22 Aug 2019
Hundreds of Spanish livestock farmers staged a protest Thursday in the Pyrenees town of Ainsa against the re-introduction of brown bears to the mountain region saying the predators are a menace to their flocks. The decision to bring the endangered bears back to the region was taken "without consideration for the lives of villagers and livestock farmers," said Felix Bariain, head of the UAG farmers union in the Navarre region of northern Spain. "We ask that the violent bears be removed from the Pyrenees," he told AFP.
22 Aug 2019 3:03pm GMT
Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has released a $16.3 trillion climate plan that builds on the Green New Deal and calls for the United States to move to renewable energy across the economy by 2050 and declare climate change a national emergency. While the Vermont senator had already endorsed the sweeping Democratic proposal to combat climate change and had teamed up with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York on climate legislation, Sanders' climate plan provides the most detail yet on how he envisions the climate change moonshot taking shape if he is elected president.
22 Aug 2019 2:37pm GMT
Wildlife-supporting countries on Thursday backed regulating international trade in giraffes in a bid to offer more protection to the gentle giants, feared to be facing a "silent extinction". The vote in Geneva by parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) recognises for the first time that international trade is part of the threat facing giraffes. The African giraffe population as a whole has shrunk by an estimated 40 percent over the past three decades, to just under 100,000 animals, according to the best figures available to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
22 Aug 2019 1:43pm GMT
Leading American scientists have apologised for taking money from Jeffrey Epstein, as the academic community became engulfed in the scandal. As more details of his predatory activities came to light, several leading universities and respected figures were struggling to contain the backlash. It saw one prominent laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the firing line with its director apologising and pledging to return the money paid by Epstein. Another Harvard academic has apologised for meeting with Epstein after the billionaire's Florida conviction on child prostitution charges. More scientists are likely to find themselves under the microscope over the next few weeks as critics demand to know how much Epstein's beneficiaries knew of his activities, including his interest in eugenics and plans to "improve" the human race by impregnating 20 women at a time. Death of a financier | Jeffrey Epstein's final days Scientists faced a dilemma, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, professor of communication and the director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. "Scientists need funding for important work and many forms of it are underfunded." "If the funding is for legitimate scientific work, there is nothing wrong with accepting support from a billionaire." "However it would have been wrong for scientists to accept his funding if they were aware that he was planning a eugenics experiment that might draw legitimacy from his association with them. Epstein reportedly had plans to do things which were highly problematic, such as creating generations of himself." And if scientists were aware that Epstein was engaged in criminal forms of exploitation, "they were legally and ethically required to report him." Epstein was a generous benefactor to scientific institutions for many years, in particular, Harvard. Despite never having completed a college degree, Epstein prided himself on his association with the university, even being pictured wearing a Harvard sweatshirt. The vehicle for many of the donations was the Jeffrey Epstein Vl Foundation, which was established in 2000 with the mission to "support cutting edge science and science education around the world". According to the Foundation's website, its donations included a $35 million gift in 2003 to establish the Programme for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard. Other sources suggest the figure was a more modest $6.5 million. He wined and dined some of the world's most eminent scientists, including Stephen Hawking and George Church, a geneticist at Harvard. Harvard received millions from Jeffrey Epstein Credit: Paul Giamou/Getty Images Prof. Church has issued a public apology for meeting Epstein when he completed his 13-month sentence after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting and procuring a person under 18 for prostitution. In an interview with STAT, a health and science website, he admitted that he had shown poor judgement. "There should have been more conversations about, should we be doing this, should we be helping this guy? There was just a lot of nerd tunnel vision." The controversy has caused considerable damage to the reputation of the Media Lab at MIT whose achievements include developing robotic prosthetics capable of imitating the human gait has been badly hit by the scandal. The donations received by MIT were modest compared with Harvard. One estimate suggests that the figure was "in excess of $200,000". Joi Ito, its director, issued a public apology admitting he had both allowed the Lab to accept money and allowed Epstein to invest in his personal fund for tech start-up companies. Jeffrey Epstein: The tangled web left behind "I was never involved in, never heard him talk about, and never saw any evidence of the horrific acts that he was accused of," he wrote. "That said, I take full responsibility for my error in judgment. I am deeply sorry to the survivors, to the Media Lab, and to the MIT community for bringing such a person into our network." He has promised to return the money as well as raising an equivalent amount which he will direct towards supporting the victims of trafficking. The group was also deserted other figures including Ethan Zuckerman, director of the lab's Center for Civic Media, who severed his connections with the institution, even though he had no dealings with Epstein himself. "My logic was simple," he wrote. "The work my group does focuses on social justice and on the inclusion of marginalised individuals and points of view. It's hard to do that work with a straight face in a place that violated its own values so clearly in working with Epstein and in disguising that relationship." Nathan Matias, a visiting scholar, also ended his association with the lab on Thursday night. The Telegraph approached both MIT and Harvard for comment.
22 Aug 2019 1:31pm GMT
Astronomers measuring heat in Uranus's atmosphere stumbled upon its rings and measured their temperature for the first time: -320 degrees Fahrenheit.
