Page 689 - Environment
Duterte will go to war over South China Sea: Minister
The Philippines has warned China that it will go to war if Beijing crosses a red line by unilaterally mining the natural resources of the South China Sea, the country's Foreign Minister said.
Japan navy spots suspected China ship next to NKorea tanker
Japan's Foreign Ministry says a Japanese navy surveillance aircraft has spotted a suspected Chinese-flagged ship apparently transferring fuel to a North Korean tanker on the open seas. Today's ministry statement said the two vessels were suspected of engaging in offshore ship-to-ship transfers banned under UN Security Council resolutions. It said Japan has informed the UN Security Council of the May 19 sighting of the North Korean-flagged tanker, Ji Song 6, moored alongside the ship carrying a flag believed to be Chinese. Four photos taken by the Maritime Self-Defense Force show the ships alongside each other, connected by a hose. The UN has blacklisted the North Korean tanker. UN sanctions on North Korea limit energy trade and ban offshore transfers of goods to North Korean ships.
9 peafowls poisoned to death in Rajasthan
Barely a week after 23 peafowls were found dead in mysterious circumstances in Rajasthan's Banswara district, another nine peafowls were poisoned to death in Nagaur district, police said today. Carcasses of the birds, including six females, were recovered from a well in Khokhar village. A tenth bird survived miraculously, head constable Rati Ram posted at Parbatsar police station said. A male peafowl is called a peacock, the national bird of India, while the female is known as a peahen. The young offsprings are peachicks. A 16-year-old boy, who was caught by villagers giving poisonous grain to the birds, has been arrested, he said. The teen was accompanied by a friend, Sukh Ram (18), who managed to escape, he added. The minor was produced before a juvenile justice court today. Efforts are on to arrest his accomplice, forest ranger of Nagaur district, Sandeep Singh, said. A case has been registered against the accused under various sections of the Wildlife Protection Act. The viscera ..
India, China to drive global tea demand and production over next decade
India and China will drive global tea production and consumption over the next decade, UN body FAO today said while stressing on the need to take urgent measures to tackle adverse impact of climate change. World black tea output is estimated to increase to 4.4 million tonnes by 2027 from 3.33 million tonnes in 2017, while green tea production is projected to increase to 3.6 million tonnes from 1.77 million tonnes in the said period, Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said in its latest report. The annual production of green tea is projected to grow much faster by 7.5 per cent over the next decade when compared with black tea at only 2.2 per cent, it added. According to the report, global consumption of black tea is estimated to increase to 4.16 million tonnes in 2027 from 3.29 million tonnes in 2017. "Global tea consumption and production are projected to keep rising over the next decade, driven by robust demand in developing and emerging countries," the FAO said. This will ...
Jeff Bezos details lunar manufacturing plans
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wants to colonise Moon. However, rather than having the vision for reaching the natural satellite as an alternative habitat, Bezos sees business potential there.At a Space Development Conference in Los Angeles, Bezos talked about his idea of colonising Moon by making it a center for heavy industry, thanks to the resources available on the celestial object, including 24/7 sunlight for solar cells, availability of water, and regolith, TechCrunch reported.However, what is interesting to come from his talks about colonising the Moon and setting up a lunar manufacturing base is the inevitable exit of humans from the planet Earth, which in turn, will help conserve key resources of the planet.
NGT stays waste dumping at Noida Sector 54
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) today put a stay on the dumping of garbage and municipal waste at a forest in Noida Sector 54, heeding to a plea of residents against illegal and unscientific disposal of waste at the site. A bench headed by Acting Chairperson of NGT Justice Jawad Rahim took strong exception to the dumping of waste at the site and ordered its removal within 10 days. The order came after advocate Sanjay Upadhyay, appearing for the Noida residents, argued that dumping of solid and medical waste in huge quantity in the middle of a city forest by the Noida Authority had degraded environment and caused severe health hazard to the residents of sectors 22, 23, 53, 55 and 56. He said that despite the tribunal's order to dump the waste at Sector 123, the Noida Authority was dumping 600 tonnes of waste daily in Sector 54 in clear violation of the Solid Waste Management Rules 2016. The counsel for the Noida Authority, however, said that no dumping was taking place at the site ...
