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Prime minister also confirmed company would seek $1bn government loan to fund rail line for $16bn project, after meeting Gautam Adani in New Delhi

Malcolm Turnbull has assured the Indian billionaire hoping to build Australia’s largest coal mine in Queensland, Gautam Adani, that native title issues will not stop the $16bn project.

The prime minister, who is halfway through a four-day visit to India, also confirmed the Adani Group would seek a $1bn government loan to fund a rail line for the Carmichael mine project, but said Adani understood the request would be independently assessed.

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Bert Van Manen opposes federal loan to Indian miner for Carmichael coalmine, saying government or rail company should build the link instead

A Coalition backbencher has broken ranks with senior colleagues by declaring Adani should not receive a $1bn federal loan to build a railway for its Carmichael coalmine.

Bert Van Manen, MP for the south-east Queensland seat of Forde, said he supported opening up the Galilee coalfields but the government or a rail company should build and run the rail link to port, not the miner.

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New arachnids found in Queensland include brush-footed trap-door spider, which looks like a funnel web and can walk up glass doors

More than 50 new species of spider, including a peacock spider with a “wonderful courtship behaviour, like dancing”, have been discovered in Queensland Australia’s Cape York region, during a 10-day trip by scientists from the Queensland Museum.

The new arachnids, which are now being formally classified, include a brush-footed trap-door spider, a large black creature that looks like a funnel web with the added power of being able to walk up glass doors; a new species of swift spider, with fuzzy black and white front legs; and several new species of ant spider.

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Red list entries swell to 67 species as conservationists call for urgent action to save birds of Britain including warblers, curlews and puffins

More than a quarter of UK birds, including the puffin, nightingale and curlew, require urgent conservation efforts to ensure their survival, according to a new report on the state of the UK’s birds.

Since the last review in 2009, an additional 15 species of bird have been placed on the “red list”, a category that indicates a species is in danger of extinction or that has experienced significant decline in population or habitat in recent years. The total number of species on the red list is now 67 out of a total of 247.

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Ebernoe Common, West Sussex Swedes call it ‘early cuckoo morning’ – the act of getting up just to enjoy the first birdsong

The sun is rising above the trees. I cross the meadow, passing gorse bushes bursting with yellow flowers, and enter the wood by the small gate. I walk up the narrow, winding footpath, and a couple of woodcock fly up from the ground, scattering the leaves where they were hiding. The two striped brown birds dart away through the trees in their panic, as if they’d been fired from a gun. I wait for the air to settle after the commotion, look up to the canopy and listen.

Birdsong is everywhere – a wall of sound pulsing through the wood. I pick out the birds, one by one, selectively listening to each song in turn: greenfinch, chaffinch, robin, blackbird, song thrush, nuthatch, great tit, blue tit, and so on.

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PM lambasted for "sucking up" to Adani during India visit, and putting coal exports ahead of the Great Barrier Reef.

Australia's gas plants are too slow to react to 5-minute rule from standing start, so why stand in the way of fast-response technology such as battery storage?

For first time in UK, demand for electricity for homes and businesses was lower last Saturday afternoon that it was that night - thanks to solar.

Tesla on Monday overtook General Motors to become the most valuable car company in the US, with a market worth of $US51.5 billion.

Uniper, Engie make further write-downs in the Netherlands; plans proceed nonetheless in Germany for an equally outmoded project.

Lincoln Gap wind farm in Port Augusta SA one step closer to financial close after securing PPA with ERM Power, on same day that big solar farm begins construction.

Senate committee produces 5 different conclusions, highlighting impossible nature of Australia's energy politics. The most absurd conclusions came from the Coalition, and One Nation.

Scientists will use a "car wash-adapted" drill in a world-first bid to cut through the world's highest glacier.

Climate change scientists aim to become the first team to drill into the world's highest glacier.

A 25-year government plan sets out a bold vision for nature in England, but campaigners say it lacks specific policies.

Neoen has chosen QOS Energy’s innovative O&M management platform to monitor the performance of the 315 MW Hornsdale wind project.

Tritium is expanding into the UK market with its award-winning range of Veefil fast chargers, and has signed its first UK distributor, Electric World Enterprises Ltd (EwE).

State-of-the-art building housing GE’s Queensland Headquarters utilizing cloud-based platform for operational improvements and improved energy efficiency

First two stages of 300MW solar farm near Port Augusta will provide grid stability services - even at night - and be "battery storage ready". CEO Tony Concannon says combination of solar and storage will soon fall "well below" $100/MWh, meaning major changes for the grid.

Carbon emissions from energy use by Americans fell 1.7 percent last year, part of a decade-long slide in the carbon footprint of energy in the U.S.