Environment news

• Dakota Access pipeline company and Donald Trump have close financial ties

  26-10-2016 22:38
  
  Trump’s financial disclosure forms show he invested in Energy Transfer Partners, operators of the controversial pipeline, and its CEO donated to his campaignSupport our fearless, independent journalism with a contribution or by becoming a memberDonald Trump’s close financial ties to Energy Transfer Partners, operators of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, have been laid bare, with the presidential candidate invested in the company and receiving more than $100,000 in campai
  
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• Death cap mushrooms – killer on the forest floor

  26-10-2016 22:30
  
  These fungi are reported to taste quite pleasant, and symptoms of poisoning may not appear for up to 24 hoursThis is the season for mushrooms, but there’s one particular menace this autumn: the death cap mushroom. Amanita phalloides is Britain’s deadliest mushroom and it’s been reported in unusually large numbers in the run of mild, damp weather. Related: Free-for-all by wild mushroom pickers puts woodland habitats at riskContinue reading...
  
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• Alan Jones-backed reef group must condemn climate deniers, say scientists

  26-10-2016 22:12
  
  Citizens of the Great Barrier Reef must accept that climate change is damaging the reef, say Climate Council chief and university expert Scientists and conservationists have called for a purportedly pro-environmental group supporting the Great Barrier Reef to distance itself from climate deniers, after the broadcaster Alan Jones launched the group and said the reef was “fine” and that climate change was a “hoax”.The calls come as details emerged regarding links between th
  
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• Air pollution linked to blood vessel damage in healthy young adults

  26-10-2016 22:06 via feedproxy.google.com
  Fine particulate matter air pollution may be associated with blood vessel damage and inflammation among young, healthy adults, according to new research in Circulation Research, an American Heart Association journal.“These results substantially expand our understanding about how air pollution contributes to cardiovascular disease by showing that exposure is associated with a cascade of adverse effects,” said C. Arden Pope, Ph.D., study lead author and Mary Lou Ful
  
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• You are not watching a live feed from space

  26-10-2016 20:51 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Misleading "live" video from the International Space Station stuns the internet.
  
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• Heathrow third runway: public bill up to £10bn hidden, says Tory MP

  26-10-2016 20:46
  
  Former transport minister Stephen Hammond urges government to ‘come clean’ over probable bill to taxpayersThe true cost of Heathrow airport expansion to the taxpayer is not being divulged by the government, according to a Conservative former transport minister, who said ministers needed to “come clean” over the probable £5bn-£10bn public cost for road and rail links.Tory MP Stephen Hammond raised his concerns as it emerged that Heathrow executives would get mi
  
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• Oil down 1 percent on OPEC worry, offsetting U.S. inventory fall

  26-10-2016 20:32
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday even after a surprise drawdown in U.S. crude inventories, as traders remained cautious that OPEC would be able to cut production come late November. U.S. crude stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, compared with the 1.7 million-barrel build analysts polled by Reuters forecast. Crude inventories in the world's largest oil producer have fallen unexpectedly in seve
  
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• Britain’s contribution to global poverty | Letters

  26-10-2016 19:41
  
  Priti Patel, the international development secretary, demands better “value for money” and greater accountability and transparency in UK aid spending (Report, 26 October). It’s time to start applying these principles to the full extent of the UK’s role in global poverty. Whether through enabling tax-dodging, the actions of our corporations, or our contributions to climate change, the UK causes far more poverty in the world than its aid budget can ever compensate for.In 20
  
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• Oregon weighs whether all kids should get outdoor education

  26-10-2016 19:39
  MOUNT HOOD NATIONAL FOREST, Ore. (AP) — Each year, thousands of Oregon parents hug their kids goodbye and send them tramping into the wilderness for up to a week to learn about their state's natural wonders.
  
