Environment news

• Oil prices edge off earlier gains on mixed OPEC signals

  13-12-2016 23:11
  By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged off earlier gains to end Tuesday nearly unchanged, as the support from OPEC's plan to limit production were undercut by an energy watchdog's assessment of how much those nations are currently producing. Prices dipped in after-hours trading when the American Petroleum Institute said late Tuesday that crude stocks rose by 4.7 million barrels, compared with an expected draw of 1.6 million barrels. On Wednesday, traders will see if the surprise b
  
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• Closure of Hazelwood power station to add $78 a year to power bills

  13-12-2016 22:50
  
  Australian Energy Market Commission report finds wholesale energy prices will rise 36% due to shutdown of brown coal-fired generator in VictoriaThe closure of Victoria’s Hazelwood coal-fired power station will add an average of $78 a year to energy bills around the country, a new analysis claims.South Australians will have $150 a year added to household bills, Victorian power bills will rise by $99, a typical New South Wales consumer will pay an extra $74 a year for their electricity, whil
  
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• Energy suppliers, business and consumer groups call for climate policy certainty

  13-12-2016 21:33
  
  Business Council of Australia, Australian Conservation Foundation and St Vincent de Paul join call for reliable, affordable energy during decarbonisationEnergy suppliers, business groups and consumers have joined in an unlikely coalition to warn that a failure to provide climate policy certainty would cost all Australians and lead to higher costs.Eighteen organisations as diverse as the Business Council of Australia, the Australian Conservation Foundation, the Australian Aluminium Council, Energ
  
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• Oil prices edge off earlier gains, awaiting supply figures

  13-12-2016 21:17
  By David Gaffen NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices edged off earlier gains to end Tuesday nearly unchanged, as the support from OPEC's plan to limit production were undercut by an energy watchdog's assessment of how much those nations are currently producing. U.S. crude futures, which hit a high of $53.41 a barrel in early trading, settled up just 15 cents to $52.98 a barrel, losing ground late in the session. Brent crude ended up three cents to $55.72 a barrel. ...
  
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• Nigerian parliament opens inquiry into long-disputed Shell, Eni oil field

  13-12-2016 21:10
  Nigeria's lower house opened an investigation on Tuesday into an offshore oil field owned by Royal Dutch Shell and Eni , the latest inquiry into their acquisition of the OPL 245 licence block which could hold up to 9.23 billion barrels of oil, according to industry figures. Earlier this year the Dutch and Italian authorities launched their own investigations. The acquisition in 2011 was a "breach of due process that resulted in monumental revenue loss to the country," said Yakubu Dogara, speaker
  
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• What Doomed Franklin's Polar Expedition? Thumbnail Holds Clue

  13-12-2016 20:52
  
  For 170 years, scientists, historians and amateur sleuths alike have been trying to figure out what led to the demise of the Franklin Expedition, one of the deadliest disasters in polar exploration, which left all 129 crew members dead in the Canadian Arctic. Researchers were able to reconstruct some information about the health and diet of one of Sir John Franklin's men in the weeks before his death, based on chemicals stored in his fingernail. On behalf of the British Royal Navy, Franklin set
  
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• 'Smart boulders' record huge underwater avalanche

  13-12-2016 20:50 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists have had a remarkable close-up encounter with a gigantic underwater avalanche off the coast of California.
  
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• Trampoline gives hens a measure of freedom | Brief letters

  13-12-2016 20:48
  
  Nuclear schmoozing | Netherlands geography | Poultry confinement | Girls and toys | The rural eliteThe “Orwellian” schmoozing of young people in schools along the proposed HS2 route (Report, 12 December) pales into insignificance alongside the efforts of the nuclear industry to ingratiate itself with the community around the Magnox nuclear power station at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex. Some 20 or more years ago Girl Guides staged an enrolment ceremony while standing on the pile cap of th
  
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• Slack data management exposed BP to high safety risk - leaked report

  13-12-2016 20:36
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - BP's refining operations are exposed to high safety risks that can lead to deadly accidents and pollution as a result of slack data management and a lack of investment, according to a leaked internal report from 2015. The report, co-authored by BP, IBM and industry consultancy WorleyParsons , states that the British company's refining and petrochemical business, known as downstream, is trailing rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell by up to seven years in managing inf
  
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• Trump's secretary of state pick: will the former Boy Scout leader be prepared?

