Environment news

• Brazil's top court removes Lula probe from crusading judge

  31-03-2016 23:44
  Brazil's Supreme Court ruled on Thursday to remove a corruption investigation into former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from the jurisdiction of a lower court judge who released a wiretapped conversation of him with President Dilma Rousseff. The 8-2 decision grants Lula a breather from crusading anti-corruption Judge Sergio Moro, putting his case temporarily in the hands of the top court, all but 3 of whose members have been named since his Workers' Party took office in 2003. Lula is under
  
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• Bat-killing disease found in Washington state, first in West

  31-03-2016 23:24
  
  SEATTLE (AP) — A fungal disease that has killed millions of bats nationwide has spread to Washington state, the first time white-nose syndrome has turned up in the western United States, federal wildlife officials said Thursday.
  
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• Oil posts best quarter since mid-2015 but glut still worries

  31-03-2016 22:49
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped more than 10 percent in March in the best quarter since mid-2015 although some analysts said the rally could fade soon as an output freeze plan by major crude exporters fails to alleviate worries of a glut. A weak dollar and data showing a drawdown in crude stocks at the U.S. futures delivery hub helped oil settle steady to firmer in Thursday's session. Analysts said crude futures also appear to have overextended gains with a 50 percent r
  
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• My first sighting of this unpromising year

  31-03-2016 22:30
  
  My first butterfly of this year, a canary-yellow male brimstone, materialised in exactly the same spot as last year, zig-zagging along an ivy hedge in my garden. This year, however, its meticulous search for a female was 15 days later, testimony to the cold, late spring.In Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll books, a golden butterfly is a lucky omen for the summer ahead, but my optimism last year was misplaced. After a mediocre 2015 (except for the brimstone, which enjoyed its best season in 40 yea
  
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• Gabon parliament speaker resigns in new blow to president

  31-03-2016 21:35
  Gabon's long-serving parliament speaker stepped down abruptly on Thursday in the latest sign of eroding support within the ruling party for President Ali Bongo before elections in the Central African oil producer later this year. The resignation of Guy Nzouba Ndama, who has headed the National Assembly for nearly two decades, brought to the surface an increasingly strained relationship between Bongo and a legislature dominated by his Gabonese Democratic Party (PDG). "I believe that the current r
  
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• Italian police arrest five Eni staff in waste trafficking inquiry

  31-03-2016 20:52
  Five staff at a treatment plant operated by oil major Eni were placed under house arrest on allegations of illegal waste trafficking, the Italian police said on Thursday. The arrests, of managers and workers, are part of a two-year-long investigation by regional anti-mafia prosecutors into waste management at the plant in southern Italy, a police statement said. The plant is located in the Val d’Agri oil concession area in the Basilicata region, in which Royal Dutch Shell has a stake.
  
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• US and China to sign climate treaty

  31-03-2016 20:05 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The world's two largest carbon emitters have issued a joint statement confirming that both countries will sign the Paris Climate Agreement next month.
  
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• Birds expected to adapt well to climate change show 'substantial advantage'

  31-03-2016 20:00
  
  Species expected to suit changing conditions have outperformed other birds in the past 30 years, joint European-US study showsBirds that were expected to do well due to climate change have outperformed other species in the past 30 years, a study of wildlife in Europe and the US has found. Scientists said they have shown that common bird populations thousands of miles apart are responding to changing weather in a similar, pronounced way.The international team, led by Durham University, found that
  
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• U.N. sanctions change possible when Libya government controls wealth fund

  31-03-2016 19:34
  By Michelle Nichols UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council said on Thursday it was ready to consider changes to sanctions on Libya's sovereign wealth fund once a unity government confirms it has control of it, along with the National Oil Corporation and the central bank. The 15-member council imposed an asset freeze on the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) in 2011 to prevent the government of former leader Muammar Gaddafi from spiriting away the wealth. A 2011 uprising toppled Gadd
  
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• The UK's ever-changing energy mix: 2015 in charts

  31-03-2016 19:30
  
  It was the year that record-breaking renewable energy generation and plummeting coal production led to a fall of 4% in the UK's annual carbon dioxide emissions, but a raft of green policy changes have left future clean energy deployment levels hanging in the balance. Here, edie provides a snapshot of the UK's new energy figures for 2015.
  
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• Russia Launches Robotic Supply Ship Toward Space Station

  31-03-2016 19:09
  
  The Progress 63P spaceship is the third vehicle to launch to the space station in the past three weeks, and the second cargo craft to launch there in nine days. The ship's cargo includes 1,940 lbs. (880 kilograms) of propellant, 110 lbs. (50 kg) of oxygen, 926 lbs. (420 kg) of water and 3,161 lbs. (1,434 kg) of dry cargo, NASA officials said.
  
