MRSA
Health

Cases of MRSA Down in U.S. Veterans’ Hospitals

ARLINGTON, Virginia, January 9, 2017 (ENS) – The Department of Veterans Affairs’ eight-year-long campaign to limit the incidence of infections with the dangerous methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in VA healthcare facilities continues to make progress, a new study shows. […]

cockatoo
Latest News

Cities Provide Refuge for Threatened Species

HONG KONG, China, January 8, 2017 (ENS) – Poached nearly to extinction in their homelands, rare and threatened birds and animals have found refuge in cities like Hong Kong, introduced to urban centers or wilderness areas outside their natural ranges. Now, the introduced populations could offer hope of survival for these rare species. […]

smoker
Health

Second-hand Smoke Inhaled Before Pregnancy Harms Fetuses

DURHAM, North Carolina, January 7, 2017 (ENS) – Women of childbearing age who inhale second-hand tobacco smoke even before conception may put their future babies at risk of impaired brain development, if the results of an animal study by scientists at Duke Health are found to apply to humans. […]

drought
Air/Climate

2016 the Hottest Year on Record

GENEVA, Switzerland, January 4, 2017 (ENS) – The year 2016 will go down in the record books as the hottest ever, with average global temperatures set to break the records of 2015, finds data from the World Meteorological Organization covering the first 11 months of the year. […]

car
Latest News

Innovative Electric, Autonomous Cars Star at CES 2017

LAS VEGAS, Nevada, December 31, 2016 (ENS) – The Consumer Electronics Show, or CES, held annually in the first week of January in Las Vegas, is becoming the place to unveil exciting electric cars, upstaging the Detroit Auto Show held a week later, the usual venue for automakers to reveal new models. […]

Bears Ears
Land Use/Forests

Obama Creates New National Monuments in Utah, Nevada

WASHINGTON, DC, December 30, 2016 (ENS) – President Barack Obama has designated two more national monuments – Bears Ears National Monument in Utah and the Gold Butte National Monument in Nevada. They bring to 26 the number of monuments Obama has created under the Antiquities Act, protecting 550 million acres of public lands and waters, more than any other President. […]

Tsavo
At Risk

Environmental Crime Threatens Global Peace, Security

LYON, France, December 30, 2016 (ENS) – Environmental crime is a national priority for at least 80 percent of countries, with the majority reporting new and more sophisticated criminal activities that increasingly threaten peace and security, finds a new survey by INTERPOL and UN Environment (UNEP). […]

Chukchi
Latest News

Obama’s Rush to Save Oceans from Oil Development

WASHINGTON, DC, December 20, 2016 (ENS) – President Barack Obama is about to invoke a seldom-used provision of a 1953 law that gives presidents the power to withdraw U.S. waters from future oil and gas leasing, said two people who spoke to Bloomberg News anonymously because the decision has not yet been announced. […]

bird
Land Use/Forests

Rare Brazilian Songbird Finds Refuge in a Dry Land

WASHINGTON, DC, December 19, 2016 (ENS) – The American Bird Conservancy and its Brazilian partner Aquasis have secured more than 170 acres of critical habitat to improve the chance for survival of one of the world’s rarest and most spectacular birds, the Araripe Manakin. […]

coral
Latest News

U.S. Creates Atlantic Deep-Sea Coral Protection Zone

GLOUCESTER, Massachusetts, December 19, 2016 (ENS) – Working together, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, and the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council have designated a large offshore area in the Mid-Atlantic Ocean for the protection of deep-sea corals. […]

firefighters
Energy

U.S. To Review Oil-by-Rail Flammability Risk

NEW YORK , New York, December 13, 2016 (ENS) – The federal government will take action on a petition by the state of New York seeking to close a loophole that currently allows highly flammable crude oil to be shipped by rail through communities in New York and across the country. […]

survivors
At Risk

Deadly Indonesian Earthquake Displaces Thousands

JAKARTA, Indonesia, December 10, 2016 (ENS) – While most people were asleep, a shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.5 struck Indonesia’s Aceh Province in Northwest Sumatra at 5:03 am local time on December 7, leaving more than 100 people dead and injuring or displacing thousands of others. […]

Brazil
Land Use/Forests

Brazil Vows to Restore Degraded Land

CANCUN, Mexico, December 11, 2016 (ENS) – In a move that aligns the interests of conservationists, farmers and ranchers, Brazil’s Ministries of Agriculture and the Environment have pledged to jointly restore and promote sustainable agriculture across 22 million hectares of degraded land, covering an area the size of Uruguay. […]

giraffes
Latest News

Giraffes Now Listed as ‘Vulnerable’ to Extinction

CANCUN, Mexico, December 11, 2016 (ENS) – Driven by habitat loss, civil unrest and illegal hunting, the global giraffe population has fallen by 40 percent over the last 30 years, and the species has been listed as Vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species maintained by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, IUCN. […]

ice
Air/Climate

Sea Ice at Both Poles Hits Record Lows

BOULDER, Colorado, December 10, 2016 (ENS) – Unusually high air temperatures over the Arctic Ocean, persistent winds from the south, and a warm ocean have resulted in a record low Arctic sea ice extent for November, say scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, NSIDC, at the University of Colorado, Boulder. […]

Bowser
Air/Climate

U.S. Mayors to Trump: Help Us Keep Cool

MEXICO CITY, Mexico, December 9, 2016 (ENS) – Mayors from cities across the United States are urging president-elect Donald Trump to recognize the “real and urgent threat that climate change poses to the world’s cities,” and to support them as they enact policies and programs to combat climate change. […]