspiracy involving a Venezu
  
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• Total and Iran sign South Azadegan agreement - Press TV

  24-03-2016 21:56
  PARIS (Reuters) - French oil and gas firm Total has signed a confidential agreement with Tehran to develop Iran's South Azadegan oil field which it shares with Iraq, state-run Press TV reported on Thursday, quoting Oil Minister Bijan Zangeneh. The parties have agreed to keep the articles of the accord confidential, the report said, adding Total was "studying its participation in the (development of) the oil field," one of Iran's largest. Total was not immediately available to comment. (Reporting
  
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• U.S. judge sets April 21 deadline for VW diesel fix

  24-03-2016 21:55
  By Alexandria Sage SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal judge on Thursday gave Volkswagen AG and U.S. regulators until April 21 to agree on a fix for the nearly 600,000 diesel vehicles on U.S. roads caught up in VW's massive emissions cheating scandal. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer had earlier set a March 24 deadline for Europe's biggest automaker to explain where it stood on remediation efforts, after months of talks with the U.S. Justice Department, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA
  
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• Oil steadies as U.S. rig count drop offsets stockpile worry

  24-03-2016 20:53
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday, paring losses after a renewed drop in U.S. oil rigs, but analysts and traders said there could be another selloff in the coming week if U.S. crude stockpiles hit record highs again. Earlier in the day, U.S. crude futures slid 4 percent and Brent below $40 (28.2 pounds) a barrel, extending bearish sentiment from Wednesday when the U.S. government reported a crude inventory build three times above market expectations. U.S. cr
  
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• Zika 'World Cup theory' dismissed

  24-03-2016 19:03 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The Zika virus first appeared in South America in mid-2013, say Brazilian and British scientists, long before the World Cup in Brazil.
  
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• Rattlesnake roundup organizers deny snakes will be let loose after record haul

  24-03-2016 18:42
  
  ‘There’s always a market for snakes … There will be nothing left over’Record 24,262lb of snakes collected – four times the typical haulOrganizers of the world’s largest rattlesnake “roundup” have downplayed concerns that thousands of snakes will be let loose in Texas after a record haul meant that hunters couldn’t find buyers for all of their legless reptiles.Related: Snakes on the plain: Texas festival sees pageant winners wade through ratt
  
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• FAA aims to save millions of birds by changing static red airport lights

  24-03-2016 18:08
  
  Federal Aviation Administration aims to stop millions of birds dying each year by changing static red lights, which attract birds, to flashing lightsIn an attempt to save some of the millions of birds that die each year after being bewildered by airport illumination, changes will be made to the US lighting towers that warn approaching pilots.The Federal Aviation Administration said it will change the lighting on towers across the US after its research found that birds are attracted to steady red
  
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• Oil set for weekly loss as huge supplies cut short rally

  24-03-2016 16:18
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell to below $40 a barrel on Thursday, on track to their first weekly loss in over a month, pressured by record high U.S. stockpiles, weakening equity markets and a strong dollar. With crude futures losing as much as 6 percent since Tuesday's settlement - their biggest slide in two days since mid-February - analysts said the oil rally of the past five weeks that brought prices up from mid-$20 levels may be unravelling. A senior executive from t
  
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• Global coal and gas investment falls to less than half that in clean energy

  24-03-2016 15:58
  
  Record year for renewables also sees financial investment by developing countries overtake that of the developed world in 2015, research shows
  Global investment in coal and gas-fired power generation plants fell to less than half that in renewable energy generation last year, in a record year for clean energy.
  It was the first time that renewable energy made up a majority of all the new electricity generation capacity under construction around the world, and the first year in which the financial
  
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• Total denies in talks to buy Engie exploration and production unit

  24-03-2016 15:15
  French oil major Total denied on Thursday that it was in talks about buying domestic rival Engie's exploration and production (E&P) activities. Sources familiar with the situation told Reuters that Total had held talks to buy all or part of Engie's E&P business, worth about 5 billion euros (£4 billion). "Total categorically denies any negotiations about buying Engie's exploration-production activities," Total said in an emailed statement.
  
