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The jaw-dropping bids for a massive solar plant in Abu Dhabi will help change the thinking about the future of energy markets. The price offered is one third the cost of local gas generation, and one fifth of the cost of the proposed new nuclear plant in the UK.

The British Veterinary Association warns would-be dog owners to think twice before buying breeds with fashionably "flat-faced" features - because of growing concerns for their welfare.

Australia will likely miss its Paris climate commitments by around one billion tonnes of greenhouse emissions by 2030 if it continues with its current policies.

Watching a tragic film could have an unexpected benefit in triggering a feel-good chemical, research suggests.

过去3年间，新加坡缉获大量非法象牙，生态保护团体担心犯罪团伙正在开辟新的走私路线。翻译：金艳 (翻译：子明/chinadialogue)

English language: Large ivory seizures in Singapore make it a smuggling hub of ‘primary concern’

生态保护组织称，过去3年间新加坡缉获大量非法象牙，使得这个东南亚城邦成为全球最大的有组织象牙走私犯罪中心。

这些象牙多数会销往中国大陆和香港，因此，两地的海关会把来自这些港口的集装箱作为重点检查对象。EIA活动负责人朱利安·纽曼以及TRAFFIC专家汤姆·米利肯表示，为了躲过中国海关的重点检查，装载象牙的集装箱会被运送到新加坡或是马来西亚的巴生港作为中转，在那里停留几个月，然后装载到另一艘船上，文件上货物的来源也会改成新的港口。

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RepuTex analysis says federal government paying polluters and ambitious renewable energy targets won’t have sufficient impact

Australia’s emissions will remain at the same level through to 2030, despite the federal government paying polluters billions to lower greenhouse gas emissions and some states having ambitious renewable energy targets, according to new analysis by the energy advisory firm RepuTex.

Combining the effect of current policy settings with expected growth in liquefied natural gas exports and land clearing, Australia’s emissions were modelled to end up at just 2% below 2005 levels by 2030.

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Crocodiles are protected in Australia, but it wasn't always so. from www.shutterstock.com

Crocodiles are protected in Australia. These impressive, if dangerous, animals are icons of the north. But it wasn’t always so. Crocodiles used to be hunted freely in northern Australia, an activity that led to their decline and eventual protection.

There have been calls to cull crocodiles to improve safety, but experts argue that this will make little difference to the risk. Besides, crocodiles are already sustainably farmed for leather products.

However, there are also calls – for instance, from federal MP Bob Katter – to allow crocodiles to be shot for safari. Selling hunting licences worth thousands of dollars to rich shooters, the argument goes, could provide vital income.

But this ignores Australia’s history of crocodile hunting.

Crocodile hunters in the Northern Territory. Australian News and Information Bureau, July 1968/National Archives of Australia, CC BY Postwar crocodile hunting

Immediately after the second world war, .303 rifles were widely available and were capable of reliably killing crocodiles. Crocodile skins suddenly increased in value — the Australian crocodile-hunting boom was the result.

The boom attracted hunters from southern Australia, including new immigrants. Some made significant amounts of money as the price of crocodile skins rose, but the prospect of adventure was often a far more significant lure. For many, coming north to hunt crocodiles was a working holiday combined with a boy’s own adventure. It was also an opportunity for men restless from the war to put off settling back into domesticity.

Australian News and Information Bureau, July 1968/National Archives of Australia, CC BY

That mood of adventure was captured in a 1956 home movie, aptly titled Northern Safari. Shown as a feature film, it packed cinemas in Australia and overseas. Northern Safari documented a family trip north and showed the accessibility of hunting in northern Australia to anyone with the time and practical skills to get there.

In addition to this accessible but rugged style of hunting, some postwar entrepreneurs began to offer organised hunting. Aimed at people with more money, less time and a greater desire for comfort, the commercial Australian safari was born.

The Australian Crocodile Shooters’ Club actively promoted safari cruises to hunters who wished to shoot in luxury. In 1952 it established one of Australia’s first safari camps in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

However, the Australian safari at this time was less exclusive than the original African version. While expensive, hunters might subsidise their holidays through the sale of crocodile skins – and the services and amenities provided could not be described as truly luxurious.

Safari hunting in the present

Nevertheless, the Australian safari has evolved since the ban on crocodile hunting and has taken its place among international safari organisations. Safari operations cater to visiting sportsmen by providing access to introduced species and game fish. The Australian experience is one of many such distinct experiences promoted at the annual Safari Club International convention.

An NT croc hunter in 1949. National Archives of Australia, CC BY

New Zealand provides an example of how such tourist trophy hunting operates. Based on privately owned red deer estates, some hunting providers sell clients the right to hunt an animal selected for its probable value under the Safari Club International scoring system.

