Environment news

• Raw footage of mass arrests at North Dakota pipeline protest – video

  25-10-2016 22:49 via theguardian.com
  
  Police arrested more than 120 people at a Native American oil pipeline protest at the Standing Rock reservation, including Sara Lafleur-Vetter, the journalist and film-maker who captured this video. Protesters say the proposed oil pipeline threatens the Standing Rock reservation’s water supply and cultural heritage Continue reading...
  
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• Iraqi leaders lobby OPEC's Barkindo for an oil output cut exemption

  25-10-2016 22:11
  By Maher Chmaytelli and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq told a top OPEC official on Tuesday it was ready to cooperate in reaching a deal on supply cuts to support oil prices as long as it kept its output at near current levels. "We are prepared to cooperate on the correct basis," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, commenting on the visit by OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo to Baghdad. "We stress the need to exempt Iraq from any agreement that would lower its production," said a st
  
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• Oil down; U.S. crude settles below $50 on stockpile concerns

  25-10-2016 21:43
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Tuesday, with U.S. crude settling below $50 per barrel for the first time in a week ahead of data likely to show a build in domestic inventories. Producers' verbal jockeying about the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) planned output cut weighed further on the market, analysts said, noting Iraq's resistance to the plan and its rising output for October. Trade group American Petroleum Institute will is
  
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• UCI and NASA document accelerated glacier melting in West Antarctica

  25-10-2016 21:12 via feedproxy.google.com
  Two new studies by researchers at the University of California, Irvine and NASA have found the fastest ongoing rates of glacier retreat ever observed in West Antarctica and offer an unprecedented look at ice melting on the floating undersides of glaciers. The results highlight how the interaction between ocean conditions and the bedrock beneath a glacier can influence the frozen mass, helping scientists better predict future Antarctica ice loss and global sea level rise.The studies examined thre
  
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• Saipem cuts more jobs as crisis drags on

  25-10-2016 20:53
  By Stephen Jewkes and Giancarlo Navach MILAN (Reuters) - Italian oil contractor Saipem will cut 800 more jobs across Europe in the next four years as part of a plan to cope with a prolonged market crisis that will trim revenues next year. Oil service companies around the world are finding business tough as weak crude prices force oil majors to cut billions of dollars in costs. "The outlook remains uncertain ... meaningful market recovery is now delayed to 2017 and beyond," Saipem CEO Stefano Cao
  
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• Better water splitting advances renewable energy conversion

  25-10-2016 20:45 via feedproxy.google.com
  Washington State University researchers have found a way to more efficiently create hydrogen from water – an important key in making renewable energy production and storage viable.The researchers, led by professors Yuehe Lin and Scott Beckman in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, have developed a catalyst from low cost materials. It performs as well as or better than catalysts made from precious metals that are used for the process.
  
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• The Guardian view on Heathrow’s third runway: climate loses out to growth | Editorial

  25-10-2016 20:43 via theguardian.com
  
  The decision is taken, but enacting it will be a fight between old-fashioned economics and the future of the planetIt is a sign of the British political world’s current priorities that Theresa May has finally made the decision to opt for a third runway at Heathrow. She promised it was a decision for “jobs and growth”, both of which may be scarcer in the post-Brexit era in which the new runway will come into service. Pumping hope into the economy is now considered worth alienati
  
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• Heathrow promises immediate boost after runway go-ahead

  25-10-2016 20:43 via theguardian.com
  
  As Chris Grayling makes assurances on fares, jobs and UK-wide benefits, runway opponents say their battle has just begunHeathrow has promised an immediate economic boost from the government’s go-ahead for a third runway by letting new contracts related to the £17.6bn project within a fortnight.However, airlines questioned whether the airport could be expanded without raising fares for passengers as the cost is likely to be passed on to carriers and their customers.Continue reading...
  
