The deregulation agenda being pushed by Germany’s chancellor and Italy’s prime minister is economically and ethically flawed
When the European Union launched its green deal in 2019, putting into law the goal of climate neutrality by the middle of the century, it showed strategic foresight as well as global leadership. Russia’s war in Ukraine has starkly underlined the extent to which the continent’s energy security – and its future prosperity – is dependent on the transition away from fossil fuels. Lately, however, EU leaders’ environmental approach appears to be echoing the youthful St Augustine’s plea on chastity: make us greener, but not yet.
The recent European Industry Summit in Antwerp made unusually big headlines thanks to Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s xenophobic outburst over immigration. But it was also notable for fierce attacks on one of the most important pillars of EU environmental policy. The bloc’s emissions trading system (ETS) – which makes polluters pay for the C02 they emit – has achieved dramatic results in driving down overall emissions since 2005 and encouraging green innovation. Worryingly, the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, appeared to sympathise with demands from Sir Jim and other CEOs for a radical relaxation of the rules.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/19/2026 - 14:05
02/19/2026 - 09:30
Eight skiers were found dead, six were rescued and one is still missing after avalanche in Sierra Nevada mountains
The many weeks of a worrying snow drought in the western US is driven by the climate crisis and helped set the stage for the deadly avalanche this week in the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern California, according to experts.
Perilous avalanches are not uncommon in the region, according to the National Avalanche Center, which maintains a map of locations where avalanche danger is highest, and the risk is now particularly high in the Lake Tahoe area.
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02/19/2026 - 08:52
Law defines animals including horses, donkeys and mules as pets and is backed by opposition parties
Italy could soon ban horse meat as part of a law that would define equine animals including horses, donkeys and mules as pets, making it illegal to kill them.
The bill has been drafted by Michela Vittoria Brambilla, a politician with Noi Moderati, a member of Giorgia Meloni’s ruling coalition, and is backed by opposition parties.
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02/19/2026 - 07:01
A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shine
Whether it is embellishing elaborate costumes, delicately applied as eye makeup, or smeared across bare skin, glitter is everywhere at Rio de Janeiro’s carnival in Brazil. The world’s largest party, which ended on Wednesday, leaves a trail of sparkles in its wake.
At one bloco last weekend, a huge sound truck and dancers in leopard print led thousands of revellers down the promenade at Flamengo beach. Among them was Bruno Fernandes, who had jazzed up an otherwise minimalist outfit of navy swimming briefs by smearing silver glitter over his body.
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02/19/2026 - 05:10
Exclusive: Cross-party group ‘deeply concerned’ power plant may have misled ministers and regulators over source of wood pellets
Ed Miliband is under pressure from MPs to suspend subsidies worth £2m a day paid to the owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire after court documents cast doubt on the company’s sustainability claims.
A cross-party group of 14 MPs and peers have called on the energy minister to halt the subsidies for Britain’s biggest power plant while the financial watchdog investigates the company’s claims about how it sources the millions of tonnes of wood pellets burned to generate electricity.
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02/18/2026 - 22:42
Abandoned beaches, public health warning signs and seagulls eating human waste are now features of the popular coastline in New Zealand
A tide of anger is rising in New Zealand’s capital, Wellington, as the city’s toilets continue to flush directly into the ocean more than two weeks after the catastrophic collapse of its wastewater treatment plant.
Millions of litres of raw and partially screened sewage have been pouring into pristine reefs and a marine reserve along the south coast daily since 4 February, prompting a national inquiry, as the authorities struggle to get the decimated plant operational.
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02/18/2026 - 21:00
Some European leaders have criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate – key US politics stories from Wednesday 18 February at a glance
Dozens of world leaders and national delegations will meet in Washington DC on Thursday for the inaugural meeting of Donald Trump’s Board of Peace, as major European allies declined to join the group and criticised the organisation’s murky funding and political mandate.
The White House has indicated that the summit for the US president’s new ad hoc council at the renamed Donald J Trump Institute of Peace will heavily function as a fundraising round, with Trump announcing on social media that countries have pledged more than $5bn toward rebuilding Gaza, which has been devastated in the war with Israel and remains in a humanitarian crisis.
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02/18/2026 - 18:58
Activist group says some members have been visited by agents, including by agency’s terrorism taskforce
Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year.
Asked for comment, the FBI said it could neither confirm nor deny conducting specific investigations, citing justice department policy.
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02/18/2026 - 14:00
A fried snack sustained protesters, and the aid continues amid fear and promises that ICE will leave the city
The images coming out of Minneapolis over the past two months have looked like something from a Hollywood dystopian horror film: masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents armed with guns, pepper spray, and teargas coming to blows with everyday citizens bearing phones, whistles, signs and, perhaps most surprisingly, food to feed their fellow protesters.
For Fatoun Ali and other Somali community members, sambusa was the weapon of choice. Last December, before prejudiced threats turned to bloodshed in the streets, they deployed this tasty east African staple – a fried, flaky, triangular-shaped pastry typically filled with ground meat, vegetables and spices (similar to south Asian samosas) – to combat the xenophobic rhetoric rapidly spreading across the Twin Cities. She estimates they bought and handed out hundreds of the simple snacks near community hubs, all in hopes of introducing others to the largest Somali diaspora community outside Africa.
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02/18/2026 - 13:41
While most hybrids are said to use one to two litres of fuel per 100km, a study claims they need six litres on average
Plug-in hybrid electric cars (PHEVs) use much more fuel on the road than officially stated by their manufacturers, a large-scale analysis of about a million vehicles of this type has shown.
The Fraunhofer Institute carried out what is thought to be the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, using the data transmitted wirelessly by PHEVs from a variety of manufacturers while they were on the road.
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