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• Oil heads for big March gains; dollar, Cushing draw supports

  31-03-2016 18:49
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices were steady to firmer on Thursday, on track to their largest monthly gain in almost a year and also a quarterly rise, helped by a weak dollar and data showing a drawdown in crude stocks at the U.S. futures delivery hub. In a separate Reuters poll, oil analysts raised their average price forecasts for 2016 for the first time in 10 months but cautioned the rally could fade near term.
  
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• Driverless racing cars and solar panels on bubbles: the best green innovations of the week

  31-03-2016 18:45
  
  In a week that saw warnings of up to $1trn being wasted on unnecessary coal plants across the world, edie rounds up the latest low-carbon technologies and innovations that the money would be better spent on to drive the global green industrial revolution.
  
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• Lasers could 'cloak Earth from aliens'

  31-03-2016 18:37 via bbc.co.uk
  
  We should shine lasers into space if we want to hide our presence from alien civilisations, two US-based astronomers suggest.
  
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• Iraqi PM names new cabinet to fight corruption

  31-03-2016 17:02
  By Saif Hameed and Stephen Kalin BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi named Nizar Salem al-Numan as a candidate for the key post of oil minister on Thursday as part of a cabinet reshuffle aimed at fighting corruption, state television said citing its correspondent. Abadi also named prominent Shi'ite politician Ali Allawi for the post of finance minister and tagged Sharif Ali bin al-Hussein, a relative of Iraq's king deposed in 1958, for foreign minister, state TV added. Abadi
  
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• Rajendra Pachauri: third woman accuses ex-IPCC chair of sexual advances

  31-03-2016 16:39
  
  Former employee of The Energy and Resources Institute alleges she was ‘scared of Pachauri’s motives’A third woman has claimed she was sexually harassed by the former head of the UN climate change panel, Rajendra Pachauri, who is charged with sexually harassing, stalking and intimidating a female employee.The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said on Thursday she had decided to make a public statement after reading an article in the Observer in which Pachauri denied
  
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• Zac Goldsmith promises 'clean air revolution' in Transport Manifesto

  31-03-2016 15:18
  
  Zac Goldsmith will kick-start a 'clean air revolution' if elected London Mayor by cleaning up the capital's bus and taxi fleet, aiming for all new cars in London to be zero emission by 2030, and introducing a Boris Bike equivalent for electric cars, according to his Transport Manifesto.
  
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• Belfast set for largest UK airport solar project

  31-03-2016 15:04
  
  Belfast International Airport will receive power from a 4.84MWp off-site solar farm developed by Lightsource Renewable Energy in what is the UK's largest airport Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) solar project.
  
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• Snowshoe hare range moving northward following retreating snow cover

  31-03-2016 14:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  If there is an animal emblematic of the northern winter, it is the snowshoe hare.A forest dweller, the snowshoe hare is named for its big feet, which allow it to skitter over deep snow to escape lynx, coyotes and other predators. It changes color with the seasons, assuming a snow-white fur coat for winter camouflage.But a changing climate and reduced snow cover across the north is squeezing the animal out of its historic range, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Wiscons
  
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• Illegal eel: who is pilfering Europe's catch?

  31-03-2016 14:21
  
  In part two of the eel saga, I take a more detailed look at how the pieces of the trade fit together, and what’s being done to combat it.This is my second blog about the illegal trade of eel between Europe and Asia. In the first I wrote about the ecological plight of the eel and the scale of the trade. You can read that post here.In January 2016, David Baker, an ecologist at The University of Hong Kong’s Swire Institute of Marine Science received an unusual package: a frozen, lumpy m
  
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• Britain's greenhouse gas emissions fell 3.3 percent in 2015 - government

  31-03-2016 14:18
  By Susanna Twidale LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions fell by 3.3 percent in 2015, largely due to a decline in coal-fired power generation and marking the third straight yearly drop, preliminary government data showed on Thursday. Output of the heat-trapping gases in Europe's second-largest emitter behind Germany fell to 497.2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), from 514.4 million tonnes in 2014, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said. Emissions
  
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• The Fungus Among Us Could Make Medicine in Space

  31-03-2016 14:07
  
  When most people think of the dangers astronauts face while living on the International Space Station, extreme events like meteor showers or oxygen leaks often come to mind. The goal is to develop new medicines for use both on the orbiting space station and the pale blue dot below.
  
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• Oil prices regain ground, but growing stocks loom

  31-03-2016 14:02
  By Libby George LONDON (Reuters) - Oil futures rebounded from early losses on Thursday but the recovery was muted as the market's focus switched back to signs of growing oil stocks. Brent crude had gained ground by midday, on track for its strongest March since at least 2007. Brent crude futures were trading 45 cents higher at $39.71 a barrel at 1230 BST.
  