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• Alaska seal can be protected based on future climate threat, court says

  25-10-2016 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Ruling over species’ ‘threatened’ status could set key precedent as animals face changing environments in projections to end of centurySpecies can be listed as “threatened” and receive protection based on climate change projections that stretch until the end of the century, a federal appeals court has ruled, in a decision that could have major implications for the fate of animals as their environment rapidly changes.A three-judge panel at the US ninth circuit court
  
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• Australia's coal seam gas emissions may be vastly underestimated – report

  25-10-2016 19:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Report says industry’s true carbon emissions could easily amount to twice the emissions Australia promised to cut by 2030The coal-seam-gas industry could be vastly underestimating its emissions, jeopardising Australia’s commitments made at Paris and swamping any benefits gas has over coal, according to a landmark report by the Melbourne Energy Institute, commissioned by The Australia Institute.The report found the industry’s true emissions could easily amount to twice the emiss
  
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• Oil down; U.S. crude below $50 ahead of inventory data

  25-10-2016 19:23
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell more than 1 percent on Tuesday, with U.S. crude breaking below $50 per barrel for a second straight day ahead of weekly data that could show a build in domestic inventories. Producers' verbal jockeying about the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' (OPEC) planned output cut weighed further on the market, analysts said, noting Iraq's resistance to the plan and its rising output for October. Brent crude futures fell 64 cents, or 1.2 p
  
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• Renewable energy capacity overtakes coal

  25-10-2016 19:18 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The International Energy Agency says that the world's capacity to generate electricity from renewable sources has now overtaken coal.
  
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• US funding new soldiers in wildlife trafficking war: giant rats

  25-10-2016 19:13 via theguardian.com
  
  Elite rat team to begin by spotting illegal shipments of pangolins, the world’s most trafficked animal, at ports in TanzaniaThe US government will fund the training of a team of giant rats to combat illegal wildlife trafficking in Africa.An elite group of African giant pouched rats will be used at ports, initially in Tanzania, to detect illegal shipments of pangolins – the world’s most trafficked animal, which has been pushed towards extinction due to the trade in its scales an
  
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• Iraq says prepared to cooperate with OPEC on 'correct basis'

  25-10-2016 19:11
  By Maher Chmaytelli and Saif Hameed BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq told a top OPEC official on Tuesday it was ready to cooperate in reaching a deal on supply cuts to support oil prices as long as it kept its output at near current levels. "We are prepared to cooperate on the correct basis," Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said, commenting on the visit by OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo to Baghdad. Barkindo, who is trying to cement an accord on supply cuts that would support sagging oil prices,
  
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• Leadsom admits uncertainty over post-Brexit environmental laws

  25-10-2016 18:57
  
  Andrea Leadsom has today (25 October) confirmed that the majority of European Union (EU) environmental legislation will be transferred across into UK law in the immediate aftermath of Brexit, but uncertainty looms for around a third of green regulations which the Defra Sectretary admitted "won't be easy to transpose".
  
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• UK regulator seeks to spur North Sea oil firms into working harder

  25-10-2016 18:04
  By Karolin Schaps ABERDEEN, Scotland (Reuters) - The head of Britain's new oil regulator, Andy Samuel, told oil industry executives on Tuesday he would not hold back using new powers to fine companies or even revoke their licences if he thinks they are too slow in squeezing more oil out of North Sea fields. Samuel, chief executive of the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA) which officially became a government company earlier this month, is tasked with setting the right regulatory framework to encourage
  
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• Jo Johnson and Martyn Poliakoff perform scientific test

  25-10-2016 17:57 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Science Minister Jo Johnson and Prof Martyn Poliakoff mix politics and science to look at carbon dioxide and the acidification of oceans.
  
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• Ireland joins queue to prise industry watchdogs from London after Brexit

  25-10-2016 17:12
  Ireland put itself forward on Tuesday as the latest candidate to lure the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Banking Authority (EBA) should they uproot from London after Britain's vote to leave the European Union. Ireland's economy is considered to have more to lose from Brexit than any other in the EU because of its close trade ties, but it could also benefit from the relocation of agencies such as the EMA or EBA as well as multinationals and banks. The country's low tax and busin
  
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• Saturn's weird hexagon changes colour

  25-10-2016 16:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The mysterious hexagon at Saturn's northern pole has changed colour from blue to gold, scientists have said.
  
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• New innovation hub aims to commercialise closed-loop CO2 feedstock

  25-10-2016 16:54
  
  A new open innovation programme was officially launched this week (24 October) that could see around 10% of global emissions funneled into a CO2 recycling initiative that aims to replace petroleum as a feedstock in the plastic manufacturing process.
  
