Environment news

• 'Perfect storm' brought sea louse epidemic to BC salmon

  20-07-2016 23:52 via feedproxy.google.com
  High ocean temperatures and poor timing of parasite management likely led to an epidemic of sea lice in 2015 throughout salmon farms in British Columbia's Queen Charlotte Strait, a University of Toronto-led study has found.The sea lice spread to migrating juvenile wild salmon, resulting in the highest numbers of sea lice observed on wild salmon in a decade.In spring of 2015, a team of U of T ecologists led by postdoctoral researchers Andrew Bateman and Stephanie Peacock found that more than 70 p
  
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• BP eyeing sale of U.K. oil terminals and pipeline stake - Telegraph

  20-07-2016 21:12
  (Reuters) - British oil company BP Plc is selling off a string of fuel storage terminals as well as its stake in an big pipeline as part of a shake-up of its operations in the U.K. that affects around 350 jobs, The Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday. The company is planning to offload its stake in the onshore United Kingdom Oil Pipeline (UKOP), which it co-owns as part of a consortium with Royal Dutch Shell , U.S. refiner Valero Energy Corp and France's Total , the report said. As part of the
  
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• South Africa's great white sharks 'facing extinction'

  20-07-2016 20:36 via bbc.co.uk
  
  South Africa's great white shark population is heading for possible extinction‚ after a rapid decline in numbers, say researchers.
  
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• June 2016 'hottest worldwide in modern history'

  20-07-2016 20:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  June 2016 was the hottest June worldwide in modern history - marking the 14th month in a row that global temperature records have been broken
  
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• Eni says Dutch unit stake to be seized after lost arbitration against GasTerra

  20-07-2016 20:02
  Italian oil and gas group Eni said on Wednesday it lost a gas price review arbitration against Holland's GasTerra and was notified of a provisional seizure by a Dutch court of a 1-billion euro stake in its Amsterdam based unit. The original arbitration initiated by Eni aimed at a downward price revision of the long-term gas supply contracts with the Dutch group for the four years starting in 2012. Although the arbitration panel did not determine a new price for the contracts, GasTerra claimed an
  
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• Vast asteroid created 'Man in Moon's eye' crater

  20-07-2016 19:11 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of the biggest craters on the Moon's surface was created by an asteroid more than 250km across, a study suggests.
  
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• South Africa's great white sharks face extinction, says study

  20-07-2016 19:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Research shows ‘rapid decline’ in numbers caused by hunting, pollution and nets South Africa’s great white sharks face the threat of extinction after a steep decline in numbers caused by trophy hunting, shark nets and pollution, according to a study released Wednesday.The six-year research project along the country’s coastline revealed that only between 353 and 522 of the sharks are still alive, half the level previously thought. Continue reading...
  
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• Antarctic peninsula temperatures have fallen, study shows

  20-07-2016 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Scientists said cooling of tip over past 15 years is related to wind patterns, but does not mean that global warming has stoppedThe tip of the Antarctic peninsula has cooled over the past 15 years, scientists have found, but the discovery does not mean global warming has stopped.Researchers analysed air temperature data from the area, which covers about 1% of the continent, and found it had warmed quickly from the 1920s until the late 1990s, as climate change drove up global temperatures. Since
  
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• Oil prices up 1 percent after ninth weekly U.S. crude drawdown

  20-07-2016 18:56
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose 1 percent on Wednesday, lifting U.S. crude from two-month lows, after the U.S. government reported a ninth straight week of crude inventory draws, easing some concerns in a market worried about a fuel glut. U.S. gasoline prices, however, hit four-month lows after the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration also showed a surprise build in supplies of the motor fuel despite forecasts of American drivers hitting the road in record
  
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• Birds on top of the world, with nowhere to go

  20-07-2016 17:57 via feedproxy.google.com
  Climate change could make much of the Arctic unsuitable for millions of migratory birds that travel north to breed each year, according to a new international study published today inGlobal Change Biology.The University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences' researcher Hannah Wauchope said that suitable breeding conditions for Arctic shorebirds could collapse by 2070."This means that countries throughout the world will have fewer migratory birds reaching their shores," Ms Wauchope said.Arc
  
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• Oil prices up after ninth weekly U.S. crude drawdown

