Environment news

• Crown Chicken bought by pork producer Cranswick for £40m

  11-04-2016 21:17
  
  Cranswick’s purchase of East Anglian poultry producer, with £83.8m revenues, follows acquisition of Benson Park in 2014The family behind East Anglian poultry business Crown Chicken is set for a multimillion-pound windfall after it was sold to UK pork producer Cranswick in a £40m deal. Crown Chicken was set up in 1951 and is currently chaired by David Thacker – son of the founder, Fred Thacker – who owns a majority of the shares. Thacker will step down once the deal
  
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• U.N. says food situation in Iraq's Falluja extremely worrying

  11-04-2016 20:23
  The food situation for 60,000 civilians trapped in the besieged Iraqi city of Falluja is extremely worrying and likely to deteriorate unless aid gets into the city, the U.N. World Food Programme said on Monday. "For the third consecutive month, respondents from Hay Alwahda sub-district reported that shops and markets had exhausted all food supplies including wheat, sugar, rice, vegetable oil and lentils," the report said.
  
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• Planets stripped bare by host stars

  11-04-2016 20:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Astronomers have defined a class of planet that have had their atmospheres stripped away by their host stars.
  
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• Why it's time to dispel the myths about nuclear power

  11-04-2016 19:24
  
  Thirty years has passed since events in Chernobyl, while Japan marks the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster. We need more than ever to have a reasoned discussion on the issues This year marks the fifth anniversary of the Fukushima disaster, and the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl incident. Together, these constitute the two greatest nuclear accidents the world has ever seen. Even now, widespread confusion over these disasters still blights rational discussion on energy production; too
  
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• SpaceX's Dragon Soars As Its Rocket Lands: An Epic Spaceflight in Photos

  11-04-2016 18:56
  
  From the launch into orbit to the trip back to Earth, the views of SpaceX's historic Falcon 9 rocket landing at sea on Friday (April 8) are spectacular, to say the least. First there was SpaceX's live video feed of the Falcon 9's drone-ship landing on the Atlantic Ocean after the booster successfully launched a Dragon cargo ship into orbit. Then came official launch photos from SpaceX and NASA.
  
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• Better long-term outcomes for married cancer patients

  11-04-2016 18:51 via feedproxy.google.com
  New research has uncovered a link between being married and living longer among cancer patients, with the beneficial effect of marriage differing by race/ethnicity and place of birth. Published early online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings have important public health implications, given the rising numbers of unmarried individuals in the United States in addition to the growing aging population. For the analysis, a team led by Scarlett Lin
  
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• UN launches campaign to enlist women in boardrooms to take up climate issue

  11-04-2016 18:46
  
  ‘Two Degrees of Change’ to encourage female executives to demand action from their companies to stave off the threat of global warmingWomen working in financial services are opening a new front in the battle against climate change, with the launch of a UN-backed initiative to take global warming concerns into business boardrooms.Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management and a long-time campaigner for women in boardrooms, is spearheading the new “Two Degr
  
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• New campaign enlists women in boardrooms to take up climate issue

  11-04-2016 18:46
  
  UN-backed ‘Two Degrees of Change’ encourages female executives to demand action from their companies to stave off the threat of global warmingWomen working in financial services are opening a new front in the battle against climate change, with the launch of a UN-backed initiative to take global warming concerns into business boardrooms.Helena Morrissey, chief executive of Newton Investment Management and a long-time campaigner for women in boardrooms, is spearheading the new “
  
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• Tiny Ancient Creature Carried Its Babies Like 'Kites'

  11-04-2016 18:13
  
  A shield protected its head, which was topped by two sweeping antennalike structures, and it used its 12 pairs of legs to scuttle across the sea bottom in what is now Herefordshire in the U.K. The region looks very different today — for one, it's not underwater anymore — but fossils of numerous small creatures like A. spinosus that once inhabited the ocean are preserved in outcrops inside rocky spheres, "like baseballs," of hardened volcanic ash called concretions, which formed aroun
  
