Environment news

• Deadly monsters of the deep

  29-12-2016 22:30
  
  Oceanographers are busy mapping the powerful underwater eddies that have proved a major hazard to submarinersRows of tall buildings channel the breeze, turning streets into wind tunnels and creating whirlwinds. A similar effect underwater may be deadly. Tidal currents can produce giant whirlpools. Some, like the famous Maelstrom off the Norwegian coast, have been known as shipping hazards for centuries. Their destructive power feeds mythology; Maelstrom is the home of the mythical Kraken, which
  
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• Oil dips after an unexpected U.S. crude inventory build

  29-12-2016 21:26
  By Catherine Ngai NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil futures dipped on Thursday after a surprise build in U.S. crude inventories reversed an advance in prices that had boosted the benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year. U.S. crude stocks unexpectedly rose for the second straight week, data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed, gaining 614,000 barrels last week versus analysts' forecasts of a decline of 2.1 million barrels. U.S. crude futures settled 29 cents, or 0.5 perc
  
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• Christmas Day 2016 sets new UK record for renewable energy use

  29-12-2016 18:49
  
  Green energy such as wind power made up 40% of electricity generated in Britain, compared with 25% on 25 December 2015Christmas Day was the greenest on record for energy generation, according to the power group Drax.The company said more than 40% of the electricity generated on the day came from renewable sources, the highest ever. It compared with 25% on Christmas Day in 2015, and 12% in 2012. Continue reading...
  
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• The Earth in 2016, as seen from space – in pictures

  29-12-2016 18:17
  
  Throughout 2016 astronauts aboard the International Space Station recorded the ever-changing face of the Earth and its environment. Here are a selection of the astronauts’ best photographs Continue reading...
  
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• Oil dips in wake of rise in U.S. inventories

  29-12-2016 18:15
  By Catherine Ngai NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices dipped on Thursday after a surprise increase in U.S. inventories reversed an advance in prices that had pushed global crude benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year. U.S. light, sweet crude was down 37 cents at $53.69 by 12:02 p.m. ET (1702 GMT) while North Sea Brent crude was down 17 cents at $56.05 a barrel. U.S. distillate and gasoline futures expire on Friday, which could add to price swings, analysts noted.
  
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• Last known Wordsworth descendant joins fight to stop Lake District pylons

  29-12-2016 16:22
  
  National Grid has agreed to use underground cables within national park, but plans to put pylons 10 metres outside itThe last known descendant of the Romantic poet William Wordsworth is to join campaigners marching to “save the Lake District from pylons” on New Year’s Day.Ninety pylons the height of Nelson’s column are planned across an estuary in the area of outstanding natural beauty where Wordsworth wandered lonely as a cloud.Continue reading...
  
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• Smart electricity meters can be dangerously insecure, warns expert

  29-12-2016 15:51
  
  Hackers can cause fraud, explosions and house fires and utility companies should do more to protect consumers, conference toldSmart electricity meters, of which more than 100m are installed across the world, are frequently “dangerously insecure”, a security expert has warned.The lack of security in the smart utilities raises the prospect of a single line of malicious code cutting power to a home, or even causing a catastrophic overload leading to exploding meters or house fires, warn
  
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• Oil steady as rise in U.S. inventory slows upswing

  29-12-2016 15:41
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday after a surprise increase in U.S. inventories helped stall an upward trend that has pushed global crude benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year. U.S. light crude was down 15 cents at $53.91 by 1435 GMT while North Sea Brent crude was up 10 cents at $56.32 a barrel. Both crude oil benchmarks have made big gains this month since OPEC and other producers agreed to curb production in an attempt to balance an ov
  
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• Climate deniers, conspiracists and one-percenters: Trump's cabinet of characters