Hardcore Naxal, 2 supporters killed in face-off with police in Chhattisgarh
A Naxal 'deputy commander' and two supporters of the outlawed outfit were killed in an encounter with the police in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district today, an official said. The encounter took place at a forest in Bortalav area of Rajnandgaon bordering with Maharashtra around 11 am when a team of the district force was out on a search operation, Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI. The Naxals started firing on the police at a hill in the forest following which the patrolling team retaliated, he said. Later during a search, the police found three bodies, Agrawal said. One of the deceased was identified as Azad, the deputy commander of the Darrekasa area committee of Maoists, he said. The other two deceased, who had apparently gone to the forest to supply some items to Maoists, were yet to be identified, the SP said. Two firearms were also recovered from the spot, the official said.
Hardcore Naxal, 2 supporters killed in face-off with police in Chhattisgarh
A Naxal 'deputy commander' and two supporters of the outlawed outfit were killed in an encounter with the police in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon district today, an official said. The encounter took place at a forest in Bortalav area of Rajnandgaon bordering with Maharashtra around 11 am when a team of the district force was out on a search operation, Superintendent of Police Prashant Agrawal told PTI. The Naxals started firing on the police at a hill in the forest following which the patrolling team retaliated, he said. Later during a search, the police found three bodies, Agrawal said. One of the deceased was identified as Azad, the deputy commander of the Darrekasa area committee of Maoists, he said. The other two deceased, who had apparently gone to the forest to supply some items to Maoists, were yet to be identified, the SP said. Two firearms were also recovered from the spot, the official said. Further details were awaited as the search operation was still underway in the
Bacteria-coated broccoli sent to space
Scientists have sent broccoli seeds coated with a healthy dose of good bacteria to space in a quest to find a viable way for astronauts at the International Space Station (ISS) to grow their own vegetables - and possibly one day on the Moon or Mars. Six broccoli seeds were aboard the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft that launched this week from Wallops Island, Virginia, as part of a space station cargo resupply mission. Three of the seeds are travelling to space as is, while the other three were coated with two different species of bacteria, developed at the University of Washington, that can live inside crop plants and improve their growth. These "beneficial" microbes, also called endophytes, may also help plants grow better in extreme low-gravity environments, and where nutrients or water could be lacking. The goal of the experiment, conducted by students at Valley Christian High School in San Jose in California, is to learn how to grow vegetables in the challenging, microgravity ...
Scientists test bacteria's power to boost broccoli growth in space
A team of student researchers in the US has sent broccoli seeds to the International Space Station (ISS) to test whether microbes can help the vegetable grow better in the challenging conditions in space.
Land allocation for Sterlite expansion in TN cancelled
The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin was today cancelled "in larger public interest" by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said. The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week's protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing. "As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group. "The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT," it said. There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT .
Older Amazonian forests help regulate global climate
Turns out, tall and older Amazonian forests help in regulating global climate system.According to a research conducted by the Columbia University School of Engineering and Applied Science, photosynthesis in tall Amazonian forests - forests above 30m - is three times less sensitive to precipitation variability than in shorter forests of less than 20m.Tropical rainforests play a critical role in regulating the global climate system - they represent the Earth's largest terrestrial CO2 sink. Because of its broad geographical expanse and year-long productivity, the Amazon is the key to the global carbon and hydrological cycles.Climate change could threaten the fate of rainforests, but there is great uncertainty about the future ability of rainforests to store carbon. While severe droughts have occurred in recent years in the Amazon watershed, causing widespread tree mortality and affecting the forests' ability to store carbon, the drivers of tropical rainforests' sensitivity to drought are
Falling tree kills 2 journalists reporting on severe weather
North Carolina's governor is urging his state's residents to exercise caution as rains from a subtropical depression spread into his and other Southern states, noting the deaths of two broadcast journalists killed by a falling tree as they reported on the severe weather associated with Alberto. The television news anchor and a photojournalist colleague were killed yesterday in North Carolina while covering the very fringes of the large system whose core made landfall hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on the northern Gulf Coast. Authorities said a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked soil and toppled on the news team's SUV, killing the two instantly. "Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," Cooper said in a statement. "North Carolina needs to take Alberto seriously. I urge everyone to keep a close eye on forecasts, warnings and road conditions, especially in ...