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• Zero Carbon Hub closes following green building policy changes

  31-03-2016 13:13
  
  An influential public-private body tasked with transitioning all new homes to be built under zero-carbon regulations has today (31 March) confirmed it has ceased operations following the Government's controversial decision to stop pursuing zero-homes targets.
  
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• Rapid decline of coal use leads to drop in UK emissions

  31-03-2016 12:45
  
  Figures show a 4% reduction in the national annual emissions of carbon dioxide, with coal now burning at its lowest level in at least 150 yearsPlummeting coal use in 2015 led to a fall of 4% in the UK’s annual carbon dioxide emissions, according to government energy statistics published on Thursday. Coal is now burning at its lowest level in at least 150 years.The closing of old polluting coal-power stations and the rapid rise in renewable energy meant coal consumption fell by 22% compared
  
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• Rosneft reports rise in 2015 net profit, drop in debt

  31-03-2016 11:22
  By Vladimir Soldatkin MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Rosneft on Thursday reported a 2 percent rise in 2015 net profit to 355 billion roubles (3.6 billion pounds) and a sharp fall in debt, easing concerns over the financial health of the world's top listed oil producer by output. Oil companies, important sources of income for Russia's state budget, have struggled with a sharp fall in global crude prices since mid-2014. Rosneft, in which BP owns 19.75 percent, said earnings were supported by cost con
  
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• ABB wins $250 million order to link offshore wind farm to UK grid

  31-03-2016 11:21
  Swiss technology group ABB has won an order worth more than $250 million from Danish energy company DONG Energy to deliver a high-voltage cable system connecting the Hornsea Project One offshore wind farm in the North Sea to Britain's mainland grid, it said on Thursday. Hornsea Project One will be the world's largest offshore wind farms, capable of generating 1.2 gigawatts of energy, ABB said.
  
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• India seeks $500m loan for solar projects

  31-03-2016 11:05
  
  Senior official says India plans to borrow from the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to meet 100GW solar expansion targetIndia hopes to receive one of the first loans issued by the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) later this year, as it looks to raise $500m for solar power projects from the newly created lender, Indian officials said. Funding for clean energy projects would allay fears of environmental lobbyists that the bank’s relaxed lending criteria co
  
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• Getting dropped by Dani King

  31-03-2016 09:54
  
  What does it take to ride for the world’s best women’s cycling team? Helen Pidd went to Mallorca and tried to keep up with the Olympic gold medallist and her Wiggle High5 team matesIf you want to feel fat, old and totally out of shape, I thoroughly recommend joining the world’s number one women’s cycling team for a bike ride up a big hill.I’d been invited to join Wiggle High5 in Mallorca as they prepared for the 2016 season with a winter training camp. My preparatio
  
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• Oil falls as U.S. crude stocks hit record for seventh week in a row

  31-03-2016 09:17
  By Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Thursday, with U.S. crude hitting its lowest level in more than two weeks, amid renewed worries of global oversupply after inventories in the United States rose to a record high. Brent crude futures fell 26 cents to $39 a barrel as of 0710 GMT. The front-month contract for U.S. crude futures dropped 43 cents to $37.89 a barrel, after dropping to $37.74 earlier, the lowest since March 16.
  
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• The Ghanaian turning thousands of discarded plastic bottles into art

  31-03-2016 08:45
  
  A new exhibition showcases a local artist using jerry cans to draw attention to the country’s pollution crisisThe brightly coloured plastic jugs once played a vital role transporting water during Ghana’s droughts. Now, they’re creating a new environmental catastrophe of their own. Seas of discarded yellow, blue and white containers – referred to locally as “Kufuor gallons” after the water crises endured under president John Kufuor in the early 2000s – ha
  
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• Huge cruise ships will worsen London air pollution, campaigners warn

  31-03-2016 08:00
  
  Resident groups mounting a high court challenge to plans for a new wharf in Greenwich say diesel emissions from docked liners would breach legal limitsToxic fumes from large cruise liners powered by giant diesel engines will worsen London’s air pollution and could prevent the city from meeting its EU legal limits on deadly nitrogen oxide emissions, says resident groups opposing a new terminal.
  Plans for a wharf in the Thames that would be able to handle 240 metre-long cruise liners carryin
  
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• Mild UK winter boosts sightings of smaller garden birds

  31-03-2016 07:01
  
  Long-tailed tit returns to the top 10 most commonly seen garden birds for the first time in seven years, results from the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch showA mild winter has boosted the number of small birds visiting UK gardens, with the long-tailed tit returning to the top 10 most commonly seen species for the first time in seven years, according to results from the world’s largest garden wildlife survey.Recorded sightings of the tiny, sociable tit rose by 44% on 2015 figures and the
  
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• Free-range egg definition criticised as soon as ministers announce it

  31-03-2016 06:51
  
  Advocacy groups and Australian Capital Territory consumer affairs minister say a density of 10,000 hens per hectare is out of step with expectationsA new national definition for what constitutes a free-range egg falls short of consumer expectations, advocacy groups have warned.State and commonwealth ministers on Thursday agreed on a legal definition of free-range, meaning a standard on animal welfare will be put in place for the first time. Continue reading...
  
