Pinning the deadly tornado in the US state of Oklahoma on climate change is wrongheaded, even though the world is set to see a rise in high-profile weather disasters due to global warming, the leader of a UN body said Tuesday. More »Don't pin US tornado on climate change: UN panel head
The frenzy to build hydropower stations across the Carpathian mountains poses an "imminent" threat to biodiversity in Eastern Europe, conservationist group WWF warned Monday. More »Hydro power frenzy 'threatens Carpathian mountains'
The vast majority of some 22,000 swimming beaches in the EU are clean and safe, the European Environment Agency said Tuesday. More »EU swimming beaches get clean bill of health
The Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3-inch smartphone will be coming to the UK in July priced at £459.99, according to online retailer Clove. More »Samsung Galaxy Mega release date UK: Lands in July for £460
Onkyo has included everything bar the kitchen sink in its latest duo of AV receivers. Not only do the Onkyo TX-NR929 and TX-NR828 feature on-board Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity from the box, and are THX-certified, they are also both 4K compatible. More »Onkyo debuts 4K AV receivers TX-NR929 and TX-NR828, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi enabled
One thing that was missing from Google I/O was an anticipated announcement of the next installment of Android. But it seems there were some Key Lime Pie references appearing in developer presentations at the event in San Francisco. More »Key Lime Pie teased at Google I/O?
If you had any doubts over whether or not to get an Asus PadFone Infinity, Asus is hoping the option to have it in bright fuchsia pink will change your mind. More »Hot pink Asus Padfone Infinity tests your bravery for colour
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, a rugged version of the SGS4 already on the market, isn't shy it seems. More »Samsung Galaxy S4 Active now caught on video too
Wacom has launched the Bamboo Loop app for iPhone and iPod Touch. Designed a bit like Paper, except with pictures, the app is all about sharing photos with friends. More »Wacom launches new photo sharing Bamboo Loop app
Spotify has created a clever embeddable widget for your website which shows the most streamed or most shared songs on the service. Think of it a bit like a web based Top of the Pops, with Spotify showing exactly who is listening to what and by how much. More »Spotify top tracks widget shows most streamed or shared songs on your website
By Keith Weir LONDON (Reuters) - Bwin.party has targeted cost savings of 70 million euros (59 million pounds) this year as it joins other online gambling companies pulling back from markets where regulations are not clear cut. Bwin.party, which offers sports betting, casino games, poker and bingo to online customers, has opted to focus on a core of around 10 European markets, rather than chasing business in more than 30 countries. ... More »Bwin.party cuts costs in Europe, eyes U.S. openings
An Australian zoo said Tuesday the birth of a southern white rhinoceros was a "sign of hope" for the species given the escalation of poaching in Africa. More »Australian zoo says white rhino birth 'sign of hope'
A global warming "pause" over the past decade may invalidate the harshest climate change predictions for the next 50 to 100 years, a study said Sunday -- though levels remain in the danger zone. More »Dire outlook despite global warming 'pause': study
A climber from Bangladesh and another from South Korea have died on Mount Everest as hundreds flock to the world's highest peak during good weather, Nepalese tourism officials said Tuesday. More »Bangladeshi, South Korean climbers die on Everest
Hong Kong launched a ten-year plan to reduce waste by 40 percent per person as part of efforts to catch up with other leading Asian cities and avert a looming environmental crisis. More »Hong Kong launches plan to tackle waste crisis
By Alexei Oreskovic and Jennifer Saba SAN FRANCISCO/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc will buy blogging service Tumblr for $1.1 billion (721.6 million pounds) cash, giving the Internet pioneer a much-needed social media platform to reach a younger generation of users and breathe new life into its ailing brand. The deal, announced on Monday, is a bold bet by Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer to revitalize the company by co-opting a Web property with strong visitor traffic but little revenue. ... More »Yahoo buying Tumblr for $1.1 billion, vows not to screw it up
By Mari Saito TOKYO (Reuters) - Sprint Nextel Corp said its Japanese suitor SoftBank Corp granted it a waiver allowing it to consider a $25.5 billion (16.7 billion pounds) rival bid by Dish Network Corp, as pressure mounts on SoftBank to sweeten its offer for the No. 3 U.S. wireless carrier. Sprint said its recommendation in favour of the SoftBank agreement had not changed, although some major Sprint shareholders including Paulson & Co and Omega Advisors have publicly said the Dish offer looks better than SoftBank's deal. SoftBank, which agreed last October to pay $20. ... More »Sprint receives SoftBank waiver to consider Dish offer
By Alistair Barr SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc has been given a security clearance by the U.S. government that will make it easier for federal agencies to use its cloud computing services. Amazon Web Services, known as AWS, was certified to operate as a cloud service provider for three years under the government's new FedRAMP program. The accreditation covers all AWS data centres in the United States, the company said on Tuesday. "This will cut the cost and time for agencies to deploy our systems," said Teresa Carlson, vice president of Worldwide Public Sector at AWS. ... More »Amazon wins key cloud security clearance from U.S. government
Scientists have named a unique strain of blight which they believe triggered the Irish potato famine as HERB-1. More »Potato famine blight strain named
Fresh on the heels of its 1.1 billion dollar acquisition of Tumblr, Yahoo said it is rebooting its languishing photo-sharing site Flickr with plans to make it "awesome" again. More »Yahoo wants Flickr to be 'awesome'
Yahoo added to its big news day by launching a completely revamped Flickr—or, as CEO Marissa Mayer called it, another Yahoo-acquired company that dropped the 'e' before the 'r'. ... More »Yahoo announces big redesign for Flickr, everyone gets 1TB of photo storage
LONDON (Reuters) - British farmers will be the first in Europe to get a vaccine against Schmallenberg virus, a new livestock disease that hit the continent in 2011. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said on Tuesday that MSD Animal Health, a unit of Merck & Co, had been issued a licence for the new vaccine after an accelerated assessment to make it available this summer. As a result, farmers will be able to vaccinate sheep and cattle before most of them become pregnant, which is important as exposure to the virus can cause damage to foetuses. ... More »UK first in EU to get Merck's new Schmallenberg vaccine
By Patrick Temple-West and Poornima Gupta WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Using an unusual global tax structure, Apple Inc has kept billions of dollars in profits in Irish subsidiaries to pay little or no taxes to any government, a U.S. Senate report on the company's offshore tax structure said on Monday. ... More »Apple, Congress spar over taxes ahead of Tuesday hearing
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp is expanding its services for hosting and processing online data in Australia with the establishment of two new "cloud" computing data centres in the country. The world's biggest software company said on Tuesday it was expanding its Windows Azure business to include a major new region in Australia. Data centres, renting out technology resources such as computing power and storage, will be established in the states of New South Wales and Victoria. ... More »Microsoft to build Australian cloud computing centres
Scientists believe they have found a key which could help lead to an earlier diagnosis of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. More »Brain disease research breakthrough