Environment news

• Oil ends lower on OPEC output hike; U.S. stockpile rise seen

  12-10-2016 23:32
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Wednesday after OPEC reported another monthly hike in output and extended losses in post-settlement trade as industry data suggested the first U.S. crude inventory build in six weeks. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said its production rose in September to the highest in at least eight years. The American Petroleum Institute (API), a trade group, said after the market settled that U.S. crude stockpiles rose b
  
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• London cycling: pedestrians, congestion and learning from mistakes

  12-10-2016 23:19 via theguardian.com
  
  Sadiq Khan’s approach to improving the streets for cyclists and others will be mindful of the weaknesses of his predecessor’sAs Sadiq Khan and his deputy for transport Val Shawcross assess applicants for the role of cycling and walking commissioner, it is becoming ever more apparent that much must be learned from the failings of the previous mayoral regime. Shawcross herself seems fully alive this, observing in a recent interview that cycling policy should not only be about servicing
  
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• Past our peak: plants and a burgeoning problem with CO2

  12-10-2016 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The growing season has lengthened across the northern hemisphere, helping keep a lid on global warming - but for how much longer?In recent decades warmer temperatures have led to shorter winters, and in the UK the plant growing season is now a full month longer than it was in 1990. The same is true across much of the northern hemisphere, and this extra plant growth has helped to mop up atmospheric carbon dioxide and keep a lid on global warming. But no longer.Related: Let’s make Britain wi
  
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• Penguin Bloom: how a scruffy magpie saved a family

  12-10-2016 22:06 via theguardian.com
  
  Penguin Bloom is the story of an Australian family who rescued a ‘a tiny, scruffy, injured’ magpie chick they called Penguin. In caring for the newest member of their family, the Blooms – including mother Sam, who was herself coming to terms with paralysis after an accident – found that Penguin helped them to heal emotionally. Their story went viral on Instagram and has now been turned into a book, royalties from which will go to Spinal Cure Australia and Wings For Life i
  
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• How Google is using big data to protect the environment

  12-10-2016 21:27 via theguardian.com
  
  Google’s sustainability officer Kate Brandt outlines the company’s wide-range interest in sustainable fishing, green buildings and renewable energyFor many people, Google is simply the gateway to a vast archive of facts and memories. For those who pay closer attention to its business dealings, the company also invests billions to find new ways to use the power of computers: it’s developing robots, virtual reality gear and self-driving cars. Remember all the hubbub about Google
  
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• Oil down 1 percent; OPEC output climbs further amid cut pledges

  12-10-2016 21:05
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices settled 1 percent lower on Wednesday after OPEC reported its September oil output hit eight-year highs, offsetting optimism over the group's pledge to bring a global crude glut under control.
  
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• Putin says Rosneft buy of Bashneft gives impetus to privatisation

  12-10-2016 20:43
  By Oksana Kobzeva and Darya Korsunskaya MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian government's sale of a controlling stake in mid-sized oil firm Bashneft to the country's largest oil producer Rosneft should give momentum to Russia's privatisation drive, President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday. The Economy Ministry said that the government had completed the sale of the Bashneft stake to Kremlin-owned Rosneft for 329.69 billion roubles ($5.30 billion). Rosneft bought a 50.08 percent stake in Bashneft, Rus
  
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• While global methane emissions are up, study says fossil fuels not the culprit

  12-10-2016 20:26 via feedproxy.google.com
  A new study from NOAA, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration, puts a new twist on a tricky question about the impact of increased oil and gas production on greenhouse gas emissions. Scientists have detected increased rates of methane emissions globally since 2007. That uptick corresponds to the rapid boom in U.S. shale gas and shale oil production, and some hypothesized that the two could be connected. But it turns out that the correlation may not necessarily be a cause.
  