  20-07-2016 17:43
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday, with U.S. crude rebounding from two-month lows, after the U.S. government reported a ninth straight week of crude inventory declines that came within expectations in a market worried about a fuels glut. U.S. gasoline prices , however, extended losses, hitting a four-month low after the data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed a surprise build in supplies of the motor fuel despite rising summer demand. Brent
  
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• Quantifying Tree Loss in Sierra National Forest

  20-07-2016 17:37 via feedproxy.google.com
  Mass tree die-offs are sparking worries of fire in California’s Sierra Nevada range. An outbreak of bark beetles, along with persistent drought in the state, have caused many evergreen trees to wither and die.The damage spread rapidly through the mountains in the fall of 2015 after favorable spring conditions (warm and dry) led to a surge in beetle populations, according to Zach Tane, a remote sensing analyst with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS). The beetles burrow under a tree’s bark
  
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• U.S. crude hits two-month low ahead of U.S. inventory data

  20-07-2016 15:48
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures hit 2-month lows on Wednesday on technical selling pressure and liquidation by investors fearing a supply glut despite impending government crude inventory data likely to show a drawdown. The front-month August contract for U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures was down 80 cents, or 1.8 percent, at $43.85 a barrel by 9:18 a.m. EDT (1318 GMT).The session low for the contract, which will expire after Wednesday's settlement
  
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• Norway to examine competition conditions in oil industry

  20-07-2016 15:25
  Norway's competition watchdog will look into whether competition rules are being infringed in the country's oil industry, the industry ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry has asked the competition authority to provide a "general description" of competitive conditions for oil companies and their suppliers to answer a question from a member of parliament, it said. The question from the lawmaker is whether oil firm Statoil , which is responsible for 60 percent of Norway's oil and gas output, m
  
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• Hottest ever June: share pictures to show the impact of climate change

  20-07-2016 15:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Most scientists attribute the record-breaking temperatures we are seeing to greenhouse gas emissions. What impact is it having on your life?It’s not just the UK that is sweltering – last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide.That is according to two US agencies – Nasa and Noaa – who reported that it broke the previous record, set in 2015, by 0.02C (it has been recording temperatures since 1880). This follows a 14-month streak of record-breaking temperatures &
  
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• Google uses AI to cut data centre energy use by 15%

  20-07-2016 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Technology firm hailed success of machine-learning trial and said efficiencies will applied to all its centres by end of year Google says it has cut its vast data centres’ energy use by 15% by applying artificial intelligence to manage them more efficiently than humans.The servers that power billions of web searches, streamed films and social media accounts are estimated to account for around 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Google is believed to have one of the biggest fleets of the
  
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• Google uses AI to save on electricity from data centres

  20-07-2016 15:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Its artificial intelligence division, DeepMind, has cut Google's data centres' energy consumption by 15%, using a machine-learning algorithm.
  
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• UK lab animal numbers holding steady

  20-07-2016 14:55 via bbc.co.uk
  
  New figures show that animal experiments in UK labs are continuing at an almost identical rate to recent years.
  
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• Brent oil edges up in subdued trade before U.S. stocks data

  20-07-2016 14:36
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Brent oil prices edged higher on Wednesday in muted trading as investors awaited a clearer signal from weekly U.S. crude inventory data on whether a glut was easing in the world's largest oil-consuming nation. Global benchmark Brent crude prices were up 5 cents at $46.71 a barrel at 1325 London time. In thin trading, U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down 13 cents at $44.52 a barrel.
  
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• Which island holds the greatest concentration of mammals?

  20-07-2016 14:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  In this scary time of global species extinctions and loss of biodiversity below “safe” levels, The Field Museum recently announced some good news: Luzon Island, an island the size of the Indiana in the Philippines, holds the greatest concentration of mammals. The pressing question now is will we be able to protect this rich biodiversity in time?
  