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• Can Mauritius prevent its vulnerable wildlife going the way of the dodo?

  25-10-2016 16:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Mauritius is a spectacular island, but development, farming and the encroachment of non-native species of flora and fauna are threatening its wildlifeThe plane turns and banks as it comes into land; the island below is a lush deep green. Fingers of rock - the now solidified cores of ancient volcanoes – emerge from patches of forest, themselves set amidst a sea of sugar cane that almost encircles the land between the coast and the villages of the central plateau. I catch a glimpse of the so
  
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• The Methane Riddle: What Is Causing the Rise in Emissions?

  25-10-2016 16:34 via feedproxy.google.com
  The stomachs of cattle, fermentation in rice fields, fracking for natural gas, coal mines, festering bogs, burning forests — they all produce methane, the second most important greenhouse gas, after carbon dioxide. But how much? And how can we best cut these emissions? And is fracking frying the planet, or are bovine emissions more to blame? 
  
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• Oil nudges down ahead of U.S. data; OPEC jostling weighs

  25-10-2016 16:13
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices nudged down in late European trade on Tuesday, retreating from positive territory as traders digested a flurry of comments from OPEC states about the prospects of an output cut and ahead of U.S. crude inventory data. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell by 4 cents to $50.48 a barrel. Analysts said that oil would trade in a range ahead of crude oil inventory data from the American Petroleum Institute, due at 2030 GMT, followed by o
  
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• Boris Johnson: Heathrow third runway is 'undeliverable' – video

  25-10-2016 16:04 via theguardian.com
  
  Speaking on Tuesday, Boris Johnson, the UK foreign secretary, comments on the decision to build a third runway at Heathrow and says the project is ‘undeliverable’. Johnson adds that no other world city would dream of pursuing a similar project and create more noise pollution for its its suburban residentsHeathrow expansion: Zac Goldsmith to resign over third runway decision - liveContinue reading...
  
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• Backyard battery recycling is biggest chemical polluter for poorer nations

  25-10-2016 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Report finds mining, leather tanning, rubbish dumps and the dye industry among the most polluting industries harming health and causing early death The backyard recycling of lead-acid car batteries is the number one source of chemical pollution in the world’s poorer nations and leads to millions of years of healthy life being lost, according to a new report.The World’s Worst Pollution Problems, published by NGOs Pure Earth and Green Cross Switzerland on Tuesday, reveals the top 10 mo
  
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• Businesses must address 'internal disconnect' to deliver sustainability success

  25-10-2016 15:45
  
  Sustainability and investor agendas are becoming increasingly intertwined, but gaps in knowledge and understanding are preventing companies and investors from sharpening their focus on long-term sustainable value creation, a new report has found.
  
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• 'We feel betrayed': Harmondsworth residents furious at Heathrow decision

  25-10-2016 15:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Six years after Cameron vowed no third runway, people in village set for part-demolition angry government now backs airport’s expansionIn Harmondsworth, one of the villages scheduled to be partly or wholly demolished to make way for Heathrow’s third runway, there was little shock but considerable distress and anger when the government’s decision was confirmed.Neil Keveren, whose house will face the boundary fence of the new runway, said residents felt “betrayed” six
  
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• Deal or no deal in Vienna, oil investors are preparing for higher prices

  25-10-2016 15:07
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - The chance of an agreement to freeze or cut crude output when OPEC members meet next month might appear more distant now Iraq has joined those asking for an exemption, but investors are ramping up their bets that oil prices will rally. The price of oil has this month risen to its highest so far this year, having gained more than 10 percent in the four weeks since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut production and rein excess glo
  
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• Wildlife Farming: Does It Help Or Hurt Threatened Species?

  25-10-2016 14:16 via feedproxy.google.com
  More than a decade ago, looking to slow the decimation of wildlife populations for the bushmeat trade, researchers in West Africa sought to establish an alternative protein supply. Brush-tailed porcupine was one of the most popular and high-priced meats, in rural and urban areas alike. Why not farm it? It turned out that the porcupines are generally solitary, and when put together, they tended to fight and didn't have sex. In any case, moms produce only one offspring per birth, hardly a recipe f
  
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• Globally Averaged CO2 Levels Reach 400 parts per million in 2015

  25-10-2016 14:11 via feedproxy.google.com
  Globally averaged concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached the symbolic and significant milestone of 400 parts per million for the first time in 2015 and surged again to new records in 2016 on the back of the very powerful El Niño event, according to the World Meteorological Organization's annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin.
  