  13-12-2016 18:53
  
  Rex Tillerson, ExxonMobil CEO and former Boy Scouts president, would be the first top US diplomat in modern history never to have held public officeDonald Trump named Rex Tillerson as his choice for the next secretary of state on Tuesday, potentially elevating an individual with no experience in public office to the position of America’s top diplomat for the first time in modern history.But beyond Tillerson’s role as the chief executive officer of oil giant ExxonMobil, a post he has
  
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• Trump picks former Texas Governor Perry as energy secretary

  13-12-2016 18:36
  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Donald Trump has chosen former Texas Governor Rick Perry to head the U.S. Department of Energy, a source close to the president-elect said, putting him in charge of an agency he proposed eliminating during his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. The choice of Perry adds to the list of oil-drilling advocates sceptical about climate change who Trump has picked for senior positions in his Cabinet, worrying environmentalists but cheering an in
  
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• Study: Maximizing grain yields won't meet future African needs

  13-12-2016 18:25 via feedproxy.google.com
  Maximizing cereal crop yields in sub-Saharan Africa would still fail to meet the region’s skyrocketing grain demand by 2050, according to a new study from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Wageningen University and multiple African institutions.
  
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• World's Oldest Wild Breeding Bird Is Expecting Her 41st Chick

  13-12-2016 18:20
  
  Rather, most lay an egg one year and then take a break the next, instead investing their time and energy into molting their feathers, said researchers at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and Battle of Midway National Memorial, located about 1,400 miles (2,250 kilometers) northwest of Hawaii.
  
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• Santa's Reindeer Feel the Heat as Numbers Shrink Worldwide

  13-12-2016 18:20
  
  Reindeer populations in northern Russia are falling, according to a new study. The new findings dovetail with other research showing that reindeer populations are falling in other parts of the Arctic as well. Polar bear populations could decline by about one-third over the next 30 or 40 years based on sea ice estimates, another study found.
  
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• Scientists devise new method to give 'most robust' estimate of Maasai Mara lion numbers

  13-12-2016 18:19 via feedproxy.google.com
  Scientists based at Oxford University have created a new method for counting lions that they say is the most robust yet devised.Using the Maasai Mara National Reserve and surrounding conservancies in Kenya as a case study, they estimate there to be 420 lions over the age of one in this key territory. At almost 17 lions per 100 square kilometres, that represents one of the highest densities anywhere in Africa.
  
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• Slack management exposed BP to high safety risk - leaked report

  13-12-2016 18:09
  By Ron Bousso LONDON (Reuters) - BP's refining operations are exposed to high safety risks that can lead to deadly accidents and pollution as a result of slack management and a lack of investment, according to a leaked internal report from 2015. The report, co-authored by BP, IBM and industry consultancy WorleyParsons, states that the British company's refining and petrochemical business, known as downstream, is trailing rivals such as Royal Dutch Shell by up to seven years in managing informati
  
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• Shell takes aim at British and German offshore wind deals

  13-12-2016 17:54
  By Karolin Schaps LONDON (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell wants to buy into the British and German offshore wind markets as it attempts to shift its business away from fossil fuels. Immediate opportunities in the world's biggest offshore wind markets will be through buying stakes in leases, rather than building new projects, Dorine Bosman, business operations manager for Shell's wind business, told Reuters on Tuesday. The world's second-biggest oil major on Monday won a contract to build 700 megawa
  
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• Spy satellites reveal Himalayan melt

  13-12-2016 17:39 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists have used images taken by Cold War spy satellites to reveal the dramatic environmental changes occurring in the Himalayas.
  
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• Rudolph Is Shrinking: Climate Change Is Starving Santa's Reindeer

  13-12-2016 17:34
  
  Rather, climate change is making it difficult for them — and their gestating fetuses — to survive extreme winters, new research shows. The findings are the culmination of a 16-year study on the reindeer living in Svalbard, a Norwegian archipelago located between Norway and the Arctic. In 1994, the adult reindeer in Svalbard weighed an average of 120 lbs. (55 kilograms), but in 2010, they weighed less than 108 lbs. (49 kg), on average — a 10- to 12-percent drop in weight, said l
  
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• Warming global temperatures may not affect carbon stored deep in northern peatlands, study says

  13-12-2016 17:21 via feedproxy.google.com
  Deep stores of carbon in northern peatlands may be safe from rising temperatures, according to a team of researchers from several U.S.-based institutions.And that is good news for now, the researchers said.Florida State University research scientist Rachel Wilson and University of Oregon graduate student Anya Hopple are the first authors on a new study published today in Nature Communications. The study details experiments suggesting that carbon stored in peat—a highly organic material fou
  
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• Europe eyes 'big bang' in power savings from industry and SMEs

  13-12-2016 17:00
  While standards for toasters, fridges, and TV sets have so far grabbed the most attention, the biggest potential for power savings actually lies in integrating industries and small businesses to the electricity system, a senior EU official has said.
  
