Floods would most likely be the result of La Niña – a powerful weather pattern influenced by cooler temperatures in the Pacific
Severe flooding caused by La Niña is predicted for February despite England remaining in drought, the Met Office has said.
Two-thirds of people who are at risk of flooding do not realise they are, the government said on Monday, as it embarked on a major awareness campaign. This is significant, as the average cost to a flooded household is £30,000.
Continue reading...Prime minister’s judgment called into question after making Williamson minister again
Keir Starmer has said Gavin Williamson should be sacked, because he is “not fit” be a government minister.
But, speaking to journalists this morning, the Labour leader focused his criticism on Rishi Sunak for giving Williamson a job as a minister without portfolio in the Cabinet Office, with the right to attend cabinet.
It is so disappointing that yet again we’re having a discussion about the prime minister’s judgment, this time in relation to Gavin Williamson. He’s clearly got people around the cabinet table who are not fit to be there. That is because he was so weak and wanted to avoid an election within his own party and I think the only way out of this, because these debates are going to go on, because of the weak position the prime minister is in, I think we should say to the public, they should have a choice - do you want to carry on with this chaos or do you want the stability of a Labour government? That’s why I think there is such a powerful case for a general election.
I think that the prime minister has got people who are clearly not fit for the job around the cabinet table. Gavin Williamson has got history when it comes to breaches of security and leaking, etc. He is clearly not suitable, but the central focus really here is on the prime minister, to ask the question why has he put these people around the cabinet.
Continue reading...António Guterres tells leaders ‘global climate fight will be won or lost in this crucial decade – on our watch’
Humanity is on a “highway to climate hell”, the UN secretary general has warned, saying the fight for a liveable planet will be won or lost in this decade.
António Guterres told world leaders at the opening of the Cop27 UN climate summit in Egypt on Monday: “We are in the fight of our lives and we are losing … And our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible.
Continue reading...Attendees say they are unable to visit Human Rights Watch and other sites needed during climate talks
Attendees at the Cop27 climate meeting have found that the conference internet connection blocks access to the global rights organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) as well as other key news websites needed for information during the talks.
HRW is due to lead a panel discussion at Cop27 along with Amnesty International, whose website is accessible on the conference wifi. The list of blocked sites also includes the blogging platform Medium, Egypt’s lone independent news outlet, Mada Masr, and the Qatari news outlet Al Jazeera.
Continue reading...Above-average temperatures across northern hemisphere come amid an extremely warm year for Britain
The UK and much of Europe experienced well above normal temperatures during the second month of the meteorological autumn, in what was a very warm month for the northern hemisphere as a whole.
Persistent low pressure in the Atlantic and higher pressure across central and southern Europe helped feed mild air from the south/south-west for prolonged periods in October.
Continue reading...Migration system review will focus on process
For those wondering, here is a little more detail on the migration review Clare O’Neil announced this morning.
Accessed the name, date of birth, address, phone number and email address for around 9.7 million current and former customers and some of their authorised representatives. This figure represents around 5.1 million Medibank customers, around 2.8 million ahm customers and around 1.8 million international customers.
Did not access primary identity documents, such as drivers’ licences, for Medibank and ahm resident customers.
Medibank does not collect primary identity documents for resident customers except in exceptional circumstances.
Accessed Medicare numbers (but not expiry dates) for ahm customers.
Accessed passport numbers (but not expiry dates) and visa details for international student customers.
Accessed health claims data for around 160,000 Medibank customers, around 300,000 ahm customers and around 20,000 international customers.
This includes service provider name and location, where customers received certain medical services, and codes associated with diagnosis and procedures administered.
Additionally, around 5,200 My Home Hospital (MHH) patients have had some personal and health claims data accessed and around 2,900 next of kin of these patients have had some contact details accessed.
Accessed health provider details, including names, provider numbers and addresses.
Did not access health claims data for extras services (such as dental, physio, optical and psychology).
Did not access credit card and banking details.
Continue reading...Restore Trust blamed computerised voting for defeat of all its candidates at annual general meeting in Bath
A right-leaning campaign aiming to wrest control of the National Trust from an alleged “political” takeover has criticised a computerised voting system after all of its candidates for council seats were defeated at the trust’s annual general meeting.
Restore Trust failed to secure a single win and immediately attacked the soundness of the charity’s democratic system after results were announced at the National Trust’s Grade I-listed Bath Assembly Rooms.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Claim by academics, including former integrity chair of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, raises further doubts about system
Projects meant to regenerate Australia’s outback forests to store carbon dioxide have been awarded millions of carbon credits – worth hundreds of millions of dollars – despite total tree and shrub cover in those areas having declined, a new analysis has found.
It is the latest claim that raises doubts about the integrity of Australia’s carbon credit system, which the federal government and polluting businesses rely on to meet targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Continue reading...Contentious opening to UN climate conference as delegates struggle to reach agreement on discussion of loss and damage
The Cop27 UN climate summit has made a delayed start after delegates tussled late into Saturday night and on into Sunday morning over what should be discussed at the conference.
At the heart of the disagreement was the vexed question of loss and damage, which refers to the devastating consequences of climate breakdown suffered by the poorest and most vulnerable countries, and how to help them.