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• Crow and the vernal egg

  31-03-2016 06:30
  
  Much Wenlock It is hard to imagine any human culture not seeing some kind of symbolism in eggs – spring, rebirth, life emerging from chaos, fertilityThere is a nervousness about the crow’s swagger. It walks as if it’s concentrating on something else, nothing to do with an egg, never noticed it before. Then it half-hops, half-shimmies a few steps towards it. Head cocked, one eye over its wing to see who else may be watching and the other inspecting the thing as if it ticks, as i
  
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• VIDEO: How do you bring up a baby gorilla?

  31-03-2016 06:08 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Zookeeper Lynsey Bugg, who has been caring for a baby gorilla until she can be reunited with her mother, has been talking about how she looks after her.
  
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• VIDEO: The sanctuary saving Sumatran tigers

  31-03-2016 05:25 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A rescue centre in Indonesia is trying to rescue Sumatran tigers and save the species from extinction.
  
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• Oil prices fall as U.S. crude stocks hit record for seventh successive week

  31-03-2016 02:46
  By Keith Wallis SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil futures fell in early Asian trade on Thursday amid renewed worries of global oversupply after official data showed U.S. crude inventories rose last week to a record for the seventh time in a row. The front-month contract for U.S. crude futures dropped 29 cents to $38.03 a barrel by 0021 GMT, after settling up 4 cents in the previous session following a gain of 3 percent earlier in the session. Brent crude futures fell 25 cents to $39.01 a barrel after en
  
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• Pro surfer critically injured after being mauled by shark on NSW south coast

  31-03-2016 01:57
  
  Brett Connellan, 22, in a critical but stable condition after being attacked about 100 metres off Bombo beach near Kiama
  A professional surfer who was attacked by a shark off a beach near Kiama is in a critical but stable condition.Related: Australian surfers stay out of the sea as great whites torment townContinue reading...
  
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• Government's plan for secure power generation 'unfit for purpose': report

  31-03-2016 01:01
  
  Capacity Market scheme accused of making consumers pay conflicting subsidies for highly polluting plantsA £2.8bn government scheme funded by energy bill payers which aims to keep the lights on in Britain has been condemned as wasteful, expensive and “unfit for purpose” in a damning report.The claims from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) comes on the day that one of the UK’s biggest coal-fired power stations, Ferrybridge, formally closes, with several others
  
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• Dyson launches Pure Cool Link air purifier to clean up household air

  31-03-2016 01:01
  
  Filter fan claims to clean up pollen, pollutants and smells with a new Internet of Things app for remote monitoring, connecting to its existing robotic vacuumDyson’s new Pure Cool Link air purifying fan promises to clean up the air in your home, but also marks the first step of the British engineering firm into the Internet of Things.The Pure Cool Link, which comes in both desk or tower versions, is a new version of the company’s luxury fans and adds an ultrafine filter that removes
  
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• Tiny 'flying lollipop' bird now common in British gardens

  31-03-2016 01:00
  
  The long-tailed tit, one of Britain's most beloved birds, is making a comeback thanks to the mild winter, the RSPB has found
  
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• Severe water stress likely in Asia by 2050

  31-03-2016 00:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  Economic and population growth on top of climate change could lead to serious water shortages across a broad swath of Asia by the year 2050, a newly published study by MIT scientists has found.The study deploys detailed modeling to produce what the researchers believe is a full range of scenarios involving water availability and use in the future. In the paper, the scientists conclude there is a “high risk of severe water stress” in much of an area that is home to roughly half the wo
  
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• Mexico City orders all cars off the road one day a week to tackle air pollution

  31-03-2016 00:19
  
  In addition, vehicles must stay off the road one Saturday a month as the Mexican capital grapples with its worst air-quality crisis in over a decade Authorities in Mexico City have temporarily ordered all cars to remain idle one day a week in response to this notoriously smoggy capital’s worst air-quality crisis in over a decade.Until now vehicles have been exempt from the Mexican capital’s “no circulation” rules if owners obtain a holographic sticker from a smog-check ce
  
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