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Russian oil exports to India are set to rise in September, traders said, as producers cut prices to sell more crude because they cannot process as much in refineries that were damaged by Ukrainian drone attacks on energy infrastructure. India has become the biggest buyer of Russian oil supplies that were displaced by Western sanctions after Moscow invaded Ukraine in 2022. This has allowed Indian refiners to benefit from cheaper crude. But the purchases have drawn condemnation from the government of U.S. President Donald Trump, which increased U.S. tariffs on Indian imports to 50% on Wednesday. New Delhi says it is relying on talks to try to resolve Trump’s additional tariffs, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also embarked on a tour to develop diplomatic ties elsewhere, including meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin. U.S. officials have accused India of profiteering from discounted Russian oil, while Indian officials have accused the West of double standards because the European Union and the U.S. still buy Russian goods worth billions of dollars. The Indian oil ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Without India, Russia would struggle to maintain exports at existing levels, and that would cut the oil export revenues that finance the Kremlin’s budget and Russia’s continued war in Ukraine. Three trading sources involved in oil sales to India said Indian refiners would increase Russian oil purchases in September by 10% to 20% from August levels, or by 150,000 to 300,000 barrels per day. The sources, who cited preliminary purchases data, could not be named because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue. The two biggest buyers of Russian oil for India, Reliance and Nayara Energy, which is majority Russian-owned, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Russia has more oil to export next month because planned and unplanned refinery outages have cut its capacity to process crude into fuels. Ukraine has attacked 10 Russian refineries in recent days, taking offline as much as 17% of the country’s refining capacity. In the first 20 days of August, India imported 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude, unchanged from July but slightly below the average of 1.6 million bpd in January to June, according to data from Vortexa analysts. The volumes are equal to around 1.5% of global supply, making India the largest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, which covers some 40% of India’s oil needs. China and Turkey are also big buyers of Russian oil. India set to carry on buying? India’s increased buying of Russian oil over recent years has been to the detriment of more expensive supplies from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC’s share edged up in 2024 after an eight-year drop. Russian exporters sold Urals crude loading in September at discounts of $2 to $3 per barrel to benchmark dated Brent, the three traders said. The levels are cheaper than discounts of $1.50 per barrel in August, which were the narrowest since 2022, the traders said. “Unless India issues a clear policy directive or trade economics shift significantly, Russian crude will likely remain a core part of its supply mix,” said Sumit Ritolia from Kpler. Brokerage CLSA in a note also predicted only “a limited chance of India stopping Russian imports” unless a global ban is imposed. It also said that if Indian imports of Russian crude were halted, the knock-on impact could be to reduce global supplies by around one million bpd and lead to a short-term spike in global prices to nearly $100 a barrel. Traders said the full impact of sanctions and tariffs may only be visible in cargoes arriving to India in October, which will begin to trade in the next few days. In addition to the U.S. tariffs, the European Union has also tightened its price cap designed to limit Russia’s oil revenues, which will complicate sales later this year. The EU has set the cap at $47.60 per barrel from September 215% below the Russian crude market pricerestricting access to Western services for cargoes sold above the cap. Reporters in Moscow, London, and New Delhi; Additional reporting by Seher Dareen, Reuters
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They look, move, and even smell like the kind of furry Everglades marsh rabbit a Burmese python would love to eat. But these bunnies are robots meant to lure the giant invasive snakes out of their hiding spots.It’s the latest effort by the South Florida Water Management District to eliminate as many pythons as possible from the Everglades, where they are decimating native species with their voracious appetites. In Everglades National Park, officials say the snakes have eliminated 95% of small mammals as well as thousands of birds.“Removing them is fairly simple. It’s detection. We’re having a really hard time finding them,” said Mike Kirkland, lead invasive animal biologist for the water district. “They’re so well camouflaged in the field.”The water district and University of Florida researchers deployed 120 robot rabbits this summer as an experiment. Previously, there was an effort to use live rabbits as snake lures but that became too expensive and time-consuming, Kirkland said.The robots are simple toy rabbits, but retrofitted to emit heat, a smell, and to make natural movements to appear like any other regular rabbit. “They look like a real rabbit,” Kirkland said. They are solar powered and can be switched on and off remotely. They are placed in small pens monitored by a video camera that sends out a signal when a python is nearby.“Then I can deploy one of our many contractors to go out and remove the python,” Kirkland said.The total cost per robot rabbit is about $4,000, financed by the water district, he added.Pythons are not native to Florida, but have become established in the swampy, subtropical Everglades by escaping from homes or by people releasing them when they become overgrown pets. A female python can lay between 50 and 100 eggs at a time with a gestation period of 60 to 90 days, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.It’s not easy to find definite estimates of the number of pythons in Florida. The U.S. Geological Survey recently reported a ballpark number of “tens of thousands,” while other official estimates run as high as 300,000 snakes. They have few natural enemies, although there are occasional confrontations with alligators, and other predators, such as bobcats and coyotes, will eat their eggs.Since 2000, more than 23,000 of the snakes have been removed from the wild, the wildlife commission says. The robot rabbits are the latest attempt to tackle snakes that average between 10 and 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) in length when fully grown.