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• Iraq seeks OPEC deal that would preserve oil output

  25-10-2016 14:03
  Iraq told a top OPEC official on Tuesday of its hope that the group could reach a deal to lift oil prices while preserving its own output level, a spokesman of the oil ministry said. Iraqi Oil Minister Jabar al-Luaibi and OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo, who is trying to bring about an agreement on supply cuts that would support sagging prices, met in Baghdad ahead of the cartel's meeting on Nov. 30. "The minister expressed support for the efforts of the secretary general ... and optimi
  
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• The banana as we know it is in imminent danger

  25-10-2016 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  A genetic clone, the Cavendish banana that stocks supermarket shelves could easily be wiped out by disease. Science offers hope of a sustainable approachThe banana is the world’s most popular fruit crop, with over 100m metric tons produced annually in over 130 tropical and subtropical countries. Edible bananas are the result of a genetic accident in nature that created the seedless fruit we enjoy today. Virtually all the bananas sold across the western world belong to the so-called Cavendi
  
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• Could living near a noisy road increase your risk of high blood pressure?

  25-10-2016 14:00
  
  Scientists suggest noise pollution could affect heart health.
  
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• The decision to back a third runway at Heathrow is a grotesque folly | John Sauven

  25-10-2016 13:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Business flights are declining, CO2 levels are climbing, and the cost of expansion is staggering. Only shameless cynicism can explain this outcomeThe government’s decision to back a third runway at Heathrow has been informed by a mishmash of misinformation and missing information. To take just one example, business flights are in decline. They’ve been in decline for years. And yet the debate is conducted as though they were not only increasing, but increasing at a rate that our curre
  
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• IEA 'significantly' increases renewables forecast

  25-10-2016 13:52
  
  Having previously been accused of "holding back the global energy transition" through "misleading" outlooks for the growth of clean energy, the International Energy Association (IEA) has today (25 October) "significantly" increased its five-year growth forecast for renewables.
  
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• 'Climate-wrecking' Heathrow Airport expansion approved by Government

  25-10-2016 13:45
  
  BREAKING: The long-anticipated expansion of London's Heathrow Airport has been approved by Government ministers - a decision that has been lambasted by green groups and environmental campaigners for its potential impact on Britain's air quality and emissions.
  
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• Chris Grayling: Heathrow expansion the right decision for Britain – video

  25-10-2016 13:31 via theguardian.com
  
  The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, praises the approved expansion of Heathrow airport on Tuesday. Grayling says the move shows that, following the Brexit referendum, the UK remains open for business, adding that the committee thought long and hard about the decision before settled on a third runway at Heathrow. He adds that Heathrow’s third runway is best for the whole country and offers another step ‘that works for everyone’ Heathrow expansion decision condemned by senio
  
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• Heathrow expansion: Zac Goldsmith to resign over third runway decision - live

  25-10-2016 13:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Decision will trigger tricky by-election for ConservativesQ&A: airport expansion in London – what will happen next 12.29pm BSTSomewhat incredibly, the government has suggested the third runway at Heathrow would help reduce carbon emissions:Gotta admire the chutzpah of a government that spins a third runway at Heathrow as good news for carbon emissions https://t.co/jAA7ADARkp pic.twitter.com/keT3w1vHOJGovernment also concludes expanded Heathrow will meet legal air pollution limits, due
  
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• Dirty old town: 40% of fly-tipping takes place in London, data for England shows

  25-10-2016 13:24 via theguardian.com
  
  The capital accounts for 40% of illegal dumping in England, with next nine largest cities recording a further 12%, according to data from DefraAnimal carcasses and armchairs, bathtubs and boilers … and more than 200,000 instances involving black bags of rubbish – fly-tipping is on the rise again across England, costing its 10 biggest cities more than £32m in cleanup and enforcement costs in 2014/15. Over that period there were 16 dumping incidents recorded per 1,000 population
  
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• Heathrow airport expansion gets government approval

