Fears produce could be permanently devalued by price war, as it ‘creates unrealistic expectations about costs’
Supermarkets have been criticised for using vegetables as the latest weapon in their burgeoning price war, charging as little as 8p for a 2kg bag of potatoes in an attempt to lure shoppers over Easter.
Growers said they feared the massive discounts, which are also deployed at Christmas, could permanently devalue their produce.
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04/18/2025 - 23:00
04/18/2025 - 19:00
Questions arise over election proposal to axe penalties for high-emitting cars after revelations Toyota RAV4 model used in analysis has been discontinued
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The Coalition’s claim cars will be more expensive as a result of the New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES) has come under scrutiny because at least one of the opposition’s headline figures is based on a car no longer on sale.
The revelation casts doubt on a key Coalition election proposal to eliminate penalties for cars that emit CO2 beyond regulated limits to ensure “Australians save thousands when buying a new car”.
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04/18/2025 - 10:19
Wind power developer eyes legal remedies to order that blocks renewable energy projects and eliminates green job opportunities
This story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
The buildout of renewable energy projects in downstate New York – the region that includes the Hudson valley and below – is often complicated. The space for these projects is limited, particularly in New York City, and they’re often expensive.
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04/18/2025 - 10:00
Prof Shane Ahyong discovered ‘brutish’ mantis shrimp so unusual it needed its own new genus
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When Prof Shane Ahyong was seven, his mum came home with a bag of prawns from the fish shop – but one of those things was not like the others.
“It just looked different,” said Ahyong.
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04/18/2025 - 04:21
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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04/18/2025 - 04:00
In an exclusive extract from Friederike Otto’s new book, she says climate disasters result from inequality as well as fossil fuel
My research as a climate scientist is in attribution science. Together with my team, I analyse extreme weather events and answer the questions of whether, and to what extent, human-induced climate change has altered their frequency, intensity and duration.
When I first began my research, most scientists claimed that these questions couldn’t be answered. There were technical reasons for this: for a long time, researchers had no weather models capable of mapping all climate-related processes in sufficient detail. But there were other reasons that had less to do with the research itself.
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04/18/2025 - 03:57
Thousands go to hospital with respiratory problems after massive dust cloud blows in from Saudi Arabia
Iraq was hit by its most severe sandstorm of 2025 this week, turning skies from blue to an orange haze. Visibility dropped to less than half a mile, causing travel disruptions, with two major airports halting flights, and streets in Basra, the largest city in southern Iraq, deserted. Respiratory problems sent thousands to hospital. The storm also affected Kuwait, where wind gusts exceeded 50mph, and visibility in some areas was diminished to zero.
This massive dust cloud originated in Saudi Arabia before being blown into Iraq. While dust storms are common in Iraq, the climate crisis is expected to intensify them across the region in the future, fuelled by desertification in Saudi Arabia and Syria.
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04/18/2025 - 00:00
Online exhibition collects soundscapes from nature reserves and sites such as Machu Picchu and Taj Mahal
The sounds of wind turbines, rare whales and the Amazonian dawn chorus are among the noises being preserved as part of an exhibition of soundscapes found in world heritage sites.
The Sonic Heritage project is a collection of 270 sounds from 68 countries, including from famous Unesco-designated sites such as Machu Picchu and the Taj Mahal, as well as natural landscapes such as the monarch butterfly sanctuary in El Rosario, Mexico and the Colombian Amazon.
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04/17/2025 - 15:56
Environmentalists warn new proposal from US wildlife agencies could lead to habitat destruction and extinction
The Trump administration is planning to narrow protections for endangered species, in a move that environmentalists say would accelerate extinction by opening up critical habitats for development, logging, mining and other uses.
The proposal is the latest deregulatory effort by Donald Trump, who has made it a priority to dismantle endangered species protections as part of a broader quest to boost energy extraction and industrial access, even in the US’s most sensitive and vulnerable natural areas.
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04/17/2025 - 13:51
A new butterfly species, Satyrium curiosolus, was discovered in a recent study at Blakiston Fan in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta. It has unique evolutionary history, having likely remained in isolation for up to 40,000 years, leading to flatlined genetic diversity and exceptionally high levels of inbreeding. Due to its specific ecological associations and low genetic diversity, this butterfly may soon face challenges with climate change adaptation and will require special conservation strategies.