  29-12-2016 14:32
  
  The president-elect plans to surround himself with enemies of the environment, billions of dollars in net worth and people who are against their own agencies Related: Trump's cabinet picks: here are all of the appointments so far Barack Obama’s original cabinet was chockablock with historic firsts. The first African American attorney general. The first Nobel laureate upon appointment. The first female homeland security secretary, and the first African American to head the Environmental Pro
  
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• Businesses no longer have an excuse not to disclose their climate risks

  29-12-2016 14:00
  
  New recommendations will help companies to predict the impact of climate change on their finances – and give us more firepower to demand disclosureIt is vitally important for investors to understand the risks that climate change may pose to the businesses they have invested in – and the opportunities in transitioning to a low-carbon economy. It’s not an easy task. Climate change may be one of the world’s best-modeled processes in physics, but in finance, the information i
  
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• Rare Rothschild's giraffe born at Chester zoo on Boxing Day

  29-12-2016 13:38
  
  Calf, which is yet to be sexed or named, is one of most endangered subspecies of giraffe, with fewer than 1,600 in wildA rare and endangered Rothschild’s giraffe has been born at Chester zoo.Keepers said the 1.82-metre (6ft) calf, which is yet to be sexed or named, arrived to first-time mother Tula and father Meru at about 7am on Boxing Day and was up on its feet just minutes later.Continue reading...
  
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• Chairman of Russia's Ust-Luga port remanded in custody on suspected fraud

  29-12-2016 13:00
  By Denis Pinchuk MOSCOW (Reuters) - A St Petersburg court has ordered the chairman of Russia's Baltic sea port of Ust-Luga to be held in custody until Jan. 21 after his arrest on suspicion of fraud, a court official said on Thursday. Officers of the Russian Federal Security Service, or FSB, searched the port's offices in St Petersburg on Wednesday, Tatyana Pauk, spokeswoman for the Ust-Luga Management and Development Company, told Reuters. The FSB did not immediately reply to Reuters' written re
  
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• Rosneft raises exposure to Germany's oil refining market after BP deal

  29-12-2016 12:56
  Russia's largest oil producer and its shareholder BP have completed dissolution of Ruhr Oel, their refining joint venture in Germany, Rosneft said on Thursday. Rosneft said with the restructuring it had embarked on developing its own business in Germany and had created a new subsidiary called Rosneft Deutschland. The deal will allow Rosneft to gain control over more than 12 percent of Germany's oil refining market with annual refining capacity of 12.5 million tonnes.
  
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• Oil prices steady as rise in U.S. inventory slows upswing

  29-12-2016 12:48
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday after a surprise increase in U.S. inventories helped stall an upward trend that has pushed global crude benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year. U.S. light crude was down 20 cents at $53.86 by 1130 GMT, while North Sea Brent crude was up 5 cents at $56.27 a barrel. Both crude oil benchmarks have made big gains this month since OPEC and other producers agreed to curb production in an attempt to balance an ov
  
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• Oil prices steady as U.S. inventory build slows upswing

  29-12-2016 10:58
  By Christopher Johnson LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices steadied on Thursday after a surprise increase in U.S. inventories helped stall an upwards trend that has pushed global crude benchmarks to their highest levels since July last year. U.S. light crude was down 20 cents at $53.86 by 0930 GMT, while North Sea Brent crude was up 5 cents at $56.27 a barrel. Both crude oil benchmarks have made big gains this month since OPEC and other producers agreed to curb production in an attempt to balance an o
  
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• The best of the wildlife photography awards 2016 – in pictures

  29-12-2016 10:00
  
  Winning images from national and international wildlife photography competitions of the year Continue reading...
  
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• A year in the wild: readers share their favourite wildlife photos from 2016

  29-12-2016 10:00
  
  We’ve asked readers to share their photos of wildlife they have discovered every month this year. Here is a selection of the best of themReaders have been sharing a wonderful array of wildlife photographs every month throughout the year. And with 2016 drawing to a close, we thought it would be nice to document the very best of them from all four seasons. Here’s to more fantastic, up close and personal wildlife photography next year. Continue reading...
  