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• Microbeads report reveals loopholes in pledges by biggest firms

  20-07-2016 13:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Greenpeace urges legal ban to tackle problem after finding that top personal care companies fell short on commitments Loopholes in the voluntary pledges by the biggest personal care companies to phase out polluting microbeads have been revealed in a report from Greenpeace, which says a legal ban is needed.Tiny plastic beads are widely used in toiletries and cosmetics but thousands of tonnes wash into the sea every year, where they harm wildlife and can ultimately be eaten by people, with unknown
  
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• Decision to scrap CCS competition could add £30bn to UK carbon targets

  20-07-2016 12:49
  
  The Government's cancellation of the Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) competition could cost the UK an additional £30bn to meet its 2050 carbon targets, and is also likely to delay deployment of the technology until 2030, according to a report today (20 July) released by the National Audit Office (NAO).
  
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• Conservative groups push back against Republican party's climate denialism

  20-07-2016 12:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Partnership for Responsible Growth and other groups launch campaigns to urge Republicans and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire to accept climate changeConservative and free-market groups have staged a rearguard effort to get the Republican party to accept the dangers of climate change, criticizing climate denialism within the GOP and Rupert Murdoch’s media empire.Climate change, and other environmental concerns, are unlikely to receive much, if any, attention during the Republican conven
  
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• Business-led demand response could generate £8bn for UK

  20-07-2016 12:23
  
  Businesses could provide electricity equivalent to output of six new power stations by flexing demand and utilising better-enhance onsite generation projects, a new report from the Association for Decentralised Energy (ADE) has claimed.
  
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• Former EU fisheries chief brands UK's post-Brexit plan an ‘illusion’

  20-07-2016 12:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Maria Damanaki questioned feasibility of UK controlling stocks or setting its own catches without input from EuropeThe EU’s former fisheries chief has said it is an illusion that the UK will be able to dictate its fishing policies after Brexit.Maria Damanaki, the former commissioner for fisheries, who oversaw the most sweeping reforms of the EU’s common fisheries policy in decades, said: “The idea that you can control fisheries at a national level is an illusion for any country
  
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• Oil edges up in subdued trade before U.S. stocks data

  20-07-2016 12:06
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Wednesday in muted trading as investors awaited a clearer signal from weekly U.S. crude inventory data on whether a glut was easing in the world's largest oil-consuming nation. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 3 cents at $44.68 a barrel. The U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) will issue stockpile data at 1530 London time on Wednesday.
  
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• Investors' neglect of small-scale renewables threatens universal energy access

  20-07-2016 12:04 via theguardian.com
  
  From east Africa to India, finance for off-grid clean energy projects offers a wealth of benefits beyond tackling climate changeInvesting in a large-scale wind farm is a better guarantee of profits than multiple, small, off-grid renewables projects but without the latter, argues a recent report, the sustainable development goal of low-carbon energy access for all will never be met.It is estimated (pdf) close to $50bn a year is needed to achieve universal access to electricity and clean cooking f
  
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• Why is the World Bank backing coal power in Europe's youngest country?

  20-07-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The World Bank is poised to support a new coal plant that would modernise Kosovo’s creaking energy infrastructure, but also lock the young nation into a future powered by a regressive fossil fuel In the early days of December 2015, as the Paris climate talks veered off course and off schedule, the US secretary of state John Kerry left his team of negotiators and flew to Kosovo to voice his support for a proposed US-built, World Bank-sponsored coal power station.Speaking alongside the prime
  
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• Could vertical take-off electric planes replace cars in our cities?

  20-07-2016 11:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Nasa and a host of aviation startups are developing aircraft that could transform the way we travel, with lower emissions and runway-free landingsHow will you commute in 2030? Join our live debate today 1-2pm (GMT)
  The end of the jet age could be in sight. Innovative new electric aircraft are starting to find their way off the drawing board and onto runways, funded by startups, government agencies and the world’s biggest jet makers. They promise flights that are cleaner, quieter and safer
  
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• EU Member States offered climate target flexibility in bid to cut emissions

  20-07-2016 11:07
  
  EU member states will be able to bank annual emissions savings from sectors such as agriculture and transport, and use them in later years to meet their climate targets, under EU legislation set to be put forward today (20 July).
  
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• Oil edges lower ahead of U.S. crude inventory data

  20-07-2016 11:07
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged lower on Wednesday ahead of weekly U.S. crude inventory data as investors awaited a clearer signal on whether a glut was easing in the world's largest oil-consuming nation. Russia's energy minister added to the bearish impetus as he dashed any hope that the world's biggest oil producers could coordinate on output to stem global oversupply. Global benchmark Brent crude prices were down 5 cents at $46.61 a barrel at 0826 GMT.
  
