Environment

29 Nov 2018; AFP: Global temperatures in 2018 are set to be the fourth highest on record, the UN said Thursday, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway warming of the planet.

In a report released ahead of the COP 24 climate summit in Poland, the World Meteorological Organization pointed out that the 20 warmest years on record have been in the past 22 years, and that "2018 is on course to be the 4th warmest year on record."

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Fifty-one pilot whales died Friday in another mass stranding in New Zealand, less than a week after 145 pilot whales and nine pygmy killer whales perished in two other, unrelated strandings.

In the latest stranding, up to 90 pilot whales beached themselves late Thursday at Hanson Bay on the remote Chatham Islands, said the Department of Conservation.

Kolkata, Nov 30 (PTI) A research team of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur have come up with new data "confirming" that the Antarctic Ozone hole is on a "healing" path, a statement issued by the institute said Friday.

Researchers of the Center of Oceans, Rivers, Atmosphere and Law Science (CORAL) of IIT Kharagpur have collected data from 1979 to 2017, which shows though there was a loss in saturation of Ozone since 1987 over the Antarctic, the saturation of loss at 12-21 km stretch has significantly reduced over the period 20012017, the statement said.

BERLIN (AP) — The European Union’s executive branch proposed Wednesday that the bloc should cut its emissions of greenhouse gases to net zero by 2050, a measure scientists say needs to be adopted worldwide in order to avoid catastrophic global warming.

The European Commission is the first major economy to set its sight on achieving climate neutrality in the next three decades. But the plan, which was announced days before a global climate summit , is far more ambitious than the national targets set so far by many of the EU’s 28 member states.

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Three years after sealing a landmark global climate deal in Paris, world leaders are gathering again to agree on the fine print.

The euphoria of 2015 has given way to sober realization that getting an agreement among almost 200 countries, each with their own political and economic demands, will be challenging — as evidenced by President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris accord, citing his “America First” mantra.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has rejected a central conclusion of a dire report on the economic costs of climate change released by his own administration, but economists said the warning of hundreds of billions of dollars a year in global warming costs is pretty much on the money.

CHICAGO (AP) — A winter storm blanketed much of the central Midwest with snow on Sunday at the end of the Thanksgiving weekend, bringing blizzard-like conditions that grounded hundreds of flights and forced the closure of major highways on one of the busiest travel days of the year.

“It’s going to be messy,” said Todd Kluber, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service who is based in suburban Chicago.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A massive wildfire that killed dozens of people and destroyed thousands of homes in Northern California has been fully contained after burning for more than two weeks, authorities said Sunday.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said the Camp fire had been surrounded by firefighters after several days of rain in the Paradise area.

WASHINGTON (AP) — As California’s catastrophic wildfires recede and people rebuild after two hurricanes, a massive new federal report warns that these types of disasters are worsening in the United States because of global warming. The White House report quietly issued Friday also frequently contradicts President Donald Trump.

KANPUR: About 4 metres sewer line remained extinct at the road near Huddard School and the Collectorate here. It came to light after the inspection of the sewer line for diversion of the Sisamau Nullah sewage.

Owing to the vanishing of the line the sewage was not reaching up to the Jajmau sewage treatment plant. The sewage was flowing back at the marked spot during the enhanced pressure released from Bhiarav Ghat pumping station.