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• How to escape a desert island – from messages in bottles to JFK's engraved coconut

  11-04-2016 17:54
  
  Three men found on a south Pacific island pulled off a text-book escape by writing ‘HELP’ in the sand. But other castaways have been even more inventiveWhat would you do if you were stranded on a desert island? Keep calm and wait for Man Friday? Finally decide on those Desert Island Discs? Fashion a boat out of nothing but a washed-up piece of portable toilet and some Hollywood-sized chutzpah a la Tom Hanks in Cast Away? Wish you were as handy, or at least as good looking, as the cas
  
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• 'Superhero DNA' keeps diseases at bay

  11-04-2016 17:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Some people appear to be born with 'superhero DNA' that cancels out genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis, say researchers.
  
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• 'Sea Hunter': World's First Unmanned Ship Stalks Subs

  11-04-2016 16:48
  A new hunter is lurking in the deep — and it's made of metal, silicon, and lots and lots of artificial intelligence. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) officially launched its unmanned submarine-hunting ship, holding a christening ceremony on Thursday (April 7) for the "Sea Hunter." The new vessel is part of DARPA's larger initiative to use artificial intelligence (AI) for a wider array of military decisions and tasks. While the Sea Hunter, which is part of DARPA's Anti-
  
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• Oil hits four-month high on commodities rally, Doha meeting hopes

  11-04-2016 16:37
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude prices rose to a four-month high on Monday as a rally in wider commodities markets encouraged buying ahead of a meeting of oil producers in Doha next Sunday, aimed at freezing current output levels. Brent crude futures , the global benchmark, were up 92 cents at $42.86 (29 pounds) a barrel by 1405 GMT, having touched a session high of $43.06, the highest level since Dec. 7. "All commodities are going up.
  
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• 'Longest-ever' captured python dies

  11-04-2016 16:17 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A python estimated to be 8m (26ft) long has died three days after being captured on the Malaysian island of Penang, officials say.
  
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• Russia's finance minister says to stick to oil duty cuts plans in 2017

  11-04-2016 16:12
  Russia's Finance Ministry will go ahead with plans to lower oil export duties next year if prices do not increase significantly, Deputy Finance Minister Ilya Trunin told reporters on Monday. Russia had scrapped plans to cut the duty for this year due to lower prices of oil, the country's main exporting commodity. Oil producers had expressed concern that the government would increase the tax burden as it tries to make up the shortfall in state coffers.
  
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• Two-thirds of Europeans support ban on glyphosate - poll

  11-04-2016 15:51
  
  Concerns remain chemical widely used in agriculture as a herbicide can kill all plants, algae, bacteria and fungi in a crop’s vicinity, affecting biodiversityTwo-thirds of Europeans support a ban on glyphosate, the most-widely used agricultural chemical in the world’s history, according to a new Yougov poll.A prohibition on the herbicide ingredient was backed by three quarters of Italians, 70% of Germans, 60% of French and 56% of Britons, in a survey of more than 7,000 people across
  
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• EU ETS in need of 'ambitious' revamp, MEPs warn

  11-04-2016 15:34
  
  The European Union (EU) has been urged to revamp its Emission Trading System (ETS) to allow for free allowances to be given to the industries that need them most, even though it was revealed that struggling Tata Steel has received £700m from the ETS since 2008.
  