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• U.S. says its forces will keep operating in South China Sea

  20-07-2016 10:48
  U.S. military forces will continue to operate in the South China Sea in accordance with international law, the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations John Richardson said on Wednesday during a visit to a Chinese naval base. China has refused to recognise a ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague that invalidated its vast territorial claims in the South China Sea and did not take part in the proceedings brought by the Philippines. China has repeatedly blamed the United States for stirring up trouble
  
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• Total seen unlikely to fight ExxonMobil over South Pacific gas

  20-07-2016 10:39
  Total SA is unlikely to take on ExxonMobil in a bidding war for explorer InterOil Corp , the French giant's partner in a rich gas field in Papua New Guinea, analysts said on Wednesday.ExxonMobil this week trumped an offer from Oil Search, which was backed by Total. Oil Search is due to declare on Thursday whether or not it will match ExxonMobil's $2.2 billion bid. ExxonMobil and Total both want to simplify the ownership of the Elk-Antelope gas field by taking out InterOil's 36.5 percent stake.
  
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• Scots offshore wind 'pretty much dead', former minister claims

  20-07-2016 10:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A former UK energy minister claims the offshore wind industry in Scotland is "pretty much dead" after a legal challenge to four projects.
  
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• 'My work is done': Greg Hunt says mission accomplished on environment portfolio

  20-07-2016 09:44 via theguardian.com
  
  ‘World’s best minister’ makes way for Josh Frydenberg, listing emissions reduction fund among achievementsWith the trophy of world’s best minister already on Greg Hunt’s mantle, he’s declared his work done in the environment portfolio.After almost a decade overseeing Coalition environment policy, Hunt stepped aside to make way for the Liberal party rising star Josh Frydenberg. Continue reading...
  
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• Russian Energy Minister: Forget about coordination with OPEC on oil output

  20-07-2016 09:33
  By Katya Golubkova, Vladimir Soldatkin and Oksana Kobzeva MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview he has ruled out possible coordination with OPEC group on oil output after a failed attempt to jointly maintain production levels earlier this year. "We do not discuss the issues of coordination of actions between Russia and OPEC... We can't agree on production cuts as we don't have such tools and mechanisms," Novak told Reuters in interview cleared for public
  
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• Greenpeace hires Brexit campaign blunder-bus as 'vehicle for change'

  20-07-2016 09:30
  
  Greenpeace has hired Vote Leave's European Union (EU) referendum bus with plans to rebrand it a "vehicle for change", in the same week that the campaign group released new air pollution research that shows clean air will be a reality only if diesel vehicles are phased out altogether.
  
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• Cuckoo migration 'now more perilous'

  20-07-2016 09:06 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Britain has lost more than 70 percent of its cuckoos in the last 25 years, but tiny tracking devices fitted to some of the birds may have solved the mystery of their decline.
  
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• These Brexiters will grind our environment into the dust | George Monbiot

  20-07-2016 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Crucial portfolios have been given to people whoare prepared to scrub Britain’s features from the mapThe more urgent the environmental crisis becomes, the less we hear about it. It exposes the economic policies of all major parties – whether neoliberal or Keynesian – as incompatible with the times in which we live. To remark on what we are doing to the living planet is to fall into cognitive dissonance. It is easier to ignore it.This is the spirit in which our new prime ministe
  
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• 'The graveyard of the Earth': inside City 40, Russia's deadly nuclear secret

  20-07-2016 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Ozersk, codenamed City 40, was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons programme. Now it is one of the most contaminated places on the planet – so why do so many residents still view it as a fenced-in paradise?• View the trailer for the documentary City 40 here
  “Those in paradise were given a choice: happiness without freedom, or freedom without happiness. There was no third alternative.” (From the dystopian novel We, by Yevgeny Zamyatin, 1924) Deep in the vast forest
  
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• Russian balloon more than halfway to circumnavigating globe

  20-07-2016 07:01
  CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A 65-year-old Russian adventurer was battling sleep deprivation, freezing temperatures and ice in his oxygen mask as he nears the end of his record attempt to fly solo in a balloon around the world nonstop, his son said on Wednesday.
  