Continue reading...Cybersecurity experts warn that official Cop27 climate app requires access to a user’s location, photos and even emails
There are mounting fears over the surveillance of delegates at the Cop27 climate talks in Egypt, with cybersecurity experts warning that the official app for the talks requires access to a user’s location, photos and even emails upon downloading it.
The revelation, as more than 25,000 heads of state, diplomats, negotiators, journalists and activists from around the world gather at the climate summit that starts in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday, has raised concerns that Egypt’s authoritarian regime will be able to use an official platform for a United Nations event to track and harass attendees and critical domestic voices.
Continue reading...Floods crisis continues across NSW and Victoria although waters are subsiding in parts of the country including Forbes and Wagga Wagga
The body of a second man who died when a ute was swept into New South Wales flood waters last week has been found in the southern tablelands, as towns throughout the state and in Victoria remain on high alert.
NSW police confirmed on Sunday that police divers had found the man’s body after the ute was swept off a flooded causeway in Bevendale, about 280km south-west of Sydney, on Monday.
Continue reading...Environment minister visited Tasmania for two days and insists she’s taking mine decision seriously but Brown wanted her to visit rainforest with him
Bob Brown has accused the federal environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, of prioritising industry over the environment by not accepting his invitation to tour Tasmania’s takayna/Tarkine rainforest when she visited the site of a controversial mining proposal.
Plibersek visited Tasmania last week to meet with representatives and workers from the minerals company MMG about its proposal to build a tailings waste dam and pipeline infrastructure in rainforest near the town of Rosebery in the state’s north-west.
Continue reading...Scepticism from summit attendees as PM adopts Labour leader’s stated aim of making UK a green ‘superpower’
Rishi Sunak attempted an extraordinary volte-face on green policy on the eve of the Cop27 climate summit on Saturday, saying he would attend in order to “galvanise” world leaders to save the planet.
The prime minister – who had been criticised for saying he was too busy with domestic commitments to attend – also adopted precisely the same language on renewable energy that Labour leader Keir Starmer has been using for months, declaring that he now wanted to turn the UK into a “clean energy superpower”.
Continue reading...Sitdown protests are part of a day of demonstrations in and around Schiphol airport
Dutch border police arrested hundreds of climate activists who stormed Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport and sat in front of the wheels of aircraft to prevent them from leaving.
More than 100 protesters, wearing white suits, entered an area where private jets are kept on Saturday as part of a day of demonstrations in and around the airport organised by environmental groups.
Continue reading...Spurred by Lula’s election, the three countries, home to half of all tropical forests, will pledge stronger conservation efforts
The big three tropical rainforest nations – Brazil, Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo – are in talks to form a strategic alliance to coordinate on their conservation, nicknamed an “Opec for rainforests”, the Guardian understands.
The election of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, has been followed by a flurry of activity to avoid the destruction of the Amazon, which scientists have warned is dangerously close to tipping point after years of deforestation under its far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro.
Continue reading...A look at who will – and who may not – be at Egypt’s Sharm el-Sheikh climate summit this month
Delegates arrive for Cop27 on 6 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and the conference is scheduled to end on 18 November, though it is likely to run later. World leaders will attend on 7 and 8 November, and after they depart the crunch negotiations will be done by their representatives, environment ministers or other high-ranking officials.
Continue reading...La Niña brings an increased chance of above average rainfall for Australia’s north and east and a lingering risk of flooding for the months ahead
Flood waters continued to rise in the New South Wales town of Forbes, where there had been 10 flood rescues and more than 237 calls for help in the past 24 hours, including for a pregnant woman.
The woman, whose water broke on Friday, was transported across the middle of the river in Forbes to the town’s hospital by a local volunteer, where she could be cared for by doctors and nurses.
Continue reading...Egypt has expressed frustration at leaders making positive statements that are abandoned in negotiations
Governments meeting for vital climate talks have been accused of making positive commitments in public but denying them later in the privacy of the negotiating rooms by the Egyptian hosts of the summit.
Wael Aboulmagd, the Egyptian diplomat in charge of running the negotiations at the Cop27 UN climate summit, said: “Political statements and pledges are made in front of the cameras, but in the negotiating rooms it’s back to the adversarial approach. These [publicly positive positions] will not be of value until translated into the negotiating rooms, and that has not been the case so far.”
Continue reading...About 70 people seized in protest at environmental damage from crude oil spillage into Cuninico River
Indigenous people in the Amazon in Peru have detained a group of Peruvian and foreign tourists, including UK and US citizens, in protest at a lack of government aid following an oil spill in the area.
“[We want] to call the government’s attention with this action, There are foreigners and Peruvians, there are about 70 people,” Watson Trujillo, the leader of the Cuninico community, told RPP radio.
Continue reading...Scientists have long sought to farm the scarce seafood staple, but critics say animals are not suited to intensive methods
Scientists in Japan say they have developed a groundbreaking method of farming squid that could solve shortages of the seafood staple, amid warnings from environmental groups that aquaculture is incompatible with the animal’s welfare.
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) say their system produced a reliable supply of squid and has the potential to be commercialised.
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