“Every invasive python that is removed makes a difference for Florida’s environment and its native wildlife,” said Ron Bergeron, a member of the water district governing board.Pythons can be humanely killed year-round on private lands and on lands managed by the wildlife commission across the state.Each year the commission holds a Florida Python Challenge that carries cash prizes for most pythons caught, the longest snake and so forth. This year, 934 people from 30 states took part in the effort in July, capturing 294 pythons with a top prize of $10,000 to a participant who bagged 60 of the reptiles.It’s too early to determine how successful the robot rabbit project will be, but officials say initial results are a cause for optimism.“This part of the project is in its infancy,” Kirkland said. “We are confident, though, that this will work once we are given enough time to work out some of these details.” Anderson reported from St. Petersburg, Florida. Curt Anderson and Cody Jackson, Associated Press
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I didn’t notice the scarlet tanager until the alert appeared on my phone: “Merlin heard a new bird!”Despite its brilliant plumagejet-black wings on a crimson bodythe songbird can be a hard one to spot in a forest because it prefers to stay high in the canopy. It sounds a little like a robin to an untrained ear.But the free Merlin Bird ID app detected a scarlet tanager was likely nearby by using artificial intelligence to analyze my phone’s live sound recording. I paused my hike, quietly scanned the treetops, saw the bird as it kept singing and clicked a button to add the species to my growing “life list” of bird sightings. Digital confetti dropped on my screen.Like a real-world version of Pokémon Go, a gotta-catch-’em-all drive to add to my Merlin list has helped me find a great kiskadee in Mexico and a rusty-cheeked scimitar-babbler in the Himalayas. But sometimes the greatest revelations are close to home, as more AI nature app users are starting to discover.“Our stereotypical demographic five years ago would have been retired people and already-avid birders,” said the Merlin app’s manager, Drew Weber, of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “Now we’re seeing a lot of 20-and-30-year-olds posting stuff on their TikTok or Instagram.” Are you a bird person now? “Am I a bird person now? Am I a bird person now?” exclaims one incredulous TikTok user whose Merlin app detected a tufted titmouse, a cardinal and a Carolina wren within five seconds of her switching on the app.Another video shows Seattle Seahawks quarterback Sam Darnold gushing about the technology.“That was a northern mockingbird,” says a smirking Darnold, then 27 and now 28, holding his phone up high while sitting in an outdoor lounge chair.The app isn’t always perfect, and mockingbirdsbecause they mimic other bird soundscan sometimes confuse the AI. Was that really a great horned owl that flew over your home and hooted while you left the app on record by the window screen? Maybe, maybe not.“Low-frequency sounds can be challenging because there’s other low frequencies, like cars driving past, that can trick it,” Weber said. AI nature apps are not just for the birds Built-in computer vision technology on newer iPhones and Android devices makes it easier to identify plants and other creatures without having to download an app. Simply look at the flower you just photographed andon iPhonesa leaf icon appears that, when clicked, can suggest the species.But their AI accuracy isn’t always the best for more obscure fauna and insectsand they are missing the immersive community and citizen science experience that free apps like Merlin and the image-based iNaturalist offer.Every observation submitted to iNaturalist, run by a nonprofit, and Cornell’s Merlin is potentially helping with conservation research as animal extinctions and biodiversity loss accelerate around the world.iNaturalist’s executive director, Scott Loarie, sees someone’s urge to identify a backyard plant as just the start of their engagement with the app.“Our strategy is really building this community of really passionate, engaged nature stewards who are not only learning and sharing knowledge about nature, but they’re actually huge engines for creating biodiversity data and conservation action,” Loarie said.Submit an incorrect ID suggested by iNaturalist’s AI and someone with real expertise will often politely correct you. Once there’s enough consensus, you’ll be notified that your observation has made it to “research grade.” Don’t use AI apps to pick strange berries (but I did) On the search for huckleberry, a favorite of jam makers and grizzly bears, I kept iNaturalist handy on an August hike through the Wyoming wilderness.And while I had a hard time finding a huckleberry bush, iNaturalist helped me discover other fruits: a type of serviceberry known as the saskatoon; the big-leafed, raspberry-like thimbleberry, and the vibrant orange berries of the Greene’s mountain-ash, a type of rowan. After cross-checking many other resources, I tasted all three. The first two were sweet, the last bitter and disgusting.“You should never trust any sort of automatic ID or a stranger on the internet for something as important as edible plants,” Loarie said. “So, I definitely don’t want to endorse that. But I’d certainly endorse getting to know plants and animals.”iNaturalist’s executive director, Scott Loarie, sees someone’s urge to identify a backyard plant as just the start of their engagement with the app. The nonprofit also owns a sibling app, Seek, that is kid-friendly and less complicated.Elsewhere, I’ve found it particularly helpful in identifying things to avoidpoison ivy, poison oak, disease-carrying ticksand things to destroy, like a nymph of the invasive spotted lanternfly that’s now infesting at least 19 U.S. states.-Is there a tech topic that you think needs explaining? Write to us at onetechtip@ap.org with your suggestions for future editions of One Tech Tip. Matt O’Brien, AP Technology Writer
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