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Exclusive: MPs and activists want BP’s exploration licences to be suspended over ‘very critical safety issue’ identified by US regulators

Oil rigs poised to begin drilling in the Great Australian Bight could use faulty equipment that US regulators say is very likely to cause a “catastrophic incident” like the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

With no assurances the faulty equipment can be avoided in the Bight drilling, and safety plans that probably rely on faulty equipment already approved, parliamentarians and conservationists are calling for any approvals of BP’s pending environmental plans to be halted, and its exploration licences to be suspended, until the problem has been solved.

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• Not legally binding but may stem trade and poaching
• Nearly one third of Africa’s savannah elephants killed between 2007 and 2014
  
• Ban negotiations spurred feud

Nations and environment groups have agreed to shut down the domestic ivory trade, despite the resolution nearly being derailed by objections from countries including Japan and South Africa.

Related: Push for ban on domestic ivory trade spurs feud at international summit

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Replace food items you buy with greener ones. What could be simpler?

The eco swap is the most bite-sized of all sustainable lifestyle actions. You simply replace items in your diet with those that have less impact, in terms of CO2 emissions, land use and change of land use – normally deforestation, and, critically, lower water consumption.

The Soil Association recommends carefully pinpointed swaps this month (it’s national awareness month for organic produce this September). If 24 million households that buy yogurt swapped to organic (even just once), almost 2,000 more cows would be free to range on clover-rich organic pastures. (Its standards do not allow cattle to be reared full time in giant sheds). And if every carrot buyer switched to organic, that would result in 50% more wildlife and 30% more species of wildlife on pesticide-free farms.

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Apple trees are laden, vines are healthy, and in Norfolk the harvest is in. But with bees still in shocking decline, all is not rosy

On a balmy evening last week in north Wales, the bats were flitting about, the blackberries were as large as grapes, the little winberries on the Berwyn hills were as sweet as sugar and the rowan trees were bowed down with berries. It was nearly as warm at 9pm in Chirk as it was in Lagos.

Welcome to early autumn 2016. After a very wet and notably mild winter, a soggy spring and a warmer-than-average summer, much of Britain has been basking in tropical-style humidity and temperatures.

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As coalition of countries, including the US, push for resolution to end ivory trade, Japan, Namibia, South Africa and Canada raise concerns at Hawaii meeting

A resolution to end the domestic trade in ivory has descended into acrimony at a major conservation summit, with a handful of countries, including Japan and South Africa, objecting to the proposed ban.

A coalition of countries, including the US, France, Gabon, Kenya and Malawi, spoke in favor of an International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) motion that calls for every country to ban their internal trade of ivory.

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The ongoing violence in Syria, the Rio Paralympics, wildfires in Spain, the US Open tennis in New York – the best photography in news, culture and sport from around the world this week

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South Uist Before me is a curve of white sand and a lazy sea of glorious Hebridean blue, breaking with a gentle whisper on to the shore

It’s the best kind of late summer day, with bright sunshine and a temperature as high as anything we’ve had this year. The smell of new-mown grass carries on the warm breeze and from a few fields away comes the muted drone of a tractor. Emerging from under the bridge the river curves sinuously as it crosses the sand on the final stage of its journey to the sea. But unlike it, rather than heading for the beach I take the path behind the low dunes. It is edged by a riot of plants, some still in flower.

The violet-blue flowers of common vetch stand out from the luxuriant tangle of its intertwining leaves, while clumps of purple thistle-like hardheads rise above them. The remains of umbelliferous hogweed, dried ochre seed-heads atop brittle, ridged stems, make sculptural statements amid the foliage. Scattered liberally throughout are the cheerful yellows of the autumn hawkbit.

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Global investment in renewable energy is now higher than in fossil fuels. China has a policy to shift away from coal and has begun an energy transition. Change is happening. The challenge is for the world to rebuild its energy system quickly to minimise damage from a warming planet.

With one leaf, one potato-like tuber and one flower when the time is right, the Yellow-lip Spider-orchid is one of the rarest plants in Australia. It is also sexually deceptive.

Ground-breaking work on synthetic organ transplants made Paolo Macchiarini one of the most famous doctors in the world. Now his reputation lies in tatters.

Researchers discover that during sleep, thoughts your care about are more likely to enter your memory.

This Sunday is Sustainable House Day and we visit one house in Melbourne which has had a sustainable makeover.

Pigs are wreaking havoc in the Daintree forest, but there's concern about how they should be controlled; and why a 'pastured egg' could be your new breakfast choice.

A federal judge denies a request to halt construction on a controversial oil pipeline that is deeply opposed by Native American tribes.

Findings suggest that the cephalopods – which have the most complex brains of any invertebrate – also prefer quality over quantity when it comes to food

New research suggests cuttlefish can not only count better than a one-year-old human, but they also prefer quality over quantity when it comes to food.

A study of 54 one-month-old cuttlefish hatched in captivity was carried out by Tsang-I Yang and Chuan-Chin Chiao, researchers at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan.

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Cabinet Office paper, revealed accidentally, suggests collective responsibility may be waived by Theresa May

A leaked Whitehall document suggests Theresa May could hold a free vote on expanding airport capacity, potentially allowing some cabinet ministers to oppose a third runway at Heathrow.

The Cabinet Office paper, photographed on the tube and passed to Channel 4 News, examines the possibility of waiving collective responsibility for any vote on the highly controversial issue of expanding an airport in south-east England.

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Britain’s only caviar farmer plans to expand with a second site in rural East Sussex but locals say the site will impact the landscape and put pressure on a river where sea trout spawn

Plans by Britain’s only caviar farmer to expand his operations to a tiny rural community in East Sussex have sparked a backlash from locals concerned over its environmental impact.

Ken Benning opened the country’s first caviar farm in Devon two years ago and supplies Michelin-starred restaurants in Britain, but his planning application for a further sturgeon farm at East Chiltington has been greeted with a wave of opposition.

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Written in the sediments of north-west England's lakes is a record of extreme flood events - information that can inform future flood preparedness.

The week’s top environment news stories and green events. If you are not already receiving this roundup, sign up here to get the briefing delivered to your inbox

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