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• Treasury cut to carbon capture will cost UK £30bn, says watchdog

  20-07-2016 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Government says carbon storage technology not cost-efficient, while critics say U-turn will double cost of tackling climate changeThe government’s cancellation of a pioneering £1bn competition to capture and store carbon emissions may have pushed up the bill for meeting the UK’s climate targets by £30bn, according to a report from the UK’s official spending watchdog.The National Audit Office (NAO) report, published on Wednesday, says the move has delayed by a decade
  
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• Infrastructure 'still faces flood risk'

  20-07-2016 07:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Britain's roads, bridges, railways, hospitals, electricity, gas, water and internet remain at risk from floods, a government review will soon concede.
  
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• Taiwan fishermen pack flags, noodles, set sail for disputed South China Sea "island"

  20-07-2016 06:51
  By Damon Lin PINGTUNG, Taiwan (Reuters) - Five Taiwanese fishing boats set sail for Taiwan's sole holding in the South China Sea on Wednesday in protest against a court ruling that deems it a rock rather than an island, limiting its rights to surrounding resource-rich waters. Festooned with Taiwan flags, the fishing boats, loaded with eggs and instant noodles, left the south coast for a week-long trip to Itu Aba, about 1,600 km (1,000 miles) away. The move is largely symbolic as Taiwan has occup
  
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• Clifftop memories of a Devon shipwreck

  20-07-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Bolt Head, South Devon This Finnish windjammer loaded with thousands of tons of grain had reached Falmouth from south Australia in just 86 daysEighty years ago the cliff-land here was thronged with curious sightseers, including my grandfather and uncle who drove from St Dominic to view the wreck of the Herzogin Cecilie with its masts towering towards the spectators. This Finnish windjammer – a four-masted barque loaded with thousands of tons of grain – had reached Falmouth from the B
  
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• Crude oil futures mixed before U.S. inventory report

  20-07-2016 05:53
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil futures rose in Asian trading on Wednesday but gains were limited and U.S. crude traded sideways in advance of the release of official weekly inventory figures later in the day. Brent crude was up 18 cents at $46.84 a barrel at 0349 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 4 cents at $44.69 a barrel, after initially trading higher then falling.
  
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• GE to make $500 mln productivity savings from industrial internet

  20-07-2016 04:59
  General Electric Co will make $500 million of productivity savings in 2016 from using industrial internet applications, a company executive said on Wednesday. GE Chief Digital Officer Bill Ruh made the comments at a press conference in Shanghai, where the company also announced a partnership with China's Huawei Technologies to develop its industrial internet strategy. GE, the world's biggest maker of jet engines and diesel locomotives, wants to connect machines using the internet, producing data
  
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• June was hottest on record, continuing 14-month stretch of high temperatures

  20-07-2016 04:54 via theguardian.com
  
  US agencies Nasa and Noaa say last month was 0.9C hotter than the 20th century average and the hottest June since records began in 1880As the string of record-breaking global temperatures continues unabated, June 2016 marks the 14th consecutive month of record-breaking heat.According to two US agencies – Nasa and Noaa – June 2016 was 0.9C hotter than the average for the 20th century, and the hottest June in the record which goes back to 1880. It broke the previous record, set in 2015
  
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• Hottest ever June marks 14th month of record-breaking temperatures

  20-07-2016 04:54 via theguardian.com
  
  US agencies Nasa and Noaa say last month was 0.9C hotter than the 20th century average and the hottest June since records began in 1880As the string of record-breaking global temperatures continues unabated, June 2016 marks the 14th consecutive month of record-breaking heat.According to two US agencies – Nasa and Noaa – June 2016 was 0.9C hotter than the average for the 20th century, and the hottest June in the record which goes back to 1880. It broke the previous record, set in 2015
  
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• 'Mr Coal's' super ministry and the challenges of merging energy with the environment | Dan Cass

  20-07-2016 03:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Josh Frydenberg has been sworn in as minister for both the environment and energy. Is it a clash of objectives or a brilliant opportunity?Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to merge the environment and energy portfolios could lead to a breakthrough in the toxic climate politics that was unleashed when Tony Abbott rolled him in the December 2009 leadership coup.
  Or the new super-ministry and its new minister Josh Frydenberg could be set up for failure.Continue reading...
  
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