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On NY's rooftops, old-style wooden water tanks hang tough![]() New York (AFP) June 25, 2018 They are part of New York's skyline and millions of people unknowingly depend on them: behold, the venerable rooftop water tank, made of plain old wood. And forget about technology and innovation and all that. The tanks are more popular than ever in this city of skyscrapers. Here, any building higher than six stories must be fitted to pump water to the roof for the higher floors, where it is stored in a tank. That's because the pressure in the city water system is too weak to get it up there. Gr ... read more |
Malaysian PM revives age-old water row with SingaporeKuala Lumpur (AFP) June 25, 2018 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Monday he wants to renegotiate a "ridiculous" water supply agreement with Singapore, the latest sign of fraying ties between the neighbours since last month's shock election. ... more
France eases rules on wine stocks to mitigate weather risksBordeaux (AFP) June 22, 2018 French vineyards will be allowed under new rules to hold back more of their production each year to protect them in case harvests are damaged by extreme weather including storms and drought. ... more
Drought haunts farmers in Poland, Baltic statesWarsaw (AFP) June 20, 2018 Poland's prime minister on Wednesday warned of "very significant" crop losses as the EU country scrambled to help farmers struggling to cope with an unusual spring drought amid soaring temperatures. ... more
Lab-grown livestock feed may ease climatic effects of feed productionWashington (UPI) Jun 20, 2018 Can cows subsist on space food? ... more |
Philippines digs out from Typhoon Fung-wong as death toll climbs
Philippines digs out from Typhoon Fung-wong as death toll climbs to 18 Three Vietnam men survive 40 hours at sea after typhoon Typhoon Fung-wong floods Philippine towns, leaves 5 dead in its wake Typhoon Fung-wong leaves flooded Philippine towns in its wake Typhoon exposes centuries-old shipwreck off Vietnam port Weakening Typhoon Fung-wong exits Philippines after displacing 1.4 million Super Typhoon Fung-wong makes landfall in Philippines Over 1 million evacuate as deadly Super Typhoon Fung-wong nears Philippines Dam reservoir levels drop below 3% in Iran's second city: media |
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| Previous Issues | Jun 22 | Jun 21 | Jun 20 | Jun 19 | Jun 18 |
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US soybean prices tumble amid trade fight with BeijingChicago (AFP) June 15, 2018 Soybean prices tumbled this week in Chicago, along with other key agricultural commodities, amid rising trade tensions culminating in Friday's announcements of new US and Chinese tariffs. ... more
Drought-hit Iraq suspends farming of key cropsBaghdad (AFP) June 18, 2018 An unusually bad drought has forced Iraq to suspend the cultivation of rice, corn and other cereals that demand large amounts of water, the agriculture ministry said Monday. ... more
Japan, SKorea ban Canadian wheat imports over bioengineered plantsOttawa (AFP) June 18, 2018 The world's sixth largest wheat producer sought to reassure trading partners on Monday that genetically modified wheat plants discovered on an Alberta farm were few and posed no food safety risks, after Japan and South Korea halted Canadian wheat imports. ... more
Warmer climate will dramatically increase the volatility of global corn cropsSeattle WA (SPX) Jun 19, 2018 Corn, or maize, is the most widely grown crop in the world. Used in food, cooking oil, industrialized foods, livestock feed and even automobile fuel, the crop is one that both rich and poor people r ... more
Fashion retailer ASOS bans silk, cashmere, mohairLondon (AFP) June 18, 2018 ASOS, the British online fashion retailer, announced Monday it was banning the sale of silk, cashmere and mohair products, joining a wave of clothing firms to ditch the products. ... more |
![]() RNA changes aided sunflower's rapid evolutionary transformation, domestication
When the river runs highTownsville, Australia (SPX) Jun 18, 2018 A massive world-wide study of dry riverbeds has found they're contributing more carbon emissions than previously thought, and this could help scientists better understand how to fight climate change ... more |
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US farmers stressed, angry at trade warsNew York (AFP) June 16, 2018 US farmers find themselves in the crosshairs of a trade war with China and others launched by President Donald Trump, who was elected with the support of many in rural America. ... more
