European Commission president says she will never work with parties such as AfD or National Rally, no matter how big a vote they secure in European elections
Campaign Corner: Slovakia
As the campaign kicks off for the June European elections, more parties are presenting their candidates.
We believe that this is an attempt to take over the agricultural protest movement by extreme and irresponsible groups, possibly under the influence of Russian agents.
Continue reading...Three groups familiar with draft conservation laws say they do not go far enough and may allow political influence on development decisions
New national environment laws being developed by the Albanese government fail to address systemic flaws in the existing system and would continue to allow widespread deforestation, according to three organisations familiar with the plans.
Officials representing the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, have been sharing sections of draft conservation laws to be introduced this year in consultation meetings with conservation, business and other groups.
Continue reading...Rules hailed as once-in-a-generation chance to improve air quality but loopholes will let member states delay by up to a decade
The European Union has agreed to set stricter limits on the toxic particles and dangerous gas that dirty its air, but will not aim for the levels that doctors and economists recommend.
The new rules slash the yearly limits for fine particulates known as PM2.5 – which wreak havoc on the whole body because they are small enough to slip into the bloodstream – from 25 µg/m³ to 10 µg/m³, and for nitrogen dioxide, a gas that hurts the lungs, from 40 µg/m³ to 20 µg/m³.
Continue reading...Transport minister Catherine King unveils overhaul to legislation governing Sydney airport, to significantly increase transparency over allocation of take-off and landing slots. Follow the day’s news live
Man dies after electric unicycle crash in Victoria
A man has died after crashing his electric unicycle in Bellfield yesterday evening.
We have concerns for his health. We have been working consistently since coming to government, particularly behind-the-scenes, to say that we believe Mr Assange should be returned … These sort of issues of diplomacy are not always best done through a megaphone, but we will continue to advocate for an end to this and see Mr Assange returned home.
Continue reading...Sunak becomes first PM to address conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, as Tories court farming sector
Rishi Sunak has told farmers “I have your back”, at the National Farmers Union conference, as he promised to “change the culture” in government around farming.
Sunak was the first prime minister to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and took three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers.
Continue reading...Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS – suggesting 200 million affected overall
About 70 million people are exposed to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in US drinking water, new testing from the Environmental Protection Agency has found.
But the testing completed to date has only checked about one-third of the nation’s public water systems, meaning the agency is on pace to find over 200 million people are exposed, or at least 60% of the US population.
Continue reading...Jim Pillen breaks with 14 other Republican governors to enroll in Summer EBT, a new food program for school vacation months
Nebraska’s governor announced this week that the state would accept federal dollars to help feed children from low-income families, breaking away from the more than a dozen other Republican governors around the US who have refused to do so.
Just last month, Jim Pillen joined 14 other Republican governors in opting not to enroll in Summer EBT, a new federal food program that provides low-income families with a monthly payment of $40 per child during summer vacation. In participating states, families with children in free or reduced-price school lunch programs will get $40 per qualifying child on an electronic benefits transfer (EBT) card throughout each of the three summer months. That money can be used to purchase groceries and food from farmers’ markets.
Continue reading...Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river between November 2019 and February 2020
Severn Trent has been fined more than £2m for polluting the River Trent near Stoke, with the Environment Agency calling its storm contingency plans “woefully inadequate”.
Huge amounts of raw sewage were discharged into the river from Strongford wastewater treatment works near Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, between November 2019 and February 2020.
Continue reading...Bill also criticised by Greens and Environmental Defenders Office who claim it will help fast-track offshore gas developments
An Indigenous activist who took on Woodside in the federal court has accused Labor of seeking to “silence Aboriginal voices” over changes that may water down consultation requirements for offshore gas development.
Mardudhunera woman Raelene Cooper, a founder of the organisation Save Our Songlines, has spoken out about a bill that aims to preserve approvals for offshore gas projects against reconsideration if rules are tightened in future.
Continue reading...UTS researchers say firms including Coles, Woolworths, Telstra, Rio Tinto and Qantas have no ‘comprehensive, independently verified and fully costed plan’ to reduce emissions
Ten of Australia’s best-known corporations – including Coles, Telstra, Woolworths and Qantas – have no clear plans to stop using or supporting fossil fuels despite having targets to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions, according to a report.
The companies were also failing to report clearly the impact of their businesses on the climate warming caused directly or indirectly from land clearing.
Continue reading...Independent advice provider calls for clarity on funding and says project may offer ‘poor value for money’
Ministers have been urged by Citizens Advice to protect consumers from a hike in household energy bills to pay for the proposed Sizewell C power station, amid international tensions over the rising costs of nuclear projects.
