Environment news

• VIDEO: Space station gets inflatable extension

  16-04-2016 22:52 via bbc.co.uk
  
  An experimental inflatable module has been attached to the International Space Station remotely by a Nasa ground control team.
  
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• Iran urges OPEC and non-OPEC members to accept its return to oil market - SHANA

  16-04-2016 22:45
  Iran said it would boycott Sunday's meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC member countries in Qatar as it did not agree with a plan to freeze oil production at the January level. "We have told some OPEC and non-OPEC members like Russia that they should accept the reality of Iran's return to the oil market. If Iran freezes its oil production at the February level, it means it cannot benefit from the lifting of sanctions," Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh was quoted as saying by the oil ministry's n
  
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• Azerbaijan says Doha draft sees oil production frozen until October - TASS

  16-04-2016 19:52
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - A draft of an agreement prepared for the meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC member countries in Qatar on Sunday sees oil production being frozen at the January level until October, TASS news agency quoted the Azeri energy minister as saying on Saturday. The minister, Natig Aliyev, described the draft as a "gentlemen's" agreement. Aliyev was not available for immediate comment when called by Reuters. (Reporting by Polina Devitt and Nailia Bagirova; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
  
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• Iraq's Sadr threatens renewed protests to bring about new government

  16-04-2016 19:31
  By Maher Chmaytelli and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr warned on Saturday he would re-start protests within 72 hours if the nation's leaders failed to vote on a cabinet of technocrats proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to tackle corruption. The political crisis is crippling parliament and Abadi says it threatens to hamper Iraq's campaign against Islamic State militants who still control swathes of territory in the north and west of the oil-
  
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• Russian ministry suggests keeping dividends of state firms at 50 percent until 2019

  16-04-2016 19:29
  The dividend payouts of state-controlled Russian companies should be kept at no less than half of their profits until 2019, with no exceptions, the finance ministry proposed on Saturday. Russia, searching for ways of boosting budget revenue to offset the effects of lower oil prices and Western sanctions, has already proposed raising the dividend payout ratio for state companies to 50 percent of profit this year from a previous 25 percent. Siluanov was quoted as saying the state budget may receiv
  
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• Russia state firms ask for permission to pay less than half of profit in dividends - RIA

  16-04-2016 18:13
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Several state-controlled Russian companies are asking the government for permission to pay less than 50 percent of their profit in dividends for 2015, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich as saying on Saturday. The government is yet decided on these proposals and is yet to take the final decision on the size of dividend payments by state holding Rosneftegaz, which accumulates part of dividend payments from oil giant Rosneft and state monopoly Gazprom
  
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• On the faultline: New York fracking ban leaves state divided as primary looms

  16-04-2016 17:23
  
  Two years after New York banned the controversial method of extracting natural gas, faultlines run through families, counties – and the national political debateFor seven years, fracking roiled New York. Back in the summer of 2007, when the gas industry started knocking on doors in Delaware County, a faultline ran right through the home of Mark Dunau and Lisa Wujnovich. Related: Scientists find fracking contaminated Wyoming water after EPA halted studyContinue reading...
  
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• Saudi remarks on oil surge test prospects for output freeze

  16-04-2016 17:14
  By Rania El Gamal DOHA (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's top oil official, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, said Riyadh could boost output immediately and almost double it long term, in comments that could threaten the signing of a global production freeze deal planned for Sunday.  The second in line to the throne of the world's largest crude exporter added in remarks to Bloomberg that the kingdom would only restrain its output if all other major producers, including Iran, agree to freeze
  
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• Clouds gather over solar power after golden years of success

  16-04-2016 17:00
  
  After a day in which Britain generated more power from the sun than from coal for the first time, the industry should be rejoicing. But the mood is fearfulGiven that the government is determined to avoid playing a financial role in the planned new nuclear plant at Hinkley Point, it is perhaps surprising that it is involved in the UK’s largest solar array.The 70-megawatt Lyneham photovoltaic farm – big enough to provide light and heat to 20,000 homes – is located at a former RAF
  
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• VIDEO: Repaired Solar Impulse flies again

  16-04-2016 16:46 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The zero-fuel aircraft Solar Impulse is ready to resume its round-the-world challenge following repairs in Hawaii.
  
