Turnout at blood drives affected as summers get hotter and extreme weather causes cancellations, Red Cross warns
The climate crisis is threatening the medical blood supply in the US, with this summer’s record heat contributing to an emergency blood shortage, the American Red Cross has warned.
As summers in the US get progressively hotter, blood drives across the country to persuade people to donate are facing challenges. In the month of July alone, when more than 130 million Americans were under heat advisory warnings, the American Red Cross said that turnout at almost 100 of its blood drives was affected by the weather.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/20/2024 - 12:41
08/20/2024 - 11:00
Record sea temperatures in the Mediterranean contributed to waterspout that hit Bayesian
Record temperatures in the Mediterranean Sea this summer contributed to the freak storm that sank a superyacht off the coast of Sicily, with similar extreme events expected to increase in frequency and intensity as the climate crisis tightens its grip, Italian scientists have said.
One person is confirmed to have died and rescuers are searching for six missing people, including the British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his 18-year-old daughter, Hannah, after the 56-metre Bayesian capsized in the early hours of Monday.
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08/20/2024 - 11:00
South West Water could face prosecution after sewer burst at nearby treatment plant
The Environment Agency is considering legal action against South West Water after the company spilled sewage into the sea at a Devon beach.
Swimmers were told to stay out of the sea at Exmouth beach after a sewer burst on private land on Thursday next to Maer Lane wastewater treatment works.
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08/20/2024 - 07:30
Exclusive: research tracks dozens of oil and fuel shipments that could have aided Israel’s war on Gaza
Israeli tanks, jets and bulldozers bombarding Gaza and razing homes in the occupied West Bank are being fueled by a growing number of countries signed up to the genocide and Geneva conventions, new research suggests, which legal experts warn could make them complicit in serious crimes against the Palestinian people.
Four tankers of American jet fuel primarily used for military aircraft have been shipped to Israel since the start of its aerial bombardment of Gaza in October.
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08/20/2024 - 06:00
A trio of mothers in their mid-40s were among more than 100 intrepid sailors in a motley armada sailing the unpredictable and spectacular Inside Passage in the Pacific Northwest
As we walked through the dark marina at 3.30am, I swallowed the last bite of my banana then tossed the skin on a pile of others on the dock. Bananas are considered to bring bad luck on boats and we needed all the good fortune we could summon to make it the next 750 cold, wild, watery miles. The eighth Race to Alaska (R2AK) was about to start and I was crewing on one of the 44 teams heading to the start line. A few teams aimed to be first; the rest of us just aimed to survive.
More than 100 adventurers from four countries converged in Port Townsend, near Seattle, in June to test their mettle against the unpredictable elements in the Pacific Northwest’s famed Inside Passage. Our goal was to make it to Ketchikan, Alaska, before the “Grim Sweeper”– a boat that slowly follows racers up the course – tapped us out.
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08/20/2024 - 02:00
Conflict nearly wiped out its large animals, but local determination is bringing Upemba park back from the brink
Photographs by Hugh Kinsella Cunningham
Ranger Sylvain Musimi had just risen from his morning coffee around the campfire when the rebels opened fire. It was a chilly early morning in mid-January, during rainy season in Upemba national park. Sixteen suspected members of the Bakata Katanga militia, faces daubed in white war paint, surprised the party of four rangers only 5.5 miles (9km) from Upemba’s base camp.
Musimi, 50, was shot four times in the thigh, but managed to flee into the bush. A younger colleague, who was nearer the campfire, was shot dead.
John Mopeto, a ranger section leader, walks across the Kibara plateau during a scientific survey of Upemba national park
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08/20/2024 - 00:55
In today’s newsletter: Our Seascapes editor on the dangers our seas and oceans face – and what we can do to help
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Good morning. The oceans are – according to the UN – “the world’s greatest ally against climate change”. While many of us now understand the urgent need to take the climate crisis seriously, the focus is still very much on the land and the air. Oceans cover more than 70% of the surface of the planet, generate 50% of the oxygen we breathe, absorb 25% of all carbon dioxide emissions and capture 90% of the excess heat generated by these emissions.
Perhaps it is time we stopped to think a bit more about our seas, consider the dangers they face and look at what we can do to help. Lisa Bachelor, who edits the Guardian’s Seascape series about the state of our oceans, has – if not all the answers – quite a few of them. She joins us after the headlines.
US politics | Joe Biden took the stage at the Democratic national convention Monday to deliver a reflective and optimistic address, telling the crowd: “I made a lot of mistakes in my career, but I gave my best to you.” Earlier, Kamala Harris made a surprise appearance to thank Biden for his “lifetime of service”.
Italy | UK tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch and his daughter Hannah were missing, along with Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and three others, after their yacht sank off the coast of Sicily during a violent storm. The British-flagged Bayesian was carrying 22 people when it was hit by a tornado.
Care workers | The number of foreign social care workers reporting that they are trapped in exploitative contracts has risen sixfold in the last three years, in the latest evidence of widespread abuse of migrants in the British care system.
Israel-Gaza war | The current round of ceasefire talks is “maybe the last opportunity” to broker a truce and a hostage and prisoner swap, the US secretary of state has said during a visit to Israel. After a three-hour one-on-one with Benjamin Netanyahu, Anthony Blinken said that the Israeli prime minister “supports” the ceasefire proposal.
Ukraine | Ukrainian forces destroyed a third bridge over the Seym River in Russia’s Kursk region as part of an apparent attempt to expand what Volodymyr Zelenskiy has described as a military “buffer zone” against attacks. It was the last major crossing on this part of the front.
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08/20/2024 - 00:00
Appearance of dark crimson underwing causes excitement on land that would be bisected by road scheme
Beneath oak canopies, in an orchard full of hundred-year-old apple trees, excited exclamations rose from a group of moth enthusiasts last week.
The Cambridgeshire Moth Group had just trapped a dark crimson underwing, a species so rare that none of them had ever seen it before. Indeed, the colourful invertebrate is only usually ever found in the New Forest and is considered nationally scarce.
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08/19/2024 - 23:00
Exclusive: Regulator plans tighter rules to stop polluters from using four-star ratings to justify high CEO pay
Sewage-spilling water companies will no longer be able to justify high chief executive pay by getting “top marks” in the Environment Agency’s rankings, under plans to tighten rules, the Guardian understands.
Bosses presiding over companies found to “recklessly” discharge sewage have been able to justify their large pay packets because of being awarded the top rating, while companies that preside over sewage spills can call themselves “industry leaders”.
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08/19/2024 - 21:09
The opposition has still produced nothing to back up its widely disputed claim that Australia could have an operational nuclear industry before the 2040s
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Journalists are obsessed with the new. We cast around every day to tell audiences something they don’t know. That’s the job.
Sometimes, when we get it right, we reveal information that’s substantial and deserves exposure and scrutiny. Sometimes we aim for a different type of revelation – one that comes from picking apart and giving context to claims that are demonstrably not true, but have been repeated so often they have become a regurgitated part of public debate. This fact-checking role can feel repetitive and, frankly, exhausting. But it’s also part of the job.
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