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US judge slashes jury award in Roundup cancer case![]() San Francisco (AFP) July 16, 2019 A US judge on Monday slashed punitive damages a jury ordered Monsanto to pay in a Roundup cancer trial, saying the sum was too high despite the company's "reprehensible" conduct. US District Court Judge Vince Chhabria denied a request by Monsanto for a new trial, but ruled that the $75 million in punitive damages was "constitutionally impermissible." Chhabria reduced to $20 million the amount Monsanto is to pay as punishment in the case which is one of more than 13,000 lawsuits related to the we ... read more |
European farms, wildlife parched in post-heatwave droughtParis (AFP) July 16, 2019 Farmers, private households and wildlife around Europe are suffering in a drought following last month's record temperatures that scorched much of the continent. ... more
China fails to buy agricultural goods as promised: TrumpWashington (AFP) July 11, 2019 US President Donald Trump on Thursday accused China of backsliding on promises to increase purchases of American farm exports. ... more
Managing Freshwater Across the United StatesGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 05, 2019 The varied landscapes of the United States have unique relationships with water. On the East Coast, rain is a regular occurrence. In the West, drought is a constant threat. Rivers and lakes fed by r ... more
Study: Global farming trends threaten food securityHalle, Germany (SPX) Jul 13, 2019 Citrus fruits, coffee and avocados: The food on our tables has become more diverse in recent decades. However, global agriculture does not reflect this trend. Monocultures are increasing worldwide, ... more |
IMF approves $206 mn aid to Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah
Flights cancelled, roads flooded as rare storm soaks UAE Sri Lanka plans $1.6 bn in cyclone recovery spending in 2026 Brazil megacity Sao Paulo struck by fresh water crisis Indonesians reeling from flood devastation plea for global help Levee break near Seattle prompts evacuation order Flash flood kills dozens in Morocco town At least 20 dead in eastern Bolivia floods Press Release from Business Wire: Textron Inc. Flash floods kill 37 in Moroccan coastal town |
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| Previous Issues | Jul 18 | Jul 16 | Jul 15 | Jul 14 | Jul 12 |
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Insecticides that threaten bees also harm damselflies, study findsWashington (UPI) Jul 5, 2019 New research suggests damselflies are being harmed by thiacloprid, a common neonicotinoid insecticide used by farmers to kill aphids and whiteflies. ... more
Lesotho farmers protest against Chinese wool dealMaseru, Lesotho (AFP) June 28, 2019 Several thousand farmers in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho marched to parliament on Friday to protest against regulations forcing them to sell their wool and mohair to a Chinese broker. ... more
Haute couture turns back on fur, both real and fakeParis (AFP) July 3, 2019 Something rather significant was missing from the Paris haute couture shows which wrapped up on Wednesday night - fur. ... more
China says pork production recovering as swine fever cases declineBeijing (AFP) July 4, 2019 New cases of African swine fever have declined and pork production is returning to normal, Chinese officials said Thursday, after millions of pigs were culled because of the deadly disease. ... more
Lithuania declares emergency as drought hits farmersVilnius (AFP) July 3, 2019 Lithuania declared an emergency on Wednesday as a severe drought hit the Baltic EU state, threatening to slash this year's harvest by up to half. ... more |
![]() Cooler for parts of Europe, Spain battles wildfires
When Drought Threatens Crops: NASA's Role in Famine WarningsGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 02, 2019 NASA's satellite imagery and model forecasts regularly help agricultural and aid agencies to monitor the performance of crops worldwide and prepare for food shortages. "In the 1970's the U.S. ... more |
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More Manila water shortages ahead as reservoir feeding city driesBulacan, Philippines (AFP) July 1, 2019 Fishermen now pick their catch from the shallow, muddy slosh of the depleted reservoir which feeds the Philippine capital, as drought once again leaves Manila residents with up to 17-hour-a-day water shortages. ... more
France casts doubt on giant Mercosur trade dealParis (AFP) July 2, 2019 France said Tuesday it was "not ready" to ratify a huge trade deal agreed by the European Union and four South American countries, as farmers and environmentalists step up their resistance to the accord. ... more
Monsoon rains soak India's financial capitalMumbai (AFP) July 1, 2019 Heavy rains flooded parts of India's financial capital of Mumbai on Monday, as the country's four-month summer monsoon swung into full force. ... more
The Water Future of Earth's 'Third Pole'Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 27, 2019 Himalaya. Karakoram. Hindu Kush. The names of Asia's high mountain ranges conjure up adventure to those living far away, but for more than a billion people, these are the names of their most reliabl ... more
Health warnings and speed limits as Europe bakes in heatwaveParis (AFP) June 25, 2019 As Europe sizzled Tuesday at the start of a heatwave tipped to break records, drivers on Germany's famously speedy motorways were ordered to slow down and fans at the women's World Cup were showered in health warnings. ... more |
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Animal observation system ICARUS is switched on Konstanz, Germany (SPX) Jul 16, 2019
The International Cooperation for Animal Research Using Space (ICARUS) is a cooperative project between the Russian space agency Roscosmos and the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) under the leadership of Martin Wikelski from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz.
With the space-based observation system, scientists want to find out m ... more |
Europe's Galileo GPS system back after six-day outage Paris (AFP) July 18, 2019
Europe's Galileo satellite navigationsystem, a rival of the American GPS network, is back in service after a six-day outage, its oversight agency said on Thursday.
"Commercial users can already see signs of recovery of the Galileo navigation and timing services, although some fluctuations may be experienced until further notice," the European Global Navigation Satellite Systems Agency said i ... more |
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The global tree restoration potential Zurich, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 08, 2019
Restoration of the Earth's forests is the world's most effective solution to climate change available today and has the potential to capture two thirds of man-made carbon emissions, finds landmark research by the Crowther Lab, published in the journal Science.
