Recent plans submitted to UN by more than 60 countries would cut carbon by only 10%, a sixth of what is needed
Recently drafted climate plans from scores of countries fall drastically short of what is needed to stave off the worst effects of climate breakdown, analysis has shown.
More than 60 countries have so far submitted national plans on greenhouse gas emissions to the UN, setting out how they will curb carbon for the next decade.
Continue reading...Deal between federal government and Nauru expected to last 30 years and apply to around 350 people released under high court’s NZYQ ruling
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Australia has commenced its $2.5bn deal with Nauru to offload more than 350 people from the NZYQ cohort after the home affairs minister, Tony Burke, confirmed the first arrival had landed on the tiny Pacific island last week.
Burke said Nauruan authorities had confirmed the arrival on Friday, as reported by the ABC, triggering the first yearly instalment of $408m.
Continue reading...Exclusive: two dossiers of material seen by the security council raise questions over export of British arms to the UAE, which has been accused of supplying weapons to paramilitary RSF group
British military equipment has been found on battlefields in Sudan, used by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a paramilitary group accused of genocide, according to documents seen by the UN security council.
UK-manufactured small-arms target systems and British-made engines for armoured personnel carriers have been recovered from combat sites in a conflict that has now caused the world’s biggest humanitarian catastrophe.
Continue reading...NSW police allege 42-year-old ‘cut water and gas mains’ at first hospital in Sutherland before switching off gas mains at nearby facility
A woman has been arrested after allegedly sabotaging gas supplies at two Sydney hospitals.
Sutherland hospital in southern Sydney lost medical gases on Tuesday morning, requiring them to switch to portable oxygen and air as part of their contingency plans, the New South Wales health minister, Ryan Park, said in a statement
Continue reading...Education secretary promises ‘clear timelines’ are in place to permanently remove crumbling concrete
All schools in England that received grant funding to pay for the removal of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) should be free of it by the end of this parliament, the education secretary has pledged.
Setting out a new timeline for dealing with the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, Bridget Phillipson said: “We inherited a crumbling education estate, but I won’t let that be our legacy.
Continue reading...Peers say ‘woeful’ record on prosecutions has led to a ‘low-risk, high-reward’ criminal culture
Organised crime groups in the UK are making millions every year from illegally dumping and burning rubbish, peers have told ministers, after an inquiry found a lack of enforcement made it a “low-risk, high-reward” criminal enterprise.
“Criminality is endemic in the waste sector,” a Lords committee told the government on Tuesday, after it found at least 38m tonnes of waste was illegally managed every year, “leading to serious environmental, economic and social consequences”.
Continue reading...Viewing original works of art can relieve stress, cut heart disease risk and boost immune system, first study of its kind finds
Enjoying original works of art in a gallery can relieve stress, reduce the risk of heart disease and boost your immune system, according to the first study of its kind.
Researchers measured the physiological responses of participants while viewing masterpieces by world-renowned artists including Manet, Van Gogh and Gauguin in a gallery.
Continue reading...Deputy PM tells MPs party must pick clearer fights that show its values after byelection slump
David Lammy has urged Labour MPs to see the party’s defeat in the Caerphilly byelection as a moment of reflection, arguing progressive governments around the world have recovered from worse to “win big”.
The deputy prime minister pointed to Canada’s Liberals, Norway’s Labour party and Australia’s Labor party as examples of centre-left groups who “roared back” from mid-term slumps to secure significant victories.
Continue reading...Woman and man confirmed dead and another woman airlifted to hospital after blast at underground Endeavour mine 600km north-west of Sydney
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Two people have been killed by an explosion at an underground mine in the far west of New South Wales.
Police said emergency services were called to the mine on Endeavour Mine Road at Cobar, about 600km north-west of Sydney, at about 3.45am on Tuesday after being told two people had been critically injured in a workplace incident.
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