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• Climate change tipping points are not just symbolic | Letters

  26-10-2016 19:39
  
  This symbolic threshold (Carbon dioxide levels bring climate change into a ‘new era’, 25 October) is one of many very real tipping points the world will experience on a path of climate change due to human effects. The tipping points we should also be paying attention to are the mass extinctions, global warming, melting ice and complete habitat changes we are currently seeing worldwide. Soon we will recognise these not as symbolic thresholds but more as points of no return. The P
  
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• Heathrow expansion is good for business – but not for most of us | Brief letters

  26-10-2016 19:38
  
  Benefit cuts | Third runway | Landlines | Charity shops | Football numbersBoth Aditya Chakrabortty (Opinion, 26 October) and Ken Loach in his film I, Daniel Blake highlight the horrors created by the destruction of social security by austerity and bureaucracy. However, they are in danger of recreating the pernicious distinction between the deserving and undeserving poor. Homelessness, unemployment, ill-health, sanctions and the denial of benefits make some people angry, uncooperative a
  
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• HIV Patient Zero cleared by science

  26-10-2016 19:00 via bbc.co.uk
  
  One of the most demonised patients in history - Gaetan Dugas - has been convincingly cleared of reports he spread HIV to the US, say scientists.
  
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• Oil down one percent on OPEC worries despite bounce on U.S. draw

  26-10-2016 18:53
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil fell 1 percent on Wednesday on growing doubts that OPEC would cut production enough to drain a global glut, although prices bounced off session lows, with Brent returning above $50 a barrel after the U.S. government reported a surprise drawdown in crude inventories. U.S. crude stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels last week, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said, a result contrary to the 1.7 million-barrel build that analysts polled by Reuters had
  
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• Dong Energy considers sale of oil and gas assets to focus on windfarms

  26-10-2016 18:29
  
  Sale could help Danish company enhance position as leading exponent of wind power in UKThe biggest windfarm operator in the UK is considering selling its oil and gas business, four decades after it was set up to manage Denmark’s North Sea oilfields.Dong Energy, which is majority owned by the Danish government, said it had appointed JP Morgan to perform a strategy review that could result in the sale of the oil and gas business. Continue reading...
  
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• 10 words that don't mean what they used to: when meerkats were monkeys and bimbos were boys

  26-10-2016 18:23
  
  Did you know that alcohol originally meant eyeshadow, clouds were rocks or that a moment once lasted precisely 90 seconds? Read on, girls and bimbos …It’s by no means unusual for words to change their meaning over time. But thanks to the twists and turns of language – and the convoluted history of English, in particular – some words end up quite a distance from where they began, as the following bizarre etymological stories illustrate. Continue reading...
  
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• Oil back above $50 after another surprise U.S. crude draw

  26-10-2016 17:11
  By Ethan Lou NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices recovered most of their early losses on Wednesday, with Brent returning to above $50 a barrel, after the U.S. government reported a drawdown in domestic crude stocks that extended a trend of unexpected inventory declines this autumn. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said domestic crude stockpiles fell 553,000 barrels last week, against a 1.7 million-barrel build forecast by analysts polled by Reuters. A preliminary report from trade gr
  
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• New projects boost Europe's attractiveness to renewables investors

  26-10-2016 17:01
  
  Europe may be performing better in EY’s influential rankings, but the UK has fallen to its lowest position yet, reports BusinessGreenEarlier this year it was starting to look worryingly like Europe was slamming into reverse gear with its clean energy policy. In its biannual report on renewables investment, released in May, consultancy EY reported that countries across the continent were becoming less attractive to investors as the pipelines of clean energy projects slowed following widespr
  
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• Molecular signature shows plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide

  26-10-2016 16:53 via feedproxy.google.com
  Plants are adapting to increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide according to a new study from the University of SouthamptonThe research, published in the journal Global Change Biology, provides insight into the long-term impacts of rising CO2 and the implications for global food security and nature conservation.Lead author Professor Gail Taylor, from Biological Sciences at the University of Southampton, said: “Atmospheric CO2 is rising – emissions grew faster in the
  
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• Recovered WWI German U-Boat Revives 'Sea Monster' Tales