22 Aug 2019 1:18pm GMT
Fears for the Amazon's future have been heightened under Brazil's new far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who encourages industry in the region.
22 Aug 2019 1:04pm GMT
Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Thursday released his massive climate change plan, a more detailed version of the Green New Deal, which he said will address the "global emergency" of climate change and create 20 million news jobs."The scientific community is telling us in no uncertain terms that we have less than 11 years left to transform our energy system away from fossil fuels to energy efficiency and sustainable energy," the Vermont senator wrote. "The climate crisis is not only the single greatest challenge facing our country; it is also our single greatest opportunity to build a more just and equitable future, but we must act immediately.""When we are in the White House, we will launch the decade of the Green New Deal, a 10-year mobilization to avert climate catastrophe," Sanders said.The $16.3 trillion program will create 20 million "good paying, union jobs" in a number of fields, including steel and auto manufacturing, construction, renewable power plants, sustainable agriculture, engineering, and public land preservation, the Sanders campaign promised.The decade-long project aims for a total transition to renewable energy for electricity and transportation by 2030 and complete decarbonization in the U.S. by 2050.The project would invest $16.3 trillion public investment towards efforts to combat climate change, a plan meant to mirror "the mobilization of resources made during the New Deal and WWII." Sanders' plan would also $200 billion towards the international Green Climate Fund. Sanders would also invest $40 billion in a Climate Justice Resiliency Fund, which would help "under-resourced groups," communities of color, Native Americans, those with disabilities, children and the elderly to "recover from and prepare for" the effects of climate change.Sanders also promises to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord, which the Trump administration withdrew from in 2017, and declare climate change a national emergency.The two-time presidential candidate, currently polling behind frontrunner Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren, earlier this year signed onto a version of the sweeping Green New Deal, introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
22 Aug 2019 12:25pm GMT
ViiV, in which Pfizer and Shionogi have small stakes, is working on two-drug combinations and will use the lower drug burden in comparison with three-drug cocktails such as Gilead's Biktarvy as its main selling point to patients and physicians. It is banking on longer-term studies to yield hard evidence of fewer side effects over time.
22 Aug 2019 12:19pm GMT
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 22, 2019) - - Dunnedin Ventures Inc. (TSXV: DVI) (the "Company" or "Dunnedin") today announced first results from the 2019 exploration program at its 100% owned MPD Copper-Gold Porphyry Project in Southern Central British Columbia. The MPD project is accessible year-round via paved highway and situated approximately 40 kilometres from Merritt, British Columbia. In preparation for upcoming drilling, the Company initiated mapping, prospecting, soil sampling and ...
22 Aug 2019 11:30am GMT
David Attenborough is heading back to the BBC with a documentary on extinction. BBC One has commissioned hour-long doc Extinction: The Facts from BBC Studios' Science Unit. The series, presented by the Blue Planet star, will investigate what the future holds for the planet. It comes after a WWF report, published last year, stated that […]
22 Aug 2019 11:15am GMT
Democratic presidential hopeful's 10-year plan warns of devastating economic consequences if crisis is not addressedBernie Sanders' plan calls for complete decarbonization by 2050. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersBernie Sanders has laid out an ambitious 10-year, $16.3tn national mobilization to avert climate catastrophe, warning that the US risks losing $34.5tn in economic productivity by the end of the century if it does not respond with the urgency the threat demands.The Vermont senator has long spoken of the climate crisis as a existential danger to the US and the world, and he has previously endorsed a Green New Deal, which he put forward with the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.Sanders will formally unveil his proposal on Thursday during a campaign visit to Paradise, California, a town that was destroyed in 2018 by one of the deadliest wildfires in US history. After the tour, the senator will hold a climate change town hall in Chico, California.Sanders follows several other Democratic candidates in releasing a specific proposal for limiting the pollution from cars, power plants and other human activities that are heating the planet. Yet his proposal is much more aggressive than other candidates' - and far beyond what Barack Obama aimed to achieve during his presidency.His goal is to eliminate US carbon emissions by 2050, a target laid out by scientists with the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. He says he would create millions of jobs and rally the world's leaders to join forces in the fight against climate change.Sanders' plan would reach for 100% renewable power for both electricity and transportation, the top two contributors to climate change in the US, by 2030 - aiming for complete decarbonization by 2050. He says he would expand public ownership of power companies and make electricity "virtually free" by 2035.By comparison, Joe Biden, the former vice-president and currently the top-polling Democratic candidate, has proposed spending $1.7tn to neutralize the country's carbon emissions by 2050. Senator Elizabeth Warren has introduced a $2tn "green manufacturing plan" that would invest in renewable industries and create a National Institutes of Clean Energy.And while Biden and other candidates have pledged to make the US carbon neutral by 2050, they stop short of aiming for complete decarbonization. Carbon neutrality could allow some emissions, as long as they are offset by pollution cuts elsewhere.Jay Inslee, the Washington state governor who dropped out of the presidential race on Wednesday night, was perhaps the only candidate whose climate change plan was more extensive. Inslee had made climate