Environment news

• To Fight Air Pollution, Four Cities Announce Ban on Diesel Cars By 2025

  02-12-2016 22:15 via feedproxy.google.com
  Four of the world’s largest cities announced Friday that they will ban diesel cars by 2025 in an effort to cut air pollution. Leaders from Paris, Madrid, Athens, and Mexico City made the declaration at the C40 Mayors Summit, a biennial meeting of civic leaders concerned about climate change. 
  
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• Hedge funds trim bullish bets on U.S. crude ahead of OPEC deal

  02-12-2016 22:04
  Hedge funds and money managers scaled back their bullish bets on U.S. crude oil in the days ahead of a landmark deal by the world's top crude exporters to cut production and rein in a global glut, data showed on Friday. The speculator group cut its combined futures and options position in New York and London by 2,418 contracts to 189,677 during in the week to Nov. 29, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said. During the period, U.S. crude oil prices fell nearly 1 percent as the
  
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• Oil rallies to best week in years after OPEC output deal

  02-12-2016 21:18
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices rallied for their best week in at least five years on Friday, steadying above $51 a barrel, following OPEC's decision to cut crude output to rein in a global glut that has weighed on prices for more than two years. After the deal was announced on Wednesday, the market focused on the implementation and impact of OPEC's first output cuts since 2008, to be joined by Russia and possibly other non-OPEC producers. Crude prices were pressured by d
  
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• New blow for Hinkley Point contractor EDF after French safety checks

  02-12-2016 20:37
  
  Safety issues force many reactors offline prompting warnings of power cuts across France, higher energy prices and a rise in emissionsThe company building the UK’s first new nuclear power station for decades is facing questions over the health of its fleet of French nuclear plants after an investigation which has left the country with the lowest level of nuclear power for 10 years and the prospect of power cuts during a cold snap. Thirteen of Électricité de France’s (ED
  
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• Oil edges up after big OPEC-driven weekly rally

  02-12-2016 20:03
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Friday above $51 a barrel with Brent crude on track for its biggest weekly rally since 2009 following OPEC's decision to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut. After the deal was announced on Wednesday, the market focussed on the implementation and impact of OPEC's first output cuts since 2008, to be joined by Russia and possibly other non-OPEC producers. Crude prices were pressured by data showing oil output in
  
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• Alligator snapping turtle's great escape

  02-12-2016 19:42 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A huge alligator snapping turtle got stuck in a blocked drain pipe in Houston, Texas.
  
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• How electric car drivers are being overcharged | Letters

  02-12-2016 19:41
  
  As a relatively new owner of a Nissan Leaf, I support entirely the need for adequate provision of charge points (Letters, 29 November). The ecotricity charging points at motorway services are great, even if they are now not free. But you can now only pay using a mobile phone app – not much use for my wife whose phone is too old to run the app, and not much use for anyone if their phone is lost or broken. What is wrong with a swipe card, as offered by Charge your Car at other charging point
  
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• Trump supports Dakota pipeline – but claims it's not due to his investment in it

  02-12-2016 18:33
  
  Transition team says that the president-elect’s endorsement of the controversial Dakota Access pipeline ‘has nothing to do with his personal investments’Donald Trump has said he supports a controversial oil pipeline that runs next to a Native American reservation in North Dakota – a project that the president-elect is personally invested in. Related: Dakota Access pipeline company and Donald Trump have close financial tiesContinue reading...
  
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• Oil edges up, steady after big OPEC-driven weekly rally

  02-12-2016 18:18
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged higher on Friday, steady above $51 a barrel, with Brent crude on track for its biggest weekly rally since 2009, following OPEC's decision to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut. After the deal was announced on Wednesday, the market will focus on the implementation and impact of OPEC's first output cuts since 2008, to be joined Russia and possibly other non-OPEC producers. Crude prices were pressured by data showing oil
  
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• CharIoT on course to deliver healthier homes and lower energy bills

  02-12-2016 17:46 via feedproxy.google.com
  Successful trials of CharIoT, a unique new system that simultaneously records temperature, humidity and energy use in the home, have opened the way for low-income households to save money while reducing risks to their health.Harnessing Internet of Things technology, the system generates easy-to-use data that can help local authorities, housing associations, energy suppliers, health authorities and others to target and tailor the energy advice they give to vulnerable people.As well as revealing u
  
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• Climate Change Will Drive Stronger, Smaller Storms in U.S.