Farmers increasingly relying on agricultural contractors, new research showsExeter UK (SPX) Jun 18, 2018 More farmers are relying on external companies to carry out major work, new research shows. A new study has found agriculture is kept operational through family, permanent-hired, outsourced an ... more
3D View of Amazon forests captures effects of El Nino droughtGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 15, 2018 Three-dimensional measurements of the central Brazilian Amazon rainforest have given NASA researchers a detailed window into the high number of branch falls and tree mortality that occur in response ... more
Boring down on boronThuwal, Saudi Arabia (SPX) Jun 15, 2018 High-temperature desalination technologies can efficiently reduce the concentrations of a chemical element in seawater to make it an effective substitute for fresh water. Research that has investiga ... more
Israel's Sea of Galilee to get desalinated seawater top-upJerusalem (AFP) June 11, 2018 The shrinking Sea of Galilee, the inland lake where Christians believe Jesus walked on water, is to be topped up with desalinated seawater, a government official said on Monday. ... more |
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Copernicus 20 years on Paris (ESA) Jun 25, 2018
This week marks 20 years since the manifesto was signed that gave rise to Europe's Copernicus environmental programme. With seven Sentinel satellites already in orbit delivering terabytes of data every day, Copernicus is the biggest provider of Earth observation data in the world.
To mark this 20-year milestone, reflect on the programme's achievements and to look to the future, EU commissi ... more |
Russia launches Soyuz-21b with Glonass-M navigation satellite Moscow (Sputnik) Jun 19, 2018
Russia launched a Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket from the Plesetsk space center on Sunday to orbit a Glonass-M satellite, the Russian Defense Ministry said.
"On Sunday, at 00:46 Moscow time [21:46 GMT]... the Space Forces of the Aerospace Forces successfully launched a middle-class Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket with a navigation Glonass-M spacecraft," the ministry said in a statement. Hours later t ... more |
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Loss of Earth's intact forests speeds up: scientists Paris (AFP) June 20, 2018
Earth's intact forests shrank annually by nearly 90,000 square kilometres - an area the size of Austria - from 2014 to 2016, 20 percent faster than during the previous 13 years, according to findings presented at a conference in Oxford this week.
Despite UN-led efforts to halt deforestation, nearly ten percent of undisturbed forests have been fragmented, degraded or simply chopped down sin ... more |
Orange, tea tree and eucalyptus oils sweeten diesel fumes Brisbane, Australia (SPX) Jun 18, 2018
QUT PhD researcher Ashrafur Rahman tested each of the waste oils for performance and emissions as a 10 per cent oil/90per cent diesel blend in a 6-cylinder, 5.9l diesel engine.
"As only therapeutic grade oil can be used, there is a substantial volume of low-value waste oil that currently is stored, awaiting a use," Mr Rahman said.
"Our tests found essential oil blends produced almost ... more |
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KYOCERA to participate in Japan's virtual power plant project to improve energy management Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jun 20, 2018
Kyocera has registered with the Sustainable open Innovation Initiative (SII) as a resource aggregator*1 for a new program to help control energy resources among Japanese consumers. This latest test project runs until February 2019, plans to expand the coverage area to Tohoku and Hokkaido and is designed to test the flexible response to changing energy supply and demand.
Part of a larger pr ... more |
India embarks on offshore wind energy effort Washington (UPI) Jun 19, 2018
The completion of studies for the offshore wind energy potential in India expands the sector in a greening economy, the government said Tuesday.
Norwegian energy advisory group DNV GL announced Tuesday it completed a study, co-funded by the European Union and an offshore wind energy group in India, examining the offshore wind energy potential for two coastal states.
"It is the be ... more |
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Rescuers save 23 workers trapped in China mine, 11 others dead Beijing (AFP) June 6, 2018
Rescuers pulled 23 workers out of a mine in northeast China on Wednesday, hours after they were trapped underground by an explosion that killed 11 and left two others missing, state media reported.