change the centerpiece of his 2020 campaign, calling for a $9tn investment in green jobs over 10 years and vowed to make the US carbon neutral by 2045. Sanders put forward a Green New Deal with the New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/ReutersIn a summary of Sanders' plan, his campaign compares the scale of the challenges the US is facing to the 1940s, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt "within three short years restructured the entire economy in order to win the war and defeat fascism". The Green New Deal draws its name from Roosevelt's New Deal economic programs that helped lead the nation out of the Great Depression.Sanders has struggled to break through in a crowded primary field. National public opinion polls consistently show Sanders vying for second place with Warren, who has gained ground with a stream of meaty policy proposals. His campaign sees the proposal as a way to stake out the most leftwing and ambitious plan on an issue that Democratic voters say is a top priority.A CNN poll in April found that 96% of Democrats favor taking "aggressive action" to combat global warming while a CBS News survey found that 78% of Democrats in the early voting states said climate change was a "very important" issue.Sanders says the plan will pay for itself over 15 years, including by "making the fossil fuel industry pay for their pollution, through litigation, fees, and taxes, and eliminating federal fossil fuel subsidies". He wants to cut emissions made in the US as well as some produced in developing countries.His campaign says he would "reduce domestic emissions by at least 71% by 2030 and reduce emissions in the non-China global south by 36% by 2030 - the total equivalent of reducing our domestic emissions by 161%."He promises to "end unemployment" by creating 20m new jobs. He would also lead international climate efforts, declare climate change a national emergency and pay $200bn into the Green Climate Fund for countries to slash pollution.He also commits to a fair transition for workers and wants to expand the climate justice movement to prioritize "young people, workers, indigenous peoples, communities of color, and other historically marginalized groups".While the Green New Deal has become a rallying cry for Democrats and has been endorsed by several presidential candidates, the plan poses political risks. Republicans have seized on it as a way of demonizing the party as radical socialists. But by ignoring the issue, Republicans also risk turning off young people who overwhelmingly support action on climate change.The issue will take center stage next month at a town hall and forum focused on climate change.After months of pressure from progressive organizations and some Democratic hopefuls, CNN announced that it would host a climate change town hall with those 2020 candidates who qualify for the September primary debate. Ten Democrats have qualified for the event on 4 September.Later that month, MSNBC will co-host a multi-day climate change forum with Georgetown Institute of Politics and Public Service and Our Daily Planet. All of the 2020 presidential candidates from both major parties have been invited to participate.
22 Aug 2019 11:01am GMT
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and key Cabinet ministers met their Dutch counterparts Thursday to discuss ways of tackling climate change together. The meeting at Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte's official residence comes as Germany is set to miss its emissions goals for 2020 by a wide margin, even as Merkel's government acknowledges that it has to further ramp up its ambition by next year as part of its commitment under the 2015 Paris climate accord. In a typically Dutch approach, that could appeal to the German government, sectors of industry and society that will have to implement changes sat down together for months to thrash out details of the climate package.
22 Aug 2019 10:57am GMT
Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders unveiled a climate change strategy on Thursday that would mobilize $16.3 trillion to help the U.S. generate 100% of its electricity from renewable energy by 2030 and achieve "full decarbonization" by 2050. The plan would "launch a decade of the Green New Deal," a 10-year federal "mobilization" that would factor climate change into every policy action from immigration to foreign policy while promising to create 20 million jobs in the process. The plan outlines dozens of policies aimed aggressively moving the United States off of fossil fuels in the electricity, transportation and building sectors, restoring U.S. leadership and financial aid under the Paris Climate Agreement and pouring trillions of dollars to assist fossil fuel workers and vulnerable minority communities in the transition to a green economy.
22 Aug 2019 10:54am GMT
A crew of veteran U.S. astronauts and aviators are training in Houston for a manned mission to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft, which could also be used to take tourists into space on future missions. The Boeing Starliner mission was originally scheduled for this month, but that has been delayed to at least the end of the year or into 2020 due to technical issues and amid a shakeup in the top echelons of the space agency. Boeing and rival Elon Musk's SpaceX are competing with each other to become the first private company to resume human space flight from U.S. soil after the space shuttle program ended in 2011.
22 Aug 2019 10:10am GMT
A crew of veteran U.S. astronauts and aviators are training in Houston for a manned mission to the International Space Station aboard Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft, which could also be used to take tourists into space on future missions. The Boeing Starliner mission was originally scheduled for this month, but that has been delayed to at least the end of the year or into 2020 due to technical issues and amid a shakeup in the top echelons of the space agency. Boeing and rival Elon Musk's SpaceX are competing with each other to become the first private company to resume human space flight from U.S. soil after the space shuttle program ended in 2011.
22 Aug 2019 10:10am GMT
Fires in the Amazon are producing so much smoke that the city of São Paulo, which is 2,000 miles away, was plunged into darkness Wednesday.
22 Aug 2019 9:54am GMT
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