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• Butterfly decline is no surprise to bee-liners | Letters

  12-10-2016 20:26 via theguardian.com
  
  I read about the butterfly decline noticed by people all around the country, described by Patrick Barkham (Record low UK butterfly count is ‘a shock and mystery’, 10 October). I don’t find it so much of a mystery, having spent the summer planning for and walking from the Royal Botanical Gardens in Edinburgh on what we called a Bee Line.This initiative was triggered by a visit in September 2014 to our former farm on the edge of Salisbury Plain. When we moved there in the late 19
  
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• National Grid: two coal plants to get £77m to be on winter standby

  12-10-2016 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Eggborough and Fiddler’s Ferry will be ready to start up if needed, as part of plans to minimise electricity blackout riskTwo coal power plants will be paid a combined £77m to be on standby this winter as part of National Grid’s plan to minimise the risk of electricity blackouts.The size of the UK’s capacity margin – the buffer zone between available power supply and predicted peak demand – will be revealed on Friday when National Grid publishes its winter out
  
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• National Grid: two coal plants to get £77m to be on standby this winter

  12-10-2016 19:53 via theguardian.com
  
  Eggborough and Fiddler’s Ferry will be ready to start up if needed, as part of Grid’s plans to minimise electricity blackout riskTwo coal power plants will be paid a combined £77m to be on standby this winter as part of National Grid’s plan to minimise the risk of electricity blackouts.The Grid will this Friday reveal the size of the capacity margin – the buffer zone between available power supply and predicted peak demand – as it publishes its winter outlook.
  
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• Pew: Renewable energy enjoys wide support while fossil fuels divide national opinion

  12-10-2016 19:39 via feedproxy.google.com
  Pew Research's "Politics of Climate" survey is a mixed bag for energy industry watchers, revealing a solid chunk of Americans support expanded fossil fuel use, while almost everyone supports renewables."One spot of unity in an otherwise divided environmental policy landscape is that the vast majority of Americans support the concept of expanding both solar and wind power," the think tank said in a blog post. "The public is more closely divided when it comes to expanding fossil fuel energies such
  
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• Glencore hopes for Moroccan refinery restart to recoup money

  12-10-2016 19:11
  By Libby George and Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore , one of the main creditors of Morocco's sole refinery, still has hopes the idled plant will restart so lenders can gradually recoup their money, despite repeated failures to get it up and running. Glencore's global head of oil, Alex Beard, told the Reuters Commodities Summit that those involved in the court-ordered liquidation of refiner Samir were working towards restarting the Mohammedia refinery. "The liquidator in Morocco ... has t
  
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• ClientEarth: UK in breach of law over 'dangerously neglected' Climate Change Act

  12-10-2016 19:05
  
  The UK Government must "revive" the Climate Change Act or face the "real risk" of missing future carbon budgets, environmental law firm ClientEarth has claimed.
  
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• Fossil sheds light on evolution of birdsong

  12-10-2016 19:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists have reconstructed the "voicebox" of an extinct bird that lived at the time of the dinosaurs - and they say it honked or quacked like a duck.
  
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• Xavi Bou's photographs reveal flight paths of birds – in pictures

  12-10-2016 18:53 via theguardian.com
  
  The Spanish photographer Xavi Bou digitally combines sequential pictures of birds to create a single image, or chronophotograph, that reveals the shapes of their flight paths against Catalonian skies. His work shows the variety and beauty to be found in the daily activities of the local birds, including spiralling storks, swooping starlings and giddy swifts Continue reading...
  
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• Oil down 1 percent; OPEC output continues to climb amid cut pledges

  12-10-2016 18:30
  By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell about 1 percent on Wednesday after OPEC reported its September oil output at eight-year highs, offsetting optimism over the group's pledge to bring a global crude glut under control.
  
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• Russia says completes Bashneft sale to Rosneft for $5.3 billion

  12-10-2016 17:27
  The Russian government has completed the sale of a controlling stake in mid-sized oil producer Bashneft to the Kremlin-owned Rosneft for 329.69 billion roubles (4.32 billion pounds), the economy ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry, citing the minister, Alexei Ulyukayev, said Rosneft's bid was higher than a valuation of between 297 billion roubles and 315 billion roubles, while the unidentified second bidder offered a lower bid. President Vladimir Putin said earlier on Wednesday that Russia'
  
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• Journey to Mars, get dementia. All the more reason to stay here and fix Earth | Arwa Mahdawi

  12-10-2016 17:26 via theguardian.com
  
  We have many more pressing concerns here at home than a contest about who has the biggest rocketBad news if you were planning a winter vacation to Mars: new research has shown that the 225m km trip to the Red Planet won’t just give you bad jet lag – it’ll probably fry your brain. The study, published in Scientific Reports, has found that the levels of cosmic radiation travellers to Mars would be exposed to could lead to brain damage, anxiety and chronic dementia.This is somewha
  
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• OPEC tries to build momentum for global oil freeze