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• French, German ministers arrive in Libya to back unity government

  16-04-2016 14:37
  By Aidan Lewis and John Irish TRIPOLI/GENEVA (Reuters) - The French and German foreign ministers arrived in Libya on Saturday for unannounced talks with the head of the unity government Fayaz Seraj to offer support as he seeks to stabilise the North African state, a French diplomatic source said. The visit by Jean-Marc Ayrault and Frank-Walter Steinmeier is part of efforts by the European Union to rebuild law and order in Libya and head off a potential new tide of migrants into Italy from the co
  
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• Rosneft interested in Iran projects, Russia energy minister tells RIA

  16-04-2016 14:17
  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian oil producer Rosneft is interested in oil and gas projects in Iran, the RIA news agency quoted Russian energy minister Alexander Novak as saying on Saturday. It is too early to talk about any concrete plans as Iran has not yet presented an investment contract, Novak said. (Reporting by Polina Devitt; editing by Jason Neely)
  
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• Saudi will only freeze output if others do - Bloomberg

  16-04-2016 13:50
  Saudi Arabia will only freeze the level of its oil production if all other major producers, including Iran, do so, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, citing Saudi deputy crown prince Mohammed bin Salman. “If all major producers don’t freeze production, we will not freeze production,” he said.
  
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• Nigeria has not applied for an IMF loan because it is 'not sick' - finance minister

  16-04-2016 13:03
  Nigeria, which is going through its worst economic crisis in years, has not turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance because it is "not sick", its finance minister said. Africa's top oil exporter, which has the continent's biggest economy, has been hit hard by the fall in crude prices since oil sales account for around 70 percent of its income. The economy grew 2.8 percent last year, its slowest pace in decades, and in March annual inflation rose to a near four ye
  
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• State firms should keep paying half of profit as dividend - Russian finance minister

  16-04-2016 10:52
  State-controlled Russian companies should keep paying at least half of their annual profit in dividends in 2017-2019, news agencies quoted finance minister Anton Siluanov as saying on Saturday. Russia raised the dividend payout ratio for state companies to 50 percent of profit this year from a previous 25 percent to bolster budget revenues hit by lower oil prices and Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine. Siluanov was also quoted as saying the state budget may receive up
  
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• Iran will not attend Doha oil freeze talks on Sunday - sources

  16-04-2016 10:46
  (Reuters) - Iran will not attend a meeting between OPEC and non-OPEC member countries about freezing oil output levels scheduled for Doha, Qatar, on Sunday, two sources familiar with the situation told Reuters. Tehran's oil minister had not been scheduled to attend, but the OPEC member country was due to send a representative. Iran has said it would not join a freeze agreement as it seeks to raise its oil output and market share to pre-sanctions levels. (Editing by London Desk)
  
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• Iran's oil production has already surpassed 3.5 million bpd - IRNA

  16-04-2016 08:53
  Iran's oil production has already surpassed 3.5 million barrels per day, the deputy oil minister said on Saturday, and the Islamic Republic is seeking to increase oil and gas exports in the coming month. "Iran's crude oil exports will increase to 2 million barrels per day in the coming month ... Gas condensate exports would also increase by 10 percent in the coming month," Rokneddin Javadi was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.
  
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• Attack of the holly leaf miner

  16-04-2016 06:30
  
  Acres Down, New Forest These flies are seldom seen, but they leave their mark on every holly leaf they attackI climb the slope to the down in bright sunshine. The wispy tops of leafless birches sway against broken white clouds and I pause to photograph them, with splashes of buttery gorse adding closer interest. The sun is snatched away as I near the crest. As I look down over the forest, a ferocious blast rattles the knee-high birches just breaking leaf beside me. The view has not changed much
  
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• Mountain lion dashes from Los Angeles school to backyard

  16-04-2016 04:37
  
  Students and teachers at a Los Angeles high school missed their lunch break Friday after a mountain lion strolled onto campus and tried to join them. The big cat was spotted walking across the quad at John F. Kennedy High School shortly after noon. Police sealed off the area until a game warden could arrive and knock the animal out with a couple of tranquilizer darts, said Andrew Hughan, state Department of Fish and Wildlife spokesman.
  
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• E-skin 'can monitor body's oxygen level'

  16-04-2016 04:13 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists in Japan say they have developed ultra-thin electronic "skin" that can measure oxygen levels when stuck to the body.
  
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• Clear cutting and its influence on carbon storage

  16-04-2016 02:28 via feedproxy.google.com
  lear-cutting loosens up carbon stored in forest soils, increasing the chances it will return to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide and contribute to climate change, a Dartmouth College study shows.The findings appear in the journal Soil Science.Soil is the world's largest terrestrial carbon pool. In northern hardwood forests in the United States, mineral soil pools store up to 50 percent of total ecosystem carbon. Logging and other land-use changes are a major cause of soil carbon release, bu
  
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• The Soviet space secret found by pupils

  16-04-2016 02:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The English school that unearthed a Soviet space secret
  
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• Citigroup's first-quarter results suggest tough year ahead

  16-04-2016 00:16
  Citigroup Inc reported a sharp decline in quarterly profit on Friday, hit by weak revenue, costs related to shrinking businesses, and loans to energy companies that are going bad. On conference calls, executives suggested the pain might not be over by saying the bank is unlikely to meet a key performance target, and that it could $400 million more in credit costs this year than previously thought if oil prices drop by a certain amount. "2016 didn't get off to the start we hoped for," Chief Execu
  
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