  02-12-2016 17:22 via feedproxy.google.com
  The effects of climate change will likely cause smaller but stronger storms in the United States, according to a new framework for modeling storm behavior developed at the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory. Though storm intensity is expected to increase over today’s levels, the predicted reduction in storm size may alleviate some fears of widespread severe flooding in the future.The new approach, published today in Journal of Climate, uses new statistical meth
  
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• Nuclear fusion, combatting air pollution and Attenborough – green news roundup

  02-12-2016 16:55
  
  The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox Continue reading...
  
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• Buffett's Berkshire is urged to sell fossil fuel stocks

  02-12-2016 16:39
  A Nebraska nonprofit on Friday said it will propose that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc sell its investments in oil refiner Phillips 66 and other companies involved in fossil fuels over 12 years. The Nebraska Peace Foundation, which focuses on anti-war, civil rights and environmental issues, said it submitted a formal proposal for Berkshire shareholders to consider at the Omaha-based conglomerate's annual meeting next May 6. Berkshire did not immediately respond to requests for comment
  
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• Oil steadies after big OPEC driven weekly rally

  02-12-2016 16:35
  By Devika Krishna Kumar NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied above $51 a barrel on Friday, with Brent crude on track for its biggest weekly rally since 2009, following OPEC's decision to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut. After the deal was announced on Wednesday, the market's focus now shifts to the implementation and impact of OPEC's first production agreement since 2008, which will be joined by non-OPEC producers. Crude prices on Friday were pressured by data showing oil
  
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• Chinese bikes just one obstacle for WTO environmental trade talks

  02-12-2016 16:26
  By Tom Miles GENEVA (Reuters) - European resistance to China's massive bicycle industry is just one potential stumbling block for environmental trade talks this weekend in Geneva, where World Trade Organization members could pave the way to scrap tariffs on exports worth over $1 trillion. Trade ministers from the European Union, China and 16 other WTO members including the United States and Japan hope to agree a list of environment-related products that will have their import tariffs scrapped, c
  
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• 2.5-Billion-Year-Old Fossils Predate Earth's Oxygen

  02-12-2016 16:16
  
  Fossils of what may be the oldest sulfur-eating bacteria ever found have been discovered in rocks dating back a staggering 2.52 billion years. The fossils don't represent the oldest life on Earth by any stretch — there are fossils of microbes that are at least a billion years older — but they are the oldest of their type. Rather than using oxygen to survive, these bacteria would have turned hydrogen sulfide into sulfate (the oxidized form of sulfur), using the energy from that chemic
  
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• Ahead of promised cut, Russia's oil output hits record high

  02-12-2016 15:36
  By Katya Golubkova MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia plans to use its November oil production, which was its highest in almost 30 years, as its baseline when it cuts output under this week's deal with OPEC, Deputy Energy Minister Kirill Molodtsov said on Friday. Russia has promised to gradually cut output by up to 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2017 as part of a deal with other producers aimed at supporting oil prices. Its daily oil production rose to an average of 11.21 million bpd
  
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• Hunter Mitchell raised thousands of dollars to save Osita the rhino.

  02-12-2016 15:24 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Hunter Mitchell raised thousands of dollars to save Osita the rhino.
  
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• Boris Johnson makes 'save African elephant' plea

  02-12-2016 15:21
  
  Foreign secretary, who backs ban on ivory trade, breaks off London speech to make plea for ‘magnificent’ vulnerable animalBoris Johnson has interrupted a sweeping speech on the UK’s geopolitical future to make a passionate plea to save the African elephant, saying they are on the brink of extinction as they “get turned into umbrella stands and billiard balls”.
  In the midst of a speech at Chatham House to ambassadors and foreign policy advisers, the UK foreign secret
  
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• 'In Delhi, you go inside for fresh air': how I learned to breathe again

  02-12-2016 15:04
  
  India’s capital has endured epidemics, the threat of war and a currency crisis in recent weeks, proving that in this vast city, toxic air is just another problemI always knew that living in Delhi would gift me unusual talents. I can now confidently cross busy traffic with just a little daring and an outstretched palm. I know which of the puddles on the pavement are effluent and which are just muddy water. And I’ve developed a sharp instinct for insulation.Windows that sit slightly op
  