  12-10-2016 17:08
  By Rania El Gamal and Ron Bousso ISTANBUL (Reuters) - OPEC sought on Wednesday to build momentum for its plan to cap global oil production, saying it will extend invitations to more non-member producers after holding informal talks with Russia and Mexico in Istanbul. Representatives of OPEC and non-OPEC countries will hold a technical meeting on October 28-29 in Vienna to continue to discuss "a road map" towards an agreement, Qatar's Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada told reporters after the meet
  
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• Investors may be betting oil glut will end soon, but crude traders beg to differ

  12-10-2016 17:08
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Investors may have driven crude oil futures prices above $50 a barrel and amassed large bullish positions in expectations of further gains to come but their optimism isn’t shared by the people who produce, refine, ship or trade the real stuff on a daily basis. Global oil production has outpaced consumption since at least early 2015, with the current mismatch at about half a million barrels every day, according to data on Thomson Reuters’ Eik
  
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• On the line: call for Danish anglers to help catch escaped trout

  12-10-2016 17:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Up to 80,000 rainbow trout enter open sea after ship rams aquafarm, raising concerns farmed fish may eat eggs of wild sea trout
  Christmas has come early for Denmark’s anglers: up to 80,000 rainbow trout have escaped into the open sea after a cargo ship rammed a fish farm, a local broadcaster has reported, prompting urgent calls for help to catch them.TV2/FYN said the trout, worth up to DKr 10m (£1.2m), swam off on Tuesday when a freighter heading from Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea to
  
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• Fund manager Andurand sees $60 oil and above 'because Saudis want it'

  12-10-2016 17:00
  (Reuters) - Energy hedge fund manager Pierre Andurand said crude oil could hit $60 a barrel by the end of the year and $70 by summer 2017 as Saudi Arabia wants higher oil prices and will make it happen. "Market participants are getting lost in monitoring how much each individual country is going to cut," Andurand wrote in the latest letter of his eponymous hedge fund that manages $1.4 billion (1.14 billion pounds), referring to Saudi plans to get OPEC and other oil producers to reduce output to
  
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• Can an upcycling expert transform my junk?

  12-10-2016 15:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Max McMurdo has made a ​career out of turning household ​tat into chic new forms. But can his creations match his talk? We put him to the test
  Max McMurdo stands on the doorstep surrounded by toolboxes, neat as a pin. A professional upcycler, he has offered to convert my worst bits of household junk into brilliant new forms. It’s hardly surprising that he is smiling: upcycling is a form of recreational optimism. The whole pursuit is underpinned by the belief that no t
  
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• OPEC points to larger 2017 oil surplus despite deal to cut

  12-10-2016 15:00
  By Alex Lawler LONDON (Reuters) - OPEC reported a increase in its oil production in September to the highest in at least eight years and raised its forecast for 2017 non-OPEC supply growth, pointing to a larger surplus next year despite the group's deal to cut output. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 33.39 million barrels per day (bpd) last month, according to figures OPEC collects from secondary sources, up 220,000 bpd from August, OPEC said in a monthly report on We
  
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• Virus stole poison genes from black widow spider

  12-10-2016 14:28 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A virus stole the gene coding for the poison of black widow spiders, scientists have found.
  
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• Airlines to Test Alternative Fuel

  12-10-2016 13:35 via feedproxy.google.com
  As the world turns its attention to addressing global warming, the airline industry, too, is researching ways to do its part and lower greenhouse gas emissions. One option is investing more into the development and integration of alternative fuels. Biofuels made from vegetable oil, corn and even household garbage are all very real possibilities.
  
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• Glencore pursues more deals with Libya, Iran to beat tough trading year

  12-10-2016 13:12
  By Ahmad Ghaddar and Julia Payne LONDON (Reuters) - Glencore is seeking to increase oil trading with Libya, Iran and Iraq to beat what looks to be a much tougher trading environment compared with last year, Glencore's global head of oil Alex Beard told the Reuters Commodities Summit. Crude trading in places such as Libya or Iraqi Kurdistan have been the cornerstone of trading activities for many trading houses in the past few years, generating good returns when oil majors were hesitant to enter
  
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• Demand response offers 'positive PR' for business energy management

  12-10-2016 13:02
  
  The author of a new report which investigates the benefits of using demand-response measures to strengthen Britain's energy system has told edie that businesses can "quite easily" use the technology to reduce energy bills and improve green credentials.
  