Japanese, U.S., German, Australian team targets big battery projects in Asia-Pacific
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Japan's JERA, a U.S.-German joint venture and an Australian firm have teamed up to develop battery projects in the Asia-Pacific, including the world's biggest, targeting a market expected to be worth several billion dollars by 2022.
Here's another reason to limit global warming ASAP
Global warming has become a major concern for the world's general population and the scientists.The researchers from the University of East Anglia have found another reason of why global warming should be limited as soon as possible for health reasons.According to their research, limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius could avoid around 3.3 million cases of dengue fever per year in Latin America and the Caribbean alone.The new report revealed that limiting warming to the goal of the UN Paris Agreement would also stop dengue spreading to areas where incidence is currently low.A global warming trajectory of 3.7 degree Celsius could lead to an increase of up to 7.5 million additional cases per year by the middle of this century.Dengue fever is a tropical disease caused by a virus that is spread by mosquitoes, with symptoms including fever, headache, muscle and joint pain. It is endemic to over 100 countries, and infects around 390 million people worldwide each year, with an ...
Australia holds hope MH370 will be found as last search ends
Australia says it holds out hope that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will one day be found as the last search in the distant Indian Ocean is scheduled to end. Malaysia announced last week that the seabed search by Texas-based company Ocean Infinity would end today after the original 90-day time limit was extended twice. Australian Transport Minister Michael McCormack said on Tuesday the four-year search for Flight 370 had been had been the largest in aviation history. He says the search had tested the limits of technology, and the capacity of experts and people at sea. Malaysia signed a "no cure, no fee" deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane. No other search is scheduled.
Malaysia to end second search for MH370
Malaysia on Tuesday will end a second search attempt to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after an area of more than 80,000 sq.km was scouted without finding any traces of the aircraft.
Naidu says Polavaram project to be completed by 2019
The mammoth Polavaram project is considered to be the lifeline of Andhra Pradesh and the same is likely to be completed by 2019.At present rehabilitation is posing a major hurdle due to inadequate funds.Out of 98,000 families from 271 villages, so far, only 3,000 families have been rehabilitated as per the probation of Rehabilitation Act, 2013.On Sunday, chief minister Chandrababu Naidu said in his speech that although the Centre is not granting funds, the project will be completed by 2019.Polavaram Project is a multi-purpose irrigation project which has been accorded national project status.The project aims to benefit farmers directly and indirectly and also reduce the shortage of drinking water.Earlier, Chandrababu Naidu had urged his officials to send letters to Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley so that funds can be disbursed at the earliest in order to speed up the Polavaram project.
Indian, Bangaldeshi oceanographers to jointly explore Bay of Bengal
The National Institute of Oceanography here will train oceanographers from Bangladesh in the lead-up to a joint exploration of the Bay of Bengal by marine scientists from both countries, its director Sunil Kumar Singh said on Monday.
Great Barrier Reef on sixth life in 30,000 years: study
Australia's Great Barrier Reef, under severe stress in a warmer, more acidic ocean, has returned from near-extinction five times in the past 30,000 years, researchers said today. And while this suggests the reef may be more resilient than once thought, it has likely never faced an onslaught quite as severe as today, they added. "I have grave concerns about the ability of the reef in its current form to survive the pace of change caused by the many current stresses and those projected into the near future," said Jody Webster of the University of Sydney, who co-authored a paper in the journal Nature Geoscience. In the past, the reef shifted along the sea floor to deal with changes in its environment -- either seaward or landward depending on whether the level of the ocean was rising or falling, the research team found. Based on fossil data from cores drilled into the ocean floor at 16 sites, they determined the Great Barrier Reef, or GBR for short, was able to migrate between 20 ...
