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US meatpacking workers face new hazard: threat of deportation by Ice
In industry where one-third of workers are immigrants, Ice’s largest raid at an Ohio plant strikes fear in local communities
Meatpacking has never been the safest, or the most pleasant, job. Now, under the Trump administration, workers are facing another hazard – the threat of deportation.
“We were working in the plant and the agents showed up with machine guns and started taking everyone outside,” 20-year-old “Carlos”, a meatpacker at the Fresh Mark meatpacking plant in Salem, Ohio, told the Guardian.
UK households urged to conserve water as heatwave continues
Northern Ireland Water to introduce hosepipe ban this weekend after rise in demand
Water companies have urged UK households to conserve supplies as the country continues to bask in a near record-breaking June heatwave.
The hot weather is likely to remain, with the sun expected to shine throughout the weekend and temperatures in the high 20s across much of Britain.
Continue reading...Crow vending machine skills 'redefine intelligence'
Norway pledges £12m to global fight against forest crime
Money will be spent on expanding an Interpol taskforce dedicated to investigating the gangs driving illegal deforestation
The Norwegian government has announced a pledge of 145m kroner (£12m) to help fight forest crime such as illegal tree clearances.
The money will be shared by Interpol, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and the Rhipto Norwegian Centre for Global Analyses, which collects data on illegal logging. The funds will allow Interpol to expand its dedicated taskforce from six to 15 detectives.
Continue reading...Country diary: my moth trap nets the usual suspects and a rare newcomer
Lower Benefield, Northamptonshire: The stubby little white specimen turns out to be my first concolorous moth
National Moth Night has inspired me to dust off my moth trap and indulge in a summer pageant of colourful insects. With some disappointment I clock the dropping temperatures and cleared sky with twinkling stars. Not a positive development. Clear, cold nights deter moths from taking to the wing. I consider hanging the trap back up, but decide a small haul of moths would be suitably charming.
Continue reading...Belectric launches 40MW of battery storage projects in UK, Germany
Who are the world’s biggest makers of EV batteries?
Major 200MW + battery solar farm approved in outback South Australia
Abbott: Renewables killing coal, just to “make world a bit colder”
Tesla batteries arrive for world’s first wind-solar-battery project
How a protein’s secret function could boost solar tech
Birdbrainy: New Caledonian crows make tools using mental images
Study finds birds have design templates in their minds and may pass them on to future generations
New Caledonian crows use mental pictures to twist twigs into hooks and make other tools, according to a provocative study that suggests the notoriously clever birds pass on successful designs to future generations, a hallmark of culture.
“We find evidence for a specific type of emulation we call mental template matching,” co-author Alex Taylor, director of the Language, Cognition and Culture Lab at the University of Auckland, told AFP.
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