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• Iran's oil storage struggle holds back exports to Europe

  24-03-2016 15:06
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov LONDON (Reuters) - Iranian oil flows to Europe have begun to pick up from a slow start after sanctions were lifted in January, but trading sources say a lack of access to storage part-owned by Tehran's Gulf Arab rivals now looms large on a list of obstacles. European countries accounted for more than a third of Iran's exports, or 800,000 barrels a day, before the European Union imposed sanctions in 2012 over its nuclear programme. Since January, Tehran has sold 11 million ba
  
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• Elusive Marbled Cats Secretly Photographed in Borneo

  24-03-2016 14:13
  
  A secret photo shoot deep in the forests of Malaysian Borneo is helping researchers determine just how many marbled cats — rare, tree-climbing felines — live in the region, according to a new study. To get a better idea of the cats' stomping grounds, the researchers placed camera traps in eight forests and two palm oil plantations in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, they said. "We show that marbled cats can still survive in logged forests," said study lead researcher Andrew Hearn, a doctoral
  
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• Nuclear fusion needs a 'Wright brothers' moment, says firm closing on the target

  24-03-2016 14:00
  
  Tokomak Energy aims to build mini-nuclear reactors and announces target of producing electricity by 2025 and feeding power into the grid by 2030Nuclear fusion needs a “Wright brothers” moment, to convince the world of its promise of unlimited clean and safe energy and so unlock significant private investment, according to a physicist whose says his company is closing in on that goal.
  David Kingham, the chief executive of Tokamak Energy, has announced his company’s target of pro
  
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• Russia's rising oil exports expose holes in output deal

  24-03-2016 13:40
  By Olga Yagova and Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia will export more oil to Europe in April than it has in any month since 2013 - despite Moscow's plan to sign a global agreement on freezing production in a bid to lift the price of crude. The fact Russian exports are rising illustrates how hard it will be to enforce the deal, due to be finalised on April 17 in Qatar, and shows the potential for countries to use loopholes to keep exporting crude, blunting the intended impact on prices
  
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• 'There was just no snow': climate change puts Iditarod future in doubt

  24-03-2016 13:30
  
  After record high winter temperatures reduced parts of the course to a bone-jarring, sled-wrecking obstacle course, is the great mushing race on its way out?A little before midnight on a moonlit night, the solitary beam of a dog musher’s head lamp danced across the dark snow and ice of the Bering Sea coast and landed on a barking, trotting, tail-wagging mass of canine excitement: a team of 11 Alaskan huskies straining towards the finish of the legendary Iditarod dog sled race.
  The nearly 1
  
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• Japan's Mitsubishi to post first net loss on metals and energy slump

  24-03-2016 13:22
  By Yuka Obayashi and Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese trading company Mitsubishi Corp will post its first ever annual loss for the year to March 31, it said on Thursday, hurt by huge writedowns from a slump in commodities. Along with its domestic rivals and major international oil and mining companies, Mitsubishi Corp has been caught off guard by steep falls in the prices of goods from oil to iron ore as China's economic growth has slowed. Mitsui & Co Ltd on Wednesday predicted its
  
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• Beneath the waterline: share your photos of discarded waste

  24-03-2016 13:09
  
  Whether it’s bikes, baths or bus stop signs, we’d like to know what weird items you have found dumped on your local beaches and waterways Related: Bikes, baths and bullets among items found in country's waterways Plastic bags and drink cans are always a depressing sight for canal walkers. But this waste also has a deeper environmental effect on the waterways. This winter the Canal & River Trust conducted a four month survey to record the discarded rubbish they uncovered, when cle
  
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• How long can the UK's coal industry survive? | Karl Mathiesen

  24-03-2016 13:05
  
  Scotland’s last coal power station is set to close and by the end of the year just six UK stations will remain. But in a challenging market, can these keep firing until the government’s 2025 deadline for the end of UK coal?At 3pm on Thursday, the turbines of Scotland’s last coal power station at Longannet will spin for the last time. Coal, the lifeblood of the British economy for more than two centuries and now a terrible burden on the climate, is drawing its final breaths befo
  
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• Brexit would cause 'electric shock' for energy costs, warns Amber Rudd

  24-03-2016 13:01
  
  Energy Secretary Amber Rudd has today (24 March) warned that leaving the European Union would see energy costs 'rocket' by £500m as well as depleting investor confidence.
  