  26-10-2016 16:35
  
  The wreck of a World War I German submarine has been discovered off the coast of Scotland by marine engineers surveying the route of an undersea power cable. Researchers said they think the wreck is one of two German U-boats sunk by British patrol ships in the Irish Sea in 1918 — including one that was supposedly attacked by a sea monster, according to an internet legend. Marine archeologist and historian Innes McCartney, from Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom, said the submarin
  
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• Japan pleads with whaling watchdog to allow 'cultural' hunts

  26-10-2016 16:35
  
  Countries including US, Europe, Australia vehemently oppose small hunts by coastal communities but Japan says are unjustly barred from a traditional food source Japan pleaded with the world’s whaling watchdog Wednesday to allow small hunts by coastal communities, arguing that for three decades these groups had been unjustly barred from a traditional source of food.The issue of “small type coastal hunting” is a key dispute between pro- and anti-whaling nations gathered in Sloven
  
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• Iraq lures investors to boost its oil output as OPEC debates cuts

  26-10-2016 16:30
  By Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ahmed Rasheed and Ahmad Ghaddar LONDON/BEIRUT (Reuters) - As OPEC gathers in Vienna next month to consider cutting its oil output, a lower profile event in Baghdad on the same day will signal Iraq's longer term ambition to do precisely the opposite. Nov. 30 is both the date when OPEC ministers meet in the Austrian capital and the deadline set by Iraqi oil minister Jabar Ali al-Luaibi for international firms to submit bids to help it develop 12 "small and medium-sized" oil f
  
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• Tributes to Scottish scientist who died in Antarctica snowmobile accident

  26-10-2016 16:14 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The family of a scientist who died in Antarctica in a snowmobile accident pay tribute to him.
  
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• Dish to listen for ET around strange star

  26-10-2016 16:01 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A $100m initiative to listen for radio signals from aliens is targeting a star with an unusual dimming pattern.
  
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• Solar industry 'left in limbo' over delays to RHI decision

  26-10-2016 15:59
  
  The Solar Trade Association (STA) and the Energy Saving Trust are among a group of 21 organisations that have penned a letter to the minister of state for energy and intellectual property Baroness Neville-Rolfe, calling on her to retain solar thermal within the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
  
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• How Pollution Is Devastating an Indonesian Lake

  26-10-2016 15:59 via feedproxy.google.com
  Uncontrolled fish farming, population growth, and logging have all taken a toll on Indonesia’s Lake Toba. Photographer Binsar Bakkara returns to his home region to chronicle the environmental destruction. More than 1,500 tons of fish suddenly turned up dead in Indonesia’s largest lake earlier this year, a mass asphyxiation from a lack of oxygen in the water caused by high pollution levels. The event threatened the livelihoods of hundreds of fish farmers and the drinking water fo
  
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• Oil drilling underway beneath Ecuador's Yasuní national park

  26-10-2016 15:55
  
  Government claims oil extraction is causing minimal disturbance to the Unesco biosphere reserve in the AmazonEcuador has confirmed that oil drilling has begun under the country’s Yasuní national park, one of the world’s biodiversity hotspots.But the government claims that there has been only minimal disturbance to the Unesco biosphere reserve in the Amazon rainforest since extraction of 23,000 barrels of oil a day began last month.Continue reading...
  
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• No, 'Honeycomb' Clouds Don't Explain Bermuda Triangle Mystery

  26-10-2016 15:55
  
  A satellite image showing peculiar hexagonal clouds over the ocean area known as the Bermuda Triangle is prompting speculation about whether they may represent a recurring phenomenon responsible for decades of unexplained disappearances in the region. The photo appeared in the Science Channel's "What on Earth"? According to the Science Channel, similar cloud formations in the North Sea near the U.K. have been associated with so-called "air bombs" — powerful downdrafts of air that could ove
  
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• Gas tanker attacked near key shipping lane off Yemen

  26-10-2016 15:55
  By Jonathan Saul LONDON (Reuters) - Unknown assailants attacked a gas tanker off the coast of Yemen close to the Bab al-Mandab waterway in the latest flare up in an area through which much of the world's oil passes, shipping and security officials said on Wednesday. The incident, the first attack on a commercial ship since July, followed missile attacks in recent weeks on military craft, including U.S. navy vessels, which were launched from Yemen that had already raised risks for merchant shippi
  
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• Solar industry left in 'limbo' over delays to RHI decision

  26-10-2016 15:12
  
  The Solar Trade Association (STA) and the Energy Saving Trust are among a group of 21 organisations that have penned a letter to the minister of state for energy and intellectual property Baroness Neville-Rolfe, calling on her to retain solar thermal within the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI).
  