The study is the first to quantify how many trees the Earth can support, where they could exist and how much carbon they could stor ... more |
Left out to dry: A more efficient way to harvest algae biomass Tsukuba, Japan (SPX) Jul 11, 2019
A team at the University of Tsukuba introduced a new procedure of harvesting energy and organic molecules from algae using nanoporous graphene and porous graphene foams. By developing a reusable system that can evaporate water at high rate without the need for centrifugation or squeezing.
This research has a great potential for the application of producing cleaner, cheaper, and more effici ... more |
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Organic solar cells will last 10 years in space Moscow, Russia (SPX) Jul 11, 2019
Scientists from the Skoltech Center for Energy Science and Technology, the Institute for Problems of Chemical Physics of RAS, and the Department of Chemistry of MSU presented solar cells based on conjugated polymers and fullerene derivatives, that demonstrated record-high radiation stability and withstand gamma radiation of >6,000 Gy raising hopes for their stable operation on the near-earth orb ... more |
Stanford study shows how to improve production at wind farms Stanford CA (SPX) Jul 10, 2019
Solitary wind turbines produce the most power when pointing directly into the wind. But when tightly packed lines of turbines face the wind on wind farms, wakes from upstream generators can interfere with those downstream. Like a speedboat slowed by choppy water from a boat in front, the wake from a wind turbine reduces the output of those behind it.
Pointing turbines slightly away from on ... more |
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Indian tycoon Adani rejects Australian mine criticism New Delhi (AFP) July 9, 2019
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani rejected criticism over the environmental impact of a huge coal mine planned by his company in Australia, saying renewables can't meet all his country's energy needs.
Conservationists have condemned the Adani plan, saying it will contribute to global warming, threaten local vulnerable species, and impact the already-damaged Great Barrier Reef.
Adani aims t ... more |
Mall clashes at latest Hong Kong anti-extradition march Hong Kong (AFP) July 14, 2019 Riot police and protesters fought running battles in a Hong Kong shopping mall Sunday night as unrest caused by a widely loathed plan to allow extraditions to mainland China showed no sign of abating.
Police used pepper spray and batons against small groups of protesters, who responded by hurling bottles and other projectiles, in a night of fresh violence in the international hub.
Sunday ... more |
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Robot-ants that can jump, communicate with each other and work together Lausanne, Switzerland (SPX) Jul 11, 2019
Individually, ants have only so much strength and intelligence. However, as a colony, they can use complex strategies to complete sophisticated tasks and evade larger predators.
At EPFL, robotics researchers in Professor Jamie Paik's Laboratory have reproduced this phenomenon, developing tiny robots that display minimal physical intelligence on an individual level but that are able to comm ... more |
Shanghai leads battle against China's rising mountain of trash Shanghai (AFP) July 14, 2019
Nie Feng used to toss his rubbish outside his Shanghai flat without a thought while rushing to work, but saving China from a garbage crisis now requires him to consult a complex diagram each morning.
On July 1, Shanghai launched China's most ambitious garbage separation and recycling programme ever, as the country confronts a rising tide of trash created by increasing consumption.
But th ... more |
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Thousands of campers evacuated due to forest fires in southern France Perpignan, France (AFP) July 15, 2019
Local authorities in southern France have evacuated thousands of campers from a hugely popular camping area after high winds increased the risk from forest fires raging nearby.
Over 2,500 campers were evacuated from campsites in Argeles-sur-Mer, outside the city of Perpignan close to the Spanish border, just as the holiday season gets underway, the local authorities said.
No-one was hur ... more |
Some reef islands resilient to climate change: study Wellington (AFP) July 16, 2019
The Pacific's low-lying reef islands are likely to change shape in response to climate change, rather than simply sinking beneath rising seas and becoming uninhabitable as previously assumed, new research has found.
Atoll nations such as Tuvalu, Tokelau and Kiribati lie only a few metres above sea level and are considered the world's most vulnerable to global warming, with fears their popula ... more |
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European farms, wildlife parched in post-heatwave drought Paris (AFP) July 16, 2019 Farmers, private households and wildlife around Europe are suffering in a drought following last month's record temperatures that scorched much of the continent.
The record June heatwave which smashed all-time temperature records in France may have passed - for now - but there has also been little rainfall in recent weeks to alleviate water shortages.
In Spain, grape and tomato farmers ... more |
Malaysia to challenge EU palm oil curbs at WTO Kuala Lumpur (AFP) July 16, 2019
Malaysia will lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organization over the European Union's plan to phase out the use of palm oil in biofuels, a minister said Tuesday.
The Southeast Asian country is the world's second biggest palm oil producer after Indonesia and would be hit hard by the EU's plan to cut its use in biofuels by 2030.
"Malaysia will file a WTO complaint... hopefully by Nov ... more |
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Details of Solar Science Mission Revealed at UK Astronomy Meeting London, UK (SPX) Jul 05, 2019
Named after a Celtic goddess of the Sun, SULIS is a UK-led solar science mission, designed to answer fundamental questions about the physics of solar storms. The mission consists of a cluster of small satellites and will carefully monitor solar storms using state-of-the-art UK technology, as well as demonstrating new technologies in space. Lead Investigator on the project, Dr. Eamon Scullion of ... more |
Harsh conditions drive female mammals to kill offspring of competitors Washington (UPI) Jul 15, 2019
When the going gets especially tough, female mammals are sometimes compelled to commit infanticide.
While a dearth of resources is the driving factor, new research suggests specific circumstances can influence infanticide behavior.
Previous studies suggest males in search of a mate commit infanticide when they are spurned by females still caring for the offspring of another male. ... more |
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