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• Dredging Florida coral reef is ‘lunacy’ says Philippe Cousteau, grandson of Jacques

  24-03-2016 13:00
  
  Expansion plans for a port near the continental US’s only barrier reef have been fiercely criticized by experts, but proponents say it will bring jobsA plan to expand a port near the continental US’s only barrier reef is “lunacy” and risks devastating the ailing coral ecosystem, Philippe Cousteau, grandson of famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau, warned on Wednesday.
  The US army corps of engineers plans to deepen and widen shipping channels to allow more ships to access
  
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• Chocolate the orangutan's long road to freedom – in pictures

  24-03-2016 12:46
  
  When Chocolate was rescued from poachers in Indonesia’s peat forests as a baby, he was underweight and afraid. Four years later he is ready to be returned to the wild. Despite his story of hope, Sumatra’s orangutans remain under threat Continue reading...
  
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• 10 policy steps to clean up London's air

  24-03-2016 11:52
  
  Tackling emissions from gas boilers, imposing tighter standards on diesel vehicles and restricting the most polluting vehicles from entering the capital are among a raft of measures that the next London Mayor should introduce to cut pollution and help people live longer.
  
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• UK government deletes reference to Dyson electric car plans

  24-03-2016 11:34
  
  The UK government appears to have altered an official document that linked the vacuum-maker to the development of an electric car The government appears to have deleted a reference in an official document to plans by the vacuum-maker Dyson to develop an electric car.The Guardian reported on Wednesday that government documents had revealed the British company was working on a battery electric vehicle with help from taxpayers’ money. The government’s National infrastructure delivery pl
  
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• How Vodafone and Philips are leveraging the Internet of Things to spark new era of smart cities

  24-03-2016 11:22
  
  Mobile operator Vodafone has formed a new partnership with Philips Lighting which combines an Internet of Things (IoT) network with an integrated LED street light management system, which could see cities across the world slash energy use by 70%.
  
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• Pictures of the day: 24 March 2016

  24-03-2016 11:20
  
  Easter squirrels, laughing giraffes and a real life Kung Fu Panda
  
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• Vietnam vexed over Taiwan's 'worthless' media trip to island

  24-03-2016 11:13
  Vietnam rebuked Taiwan on Thursday for taking journalists to a disputed South China Sea island, saying the trip was "illegal and worthless" and against the international community's wishes. The foreign ministry's comment on Wednesday's trip, the first by international media to the Spratly archipelago's Itu Aba island, was an unusually fast response by Vietnam, which often takes days to raise objections about territorial disputes. Vietnam, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei have
  
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• Oil slides on mounting U.S. stockpiles, strong dollar

  24-03-2016 10:27
  By Simon Falush LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell below $40 a barrel on Thursday, heading for the biggest weekly slide in two months, dented by record-high stockpiles in the United States and a stronger dollar. The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) said crude stockpiles climbed by 9.4 million barrels last week - three times the 3.1-million-barrel build forecast by analysts in a Reuters poll. The continued rise in stockpiles to record levels has reversed a sharp rebound in price
  
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• Leonardo DiCaprio attacks Republican presidential candidates on climate change

  24-03-2016 09:57
  
  Best actor Oscar-winner alludes to Trump and Cruz, criticising ‘candidates who don’t believe in modern science’ while promoting The Revenant in TokyoLeonardo DiCaprio used a Japanese press conference for the Oscar-winning western The Revenant to launch a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump and other Republican candidates for the US presidency who deny climate change, reports AFP. Related: Leonardo DiCaprio says China can be climate change 'hero'Continue reading...
  