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• Russia sees oil output flat in 2017 - energy minister

  11-04-2016 15:17
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oil production is seen unchanged in 2017 compared to an expected increase in 2016, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters on Monday. (Reporting by Vladimir Soldatkin and Katya Golubkova, writing by Denis Pinchuk, editing by Jack Stubbs)
  
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• Investors starting to show interest in Russia again - Credit Suisse

  11-04-2016 14:53
  By Polina Devitt and Katya Golubkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Investors are starting to look at Russia again after cutting off exposure amid geopolitical tensions two years ago, the head of Credit Suisse's $60 million Russian Equity Fund said. There are no big inflows yet but a rebound in Russian stock markets in the past few months as the oil price and the rouble have picked up is encouraging interest, Anna Vaananen told Reuters. "The same people, I am seeing for the first time in two years, are now
  
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• Reducing food waste could help mitigate climate change

  11-04-2016 14:33 via feedproxy.google.com
  About a tenth of overall global greenhouse-gas emissions from agriculture could be traced back to food waste by mid-century, a new study shows. A team from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research for the first time provides comprehensive food loss projections for countries around the world while also calculating the associated emissions. Currently, one third of global food production never finds its way onto our plates. This share will increase drastically, if emerging countries like C
  
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• Nottingham flicks the switch on UK's largest solar carport

  11-04-2016 13:12
  
  A leisure centre in Nottingham is set to save the local council an estimated £10,000 on energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by 41 tonnes thanks to the installation of the UK's largest solar carport.
  
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• Nottingham flicks the switch on solar carport

  11-04-2016 13:12
  
  A leisure centre in Nottingham is set to save the local council an estimated £10,000 on energy bills and reduce carbon emissions by 41 tonnes thanks to the installation of an 88KWp solar carport.
  
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• ESOS offers 20% reduction in business energy costs, Carbon Trust finds

  11-04-2016 13:01
  
  The Government's initial estimates of the financial savings of its recently enforced Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) could be much lower than the actual savings being realised by qualifying organisations, according to a sample of ESOS assessments undertaken by the Carbon Trust.
  
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• 10 things you probably didn't know about the renewables revolution

  11-04-2016 13:00
  
  With new figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) revealing that renewables grew at record pace in 2015, edie digs deep into the data to bring you 10 surprising statistics about the world's green energy transformation.
  
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• Major Tim 'catches the Dragon'

  11-04-2016 12:56 via bbc.co.uk
  
  UK astronaut Tim Peake successfully captures and berths the latest cargo ship to visit the International Space Station.
  
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• Zootropolis fans in China flock to buy rare £2,000 fennec foxes

  11-04-2016 12:46
  
  Inspired by a character in the hit Disney animation, parents are forking out for the protected Saharan species despite its unsuitability as a petChinese fans of Disney animated smash hit Zootropolis are flocking to buy rare fennec foxes, despite the miniature African species being unsuitable as pets, reports the LA Times.Zootropolis, titled Zootopia in the US, is the story of a city populated by talking animals. One of the central characters is a wily con-artist red fox, whose sidekick Finnick i
  
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• Ancient Bronze Shovel May Have Been Used in Jewish Cultic Rituals

  11-04-2016 12:45
  
  An ancient bronze shovel that may have been used in Jewish cultic rituals has been unearthed in Israel. The 2,000-year-old shovel, which was unearthed near the Sea of Galilee, is similar to others used by ancient priests in the Second Temple period. "The incense shovel that was found is one of ten others that are known in the country from the Second Temple period.
  
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• Oil price dips as banks caution on impact of producers' meeting

  11-04-2016 12:39
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Monday after banks dampened hopes that the result of next Sunday's meeting of producers in Qatar aimed at freezing current output levels would improve the current supply-demand balance. Oil prices rallied more than 6 percent last week after data showed U.S. energy firms had cut oil rigs for a third straight week to the lowest since November 2009. Analysts at Goldman Sachs, who expect oil prices to average $35 a barrel in the second quart
  
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• Report highlights environmental dangers of leaving EU

  11-04-2016 10:14
  
  Independent review says EU rules, such as on clean water and wildlife protection, have benefited UK’s environmentEU membership has been a major factor behind the “marked improvement in environmental quality in the UK” since the 1980s, according to an independent report into the potential impact of a leave vote in the June referendum.The 60,000-word report, from the group The UK in a Changing Europe, found that the net result on the UK’s environment from EU membership had
  
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• World tiger numbers show increase

  11-04-2016 10:02 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The estimated number of wild tigers in the world has risen for the first time in more than a century, say conservationists.
  