  25-10-2016 13:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Transport secretary hails ‘truly momentous’ move but widespread protests and legal challenges are expected to follow decisionA third runway is to be built at Heathrow, the government has decided, paving the way for hundreds of thousands more flights a year at the airport in west London.In a long-awaited response, ministers have endorsed the recommendation of the Airports Commission to expand Heathrow rather than Gatwick airport, which had hoped to build a second runway.Continue readi
  
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• Oil edges up ahead of U.S. data, OPEC jostling caps gains

  25-10-2016 13:12
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged up on Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. crude inventory data, which in recent weeks has provided bullish surprises, but comments by OPEC members regarding chances of an output cut kept a lid on prices. Brent crude oil futures was up 21 cents at $51.67 per barrel by 1100 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures turned positive, gaining 30 cents to $50.82.
  
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• Hacked emails reveal plan to counter Rupert Murdoch's climate denial

  25-10-2016 13:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Emails sent to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta reveal $3m campaign aimed to put media mogul ‘on the defensive’ and help conservative politicians support global warming action
  A well-funded international campaign to counter the influence of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire on climate change has been planned, emails to Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman reveal.The plan to use “guerilla tactics”, civil disobedience and targeted advertising ap
  
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• Local residents on Heathrow's third runway: 'Kids love the planes'

  25-10-2016 12:55 via theguardian.com
  
  People living in Harmondsworth, Sipson and Harlington share their views on how they will be affectedHeathrow will get a third runway after the government gave the go ahead on Tuesday, paving the way for hundreds of thousands more flights a year at the airport in west London.In a long-awaited response, ministers have endorsed the recommendation of the Airports Commission to expand Heathrow rather than Gatwick airport, which had hoped to build a second runway. The move comes six years after the Co
  
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• Local residents on Heathrow's third runway: 'I would lose my house, community and friends'

  25-10-2016 12:55 via theguardian.com
  
  People living in Harmondsworth, Sipson and Harlington share their views on how they will be affectedHeathrow will get a third runway after the government gave the go ahead on Tuesday, paving the way for hundreds of thousands more flights a year at the airport in west London.In a long-awaited response, ministers have endorsed the recommendation of the Airports Commission to expand Heathrow rather than Gatwick airport, which had hoped to build a second runway. The move comes six years after the Co
  
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• Heathrow or Gatwick? Airport expansion decision day – politics live

  25-10-2016 11:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Government to give green light to a third runway at Heathrow, extending an existing runway at the same airport, or a second runway at GatwickQ&A: airport expansion in London – what will happen next 10.51am BSTLooks like we’re going to be kept waiting for transport secretary Chris Grayling’s official confirmation of the decision...And lo the delays begin. Heathrow statement in Commons delayed for Urgent Question 10.43am BSTLib Dems are protesting outside Downing Street again
  
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• Sunni Arabs forced to leave Kirkuk after Islamic State attack, residents say

  25-10-2016 11:36
  Hundreds of displaced Sunni Arab families have had to leave Kirkuk after an Islamic State attack on the Kurdish-controlled city which authorities suspect was helped by Sunni sleeper cells, humanitarian workers and residents said on Tuesday. The Sunni families, who had been sheltering in Kurdish-controlled Kirkuk province from the conflict with Islamic State, began moving out after authorities told them on Sunday to leave or face being forcibly expelled, the sources said. About 330,000 Sunni Arab
  
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• Oil edges up ahead of U.S. data, OPEC squabbles cap gains

  25-10-2016 11:25
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil edged up on Tuesday ahead of the release of U.S. crude inventory data, which in recent weeks has provided bullish surprises, but a flurry of top-level comments from OPEC members regarding chances of an output cut kept a lid on prices. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures turned positive, gaining 37 cents to $50.89 a barrel, after being negative throughout much of Asia trading. The private American Petroleum Institute is due to publish its wee
  
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• Whaling nations block South Atlantic sanctuary plans

  25-10-2016 10:50 via theguardian.com
  
  Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoisesJapan and other pro-whaling nations have defeated a proposal to create an sanctuary for whales in the South Atlantic. The push to create the protected area during a biennial meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) was defeated after 38 countries voted yes and 24 against, as proposals at the conference require 75% of votes to pass. Two abstain
  
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