Digital Journal

European countries have agreed to create six marine protected areas (MPAs) in the northeast Atlantic to step up the protection of the region's environment. They have defined six zones or MPAs over 285,000 sq km where human activity should be limited. The decision was taken at a meeting on Friday in the southwestern Norwegian city of Bergen of the OSPAR Commission, a body through which 15 regional countries, along with the European Union, work to protect the environment of the northeast Atlantic...

Two-thirds of US cities and counties consider the environment and energy conservation a priority, but far fewer have taken steps to address those issues. And four out of five people do not consider climate change to be a high priority. The findings are from a survey of 2,176 local governments by the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). When asked to what extent different elements were a priority for them, 46.3 percent said it was "no priority". Another 34.6 percent said it...

England's nature reserves, national parks and protected areas are failing in four out of five key quality benchmarks, a major year-long government-sponsored review has concurred. Around £1.1bn is needed to help rebuild nature in England. A 14-member team of wildlife experts has warned that England's wildlife protection areas are not effective enough at preserving species due to poor management, small size, ease of reach by the wider public (especially in urban areas) and lack of inter...

Protected birds were illegally targeted during the night after hundreds of raptors and a flock of 22 spoonbills, among other protected birds, flew into Malta to roost on Tuesday, BirdLife Malta has reported. The 22 spoonbills roosted close to the Salina Bird Sanctuary, a known hotspot of illegal hunting and trapping activity. After dusk they left the area, followed by a team of BirdLife's Raptor Camp who lost sight of them in the dark. In the morning, only nine of the spoonbills headed south...

Scientists have long tried to understand how the ancient Egyptians erected their giant pyramids. Now, a Norwegian architect and researcher says he has the answer to this ancient, unsolved puzzle. Ole J Bryn, an architect and associate professor the Norwegian University of Science and Technology's (NTNU) Faculty of Architecture and Fine Art, believes researchers were needlessly preoccupied with the weight of the stones. In the bargain, they overlooked two problems: How did the Egyptians know...

An Indian court has defended sting operations as a means to expose corruption. The Delhi High Court on Friday quashed criminal proceedings against two journalists who unearthed a sensational scam involving Members of Parliament (MPs) in 2005. Hearing the petition of journalists Aniruddha Bahal and Suhasini Raj, Justice Shiv Narayan Dhingra observed that “charging the petitioner under offence of the Prevention of Corruption Act would amount to travesty of justice”. Justice Dhingra said every...

Men who are looking for short-term companionship are more interested in a woman's body than those looking for a long-term relationship, who focus on a woman's face, researchers have found. A woman's body provides cues about her state of fertility while her face gives insight into her long-term reproductive value, according to previous research. So the new findings from the study by researchers at the University of Texas, US, suggest that men seeking a short-term relationship have psychological...

Climate change in the past was not directly responsible for the extinction of the spotted hyena in southern Europe, but it was certainly a factor in its disappearance, scientists have concurred. A team from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) led by Sara Varela analysed the impact of climate change on spotted hyena survival in Europe 10,000 years ago. Climate change played an important role, but Varela and her team say studies are still needed to look at the influence of human...

The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi will be an "appealing target" for Pakistan-based terror group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) because of its political and economic significance for India, a top US counter-terrorism official has warned. The warning came at a time when India's Home Minister P Chidambaram informed the Prime Minister's Office in an internal mail that the Home Ministry would not take responsibility for any untoward incident during the event, sources told news portal rediff.com. "We are...

A group of Peruvian archaeologists has discovered two temples dating back more than four thousand years in a landfill spot the jungles in the north of the country. It is probably the oldest known temple building in Peru. The temples were found near the village of Jaén, Cajamarca, in northern Peru. The excavation sites, locally known as Monte Grande and San Isidro, were previously used for agriculture and even as a garbage dump. The complex was in all likelihood built around 2,000 BC. From the...