Canadian forestry firm sues over environmental audit
Montreal (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Canada's largest forest products company is suing over an audit that criticized the company's logging practices for violating environmental standards, according to court documents obtained by AFP Tuesday.
Resolute Forest Products, which makes pulp and paper from wood, has filed the lawsuit against the Rainforest Alliance, a global group that certifies best forestry practices.
After its 2 ...
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High-speed solar winds increase lightning strikes on Earth
London, UK (SPX) May 19, 2014 -
Scientists have discovered new evidence to suggest that lightning on Earth is triggered not only by cosmic rays from space, but also by energetic particles from the Sun.
University of Reading researchers found a link between increased thunderstorm activity on Earth and streams of high-energy particles accelerated by the solar wind, offering compelling evidence that particles from space hel ...
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NASA's Newest Wind Watcher Arrives at Launch Site
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 19, 2014 -
A new NASA Earth-observing mission that will measure ocean winds from the International Space Station has arrived at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to begin final preparations for launch.
The International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat scatterometer instrument arrived May 12 after a cross-country trip from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. The instrument, bu ...
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First 'heavy mouse' leads to first lab-grown tissue mapped from atomic life
Cambridge, UK (SPX) May 16, 2014 -
Scientists have created a 'heavy' mouse, the world's first animal enriched with heavy but non-radioactive isotopes - enabling them to capture in unprecedented detail the molecular structure of natural tissue by reading the magnetism inherent in the isotopes.
This data has been used to grow biological tissue in the lab practically identical to native tissue, which can be manipulated and ana ...
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CryoSat finds sharp increase in Antarctica's ice losses
Paris (ESA) May 21, 2014 -
Three years of observations from ESA's CryoSat satellite show that the Antarctic ice sheet is now losing 159 billion tonnes of ice each year - twice as much as when it was last surveyed. The polar ice sheets are a major contributor to the rise in global sea levels, and these newly measured losses from Antarctica alone are enough to raise global sea levels by 0.45 mm each year.
These latest ...
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Control methane now, greenhouse gas expert warns
Ithaca NY (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
As the shale gas boom continues, the atmosphere receives more methane, adding to Earth's greenhouse gas problem. Robert Howarth, greenhouse gas expert and ecology and environmental biology professor, fears that we may not be many years away from an environmental tipping point - and disaster.
"We have to control methane immediately, and natural gas is the largest methane pollution source in ...
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Different Types of El Nino Have Different Effects on Global Temperature
New York NY (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
The El Nino-Southern Oscillation is known to influence global surface temperatures, with El Nino conditions leading to warmer temperatures and La Nina conditions leading to colder temperatures.
However, a new study in Geophysical Research Letters shows that some types of El Nino do not have this effect, a finding that could explain recent decade-scale slowdowns in global warming.
The ...
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Researchers call for better ocean stewardship
Fort Lauderdale-Davie FL (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
It has been said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our own planet's oceans. That especially applies to the deepest parts of our oceans - depths that are 200 meters or deeper.
Researchers from organizations around the world who specialize in studying and exploring the deepest regions of our oceans have come together to pen a cautionary tale that urges we take ...
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Turtle migration directly influenced by ocean drift experiences as hatchlings
Southampton, UK (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
New research has found that adult sea-turtle migrations and their selection of feeding sites are directly influenced by their past experiences as little hatchlings adrift in ocean currents.
When they breed, adult sea turtles return to the beach where they were born. After breeding, adult sea turtles typically migrate several hundreds to thousands of kilometres to their feeding habitats. Ho ...
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Cutoff switch may limit spread, duration of oxygen minimum zones
Corvallis OR (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
A new study examining the impact of iron released from continental margin sediments has documented a natural limiting switch that may keep these ocean systems from developing a runaway feedback loop that could lead to unchecked hypoxic areas, or persistent "dead zones."
The findings are particularly important, scientists say, because as the climate warms oxygen minimum zones are expected t ...
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Climate change, forest fires drove widespread surface melting of Greenland ice sheet
Dartmouth NH (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
Rising temperatures and ash from Northern Hemisphere forest fires combined to cause large-scale surface melting of the Greenland ice sheet in 1889 and 2012, contradicting conventional thinking that the melt events were driven by warming alone, a Dartmouth College-led study finds.
The findings suggest that continued climate change will result in nearly annual widespread melting of the ice s ...
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The next 'Big One' for the Bay Area may be a cluster of major quakes
San Francisco CA (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
A cluster of closely timed earthquakes over 100 years in the 17th and 18th centuries released as much accumulated stress on San Francisco Bay Area's major faults as the Great 1906 San Francisco earthquake, suggesting two possible scenarios for the next "Big One" for the region, according to new research published by the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America (BSSA).
"The plates a ...
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Shark antibodies inspire optimization of human antibodies
Munich, Germany (SPX) May 21, 2014 -
Genetically engineered antibodies are deployed successfully in cancer diagnostics and therapy. Therapeutic antibodies against Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis are currently under development.
An important criterion when designing suitable antibody fragments is their stability. Comparing the antibodies of sharks, which are very old from an evolutionary perspective, with those of h ...
