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The latest predictions on climate change should shock us into action

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altThe question about climate change is no longer whether it is real. The question is what the world is going to look like for our children as they grow up. I have a three-year-old son, and, when he is my age, he could be living in a world that is completely different from ours, largely because of climate change.

Despite the global community's best intentions to keep global warming below a 2C increase from the pre-industrial climate, higher levels of warming are increasingly likely. Scientists agree that countries' current emission pledges and commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change would most likely result in 3.5-4C warming. And the longer those pledges remain unmet, the more likely it is that we will be living in a world that is four degrees warmer by the end of this century.

Last Updated on Monday, 19 November 2012 14:04

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BP to pay $4.5bn penalty over Deepwater Horizon disaster

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altBP met its day of reckoning in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster on Thursday when the company admitted guilt on 14 criminal charges and agreed to pay an historic $4.5bn (£2.8bn) penalty in connection with the fatal explosion of its rig and the catastrophic oil spill.

The payments include $4bn for criminal charges and $525m to security regulators. BP will plead guilty to 11 felony counts of misconduct or neglect in relation to the deaths of 11 men aboard the Deepwater Horizon when the rig blew up and sank in April 2010, as well as misdemeanour counts under the clean water and migratory bird acts. The company will plead guilty to lying to Congress.

Last Updated on Friday, 16 November 2012 14:34

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Tory MP escapes discipline over anti-windfarm comments

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altThe Conservative party has said it has no plans to discipline Chris Heaton-Harris for plotting with a Telegraph columnist to help him stand as an anti-windfarm candidate in the Corby byelection, even though the MP was the official agent for the Tory campaign in the constituency.

After speaking to Heaton-Harris and watching the video evidence, Tory officials said they wanted to focus on the big issues, but admitted he had been silly.

Last Updated on Thursday, 15 November 2012 10:16

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Ash dieback: ministers accused of 'hiding inconvenient truths'

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altMinisters have been accused of "hiding inconvenient truths" about the spread of the deadly fungus threatening Britain's ash trees.

The criticism stems from changes made to the "scientific facts" published by the government about ash dieback, which emphasised the role of the wind in spreading the disease over the role of infected trees imported from continental Europe. Ministers can do nothing to stop the wind blowing spores across the country, but have been attacked for taking too long to ban the import and movement of infected ash trees.

Last Updated on Wednesday, 14 November 2012 10:40

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Quasars illustrate dark energy's roller coaster ride

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altScientists have used a novel technique to probe the nature of dark energy some 10 billion years into the past. They hope it will bring them closer to an explanation for the strange force that appears to be driving the Universe apart at an accelerating rate.

The method relies on bright but distant objects known as quasars to map the spread of hydrogen gas clouds in space.

The 3D distribution of these clouds can be used as a tracer for the influence of dark energy through time.

A scholarly paper describing the approach has been submitted to the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics and posted on the arXiv.org preprint site.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 13 November 2012 13:40

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