The UK’s largest independent advice provider has raised concerns that the project in Suffolk may offer “poor value for money” and called for greater clarity on its funding, in a letter to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
Continue reading...The environmentally friendly LignoSat probe – set to orbit this summer – has been created to combat harmful aluminium particles
Japanese scientists have created one of the world’s most unusual spacecraft – a tiny satellite that is made of timber.
The LignoSat probe has been built of magnolia wood, which, in experiments carried out on the International Space Station (ISS), was found to be particularly stable and resistant to cracking. Now plans are being finalised for it to be launched on a US rocket this summer.
Continue reading...Vast reforestation a major reason for ‘warming hole’ across parts of US where temperatures have flatlined or cooled
Trees provide innumerable benefits to the world, from food to shelter to oxygen, but researchers have now found their dramatic rebound in the eastern US has delivered a further, stunning feat – the curtailing of the soaring temperatures caused by the climate crisis.
While the US, like the rest of the world, has heated up since industrial times due to the burning of fossil fuels, scientists have long been puzzled by a so-called “warming hole” over parts of the US south-east where temperatures have flatlined, or even cooled, despite the unmistakable broader warming trend.
Continue reading...Glass Pharms hope its approach could show the way for all kinds of energy-intensive horticulture in the UK
For 26 years, Olivier Dehon worked in the corporate sector, ending up as chief financial officer for Xerox in the UK and Ireland before retiring four years ago. Last month he delivered his first consignment of high-strength cannabis.
Dehon’s dope is legal and above board, produced to supply the UK’s burgeoning market for medical cannabis on prescription. What’s more, Dehon and his colleagues believe it is the first carbon-neutral indoor weed grown anywhere in the world.
Continue reading...Seventy perc ent of pregnant women in state had herbicide dicamba in their urine, up from 28% in an earlier study
Pregnant women in a key US farm state are showing increasing amounts of a toxic weedkiller in their urine, a rise that comes alongside climbing use of the chemicals in agriculture, according to a study published on Friday.
The study, led by the Indiana University school of medicine, showed that 70% of pregnant women tested in Indiana between 2020 and 2022 had a herbicide called dicamba in their urine, up from 28% from a similar analysis for the period 2010-12. The earlier study included women in Indiana, Illinois and Ohio.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Manufacturers retest contaminated soil fill until it ‘complies’ with regulations and can then be used at childcare centres, schools or parks
A testing regime meant to stop toxic chemicals going into landscaping products in New South Wales has been gamed by suppliers who kept retesting samples until they passed.
Waste facilities making soil fill from construction and demolition waste – called “recovered fines” – are required to test their product for hazardous contaminants and report results to the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) if they exceed legislated thresholds.
43% of facilities were requesting retesting and were only doing so after they received a result that breached state regulations
Waste facilities were sending in samples for testing that looked very different to material EPA officials collected from their stockpiles, a separate 2013 report shows
One testing laboratory alleged it was asked by manufacturers “not to report the presence of suspected asbestos”
Continue reading...Exclusive: The animal translocation scheme by wildlife NGOs including African Parks, once headed by the royal, has been dogged by controversy
Four more people have died after an elephant translocation overseen by two wildlife organisations, including one that was headed by Prince Harry, in a protected area in Malawi. The recent deaths bring the total fatalities connected to the relocated elephants to seven.
In July 2022, more than 250 elephants were moved from Liwonde national park in southern Malawi to the country’s second-largest protected area, Kasungu, in a three-way operation between Malawi’s national park service and two NGOs: the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), and African Parks. Prince Harry was president of African Parks for six years, before being elevated to the board of directors from 2023.
Continue reading...The Tijuana River flows through Mexico and empties off California, carrying pathogens and chemicals and threatening public health
Raw sewage and runoff in the Tijuana River is exposing communities at the US-Mexico border to an unusual and noxious brew of pathogens and toxic chemicals, according to a report released this week.
Billions of gallons of sewage flow through the river, which winds north from Mexico through California and empties into the Pacific Ocean, containing a mix of carcinogenic chemicals including arsenic, as well as viruses, bacteria and parasites, according to public health researchers at San Diego State University, who published the report.
Continue reading...Research reveals area size of France is under threat by restoration projects taking place in unsuitable landscapes
Misguided tree-planting projects are threatening crucial ecosystems across Africa, scientists have warned.
Research has revealed that an area the size of France is threatened by forest restoration initiatives that are taking place in inappropriate landscapes.
Continue reading...Fuel continues to leak from overturned and abandoned barge as stain spreads into the Caribbean Sea
An oil spill that has stained Tobago’s coastline in the Caribbean is entering Grenada’s waters and could affect neighboring Venezuela, authorities have warned.
Eight days after Trinidad and Tobago’s coastguard first spotted the oil from an overturned and abandoned barge, the vessel continues to leak fuel, and portions of the stain have moved about 144km (89 miles) into the Caribbean Sea at a rate of 14km/h.
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