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• TripAdvisor bans ticket sales to attractions that allow contact with wild animals

  12-10-2016 12:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Animal welfare groups laud step by travel giant but concerns remain that it is not going far enough to counter cruel practices and exploitation by tourism businessesIt’s an experience that has become one of those “must do before you die” moments: to swim with a large marine mammal. You reach out and stroke. So does everyone else. Then someone tries to hitch a ride.Now internet giant TripAdvisor is launching a “no touching of wild animals” policy, whereby it will no
  
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• Big oil traders doubt OPEC deal will bring heavy supply cuts

  12-10-2016 12:47
  OPEC's deal to cut oil production is unlikely to result in a substantial reduction in actual supplies, some of the world's biggest oil trading companies said on Wednesday, meaning the market is unlikely to rebalance until well into 2017. The price of crude oil has stabilised around $50 a barrel since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed the output deal on Sept. 28, but rising production from Libya and Nigeria -- both members of the producer group -- casts doubt over the a
  
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• Waste management industry unites to develop 'first ever' National Recycling Guidelines

  12-10-2016 12:30
  
  Britain's rising recycling contamination levels could be pulled back on track thanks to a new set of guidelines developed by the waste management industry which detail exactly what can and cannot be accepted for recycling at the kerbside.
  
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• Potential oil output deal prompts another worry: a shortage

  12-10-2016 12:08
  By Ron Bousso ISTANBUL (Reuters) - While OPEC and other big crude producers work towards a deal to cap production to erode a glut, industry executives are concerned the sharp drop in investment that followed the oil price crash could lead to another crisis - a supply shortage. Over $1 trillion (£0.82 trillion) worth of oil projects have been cancelled or delayed, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said on Monday at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, after companies slashed budgets d
  
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• Yasuni Man trailer: an Amazonian tribe threatened by oil drilling - video

  12-10-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Biologist Ryan Killackey filmed for seven years in order to create an account of a remote forest community under pressure from US and Chinese oil companies. The result was Yasuni Man, which focuses on the Yasuni biosphere reserve in Ecuador. The ITT Initiative, which would have protected the Ishpingo, Tambococha and Tiputini regions, was killed off by President Rafael Correa in 2013. This month, the first oil from the Yasuni fields is due to be pumped up by a Chinese company and piped to custome
  
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• Yasuni Man film is an intimate portrait of a beautiful land under siege for its oil

  12-10-2016 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  US biologist Ryan Killackey spent seven years filming a polemical account of a remote forest community under pressure from US and Chinese oil companiesWatching a film-maker use tweezers to extract wriggling, inch-long Amazonian parasites from his bloody leg would normally rank among the more stomach-churning of cinematic experiences, but it is a mere sideshow in a new documentary that shows Ecuador’s most famous nature reserve faces far graver threats than it poses.Over the past seven year
  
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• Investors warn car industry over climate change

  12-10-2016 11:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Car manufacturers told they must address climate change by switching to low-emission models − or face a sell-off of their shares, reports Climate News NetworkMajor investors have warned the automotive industry it needs to accelerate its readiness for a low-carbon world if it is to retain their support and prosper.Vehicle makers must put climate change specialists on their boards, engage better with policy-makers, and invest more heavily in low-emission cars, says a network of 250 global in
  
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• Oil edges up on record Indian imports, hopes of output caps

  12-10-2016 11:01
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Wednesday, supported by record Indian crude imports and talks between OPEC producers and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the global market. Global benchmark oil futures, the Brent and U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) contracts, have both risen more than 10 percent since the end of September on prospects major crude producers would freeze or cut production to stem an oversupply in the market. U.S. West Texas Int
  
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• WHY IT MATTERS: Energy

  12-10-2016 10:02
  
  WASHINGTON (AP) — THE ISSUE: Energy independence has been a goal of every president since Richard Nixon. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have very different ways to achieve it. How energy is produced and where it comes from affect jobs, the economy and the environment.
  
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• Barclays supports 'disruptors of tomorrow' with green innovation scale-up scheme

  12-10-2016 10:00
  
  Hydrogen vehicle pioneer Riversimple, London's first subterranean farming concept Growing Underground and tree-planting drone developer BioCarbon Engineering are among 10 British green business start-ups that look set to undergo a period of intensive scale-up after taking part in a new accelerator scheme launched by Barclays Bank.
  