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• Briton swims Antarctic in campaign for three marine sanctuaries

  13-12-2016 16:38
  
  Endurance swimmer Lewis Pugh employs ‘Speedo diplomacy’ to stop overfishing in AntarcticA British man will plunge into sub-zero waters in the Antarctic on Tuesday to campaign for the creation of three huge marine parks to stop overfishing.Lewis Pugh is credited with playing an important role in the agreement earlier this year to create the world’s largest marine protected area (MPA) and make fishing off limits in much of the Ross Sea, a bay in the Southern Ocean. Continue readi
  
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• Rick Perry to be named energy secretary in department he pledged to scrap

  13-12-2016 16:33
  
  Donald Trump to announce former Texas governor as head of Department of Energy, the agency he forgot he wanted to abolish in 2011 ‘Oops’ momentDonald Trump has chosen former Texas governor Rick Perry to head the US Department of Energy, a transition official said, putting him in charge of the agency he proposed eliminating during his bid for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.The choice, confirmed late on Monday by the official and also reported by the New York Times, adds t
  
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• US advances on clean energy with first offshore wind farm

  13-12-2016 16:20
  
  Offshore wind farms are in development across the country, but the election of Donald Trump may weaken federal support and squelch an emerging industrySeveral miles off the coast of Rhode Island, a clean energy landmark quietly just powered up.Five 560-foot-tall wind turbines are now spinning their 240-foot-long blades, sending electricity out onto New England’s regional grid. The wind turbines, which are connected to the sea floor via steel foundations, are linked to the broader grid by t
  
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• Oil demand to grow more swiftly, too early to assess global output cut

  13-12-2016 16:18
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil demand will rise more strongly than expected next year, although it is too soon to fully assess the impact of a joint cut in supply by the world's largest producers, International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said revisions to its estimate of Chinese and Russian consumption had prompted it to raise its forecast for global oil demand growth this year by 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd, and
  
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• Oil prices rise as Middle East producers confirm supply cuts

  13-12-2016 15:28
  By Sabina Zawadzki LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday, supported by strong demand in Asia and supply cuts by Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Qatar as part of production curbs organised by OPEC and other exporters. Meanwhile, China's November crude output fell 9 percent from a year earlier to 3.915 million bpd, data showed on Tuesday.
  
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• 'Dead or alive' cat in physics top 10

  13-12-2016 13:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  The detection of ripples in space-time and the famous Schrödinger's Cat paradox feature in a list of 2016's physics breakthroughs.
  
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• Leaked BP report reveals serious near-miss accidents

  13-12-2016 13:48
  
  Costly failures show ‘urgent attention’ needed to improve how oil giant manages crucial engineering data at plantsAn internal report into how the oil giant BP monitors its refinery and chemical sites has revealed at least two near-miss accidents that could have caused deaths.The report, leaked to Greenpeace, concludes that “urgent attention” is required to improve how BP manages crucial engineering data across the world and that the company lags behind its competitors inc
  
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• China to set date to close ivory factories

  13-12-2016 13:35
  
  Preparation is under way in China to bring in a ban on their domestic ivory trade, following a promise made with the US earlier this year
  China is set to announce when it will close its legal ivory carving factories, 18 months after pledging to act.Last year, the world’s largest market for both legal and illegal ivory said it would shut down commercial sales within the country. But did not set a timeline.Continue reading...
  