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• Mosquito army released in Zika fight in Brazil & Colombia

  26-10-2016 15:09 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists are planning to release millions of modified mosquitoes in urban areas of Brazil and Colombia, in an effort to tackle Zika, dengue and chikungunya viruses.
  
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• Humans create carbon emissions which spawn Australia's extreme weather – report

  26-10-2016 15:01
  
  State of the Climate report from CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology says human activities have driven ‘significant changes’ to Australia’s climateCarbon emissions from human activities have driven significant changes to the climate in Australia, including about 1C of warming and an increase in extreme hot days and fire weather, according to the latest State of the Climate report released by the CSIRO and Bureau of Meteorology.This year the report includes new information on the ca
  
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• Government unveils charging plans to put EVs in driving seat

  26-10-2016 15:01
  
  The Department for Transport (DfT) has announced plans to increase the convenience and availability of electric vehicle (EV) chargepoints, as part of an overarching ambition to make nearly all new cars and vans zero-emission by 2040.
  
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• Volkswagen pumps €20m into Sustainability Council and low-carbon aspirations

  26-10-2016 14:57
  
  Volkswagen has this week continued its brand rebuilding process in the wake of dieselgate, by announcing a new €20m fund to finance projects related to lowering carbon emissions a meeting emissions regulations post-2025.
  
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• Commodity traders must go digital or face extinction: report

  26-10-2016 14:33
  As commodity margins flat-line, the number of traders will shrink as existing trading firms consolidate and digital rivals emerge, U.S. consultancy Oliver Wyman said in its annual commodity trading report. With the exception of oil and natural gas boosted by volatility last year, growth across commodities is plateauing with combined margins stuck at around $44 billion per year in 2014 and 2015, the report said. Wyman sees digitization as the game-changer in the next few years that will force ind
  
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• Ken Wiwa obituary

  26-10-2016 14:15
  
  Journalist, author and environmental campaigner who served as an adviser to three Nigerian presidentsKen Wiwa, who has died aged 47 after suffering a stroke, was a journalist and author, adviser to three Nigerian presidents and a campaigner for social and environmental justice. As the eldest son of the poet, human rights activist and author Ken Saro-Wiwa, he struggled as a young man to forge his own identity. But following his father’s detention on a trumped-up accusation of murder, &ldquo
  
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• CDP's Climate A List: Highlighting the business case for low-carbon commitments

  26-10-2016 13:38
  
  Companies that feature in global disclosure organisation CDP's annual Climate A List - such as Sky, Apple, Tesco and Unilever - are producing 6% higher returns on average compared to other brands.
  
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• Oil falls as investors doubt OPEC can seal output deal

  26-10-2016 13:35
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell for a third day on Wednesday, nearing $50 a barrel for the first time in three weeks, as investors grew increasingly doubtful that OPEC members will agree to cut output and as U.S. inventories staged a surprisingly large increase. Iraq, the second-largest member of OPEC, does not want to join in with a proposed production cut that the group has said it will approve at a regular meeting in Vienna next month. With Iran, Nigeria and Libya already expecte
  
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• Britain's renewable attractiveness falls to all-time low

  26-10-2016 13:14
  
  The UK has fallen to an all-time low in EY's table of the world's most attractive renewable energy markets due to Brexit uncertainty, the demise of DECC, and the approval of the Hinkley Point C power station.
  
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• Britain's renewable attractiveness at all-time low

  26-10-2016 13:14
  
  The UK has fallen to an all-time low in EY's table of the world's most attractive renewable energy markets due to Brexit uncertainty, the demise of DECC, and the approval of the Hinkley Point C power station.
  