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• Ikea and McDonald's go 'all-in' for sustainable coffee

  12-10-2016 09:45
  
  Furniture retailer Ikea and fast food business McDonald's have both announced fresh commitments to sell coffee from certified-sustainable sources.
  
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• Oil edges up on record Indian imports, hopes of producer cut

  12-10-2016 08:59
  By Aaron Sheldrick TOKYO (Reuters) - Oil prices edged up on Wednesday, supported by record Indian crude imports and upcoming talks between OPEC producers and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the global market. Brent crude futures were up 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, at $52.62 a barrel at 0639 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were up 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement at $50.94 per barrel.
  
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• The importance of urban forests: why money really does grow on trees

  12-10-2016 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Mature trees clean air, lower stress, boost happiness, reduce flood risk – and even save municipal money. So why are they cut down when cities develop – and how should the UN’s new urban agenda protect them?
  The skyline along Manhattan’s Upper Fifth Avenue, where it flanks Central Park, is dominated by vast, verdant clouds of American elm trees. Their high-arched branches and luminous green canopies form – as historian Jill Jones puts it – “a beautiful c
  
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• Queensland can reach its 50% renewables target by 2030, say experts

  12-10-2016 08:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Panel says there are three ‘credible’ ways to hit target but ‘significant government policy action’ neededQueensland has three “credible” options to achieve a 50% renewable energy target by 2030, a panel of experts said.A draft report by the state’s independent renewable energy expert panel said “significant government policy action” would be needed for Australia’s biggest carbon polluting state to reach the target. Continue reading...
  
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• Shark attack at Ballina: beaches closed after surfer bitten

  12-10-2016 07:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Sixth attack in 21 months persuades the premier, Mike Baird, to lobby federal government to install shark nets on north coast beachesAll beaches in Ballina on the New South Wales north coast are closed after a man was bitten by a shark while surfing, the sixth attack in 21 months in the area.The attack has caused a backdown from the premier, Mike Baird, who has resisted the idea of shark nets on north coast beaches has now announced he will lobby for them to be installed. Continue reading...
  
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• Hundreds of jellyfish invade New Zealand coastline

  12-10-2016 07:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Warmer sea temperatures possible reason for mass jellyfish landings on beaches from Nelson in the south island to Whangarei in the far northThousands of kilometres of New Zealand coastline have been invaded by giant jellyfish, a phenomenon that has been linked to warmer sea temperatures.In the last month mass jellyfish landings have been reported on beaches from Nelson in the south island to Whangarei in the top of the north island. Continue reading...
  
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• Blood and bandages: a healer in the hedgerow

  12-10-2016 06:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Even though the woundwort has lost its place in the pharmacy, bees visit these late flowers for the nectar tucked inside themWoundwort grows from a hedge as if to mark some hurt, not to heal so much as to witness it. Hedge woundwort, Stachys sylvatica, belongs to the betony, horehounds and catmint of the waysides. It has small tight whorls of “blood and bandages” flowers – purply red clasps with white markings – nettle-like leaves and a hairy stem
  
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• Japan's JBIC says cautious on lending to resource sector

  12-10-2016 05:00
  By Yoshifumi Takemoto TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), a major backer of mining and energy projects for Japanese companies, said it will be cautious on lending to the resources sector despite a rally in commodity prices this year. With oil prices surging around 40 percent in 2016 and coal up by more than 50 percent, many argue that a slump in commodities since the global financial crisis is over.
  
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• Oil edges up before producer talks on output curbs

  12-10-2016 02:35
  Crude futures inched up on Wednesday, with investors waiting for talks between OPEC producers and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the global market. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude had gained 3 cents to $50.82 a barrel. Oil has rallied more than 13 percent in less than two weeks since OPEC proposed its first production curbs in eight years.
  
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• Hillary Clinton urges Florida voters not to elect 'climate change denier' Trump

  12-10-2016 00:44 via theguardian.com
  
  In a joint address in Miami, Clinton and former vice-president Al Gore hammered the Republican nominee for his belief that global warming is a hoaxHillary Clinton used the global climate crisis as a weapon for another assault on Donald Trump on Tuesday, enlisting the help of her husband’s former vice-president Al Gore to urge America’s voters not to risk sending a “climate change denier” to the White House.In a joint address in Miami, Clinton and Gore repeatedly hammered
  
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