By Erica Santana 3 January 2013 The trading of big cat pelts is nothing new, but recent demand for snow leopard pelts and taxidermy mounts has added a new commodity to the illegal trade in wildlife products, according to the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). Traditionally, the market for large cat products has centered around tiger […]
Contact: Media Relations Munich, Michael Able, Tel.: +49 (89) 3891-2934Media contact in Asia, Nikola Kemper, Tel.: +852 2536 6936 Media Relations USA, Beate Monastiridis-Dörr, Tel.: +1 (609) 243-4622 3 January 2013 Munich (Munich Re) – The USA accounted for a higher proportion of global natural catastrophe losses than usual in 2012, due to a series […]
By Caroline Stauffer, with additional reporting by Jeb Blount; Editing by Brian Winter and Vicki Allen4 January 2013 SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Northeast is suffering its worst drought in decades, threatening hydro-power supplies in an area prone to blackouts and potentially slowing economic growth in one of the country’s emerging agricultural frontiers. Lack of […]
By Kevin Murphy, with additional reporting by Greg McCune and Christine Stebbins; Editing by Claudia Parsons31 December 2012 LIBERAL, Kansas (Reuters) – Real estate agent Mark Faulkner recalls a day in early November when he was putting up a sign near Ulysses, Kansas, in 60-miles-per-hour winds that blew up blinding dust clouds. “There were places […]
7 January 2013 (BBC) – An influx of wolves preying on reindeer herds has triggered a state of emergency in the Sakha Republic, in north-eastern Russia. Squads of hunters will pursue the wolves in a three-month “battle” from 15 January, officials say. The most successful hunters will get bonuses. The vast, sparsely populated region is […]
6 January 2012 (BBC) – Australian police are searching fire-ravaged towns in southern Tasmania looking for 100 unaccounted people. Tasmania’s police commissioner said he feared lives may have been lost in the wildfires which swept through parts of the island in recent days. Almost 3,000 people have been evacuated from their homes, many stranded in […]
By John Roach, NBC News 6 January 2013 Melting glaciers in Antarctica and Greenland may push up global sea levels more than 3 feet by the end of this century, according to a scientific poll of experts that brings a degree of clarity to a murky and controversial slice of climate science. Such a rise […]
By Stephanie Gardiner7 January 2013 THE heatwave Sydney has managed to avoid is due to hit on Tuesday, as firefighters prepare for the most dangerous bushfire conditions in years in the city and around the state. […] Some of the hottest areas in the state at the weekend were in the far west and the […]
By Marie Doezema1 January 2013 PARIS, France (Global Post) – From rising shorelines to devastating hurricanes, the visible effects scientists say climate change is wreaking on daily life no longer surprise many people around the world. The French have their own take on just how radically life may change. “In 20 years, the English will […]
By Ned Potter5 January 2013 (ABC News) – The narwhal, a kind of Arctic whale, has been called “the unicorn of the sea” because of the long, straight, often spiraling tusk that males of the species can grow. It is illegal to import the tusks into the United States because narwhals are listed by the […]