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• Russia's Novak says global oil freeze deal unlikely to fail because of Iraq

  26-10-2016 12:40
  KRASNOGORSK, Russia (Reuters) - A potential global deal to cap oil production is unlikely to collapse because of Iraq's claims it would not curb its output, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday. OPEC's second largest producer after Saudi Arabia, Iraq says it will not cut output because it needs oil money to fight the Islamic State. Iraqi officials say the country should get the same exemptions as Iran, Nigeria and Libya - whose crude output has been hit by wars and sanctions
  
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• EU drops law to limit cancer-linked chemical in food after industry complaint

  26-10-2016 12:38
  
  Campaigners say leaked documents show ‘undue influence’ by the food industry after plans to limit acrylamide - found in starchy foods such as crisps, cereals and baby foods - are weakenedThe European commission has dropped plans to legally limit a pervasive but naturally occurring chemical found in food, that is linked to cancer, just days after lobbying by industry, the Guardian has learned.Campaigners say that leaked documents revealing the legislative retreat show “undue inf
  
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• Chris Grayling: Heathrow third runway could have ramp over M25 – video

  26-10-2016 12:11
  
  The transport secretary, Chris Grayling, tells BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that building the third Heathrow runway over the M25 rather than tunnelling under the motorway would be a cheaper and quicker way of completing the projectListen to the full clip on BBC Radio 4 Today’s websiteBuild Heathrow third runway on ramp over M25, minister saysContinue reading...
  
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• Donald Trump has close financial ties to Dakota Access pipeline company

  26-10-2016 12:00
  
  Trump’s financial disclosure forms show he invested in Energy Transfer Partners, operators of the controversial pipeline, and its CEO donated to his campaignDonald Trump’s close financial ties to Energy Transfer Partners, operators of the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline, have been laid bare, with the presidential candidate invested in the company and receiving more than $100,000 in campaign contributions from its chief executive. Related: Over 120 arrested at North Dakota pi
  
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• Lansdowne's Roden says not bullish on energy long term

  26-10-2016 11:35
  UK hedge fund Lansdowne Partners Chairman Stuart Roden said on Wednesday he was not bullish on energy prices in the long term despite crude oil prices hitting a 15-month high last week. "We are still long-term negative," he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Sohn Conference in Tel Aviv. "Our positions in our portfolio are less negative than they were because it kind of played out." Roden also said Lansdowne, which has $20 billion under management, still prefers stocks over bonds and said that
  
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• Wet wipes flushed down toilet block drains says water firms

  26-10-2016 11:34 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Millions of pounds are being spent unblocking drains all because of wet wipes being flushed down the toilet.
  
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• Oil buckles as investors cast doubt on an OPEC output deal

  26-10-2016 11:32
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Oil fell for a third day on Wednesday, nearing $50 a barrel for the first time in three weeks, as investors grew increasingly doubtful that OPEC members will agree to cut output and as U.S. inventories staged a surprisingly large increase. Iraq, the second-largest member of OPEC, does not want to join in with a proposed production cut that the group has said it will approve at a regular meeting in Vienna next month. With Iran, Nigeria and Libya already expecte
  
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• Genel Energy warns of lower-end 2016 revenue after weak oil output

  26-10-2016 11:31
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Genel Energy , one of the main oil producers in Iraqi Kurdistan, warned on Wednesday that full-year revenue would be at the lower end of its target because of weaker than expected production, sending its shares to a seven-month low. Production at Genel's main oil asset, the Taq Taq field that has reserves of more than 170 million barrels, fell in the third quarter to 58,600 barrels per day (bpd), against 68,800 bpd in the first half of the year, as output fro
  
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• 'Life is hard': the refugee family picking through waste to survive – in pictures

  26-10-2016 11:21
  
  Syrian refugee Firas el Jasmin struggled to find work in Turkey because of his disability, so took to the streets with his son to collect recyclable material which he sells on to support his family Continue reading...
  
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