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• Energy firms swoop on startups in billion-dollar technology race

  02-12-2016 14:58
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Europe's biggest energy companies have ploughed more than 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) into startups, according to Reuters calculations, with several deals announced in the past month as they accelerate a quest for new technologies to outpace rivals. Taking a leaf out of Silicon Valley's playbook, companies such as Germany's Innogy, France's EDF and Dutch Eneco, as well as oil majors like Total, have set up their own venture capital funds to scour the globe
  
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• Platts considers first addition to Brent basket since 2007

  02-12-2016 14:37
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Oil pricing agency Platts is considering the first major overhaul in nearly a decade of its benchmark dated Brent assessment, which is used for most of the world's crude trade. It may add Norwegian light sweet Troll crude to the basket of oil flows it uses to set the price of dated Brent, it said on Friday. Troll is a light sweet crude and typically 10 to 15 cargoes of 600,000 barrels each are produced each month, compared with an average of about six or seven
  
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• Europe presses ahead with Mars rover

  02-12-2016 14:10 via bbc.co.uk
  
  European research ministers meeting in Lucerne, Switzerland, emphatically reaffirm their commitment to putting a robot rover on Mars in 2021.
  
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• Four of world's biggest cities to ban diesel cars from their centres

  02-12-2016 13:47
  
  Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City will ban the most polluting cars and vans by 2025 to tackle air pollution Four of the world’s biggest cities are to ban diesel vehicles from their centres within the next decade, as a means of tackling air pollution, with campaigners urging other city leaders to follow suit.The mayors of Paris, Madrid, Athens and Mexico City announced plans on Friday to take diesel cars and vans off their roads by 2025. Continue reading...
  
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• Sadiq Khan unveils Hydrogen double-decker as London is issued high air pollution alert

  02-12-2016 13:10
  
  Sadiq Khan has issued air quality alerts across the capital for the first time, in the same week that the London Mayor unveiled the world's first double-decker hydrogen bus.
  
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• Oil softens after OPEC decision prompts big weekly rally

  02-12-2016 13:00
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices fell 1.5 percent to steady at around $53 a barrel on Friday after the biggest weekly rally since 2009 following OPEC's decision this week to cut crude output in order to rein in a global glut. The market focus now shifts to the implementation and impact of OPEC's first production agreement since 2008, which will be joined by non-OPEC producers, after data showed output in Russia rose in November to a post-Soviet high. Russia also agreed to cut output b
  
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• European Union 2020 energy targets 'well within reach'

  02-12-2016 12:07
  
  European Union (EU) Member States are collectively on course to meet 2020 targets for renewables, energy efficiency and emissions reductions, although a new report has warned that long-term objectives are at risk of falling short.
  
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• Fires and drought cook Tennessee - a state represented by climate deniers | John Abraham

  02-12-2016 12:00
  
  Climate change intensified the extreme weather in Tennessee, but its legislators deny the science
  With my new hope that deniers of climate change will take ownership of the consequences, I am sad to report that this week, terrible wildfires have swept through Tennessee, a southeastern state in the USA. This state is beset by a tremendous drought, as seen by a recent US Drought Monitor map. There currently are severe, extreme, and exceptional drought conditions covering a wide swath of southern s
  
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• Is the cement industry undermining the Emissions Trading System?

  02-12-2016 11:10
  
  Research by UK-based non-profit InfluenceMap has found that, despite the European cement industry seeming to embrace the Paris Agreement on climate change, many companies within the sector continue to oppose ambitious science-based climate policy.
  
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• Bioplastics industry continues to expand despite low oil prices

  02-12-2016 11:00
  
  The bioplastics industry is continuing to see stable growth despite falling oil prices, representing a positive shift in business attitudes towards manufacturing low-carbon, resource-efficient products. and a lack of stronger political support to realise the potential of bio-based materials in Europe.
  
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• Carbon Trust launches zero-waste-to-landfill certification

  02-12-2016 10:42
  
  Advisory firm The Carbon Trust has unveiled a new certification to award business achievements in diverting zero waste to landfill.
  