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• 1764 census reveals St Kilda residents feasted on 1,600 seabirds a day

  29-12-2016 08:00
  
  Document unearthed by archivists sheds new light on history of archipelago and the people that lived thereA 250-year-old census has revealed islanders on St Kilda ate more than 1,600 seabirds every day.The document is the earliest recorded list of the archipelago’s population and was discovered by archivists among a hoard of clan papers. Continue reading...
  
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• Nothing sings quite like a robin

  29-12-2016 06:30
  
  Sandy, Bedfordshire The tiny bird comes on strong at the end of the year, an emblem of the seasonThe singers began rehearsing for the main event as long ago as September. At first light, the murmur of traffic would be punctuated with tentative trills or cadences that expired almost as they began. The gaps between plaintive coos of the wood pigeon were filled with sotto voce snatches of song, making up for a lack of volume with notes of high piercing intensity. There is nothing that sings quite l
  
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• China slashes first round of oil products export quotas - sources

  29-12-2016 06:14
  By Chen Aizhu and Meng Meng BEIJING (Reuters) - China has cut oil product export quotas to the nation's four oil majors by 40 percent in the first round of licences for 2017, according to two sources who have seen the documents, even as traders expect allowances for overseas sales to meet or exceed this year's record levels. The notice did not include quotas for independent refiners, known as "teapots", in line with a report by Reuters earlier this month that the government has ditched the small
  
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• WTI prices fall on surprise build in U.S. crude stocks

  29-12-2016 05:44
  By Mark Tay Singapore (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices fell on Thursday after an industry report showed a surprise build in the country's crude inventories, while Brent futures came off early lows to trade marginally higher. Meanwhile, a committee of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and non-OPEC producers responsible for monitoring compliance with a production cut agreement will meet in Vienna on Jan. 21-22, Kuwaiti oil minister Essam Al-Marzouq told state news agency KUNA, in
  
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• Birds migrating earlier as temperatures rise

  29-12-2016 03:54 via bbc.co.uk
  
  Migrating birds are arriving at their breeding grounds earlier as global temperatures rise, an Edinburgh University study finds.
  
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• Rare giraffe born on Boxing Day

  29-12-2016 02:31 via bbc.co.uk
  
  A rare giraffe has been born at Chester Zoo.
  
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• Oil prices fall on surprise build in U.S. crude stocks

  29-12-2016 02:17
  By Mark Tay Singapore (Reuters) - Oil prices fell in early trade in Asia on Thursday following a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks shown in data published by the American Petroleum Institute (API) late on Wednesday. U.S. benchmark West Texas intermediate (WTI) crude futures were down 31 cents or 0.57 percent to $53.75 at 0104 GMT after settling up 16 cents at $54.06 per barrel in the previous session. Brent crude oil futures also fell 13 cents or 0.23 percent to $56.09 a barrel after settling
  
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• Madrid bans half of cars from roads to fight air pollution

  29-12-2016 02:15
  
  Odd- and even-numbered vehicles will swap use of roads in Spanish capital until smog easesMadrid has ordered half of most private cars off the roads on Thursday to tackle worsening air pollution, a first in Spain.The restrictions will operate between 6.30am and 9pm and will be re-evaluated daily depending on pollution levels. The city council said in a statement: “vehicles with even-number registration plates will be allowed to drive around on even-number days and cars with odd-number regi
  
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• Barack Obama designates two national monuments in west despite opposition

  29-12-2016 00:32
  
  Designation of Bears Ears in Utah and Gold Butte in Nevada mark last moves to protect environmentally sensitive areas in administration’s final weeksPresident Barack Obama designated two national monuments at sites in Utah and Nevada that have become key flashpoints over use of public land in the west, marking the administration’s latest move to protect environmentally sensitive areas in its final weeks.The Bears Ears national monument in Utah will cover 1.35m acres in the Four Corne
  
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