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• Japan's Mitsubishi to post first net loss on slumping metals, energy

  24-03-2016 09:21
  By Yuka Obayashi and Osamu Tsukimori TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese trading firm Mitsubishi Corp said on Thursday it would post its first ever annual loss in the year to March 31, totalling 150 billion yen ($1.33 billion), hurt by massive writedowns from a slump in commodities. Japanese trading firms, like major international oil and mining companies, have been caught off-guard by steep falls in the prices of goods from oil to iron ore as China's economic growth has slowed. Local rival, Mitsui &
  
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• Bikes, baths and bullets among items found in country's waterways

  24-03-2016 09:16
  
  Objects recovered during survey of rubbish in English and Welsh canals and rivers also includes 16ft python and VW campervanA tandem bike, a tin bath and a 16ft dead python are just some of the items dumped in canals and rivers, a survey conducted this winter revealed.They are among the stranger objects recovered in a four-month survey of rubbish thrown in waterways, as part of a £45m restoration and repairs programme by the Canal and River Trust.Continue reading...
  
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• Japan confirms whales killed during 'scientific' expedition to Antarctica

  24-03-2016 08:57
  
  Four ships in the region also capture 333 minke whales, including pregnant femalesJapan has confirmed whales were killed on its most recent “scientific” expedition in the Antarctic region.
  Four survey ships from Japan’s Institute of Cetacean Research were in the Antarctic region over a period of 115 days from 1 December last year.Continue reading...
  
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• Has veteran climate scientist James Hansen foretold the ‘loss of all coastal cities’ with latest study?

  24-03-2016 08:44
  
  Former NASA climate director James Hansen and a team of scientists claim a mechanism in the climate could rapidly raise sea levels by metresJames Hansen’s name looms large over any history that will likely be written about climate change. Whether you look at the hard science, the perils of political interference or modern day activism, Dr Hansen is there as a central character. Continue reading...
  
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• Scotland ploughs £50m into food security and climate research

  24-03-2016 08:39
  
  The Scottish Government has announced it will be investing £48m for innovative scientific research in the agriculture and environmental sectors in an effort to strengthen global challenges such as food security and climate change.
  
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• Coalition still counting Abbott-era 'savings', but renewable grants roll on

  24-03-2016 07:54
  
  In his clean energy announcement Malcolm Turnbull continues to claim $1.3bn in energy grant savings that have not been passed by parliamentThe Turnbull government is continuing to claim $1.3bn in Abbott-era savings from renewable energy grants even though the cuts have not been and may not be legislated, and in the meantime the agency responsible for them is required to continue spending the money.Related: The good, the bad and the shell game – what Turnbull's clean energy shift meansConti
  
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• All the certainty of a message in a bottle

  24-03-2016 06:30
  
  Waresley Wood, Cambridgeshire If the chances of fertilisation are a million to one, then there must be millions of millions of pollen specks drifting invisiblyDown the main ride of the wood the hazel bushes are waiting for the wind to shake their booty. I feel a cooling of my left cheek and an almost imperceptible waft jiggles the lambs’ tail catkins, though only a little. Gently shaken, barely stirred, they come to rest; the wait goes on.Spring is surging up from the hazel’s roots,
  
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• U.S. oil falls after big jump in stockpiles

  24-03-2016 06:16
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices fell in Asian trading on Thursday, adding to a slump in the previous session, after stockpiles rose for the sixth week to another record, sapping the strength of a two-month rally in prices. U.S. crude futures were down 10 cents at $39.69 a barrel at 0302 GMT, trading further below the important $40 level. Brent crude futures were up 7 cents at $40.54 a barrel, after trading lower earlier in the session.
  
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• Japan's Mitsubishi to post first net loss - Nikkei

  24-03-2016 02:47
  Japanese trading firm Mitsubishi Corp is likely to post its first annual loss in the year ending March 31, totalling nearly $900 million (638.34 million pounds), hurt by massive writedowns from the commodities slump, the Nikkei business daily said on Thursday. Mitsubishi's group net loss is expected to come to more than 100 billion yen ($890 million) as the company books an impairment loss of about 400 billion yen on its resource assets, the paper said. Japanese trading firms, like major interna
  
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• Longannet power station closes ending coal power use in Scotland

  24-03-2016 01:01
  
  The biggest plant of its kind in Britain has been generating electricity for 46 years, with closure marking ‘end of an era’ for coal power in Scotland
  Scotland will on Thursday witness an end to the coal age which fired its industrial revolution with the closure of Longannet power station.The symbolic switch off is an important step towards a lower carbon Britain but is another blow to energy security. Continue reading...
  
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