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• Oil prices dip as doubt seeps into market on OPEC-Russia output cuts

  02-12-2016 09:39
  By Roslan Khasawneh SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Friday on concerns whether major producers would implement an OPEC-Russia deal to reduce production, compounded by data showing output in Russia rose to a post-Soviet high ahead of the announced cutback. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC oil production giant Russia this week said they would cut crude output early next year in order to rein in global oversupply that has dogged markets for over t
  
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• Joy as China shelves plans to dam 'angry river'

  02-12-2016 09:35
  
  Environmentalists celebrate as Beijing appears to abandon plans to build a series of giant hydroelectric dams on the 1,750-mile NujiangEnvironmentalists in China are celebrating after controversial plans to build a series of giant hydroelectric dams on the country’s last free-flowing river were shelved.
  Activists have spent more than a decade campaigning to protect the Nujiang, or “angry river”, from a cascade of dams, fearing they would displace tens of thousands of people and
  
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• Singapore may prove a tough nut for China to crack over regional security

  02-12-2016 09:11
  By Greg Torode and Marius Zaharia HONG KONG/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As the impounding of Singaporean troop carriers in Hong Kong exposes rising tensions between China and Singapore, the Lion City is unlikely to budge on core security interests concerning Beijing – its military relationship with Taiwan, worries over the South China Sea and its hosting of the U.S. military. Singaporean officials, retired military officers and analysts stress that even while Singapore publicly plays down the sp
  
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• Quitting UN climate change body could be Trump's quickest exit from Paris deal

  02-12-2016 09:00
  
  Lawyer on president-elect’s transition team says leaving UNFCCC is ‘most practical way’ way to quit agreement, a process that normally takes four yearsThe US should completely quit the United Nations forum to tackle climate change in order to quickly exit the Paris climate agreement, according to a conservative lawyer who is part of Donald Trump’s transition team.
  Abandoning the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) would allow the US to back out
  
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• Patagonia donates $10m Black Friday sales to environmental grassroots

  02-12-2016 09:00
  
  American clothing firm Patagonia has raised $10m for environmental grassroots nonprofits, after donating 100% of the global sales that it generated from Black Friday.
  
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• Monkey business: taxidermy of endangered primates – in pictures

  02-12-2016 09:00
  
  More than 50 spectacular specimens of monkeys, apes, lemurs, lorises and bushbabies will go on show at the National Museum of Scotland from 9 December. The taxidermy was specially commissioned for the exhibition and is the first to show primates behaving as if they were in the wild Continue reading...
  
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• Automotive giants team-up to create Europe's 'highest-powered' EV charging network

  02-12-2016 08:20
  
  A host of the world's largest motor companies, including BMW, Volkswagen and Ford, have agreed to collaborate on the creation of Europe's highest-powered charging network to enable long-range travel for electric vehicles (EVs).
  
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• After 60 years, is nuclear fusion finally poised to deliver?

  02-12-2016 08:00
  
  It’s been a long time coming, but the world’s top powers are now betting billions on the Iter collaboration to deliver clean, safe, limitless energy for the modern world“We are standing on the ground that could change the future of energy,” says engineer Laurent Pattison, deep in the reactor pit of the world’s biggest nuclear fusion project.Around him is a vast construction site, all aimed at creating temperatures of 150mC on this spot and finally bringing the power
  
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• Off-grid solar to help Myanmar bring electricity to all by 2030

  02-12-2016 07:00
  
  In a country where only 16% of rural homes have power a government-led scheme is bringing electricity to thousands of villagesFour feet in length, of aggressive disposition, and deadly poisonous: you don’t want to stand on a Russell’s viper in the dark. Especially if there’s no antivenom for miles around. Yet that’s the daily predicament facing millions of villagers in Myanmar, where snakebites cause about 500 deaths every year. In Yin Ma Chaung, a rural settlement about
  
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• Hogweed magic mocks the cold snap

  02-12-2016 06:30
  
  Wenlock Edge, Shropshire Defying the season, the flowering hedge-bank plant has an irrepressible urge to burst forthA hogweed blooms in the violet breath of shadows on the lane. Where garden roses are bred to keep flowering compulsively in a desperate denial of the season, the hogweed (Heracleum sphondylium) opens in defiance. In a frosty corner of the hedge bank cut down at the end of summer, one flower makes a reappearance.Related: Late bloomers in the leeContinue reading...
  
