Exclusive: Campaigners say ‘menacing vehicles’ are putting children at risk owing to their large front blind zones
The number of US-style pickup trucks on UK roads has almost doubled in the past 10 years, data shows.
The vehicles are more environmentally damaging than ordinary cars, and more dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists. Campaigners have said the extra-large vehicles, which are often too big for UK streets and parking spaces, are built like “battering rams”.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
01/27/2026 - 01:00
01/27/2026 - 00:00
French port’s green energy push, evoking second world war spirit of resilience, is seen as a testing ground for reindustrialisation
A new cargo and passenger ferry service directly linking Scotland and France could launch later this year as the port of Dunkirk embarks on a €40bn (£35bn) regeneration programme it claims will mirror the second world war resilience for which it is famed.
The plans could include a new service between Rosyth in Fife and Dunkirk, eight years after the last freight ferries linked Scotland to mainland Europe, and 16 years after passenger services stopped.
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01/26/2026 - 16:46
Ouyen and Mildura in northern Victoria forecast to break state’s all-time maximum on Tuesday, as weather warnings issued
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A day of record-breaking heat looms for Victoria, with temperatures forecast to hit 49C in the Mallee and Melbourne facing its hottest day since Black Saturday 2009.
It was 26.1C as the sun rose on Tuesday over the small Victorian town of Ouyen, the Mallee town of 1,170 people whose forecast high of 49C would break the state’s temperature record of 48.8C – set in Hopetoun on Black Saturday in 2009. The mercury had climbed to 48.7C by 2.30pm.
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01/26/2026 - 13:29
Scientists expect 41% of the projected global population to face the extremes, with ‘no part of the world’ immune
The number of people living with extreme heat will more than double by 2050 if global heating reaches 2C, according to a new study that shows how the energy demands for air conditioners and heating systems are expected to change across the world.
No region will escape the impact, say the authors. Although the tropics and southern hemisphere will be worst affected by rising heat, the countries in the north will also find it difficult to adapt because their built environments are primarily designed to deal with a cooler climate.
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01/26/2026 - 12:43
European retailers urge traders to adhere to commitments after Brazilian lawmakers wreck forest protection pact
Leading British and European retailers are trying to salvage the core elements of the Amazon soy moratorium after the world’s most successful forest protection agreement was wrecked by Brazilian lawmakers and abandoned by international traders.
In an open letter, high street brands including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda say the breakdown this month of the 20-year-old agreement will damage consumer confidence unless new arrangements are put in place to ensure grain production is not linked to deforestation.
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01/26/2026 - 12:34
Aircraft crashed on takeoff at Bangor airport as visibility diminished amid winter storm, leading to airport shutdown
Six people died when a business jet crashed during takeoff as a snowstorm moved in and visibility diminished at Maine’s Bangor international airport on Sunday night, according to officials.
The Bombardier Challenger 600 carrying the dead crashed on takeoff at about 7.45pm on Sunday night as Bangor, the rest of the New England region, and much of the country grappled with a deadly, major winter storm. The airport, about 200 miles (320km) north of Boston, shut down after the crash.
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01/26/2026 - 11:36
Party’s pitch to voters in May Holyrood elections dismissed as ‘profoundly unserious, almost comically so’ by analysts
Reform UK would slash what it calls “highly dubious” environmental protection measures to help fund a £2bn cut to income tax in Scotland if it won May’s Holyrood elections, the party has said.
Malcolm Offord, the multimillionaire financier who was announced as leader of Reform UK in Scotland 10 days ago, used his first major speech to announce plans to realign the country’s tax system – where higher earners currently pay significantly more – with the rest of the UK and institute a 1p-in-the-pound cut across the board.
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01/26/2026 - 09:00
Queensland government says it has already killed six of the 10 dingoes seen near the body of 19-year-old Piper James
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Dingo experts have said a decision to kill a 10-strong pack of the animals linked with the death of Canadian tourist Piper James on K’gari could push the island’s population towards extinction while doing little to protect humans.
The Queensland government revealed on Sunday it had already killed six of the pack seen around the body of the 19-year-old in a move that has angered the island’s traditional owners who have said they were not consulted.
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01/26/2026 - 09:00
The Wilderness Society lodges complaint with consumer watchdog over hardware and garden chain’s sale of timber sourced from NSW Forestry Corporation
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One of Australia’s biggest environment groups has accused Bunnings of “greenwashing” its timber, claiming it may have sold products illegally logged by the New South Wales forestry agency.
The Wilderness Society (TWS) has asked the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to investigate the hardware and garden chain because it could be selling unlawfully logged timber, despite Bunnings’ policies and websites promoting responsible sourcing.
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01/26/2026 - 08:44
More than 100 people killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe
Devastating floods have killed more than 100 people in southern Africa since the beginning of the year and displaced hundreds of thousands, as authorities and aid workers warn of hunger, cholera and attacks by crocodiles that have spread with the waters.
More than 70 people have died in Zimbabwe and 30 in South Africa, where hundreds of people were evacuated from Kruger national park earlier this month after a deluge of rain.
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