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• Trump picks Exxon chief Tillerson as secretary of state

  13-12-2016 13:23
  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump announced Exxon Mobil Corp's Rex Tillerson as his choice for secretary of state on Tuesday, praising the business leader as a successful international dealmaker who has led a global operation. Tillerson's experience in diplomacy stems from making deals with foreign countries for the world's largest energy company, although questions have been raised about the oil executive's relations with Russia. "He will be a forceful and cle
  
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• How noise pollution impacts marine ecology

  13-12-2016 13:14 via feedproxy.google.com
  Marine ecologists have shown how noise pollution is changing the behaviour of marine animals - and how its elimination will significantly help build their resilience. Laura Briggs reports.Building up a library of sound from marine creatures including cod, whelks and sea slugs is important to helping build resilience in species affected by noise pollution, according to Exeter University's Associate Professor in Marine Biology and Global Change Dr Steve Simpson.Human noise factors including busy s
  
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• E.ON invests in UK start up that uses sails to harness wind power

  13-12-2016 13:12
  German energy group E.ON has invested in a British start-up business that uses sails instead of rotors to harness wind energy. Kite Power Solutions (KPS) secured 6 million euros (5 million pound) in a fresh funding round that, apart from E.ON, included oil industry services company Schlumberger and Royal Dutch Shell, E.ON said on Tuesday. KPS's technology generates energy from wind by flying sails comparable to the ones used in kite surfing in altitudes of up to 450 metres (1,476 ft), which is m
  
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• Surge in methane emissions threatens efforts to slow climate change

  13-12-2016 13:08 via feedproxy.google.com
  Global concentrations of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and cause of climate change, are now growing faster in the atmosphere than at any other time in the past two decades.That is the message of a team of international scientists in an editorial published 12 December in the journal Environmental Research Letters. The group reports that methane concentrations in the air began to surge around 2007 and grew precipitously in 2014 and 2015.
  
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• Bill Gates and investors inject $1bn into Breakthrough Energy fund

  13-12-2016 12:44
  
  Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates has rallied together a team of executives from some of the world's biggest companies in order to pledge a $1bn fund to accelerate the uptake of clean energy technologies.
  
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• Free coffee and half price bike repairs: Amsterdam rewards its recyclers

  13-12-2016 12:08
  
  In the Noord district, residents are offered discounts at local shops in exchange for their plastic wasteLocated just behind Amsterdam Centraal station with views looking out across the river IJ, Al Ponte is a popular cafe serving a constant stream of commuters on their way to and from the nearby ferry port. Not all Al Ponte’s customers pay for their coffees, however. Not in the traditional sense anyway.Al Ponte is one of the businesses participating in Wasted, a pilot project running in A
  
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• New energy and water retail service offers businesses 'one-stop-shop' for utilities

  13-12-2016 11:30
  
  UK organisations will soon be able to manage their electricity, gas and water use in one place thanks to a pioneering new partnership between non-domestic water supplier Business Stream and energy consultancy Utilitywise.
  
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• Milton Keynes announces £2.3m EV charging infrastructure expansion

  13-12-2016 11:30
  
  One of the four UK cities set to act as a pioneer of green vehicle technology has agreed a new £2.3m contract to "significantly expand" the public charging network for electric vehicles (EVs) in the area.
  
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• Keep it in the ground: five trillion reasons to be happy

  13-12-2016 10:13
  
  The value of investment funds committed to selling off fossil fuel assets has jumped to $5.2tn, doubling in just over a yearFive years ago, the idea that investments in fossil fuel companies were morally or financially problematic was all but unheard of. But an argument started to take shape on US university campuses — that with more coal, oil and gas in existing reserves than can ever be burned while keep climate change under control, it is ethical and economic madness to spend billions l
  
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• Oil demand to grow more swiftly, too early to assess global output cut - IEA

  13-12-2016 10:10
  By Amanda Cooper LONDON (Reuters) - Global oil demand will rise more strongly than expected in 2016 and 2017, although it is too soon to assess the impact of a joint cut in supply by the world's largest producers, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said revisions to its estimate of Chinese and Russian consumption had prompted it to raise its forecast for global oil demand growth this year by 120,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 1.4 million bpd,
  
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• Oil demand to rise faster in 2017, too soon to assess OPEC cut impact - IEA

  13-12-2016 10:02
  Global oil demand will rise more strongly than expected in both 2016 and 2017, although it is too soon to assess the impact of a joint cut in supply by the world's largest producers, the International Energy Agency said on Tuesday. In its monthly oil market report, the IEA said revisions to its estimate of Chinese and Russian consumption had prompted it to raise its forecast for global oil market demand growth this year by 120,000 barrels per day to 1.4 million bpd, and increased its forecast fo
  
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• Oil prices firm as Abu Dhabi cuts exports amid soaring Asian demand

  13-12-2016 09:09
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices were stable on Tuesday, supported by strong demand in Asia and a supply cut by Abu Dhabi as part of production curbs organised by OPEC and other exporters. International Brent crude futures were trading at $55.65 per barrel at 0648 GMT, down 4 cents from their last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 5 cents at $52.75 a barrel.
  
