Perfect weather forecast for Australia Day

Stephen Cauchi Australia Day is shaping up to be an excellent day weatherwise, as is the holiday on Monday.

Turn back the sharks: a better way to protect people?

THE CONVERSATION What if there was a way to protect people and sharks? Well, there is: you just tow big sharks out to sea and let them go.

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Un-Australian to eat kangaroos on Australia Day

Elise Burgess During this time of celebration for all things Australian, we are being urged to eat our national emblem in the name of patriotism.

Trapped joey rescued by Queanbeyan firefighters

BEN WESTCOTT A tired and wet joey who had fallen into an abandoned dam was rescued by Queanbeyan rural firefighters near Wagga Wagga on Tuesday.

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Stressed trees continue to die across Perth Hills

NARELLE TOWIE Large trees in the Perth Hills are continuing to die off and scientists fear the area will again be ravaged by plagues of pests as summer heat takes its toll.

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China's carbon market may remain a solo one as companies get rights to offset pollution with non-CO2 credits

China will allow big emitters to use offset credits from nitrous dioxide (N2O) destruction to meet domestic climate targets, potentially limiting the ability of China's markets to be joined with other carbon markets.

China's solar PV installations soared to record in 2013

Developers in China installed a record 12 gigawatts of solar panels last year, almost matching the total amount of solar power in operation in the US, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

EU move to drop mandatory renewable energy target for 2030 irks wind, solar industries

Wind and solar power producers said they’re at risk of losing investment after the European Union’s executive arm scrapped proposals for a mandatory target on renewable energy use in 2030.

Bid to change Tasmanian wilderness heritage listing

ANDREW DARBY Environment Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed the Abbott government will seek to wind back the World Heritage listing of Tasmania's forests, less than a year after it was approved.

Expert wants climate change study introduced in younger school years

Tom Arup, Benjamin Priess Climate change should be taught to all students from middle primary school and be embedded in a range of subjects, a senior science curriculum authority says.

Science

Study of African fish helps scientists crack the origin of breathing

BRIDIE SMITH The overlooked 'nose' of an African fish forces scientists to look at the fossil record with new eyes.

Tyre crackdown finds widespread ignorance of waste-handling laws

PETER HANNAM A crackdown on NSW tyre retailers found half the outlets inspected were unaware of their responsibility to ensure used tyres were handled by legal operators.

Ricky Gervais joins opposition to WA shark cull

Hollywood star Ricky Gervais has lent his considerable Twitter celebrity to the campaign against Western Australia's controversial shark kill policy.

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Brisbane weather: Flash floods hit city

CAMERON ATFIELD Parts of Brisbane have been hit by flash floods as a large storm system set in on Thursday afternoon.

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We're seeking $2.4m costs for Antarctic rescue: Greg Hunt

ANDREW DARBY Environment Minister Greg Hunt has underscored the government's determination to pursue the abortive Akademik Shokalskiy expedition for the full costs to Australia of its Antarctic rescue.

Move to evict anti-mining protesters blocked

PETER HANNAM A last-minute intervention by a councillor has thwarted moves to remove protesters from two mining areas in the Leard and Pilliga state forests.

Greg Hunt seeks to wind back World Heritage protection for Tasmanian forests

ANDREW DARBY Environment Minister Greg Hunt has confirmed for the first time that the Abbott government will formally seek to wind back World Heritage listing of Tasmania's forests, less than a year after it was approved.

Encroaching desert stokes religious tensions in Nigeria

The Sahara is moving south at 15 km a year, increasing the struggle for scarse land betweenn Christian and Muslim farmers in Nigeria.

EU curbs climate ambitions as economy gets priority

The European Union scaled back its long-term climate and energy ambitions, proposing less stringent targets than in the past, because of tougher economic conditions and the need to curb rising energy costs.

China's fair share to halt global warming won't come cheap, Beijing report says

China must increase spending on emission cuts and clean technologies by 2 trillion yuan ($A373 billion) to do its fair share to halt climate change, a report by Beijing's Central University of Finance and Economics said.

World continued its warming trend in 2013, US scientists say

The average temperature of Earth maintained its warming trend in 2013, despite seasonal and regional variations that included a shrinking ice cap in the Arctic and a massively growing one in the southern hemisphere, U.S. scientists say.

Tipping El Ninos harder as Pacific sensor array output 'collapses'

Peter Hannam The ability of forecasters and climate modellers to predict extreme weather patterns over the Pacific is being depleted by a 'collapse' in the performance of a key array of floating sensors, scientists say.

Storm stretching 1600 kilometres causes chaos in US

A swirling storm stretching 1600 kilometres has clobbered parts of the mid-Atlantic and the urban north-east of the US, dumping nearly a foot and a half (0.3 metres) of snow, grounding thousands of flights, closing government offices in the nation's capital and making a mess of the evening commute.

Emus turn heads at Monkey Mia to escape Western Australia's hot weather

NARELLE TOWIE A group of hot chicks really ruffled some feathers on a Monkey Mia beach this week after they were caught taking a quick dip to escape unusually hot weather in the Gascoyne.

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Japanese fishermen kill 41 dolphins in Cove

More than 40 bottlenose dolphins were killed during an annual hunt in Japan, the conservation group Sea Shepherd said, four days after US ambassador Caroline Kennedy criticised the slaughter.

Greg Hunt knocked back WA push for open sea shark cull

The West Australian government raised the possibility of an open sea shark cull, or having the great white species removed from the protected species list, as it formulated its reaction to the state's latest fatal attack.

