Environment

Saturday, November 24th 2012 - 21:59 UTC
Why the Qatar Summit could bring new direction for action on climate change

By Lord Hunt & Terry Townshend - We have learnt to expect surprises at UN climate change summits. At Durban, a year ago, there was the unexpected, but welcome, agreement to begin negotiations on a new legally binding instrument involving all major emitters of greenhouse gases, to be finalised by 2015, and to take effect in 2020.
Friday, November 23rd 2012 - 09:54 UTC
Australian scientists ‘discover’ the island that never was in the mid-Pacific

A South Pacific island identified on Google Earth and world maps does not exist, according to Australian scientists who went searching for the mystery landmass during a geological expedition.
Friday, November 16th 2012 - 00:42 UTC
BP pleads guilty to Gulf of Mexico spill and will pay a record 4.5bn

BP Plc agreed on Thursday to plead guilty to a raft of charges in the deadly Gulf of Mexico spill and pay a record 4.5 billion dollars including the biggest criminal fine in United States history. Three BP employees were also charged, two of them with manslaughter.
Monday, November 12th 2012 - 19:00 UTC
HMS Protector heading for Antarctica after surveying Tristan da Cunha waters

The Royal Navy ice patrol ship HMS Protector on her route to the Falklands and Antarctica, has visited the remote South Atlantic island of Tristan da Cunha to conduct the first systematic survey of the British Overseas Territory since the 1970s.
Thursday, November 8th 2012 - 07:11 UTC
Heat causes massive blackout and the collapse of Buenos Aires city

A heat wave which reached 36 Celsius caused on Wednesday a massive blackout in Argentina’s capital with an estimated three million people suffering lack of power plus such emblematic sites as Government House (Casa Rosada), Congress and the posh district of Puerto Madero.
Thursday, November 8th 2012 - 07:02 UTC
Powerful 7.4-magnitude quake hits Guatemala kills dozens; tremors reach Mexico City

A powerful earthquake off the Pacific coast of Guatemala on Wednesday sent debris crashing down onto cars, collapsed roads and killed dozens in the Central American nation, officials said.
Thursday, November 8th 2012 - 06:58 UTC
Argentine Judge orders Chevron assets seizure related to court case in Ecuador

An Argentine judge has embargoed up to 19 billion dollars in Chevron assets in connection with an environmental lawsuit by Ecuadorean villagers, a lawyer for the plaintiffs said on Wednesday.
Tuesday, November 6th 2012 - 20:56 UTC
NZ scientists in world first discovery of the elusive spade-toothed beaked whale

New Zealand scientists have made a world first discovery when they identified two skeletons belonging to the spade-toothed beaked whale, which is so rare that nobody has seen one alive. A 17-foot whale mother and her calf beached themselves in New Zealand in 2010 and were buried misidentified for a much more common type of whale that occasionally strands on NZ beaches.
Sunday, November 4th 2012 - 06:31 UTC
Peru slashes anchovy quota by 68%; fish meal prices forecasted to soar

Peru slashed its commercial fishing quota as warmer water temperatures and controversial practices deplete stocks of anchovy in one of the world’s richest fisheries. The government cut its quota for this summer’s anchovy season by 68% to 810.000 tons, the smallest allowance in 25 years.
Friday, November 2nd 2012 - 23:12 UTC
UK confirms BAS first-class scientific research and Antarctica strategic presence

Plans to merge the British Antarctic Survey (closely linked to the Falkland Islands) and the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) have been ruled out, Science minister David Willetts announced. In a written statement he said the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) had decided not to proceed with the proposal.