Groups say supreme court justice, who owns oil stocks, may be violating ethics codes by participating in certain cases
The supreme court justice Samuel Alito, who owns stock in oil companies, may be violating court ethics codes by participating in certain cases that could benefit big oil, government watchdog groups say.
In a Thursday letter, a coalition of watchdog organizations called on the Senate judiciary committee to investigate Alito, the sole supreme court justice with holdings in energy companies.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
05/14/2026 - 13:08
05/14/2026 - 07:46
Scientists exploring deep underwater canyons off the coast of Western Australia uncovered a hidden world packed with bizarre and elusive marine life — including signs of the legendary giant squid. By analyzing traces of DNA floating in seawater from depths exceeding 4 kilometers, researchers identified 226 species ranging from deep-diving whales to strange fish rarely or never seen in the region before. Some of the creatures may even be unknown to science.
05/14/2026 - 07:30
New undercover video appears to show cruel treatment of salmon at Cooke hatchery amid push for ‘chickenification’ of fish
The Trump administration is keen to do to fish what has been done to chickens – mass-produce them on an industrial scale to accelerate the US’s output of seafood.
But this “chickenification” of fish may come at a hefty cost to the environment and to the fish themselves, as a new undercover video at one of the country’s leading fish farms has highlighted.
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05/14/2026 - 06:00
When the birds started nesting on her land at Useless Bay, Chile, Cecilia Durán Gafo decided she would protect them from people and predators
Five pairs of rubbery feet carry velvet-sheathed black-and-white bodies towards the rope line separating the king penguins from the dozen or so visitors, who look on in awe. As these emissaries shuffle over, a hundred of their cohorts parade on a nearby bank, splashing around in the water and regurgitating food into their chicks’ open beaks.
The king penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) makes its home almost exclusively on islands in the Southern Ocean. But it has been coming to this wind-battered bay in southern Chile’s Tierra del Fuego region for hundreds of years, probably because its shallow shores offer protection from marine predators and humans.
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05/14/2026 - 05:29
Environmentalists hail decline but warn weakened laws could reverse gains
Brazil’s Atlantic forest, the country’s most threatened biome, last year recorded its lowest level of deforestation since monitoring began 40 years ago, a new report shows.
The forest is Brazil’s most populous biome, and home to 80% of the population and major cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In 2025 it recorded 8,658 hectares of deforestation, marking the first time it has fallen below 10,000 hectares since 1985.
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05/14/2026 - 02:00
If resolution is passed, governments will recognise their legal responsibility to cut greenhouse gas emissions
The UN’s willingness to tackle the climate crisis in a fair and legal way will be tested next week during a critical vote of the UN general assembly in New York.
Every member state is being asked to back a series of landmark findings on climate justice from the international court of justice (ICJ) as part of a new political resolution. If passed, it will mean governments recognise they have a legal responsibility to cut their greenhouse gas emissions, including tackling fossil fuels.
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05/14/2026 - 00:55
Researchers in Japan traced a hidden medieval solar storm using ancient tree rings and centuries-old sky observations. The team linked reports of eerie red auroras with spikes of carbon-14 trapped in buried wood, revealing a powerful solar radiation event around 1200 CE. The findings suggest the Sun was far more active at the time, with unusually short solar cycles.
05/14/2026 - 00:00
Woodland Trust also finds significant north-south divide in tree cover, leaving many people at risk of poor health
Nigel Farage’s constituency of Clacton-on-Sea is a “tree desert”, leaving people more exposed to air pollution, poorer health, lower life expectancy and the impact of rising temperatures, according to a new report.
The Essex town is rated the worst-performing for equal access to trees in England, with the highest proportion of urban residents – 98.2% – living in neighbourhoods with critically low access to trees.
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05/13/2026 - 23:00
King Arthur is said to have transformed into a chough when he died, its red feet and beak representing his bloody end
Decades after disappearing from the jagged cliffs around Tintagel Castle on the coast of north Cornwall, a bird with legendary connections to the area has returned.
The custodian of Tintagel, English Heritage, and local ornithologists have declared that choughs – charismatic corvids with red beaks and feet – are back.
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05/13/2026 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 14 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00203-3
Navigating towards resilient relationships with kelp