Nine other workers were injured in Tuesday's blast at the iron ore mine owned by Huamei Group, a subsidiary of China National Coal Group Co, in Benxi, Liaoning province.
The blast took place w ... more |
Dominican Republic names ambassador to China Santo Domingo (AFP) June 20, 2018
The Dominican Republic appointed its first ambassador to China on Tuesday, after switching diplomatic ties from Taiwan in April.
The envoy is Briunny Garabito Segura, who has previously served as ambassador to Colombia and Canada.
Until April, the Dominican Republic was among just a handful of countries that recognized Taiwan.
China and Taiwan have been ruled separately since 1949 b ... more |
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Rutgers researchers develop automated robotic device for faster blood testing New Brunswick NJ (SPX) Jun 22, 2018
Rutgers researchers have created an automated blood drawing and testing device that provides rapid results, potentially improving the workflow in hospitals and other health-related institutions to allow health care practitioners to spend more time treating patients.
A study describing the fully automated device is published online in the journal TECHNOLOGY.
"This device represents th ... more |
Wastewater treatment plants are key route into UK rivers for microplastics Leeds UK (SPX) Jun 18, 2018
Water samples from UK rivers contained significantly higher concentrations of microplastics downstream from wastewater treatment plants, according to one of the first studies to determine potential sources of microplastics pollution.
Scientists from the University of Leeds measured microplastics concentrations up and downstream of six wastewater treatment plants and found that all of the p ... more |
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Climate change increasing risks of lightning-ignited fires, study finds Portland OR (SPX) Jun 04, 2018
Fires ignited by lightning have and will likely continue to increase across the Mediterranean and temperate regions in the Southern Hemisphere under a warmer climate, according to a new study co-led by a Portland State University researcher.
The study, published online in May in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, examined the observed and forecasted relationship between lightning-ig ... more |
Prolific sea-observing satellite Jason-2 turns 10 Pasadena CA (JPL) Jun 25, 2018
An international oceanography satellite that is tracking the ongoing rise in global sea level marks its 10th year in orbit today.
Designed for a three-to-five-year mission, the joint U.S./European Ocean Surface Topography Mission (OSTM) on the Jason-2 satellite has now made more than 47,000 trips around our home planet, measuring sea level change across the globe, observing ocean currents, ... more |
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Landslides, flash floods as monsoon batters southern Myanmar Mawlamyine, Myanmar (AFP) June 18, 2018
Flooding in southern Myanmar has caused a landslide at a famed Buddhist pagoda, submerged homes and displaced hundreds of people as monsoon rains batter the country.
Several parts of Myanmar's southern Mon state are facing flash floods due to heavy rains since the weekend with no relief in sight, according to a report in the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar on Monday.
Rains triggere ... more |
US lawmakers hammer commerce secretary Ross over trade Washington (AFP) June 20, 2018
Indignant US lawmakers on Wednesday grilled Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on President Donald Trump's multi-front trade offensive, saying it risked spiraling out of control and damaging the American economy.
Pleading for an assortment of interests - from nail manufacturers in Missouri to cherry growers in Washington state - senators told Ross US trade policies are alienating allies and je ... more |
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Sounding rocket takes a second look at the sun Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 20, 2018
Tom Woods knows about space gunk. As the principal investigator for the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment, or EVE, instrument aboard NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory, he's all too familiar with the ways that exposure to the harsh space environment can lead to a spacecraft instrument's degradation.
"Since its launch in 2010, EVE's sensitivity has degraded by about 70 percent at so ... more |
EU court rules Malta wild bird traps illegal Luxembourg (AFP) June 21, 2018
Malta has broken European Union law with an exemption for hunters to capture seven species of finches on the Mediterranean island, the EU's top court ruled Thursday.
Environmentalists have called the trapping a cruel practice in which the birds are killed before they can breed but supporters defend it as a longstanding custom.
"By adopting a certain derogation regime allowing the capture ... more |
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