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• Python caught in Malaysia could be the longest ever recorded

  11-04-2016 09:40
  
  Local authorities say snake is initally estimated at 8m long, beating the previous Guinness world record for a snake of the same species called MedusaA huge python found on a construction site in Malaysia could take the record for the longest snake ever to be caught with initial estimates at eight metres.
  The reticulated python – a species found in south-east Asia and widely considered as the longest reptile species – was spotted where a flyover was being built in Paya Terubong, a di
  
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• Costa eyes four more 'zero-energy' coffee shops in the next year

  11-04-2016 09:30
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Whitbread-owned Coffee shop chain Costa is planning to introduce at least four more of its innovative 'zero-energy' coffee shops across the UK within the next 12 months, after a pilot store in Shropshire delivered significant energy savings for the hospitality group.
  
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• Oil dips after analysts pour cold water on output freeze prospects

  11-04-2016 09:14
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Crude prices dipped on Monday as analysts, including Goldman Sachs, poured cold water on the prospects of a planned oil producer meeting successfully reining in global oversupply, although a firm demand outlook checked losses. Bernstein's strong demand outlook was underpinned by Chinese data, where vehicle sales in March rose 7.8 percent from a year earlier, with car sales totalling 1.92 million.
  
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• VIDEO: Wild tiger numbers on the rise

  11-04-2016 08:40 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The number of wild tigers has gone up for the first time in a century, according to new figures released by the World Wildlife Fund.
  
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• BP bonus backlash intensifies as investor adviser urges rejection

  11-04-2016 08:39
  BP faces further opposition to its pay at its annual meeting on Thursday after British shareholder advisory group ShareSoc recommended its members vote against the oil major's remuneration report. Chief Executive Bob Dudley is in line for a $19.6 million compensation package for 2015, a year in which shrinking profit margins triggered by sharp falls in the price of oil led to more than 5,000 job losses at the oil and gas company. ShareSoc said the high executive pay was partly due to BP's "exces
  
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• Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life by Edward O Wilson – review

  11-04-2016 08:00
  
  A chilling warning that we’re in danger of wiping out all wildlife on EarthIn 2000, workers finished construction of a hydropower plant in Tanzania’s Udzungwa mountains. A giant reservoir was created by damming 90% of the water that had previously poured into nearby Kihansi gorge. The consequences for indigenous species were disastrous, in particular for the tiny, golden-hued Kihansi spray toad. The little amphibian once thrived, in its thousands, in a single two-hectare patch of for
  
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• Climate change plan: thinktank suggests policy both sides of politics can embrace

  11-04-2016 07:43
  
  The Grattan Institute has proposed adapting the Coalition’s Direct Action into a bipartisan policy that effectively cuts emissionsA climate change policy that could be both effective, and potentially supported by both major parties, has been proposed by the Grattan Institute in a new report that tries to find a pragmatic solution to the decade of toxic political debates on the issue.Media reports have emerged suggesting Labor would adopt a policy of opening an inquiry into Australia’
  
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• Let’s not turn the Arctic into an adventure playground | Suzanne Goldenberg

  11-04-2016 07:30
  
  As polar ice retreats, tourists are rushing in, many claiming to bear witness to climate change. But their expeditions are only speeding the region’s destructionEvery year at about this time, a Russian cargo plane deposits many tonnes of equipment on an ice floe one degree off the north pole. There, at the 89th parallel, engineers begin construction of a private ice air strip and base camp for scientists, adventurers and, more than ever, wealthy tourists. Related: Northwest Passage, Canada
  
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• Let’s not turn the Arctic into an adventure playground | Suzanne Goldberg

