Breaking Waves: Ocean News

August should mean peak snow depth, Jindabyne worker says, but early blast of spring threatens ‘catastrophic’ premature end to season Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Australia’s snow season has begun to melt away early as unseasonable warmth cuts snowfalls to almost half the average for this time of year, experts say. A global-heating fuelled early blast of spring weather means the season may have peaked early, with snow fields melted by warm temperatures and washed away by showers. Continue reading...

Schools and university shut down in Tripura state after persistent heavy rain, and situation expected to worsen Incessant rain across Tripura, a state in north-east India, has created what has been described as the state’s worst flood situation in the last three decades. Persistent heavy rain from Monday to Wednesday resulted in several rivers exceeding danger and extreme danger marks, leading to widespread flooding that has caused the deaths of 10 people as well as displacing more than 34,000. The southern Tripura districts had the worst of the floods and the 34,000 displaced people were being sheltered in the north of the region. There were 24-hour rainfall totals on Wednesday of 375.8mm recorded in Bagafa and 324.4mm in Belonia. The flooding and heavy rain led schools to shut down on Wednesday and Thursday, while Tripura University suspended all regular classes on Wednesday. The heavy rain was caused by a low pressure system situated over Bangladesh that is slowly moving westwards into north-east India. The situation is therefore only expected to worsen, with a further 100-150mm falling through Thursday and Friday as rivers continue to remain at breaking point. Continue reading...

Campaigners denounce ‘pure slaughter’, which could threaten survival of entire Scandinavian population More than 150 brown bears have been killed in the opening days of Sweden’s annual bear hunt, as controversy mounts over what conservationists have called “pure slaughter”. The Swedish government issued 486 licences to shoot bears in this year’s hunt, equivalent to about 20% of the remaining brown bear population. This follows a record-breaking cull of 722 bears last year. By Thursday afternoon – the second day of the hunt – 152 bears had already been shot, according to Sweden’s Environmental Protection Agency. Continue reading...

Billionaire mining magnate reveals her defence and economic blueprint for Australia at News Corp’s bush summit in Townsville Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast Mining magnate and pastoralist Gina Rinehart has urged the government to “drill, baby, drill and dig, baby, dig” and use the proceeds to massively upgrade defence, including with an Israeli-style “iron dome” missile deflection system. Presenting a personal defence and economic blueprint for Australia at News Corp’s bush summit in Townsville on Friday, Rinehart called for the reintroduction of compulsory national service for “all biological men … under, say, 53” with voluntary service for “biological women”. Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email Continue reading...