Estate deer are bred for their trophy value and their antlers command scores unmatched by red deer found on public land. Access to them is limited and the cost of hunting one of the highest-scoring stags is more than NZ$20,000. Estate deer hunting is largely invisible to ordinary New Zealand hunters.

Despite the enthusiasm of proponents, there is widespread unease about the killing of big game. As with the red deer industry in New Zealand, the safari industry in Australia at present depends on introduced species of game, and so avoids controversy.

Overseas the death of Cecil the lion brought public unease about big game hunting into the open, as did the participation of touring New Zealand rugby players in a legal hunt in South Africa. Privileged access to native game and the killing of large native animals for sport has been made more visible by the sharing of images via the internet, and that visibility has demonstrated widespread public unease with the safari.

So who gets to hunt?

Scientific commentators agree that crocodile culling is unlikely to decrease the number or severity of crocodile attacks on humans in Australia. Neither is hunting crocodiles in Australia about managing an introduced pest.

A croc hunter stuffing crocodiles for sale in 1949. National Archives of Australia, CC BY

Instead, it is desirable because of the adventure involved, because for some hunting provides a meaningful connection with nature and because for others killing large animals brings prestige. These motivations aren’t being discussed.

If the crocodile safari were to be re-established in Australia it wouldn’t be the freely available experience it once was. Modern safari hunting is expensive and the preserve of only a few. Australians need to consider if they really wish to entice elite international hunters to Australia using a native species (even one as unlovable as the saltwater crocodile) as prey.

Claire Brennan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond the academic appointment above.

Transcripts show the Democrat presidential candidate referred to climate change directly in less than half as many speeches after her left-wing rival conceded defeat, reports Climate Home

Hillary Clinton has dropped the words “climate change” from most of her public addresses since winning the endorsement of her party rival Bernie Sanders, according to Climate Home analysis.

While the presidential candidate talks regularly about her plan for the US to become a “clean energy superpower”, in recent months she has rarely made reference to the planetary crisis that necessitates it.

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A park in Bangkok has been overrun by monitor lizards.

Meet the planet's hardiest animal - the tardigrade - that has just revealed a genetic secret that could help protect human cells.

A gene from an almost indestructible microscopic creature could provide "radiation shield" for human cells, scientists find.

A deer has been filmed bouncing along a beach in Poole Harbour.

An invasive hornet that kills honey bees is spotted in Britain for the first time, experts confirm.

Dr Peter Marra explains why pet cats should not be allowed to roam

Police investigating attack on small herd at Valdeserrillas reserve in Valencia after staff discover headless body of dominant male

Spanish police are investigating an attack on a herd of recently reintroduced European bison that left one animal decapitated, three missing and several more apparently poisoned.

Officers were called to the Valdeserrillas reserve in Valencia on Friday after the discovery of the headless body of Sauron, the dominant male of a small herd of bison that had been brought to eastern Spain over the past year.

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Invasive species has been spotted in the Tetbury area of Gloucestershire, with attempts under way to locate nests

The Asian hornet’s long-feared arrival on the UK mainland has been confirmed, government scientists have said, with ecologists warning of dire consequences for honeybees if the species is not swiftly eliminated.

The hornets eat honeybees and have become widespread in central and southern France, prompting warnings in recent years that they could arrive in the UK via pot plants from France.

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A parliamentary inquiry recommends video monitoring to tackle abuses in abattoirs, after secretly filmed videos shocked the French public.

Physicists have set a new bar for quantum teleportation - transferring information from one place to another without anything physically travelling between the locations.

Watching professionals compete in top-level acrobatic BMX and mountain bike sports could change your view of what it means to have fun on a bike

For the many of us who ride and talk about bikes, it’s almost always about getting from A to B, and often as fast and as efficiently possible. But can there be another way? Touring the world, a group of some of the world’s most skilled and physically strong riders dedicate their lives to doing exactly the opposite.

Their aim is to go nowhere on a bike but round in inventive, breathtaking circles. And they do so with such flair, entertainment and extreme daring, that, as a road cyclist never interested when young in smaller bikes or skateboards, their performance has managed to re-orientate how I think about riding a bike. Commuting, touring, riding a sportive or occasional race, I’ve always thought about riding two wheels as akin to running. But this is like dancing.

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Climate Home: With public assessment of each others’ subsidies, China and the US take a big step on transparency, but inch forward on reform

The world’s biggest polluters have released their fossil fuel subsidy peer reviews and the obstacles to reform are clear: the US will wait on Congress, while China will wait on China.

The documents, released on Monday by China’s G20 presidency, reveal the long road ahead. The G20 has commited to eliminate “inefficient” subsidies for coal, oil and gas in the medium term and the G7, of which the US is a member, has tightened the timeline to 2025.

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