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Brazil's Embraer moving into defense with cargo plane
Sao Paulo (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer launched a new hangar Tuesday that will be used for the final assembly of its KC-390 military cargo plane, a major step in its expansion into the defense sector.
"No one can have any doubt that the defense industry is strategic," said Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff at the launch ceremony. "Many will also agree that it has extraordinary potential for techn ...
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Taiwan holds computer war games against China attack
Taipei (AFP) May 19, 2014 -
Taiwan Monday launched computerised war games featuring its newly acquired AH-64 Apache helicopters helping counter a simulated attack by a Chinese aircraft carrier group, officials and media said.
The five-day drill, part of the island's biggest annual military manoeuvres to be held in September, is aimed at testing the island's defence capability against the fast expanding military might o ...
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Babcock-built offshore patrol vessel commissioned into service
London (UPI) May 19, 2013 -
An armed offshore patrol boat by Babcock International was officially commissioned into service by the Irish Naval Service, the company reports.
The first-of-class Samuel Becket had been completed and delivered to Irish authorities last month in Britain and was commissioned on Saturday during a ceremony in Dublin, Ireland.
"We are delighted and proud to have successfully buil ...
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China bans Win 8; accuses US of hypocrisy as cyber row grows
Beijing (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Beijing summoned the US ambassador and accused Washington of double standards Tuesday as a diplomatic row escalated over the unprecedented indictment of five Chinese military officers for cyber-espionage.
The world's top two economies have long been at loggerheads over hacking and China's defence ministry denounced Washington's allegations as "a pure fabrication by the US, a move to mislead ...
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Poland receives surplus German tanks
Warsaw, Poland (UPI) May 19, 2013 -
The first batch of surplus Leopard 2A5 main battle tanks sold by Germany to Poland have been delivered to a Polish cavalry brigade.
The tanks - 11 in all - arrived in Zagan, Poland, by train last Friday, with more due this year and next, according to the publication Dziennik Zbrojny.
Under an intergovernmental agreement signed last year, Poland is acquiring 105 Leopard 2A5 tank ...
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Attack helicopters getting upgrades from Elbit Systems
Fort Worth, Texas (UPI) May 19, 2013 -
The U.S. Marine Corps' AH-1W attack helicopters are being upgraded by Elbit Systems of America with helmet display tracker systems and tactical video datalinks.
Elbit Systems America, a subsidiary of Israel's Elbit Systems, said the work will be performed under two separate contracts worth a combined total of $16.5 million.
"The HDTS and TVDL are two more technologies Elbit Syste ...
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Brazil probes ex-soldiers over dictatorship-era killing
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) May 19, 2014 -
The Brazilian attorney general's office launched an investigation Monday into five retired soldiers accused of torturing and killing a congressman during the country's 1964-1985 military dictatorship.
Brazil has never jailed any of those responsible for the military regime's abuses, mainly because of a 1979 amnesty law, but a judge last week in a separate case paved the way for Monday's acti ...
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Russia conducts test-launch of ballistic missile
Moscow (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Russia on Tuesday carried out a successful test-launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, news agencies reported citing the defence ministry, amid a standoff between Moscow and the West over Ukraine.
Interfax and ITAR-TASS quoted the defence ministry as saying a successful test of the RS-12M Topol ICBM had been carried out from Russia's Kapustin Yar rocket launch site near the Caspian ...
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Iran top general urges media to back president
Tehran (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Iran's army chief of staff has asked media outlets to support the policies of President Hassan Rouhani and to refrain from "spreading rumours" against his administration, reports said Tuesday.
Ultra-conservative media in Iran have frequently criticised Rouhani's moderate views on talks with world powers over the Islamic republic's nuclear programme, as well as other foreign and domestic poli ...
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Quick fixes unlikely for Iraq after election: Whiles scores killed
Baghdad (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
Strong election results may deliver a third term for incumbent premier Nuri al-Maliki, but few of Iraq's intractable problems, from brutal violence to fragile sectarian ties, appear closer to resolution, experts say.
Iraq's security forces are mired in near-daily clashes with militants in western Iraq, to say nothing of regular attacks elsewhere in the country, while corruption has run rampa ...
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S. Korea fires warning shots after N. Korean incursion
Seoul (AFP) May 20, 2014 -
A South Korean naval ship fired warning shots Tuesday after three North Korean patrol boats crossed over the disputed maritime border in the Yellow Sea, military officials said.
The North Korean boats, which normally serve to keep fishing boats on the right side of the boundary, crossed into South Korean waters at 0700 GMT, the South's joint chiefs of staff said.
The incursion prompted a ...
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Taliban infighting hampers peace talks; Chinese tourist kidnapped
Islamabad (AFP) May 19, 2014 -
Weeks of infighting between Taliban groups have hampered stop-start peace talks with Pakistan's government, sources said Monday, as the insurgents' leader vowed to continue fighting until Islamic law was enforced in the country.
Two factions of the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), the umbrella grouping for disparate militant groups, have been locked in bloody clashes since at least March. ...
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