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• Event organiser UBM to buy Allworld in Middle East foray

  13-12-2016 08:58
  (Reuters) - Event organiser UBM Plc said it would buy Asian exhibitions company Allworld for $485 million (382.55 million pounds) in cash, strengthening its position in Asia and providing an entry into the Middle East. Allworld, which operates tradeshows in 11 countries, complements UBM's existing portfolio in food and hospitality, and packaging and manufacturing, while allowing it to enter oil and gas markets, UBM said.
  
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• Nickel clue to 'dinosaur killer' asteroid

  13-12-2016 08:53 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Scientists say they have a clue that may enable them to find traces of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs in the very crater it made on impact.
  
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• China suitor tightens grip on Curacao oil project

  13-12-2016 08:45
  By Chen Aizhu and Marianna Parraga BEIJING/HOUSTON (Reuters) - China's Guangdong Zhenrong Energy Co will submit a plan by April to revamp a century-old oil refinery in Curacao, as it seeks to secure a $5.5 billion (4.34 billion pounds) project that will give China a foothold in the Caribbean's second-largest oil refinery. Guangdong Zhenrong, a commodity trader with strong backing from Beijing, signed a binding framework pact with Curacao's government on Nov. 19, Chen Bingyan, the firm's director
  
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• Oil prices dip, but Abu Dhabi supply cut curbs losses

  13-12-2016 07:54
  By Henning Gloystein SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Tuesday as investors closed financial positions that profited from strong gains the day before. International Brent crude futures was trading at $55.65 per barrel at 0648 GMT, down 4 cents from its last close. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures was down 8 cents at $52.75 a barrel, with U.S. producers not participating in production cuts.
  
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• Iran, Russia sign initial agreement for oil field studies

  13-12-2016 07:49
  BEIRUT (Reuters) - Russia's Gazprom Neft and National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) signed a memorandum of understanding on Tuesday for feasibility studies on development of two oil fields, Iran's oil ministry news agency SHANA said. Gazprom will study both Changouleh and Cheshmeh-Khosh oil fields in Western Iran. Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak and his Iranian counterpart, Bijan Namdar Zanganeh, were present at the signing ceremony in Tehran. (Reporting by Bozorgmehr Sharafedin; Editing by
  
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• Black hole 'swallowed star', say Queen's astronomers

  13-12-2016 07:21 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A star was 'swallowed' after it passed too close to a black hole, say Queen's University astronomers.
  
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• Pesticides stop bees buzzing and releasing pollen, says study

  13-12-2016 07:01
  
  Researchers find neonicotinoid insecticides harm ability of bees to vibrate flowers and shake out pollen to fertilise cropsThe world’s most widely used insecticides harm the ability of bees to vibrate flowers and shake out the pollen to fertilise crops, according to preliminary results from a new study.Some flowers, such as those of crops like tomatoes and potatoes, must be shaken to release pollen and bumblebees are particularly good at creating the buzz needed to do this. But the researc
  
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• Trump to announce Exxon chief Tillerson as secretary of state

  13-12-2016 06:37
  By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Donald Trump will announce Exxon-Mobil Corp's Rex Tillerson as his choice for secretary of state on Tuesday, a senior transition official said, confident that the oil executive can get past questions about his ties to Russia. Trump is to make the announcement on Tuesday morning, going with a business leader whose experience in diplomacy is from making deals with foreign countries for the world's largest energy company. Trump picked Tillerso
  
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• At sundown, the Sussex skies come alive

  13-12-2016 06:30
  
  Waltham Brooks, West Sussex I count at least four separate birds’ voices. They seem more eerie in the cold and darkIt feels less cold, but the grass is still hard, smooth and slippery underfoot. The channels and small pools of water are almost completely frozen over, their surfaces patterned like frosted glass where the water has thawed and frozen again. A grey mist is starting to rise from the ground. In the distance, the red sun is sinking behind the South Downs and the sky glows with em
  
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