Another heatwave builds as prospects grow for a long fire season

PETER HANNAM Another spell of heat is headed for south-eastern Australia just as conditions ease for fire crews and communities following last week's record-breaking heatwave.

Perth heatwaves not always a sure thing for eastern states

Leanne Nicholson When Perth has a heatwave, the eastern states brace for the extreme weather to follow through and hit and then some, but is that always the case?

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2013 declared 4th warmest year on record: NOAA

2013 was the fourth warmest on record, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said in a analysis based on 133 years of data.

CO2 Group boss Grant quits as carbon opportunities evaporate

CO2 Group, Australia's biggest carbon project developer, said its chief executive has resigned as proposed changes to the country's climate policy force the company to pursue new growth areas.

Climate change gives Greenland 'a new chance to survive': PM

Greenland will push ahead with a uranium and rare earths mine despite the objections of its former colonial ruler and main benefactor as the melting of the polar ice cap unlocks the country's natural resources, its prime minister said.

Drinking water: Extreme weather events threaten quality, says report

PETER HANNAM Australia's drinking water is highly vulnerable to weather extremes, and utilities need to act to limit the risks, a new study of Australian and US water suppliers shows.

Australian water supplies at risk from extreme weather, study finds

PETER HANNAM Australia's drinking water supplies are vulnerable to the increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather.

Dolphin slaughter begins in Taiji as protests grow

ANDREW DARBY Blood flowed from beneath a shoreside tent as dolphins were killed at Taiji, Japan, on Tuesday.

Greg Hunt grants WA exemption for shark cull plan

TOM ARUP Environment Minister Greg Hunt has waved through the West Australian government's controversial plan to catch and kill sharks to protect swimmers, exempting it from national environment laws.

Environment Minister allows Western Australia to kill sharks to protect swimmers

TOM ARUP Environment Minister Greg Hunt has waved through the West Australian government's controversial plan to catch and kill sharks to protect swimmers, exempting it from national environment laws.

It's a snake-eat-snake world

Ben Westcott and Fleta Page Gavin Fletcher of Bonython got quite a surprise when the “ball of rope rolling around” on a walking track turned out to be two of the world's most venomous snakes locked in a deathly duel.

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Heatwave heads to Queensland, adding to drought strain

Queensland is braced for yet another scorcher as the drought continues to take hold across the state.

EU's economic hard times to take toll on climate change ambitions

Seven years after it set some of the world's most stringent environmental targets, the European Union is about to revise its long-term goals to take more account of industry and changed economic circumstances.

Policymakers aren't aware of threat to farming from climate change, World Bank says

Climate change will play havoc with farming, and policy makers and researchers aren't fully aware of the significance on food supply, according to the World Bank.

MIT researchers eye potential of 80% solar PV efficiency

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are seeking to increase the efficiency of solar cells by helping them take advantage of more of the sun's rays.

Saudi Arabia picks partner as $US100 billion solar program dawns

Abdul Latif Jameel, a Saudi Arabian company, has teamed up with a European partner to build projects in the Arab nation's $US100 billion solar program.

Government to sell surplus environmental Murray-Darling Basin water to farmers

Tom Arup, Jonathan Swan For the first time water bought by the federal government to restore the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin will be sold to farmers, with up to 10 billion litres to be put to tender in the Gwydir Valley in northern NSW.

Ads to stay on weather bureau website

Alana Schetzer Commercial advertising will be a permanent feature of the Bureau of Meteorology website and the federal government has refused to rule out running ads on other publicly funded websites.

Wine grape growers escape heavy harvest losses from heatwave

TOM ARUP Wine grape growers across Victoria and southern NSW say early estimates of the damage caused by last week's scorching heatwave suggest a loss of 5 to 10 per cent of harvests - but it may have been worse.

Water restrictions not yet on the (dusty) horizon

BEN WESTCOTT Canberra is a long way off water restrictions even though last week's heatwave and a dry start to the year have the bush capital's gardeners reaching for their hoses.

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Minnimbah bushfire destroys hectares of pine plantation

ESTHER HAN Monstrous plumes of smoke climbed hundreds of metres into the air as the out-of-control Minnimbah fire destroys hectares of a pine plantation.

Heatwave 'one of the most significant' on record, says Bureau of Meteorology

PETER HANNAM Last week's heatwave that baked most of south-eastern Australia rivalled the intensity of the searing temperatures that preceded the Black Saturday bushfires almost five years ago, according to analysis by the Bureau of Meteorology.

Tyre industry divided over how to handle toxic waste

PETER HANNAM A federal government plan to tackle tyre waste has gained only lukewarm support from some big retailers and environmental groups.

US ambassador intervenes in Taiji Cove dolphin hunt

ANDREW DARBY The intervention of United State Ambassador Caroline Kennedy sharply raised the focus on Japan's dolphin hunts, as the best known at Taiji came under live scrutiny.

Earthquake rocks New Zealand lower North Island

A sizeable earthquake has struck the lower half of New Zealand's North Island.

Spearfisherman fined for killing six blue groper

Spearing NSW's official state fish has landed a fisherman $3660 in fines and court costs after he was convicted of killing six blue groper on the north coast.

Environmental flows sold to farmers for first time

Tom Arup, Jonathan Swan, James Massola For the first time water bought by the federal government to restore the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin will be sold to farmers, with up to 10 billion litres to be put to tender in the Gwydir valley in northern NSW.

Live Q&A; with bushfire expert Dr Trent Penman

How can you protect your home from bushfires? Ask our expert in a live question-and-answer session.

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Whales beach again despite rescue efforts

Almost 50 pilot whales have restranded at Farewell Spit in New Zealand despite volunteers trying for days to save them.