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• The $40m 'magic pipe': Princess Cruises given record fine for dumping oil at sea

  02-12-2016 06:08
  
  Caribbean Princess discharged thousands of gallons of polluted bilge waste along British coast, while other ships used rigged sensors to hide contaminationPrincess Cruise Lines will pay a US$40m penalty after pleading guilty to seven federal charges in an illegal ocean pollution case that involved one ship’s use of a so-called magic pipe to divert oily waste into the waters.Miami US attorney Wifredo Ferrer told a news conference the penalty was the largest ever of its kind. A plea agreemen
  
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• The government's report on the Great Barrier Reef is a 'dog ate my homework' moment | Larissa Waters

  02-12-2016 06:03
  
  The federal and Queensland governments are risking the reef being put on Unesco’s in-danger list with their coal obsession and shoddy progress reportIf you’ve ever visited the Great Barrier Reef, or are one of the 70,000 people whose job relies upon it, you know why it’s considered one of the seven natural wonders of the world.Yet it faces more pressure than ever before, from global warming, water quality, industrialisation of the coastline, and ever more extreme weather. Conti
  
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• Lost little penguin rescued from drain in Sydney's inner west – video

  02-12-2016 04:41
  
  A lost little penguin has been rescued after becoming stuck in a stormwater drain in the inner western Sydney suburb of Haberfield. RSPCA inspectors managed to flush the blocked penguin out with a gush of water and it was taken to Taronga zoo to be given food and fluids. Haberfield is at least 25km by road from the colony of little penguins at Manly. It was expected the penguin would be released into the wild once it had recovered from its ordeal, the RSPCA said.Continue reading...
  
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• Oil prices dip after OPEC-Russia output cut deal, focus swings to implementation

  02-12-2016 04:10
  By Roslan Khasawneh SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices slipped on Friday as some investors opted to cash out after Brent touched 16-month a high on Thursday, with optimism over this week's OPEC-Russia accord on cutting output giving way to questions on the "sticking point" of implementing the deal. International Brent crude oil futures were trading at $53.66 per barrel at 0242 GMT, down 28 cents, or 0.52 percent, from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were at $50.92, dow
  
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• Great Australian Bight oil drilling plans too 'technical' for FoI release, says regulator

  02-12-2016 03:33
  
  National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority censors documents sought by GreenpeaceAustralia’s offshore oil regulator is censoring documents about BP’s plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight on the grounds that environmental campaigners could use the information to “oppose all drilling activities” there – and that the plans are too “technical” for the public to understand.Nathaniel Pelle, a Greenpeace campaign who reque
  
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• U.S. crude futures extend gains on production cut deal

  02-12-2016 03:06
  By Roslan Khasawneh SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices extended gains early on Friday as producer cartel OPEC and Russia agreed to rein in a global oversupply in crude on Wednesday with analysts now focusing their attention on implementation of the deal. "It looks achievable on the face of it, provided the parties to the latest production cut deal stick to their pledges, which has historically been somewhat of a sticking point," ANZ bank said on Friday. "This is positive news that will make a sust
  
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• Four major cities move to ban diesel vehicles by 2025

  02-12-2016 02:59 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The leaders of four major global cities say they will stop the use of all diesel powered cars and trucks by the middle of the next decade.
  
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• Drinking too much water when ill can be harmful, finds study

  02-12-2016 00:30
  
  Doctors warn excessive intake can pose risks for some patients and say medical advice needs to be more specificThe common advice to drink plenty of water when ill is based on scant evidence and can actively harm chances of recovery, doctors have warned.Medics at King’s College hospital NHS foundation trust, in London, raised the alarm after they treated a patient with hyponatremia – abnormally low sodium – from drinking too much water to help with a recurring urinary tract infe
  
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• SpaceX Could Return Falcon 9 Rocket to Flight Dec. 16

  02-12-2016 00:02
  
  SpaceX may return to flight two weeks from now with a 10-satellite launch. The private spaceflight company has been grounded since Sept. 1, when one of its Falcon 9 rockets exploded during a routine prelaunch test, destroying a $200 million communications satellite. But SpaceX is nearly finished with its investigation into the anomaly, which engineers traced to the interaction between oxygen and a carbon-composite helium container in the rocket's upper stage.
  
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