  11-04-2016 07:30
  
  As polar ice retreats, tourists are rushing in, many claiming to bear witness to climate change. But their expeditions are only speeding the region’s destructionEvery year at about this time, a Russian cargo plane deposits many tonnes of equipment on an ice floe one degree off the north pole. There, at the 89th parallel, engineers begin construction of a private ice air strip and base camp for scientists, adventurers and, more than ever, wealthy tourists. Related: Northwest Passage, Canada
  
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• Drone's eye view of my familiar patch

  11-04-2016 06:30
  
  Holmes Chapel, Cheshire Drones make brief, veering, playful flights, revealing the familiar from fresh anglesRough ground looks like chenille, softly tactile, from 20 metres up. A puddle blinks back whitely, a fallen fragment of sky. I can’t absorb what I’m seeing fast enough. The land beneath me rolls away and the horizon pulls near, creating a sense of adventurous possibility. I’m used to trudging about the garden, hauling sacks of compost, dragging wheelbarrows over gravel;
  
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• Oil rises on signs of tightening market, but economic worries weigh

  11-04-2016 06:26
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday, extending a sharp rally seen at the end of last week after a drop in U.S. inventories and drilling, while outages and hopes that exporters could freeze output also supported prices. Oil futures were further underpinned as analysts forecast that global oil demand could accelerate, helping tighten a market that has suffered from oversupply since mid-2014.
  
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• World's wild tiger count rising for first time in

  11-04-2016 05:26
  
  NEW DELHI (AP) — The world's count of wild tigers roaming forests from Russia to Vietnam has gone up for the first time in more than a century, with 3,890 counted by conservation groups and national governments in the latest global census, wildlife conservation groups said Monday.
  
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• Great Barrier Reef: David Attenborough ignores politics and appeals to the heart

  11-04-2016 04:48
  
  Documentarian’s message rings especially loud for Australians, who have the privilege and duty to look after this natural wonder“Do we really care so little about the Earth on which we live that we don’t wish to protect one of its greatest wonders from the consequences of our behaviour?” Related: Greg Hunt rebuked by Attenborough film-maker after upbeat verdict on Great Barrier ReefContinue reading...
  
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• Number of tigers in the wild rises for first time in over 100 years

  11-04-2016 04:43
  
  There are now 3,890 animals roaming the forests of Asia but the increase may be down to improved survey methodsThe number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in more than a century, with some 3,890 counted in the latest global census, according to wildlife conservation groups. Continue reading...
  
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• Number of tigers in the wild rises for first time in more than 100 years

  11-04-2016 04:43
  
  There are now 3,890 animals roaming the forests of Asia but the increase may be down to improved survey methodsThe number of tigers in the wild has risen for the first time in more than a century, with some 3,890 counted in the latest global census, according to wildlife conservation groups.The tally marks a turnaround from the last worldwide estimate in 2010, when the number of tigers in the wild hit an all-time low of about 3,200, according to the World Wildlife Fund and the Global Tiger Foru
  
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• Mass coral bleaching now affecting half of Australia's Great Barrier Reef

  11-04-2016 04:00
  
  Climate change and strong El Niño cause hundreds of kilometres of reef to bleach, as higher temperatures stress the coralThe mass coral bleaching event smashing the Great Barrier Reef has severely affected more than half its length and caused patches of bleaching in most areas, according to scientists conducting an extensive aerial survey of the damage.“The good news with my last flight is that I found 50 reefs that weren’t bleached, so that may be the southern boundary,&rdquo
  
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• Oil prices rise on signs of tightening market

  11-04-2016 02:32
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices on Monday extended sharp rises from the end of last week following a decline in U.S. inventories and drilling, while outages and hopes that exporters could freeze output boosted international prices. At the same time, analysts said that global oil demand could also accelerate, helping to tighten a market that has suffered from ballooning oversupply since mid-2014. U.S. energy firms cut oil rigs for a third week in a row to the lowest level si
  
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