Tests ahead of Sunday’s race revealed E coli levels three times above the threshold for poor bathing water
Water quality along the stretch of the River Thames which will host the iconic Oxford v Cambridge Boat Race has been classified as poor by clean water campaigners, as a result of E coli from sewage pollution.
Testing carried out along the four-mile route, which the university rowing teams will tackle on Sunday, has revealed E coli levels which are three times above the threshold for poor bathing water status.
Continue reading...
Breaking Waves: Ocean News
04/08/2025 - 16:53
Outcry as CNN reports president to stop funds for program that would have created jobs in Middletown, Ohio
Despite promises to bolster the US manufacturing industry, the Trump administration is reportedly planning to cut a key program that invests in some of the biggest manufacturing industries in the US, including in JD Vance’s home town of Middletown, Ohio.
Donald Trump is looking to slash a $500m grant from the Biden administration that was slated for Cleveland-Cliffs, a steel manufacturing giant in America’s rust belt, according to reporting from CNN. The grant was intended to help the company upgrade its ageing blast furnaces, so they would be powered by hydrogen, natural gas and electricity instead of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel.
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 11:19
Ecologists are investigating the decline of insect populations in the world's tropical forests. Insects, the most abundant and diverse group of animals on Earth, are experiencing alarming declines, prompting this research effort.
04/08/2025 - 10:50
Move aimed at addressing rise in power demand for datacenters, AI and EVs, but environmentalists call it a step back
Donald Trump signed four executive orders on Tuesday aimed at reviving coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel that has long been in decline, and which substantially contributes to planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and pollution.
Environmentalists expressed dismay at the news, saying that Trump was stuck in the past and wanted to make utility customers “pay more for yesterday’s energy”.
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 10:00
Deberra, as the insects are known in the Taungurung language, are a vital food source for animals across Victoria's alpine country — so their rapid decline has implications for the entire ecosystem. The bogong moth is one of the more than 2,000 Australian species listed as being under threat in what scientists are calling an extinction crisis
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 10:00
Taking action against species extinction can be risky but it’s better than surrender
Explore the series – Last chance: the extinction crisis being ignored this election
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
Extinction. In 1844 Ketill Ketilsson won the race to grab the last pair of great auks. They were nesting on Iceland’s Eldey Island. Millions of these penguin-like birds had been slaughtered for feather-stuffed quilts to keep Europe’s burgeoning human population warm. Ketilsson strangled the two but tripped over and broke their egg. Never mind, he won the reward being offered by museums in Copenhagen for the final specimens.
A perverse market rule on species had been established: the rarer a species gets, the more valuable it becomes. It came too late for those who killed the last dodo, moa or Steller’s sea cow – but look at the money now going into resurrecting mammoths and thylacines.
Get Guardian Australia environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as an email
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 10:00
Analyst says nuclear is the ‘thirstiest’ energy source, as report commissioned by Liberal supporters throws doubt on plan’s feasibility
Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaign
Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast
About 90% of the nuclear generation capacity the Coalition proposes to build would not have access to enough water to run safely, according to a report commissioned by Liberals Against Nuclear.
The report authored by Prof Andrew Campbell, a visiting fellow at the Australian National University, assessed nuclear energy’s water needs and the available supply across the seven sites where the Coalition has proposed new reactors.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 08:30
Nathaniel Smith, previously a NSW state MP, is a member of the party’s religious conservative faction
Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaign
Polls tracker; election guide; full federal election coverage
Anywhere but Canberra; interactive electorates guide
Listen to the first episode of our new narrative podcast series: Gina
Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast
The new Liberal candidate for the seat of Whitlam once claimed school students were being “brainwashed” by Marxist and woke ideologies.
Nathaniel Smith, a former MP for the NSW seat of Wollondilly, replaces another candidate dumped by the party for his controversial views.
Sign up for the Afternoon Update: Election 2025 email newsletter
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 08:26
Peter Dutton says policy would be ‘gamechanger’ despite experts questioning whether it would work
Election 2025 live updates: Australia federal election campaign
Get our afternoon election email, free app or daily news podcast
The Coalition’s plan to create a domestic gas reservation for the east coast would drive down household gas bills by 7% and industrial gas bills by 15%, newly released modelling estimates.
The opposition’s long-awaited modelling by Frontier Economics, released on Tuesday evening, estimated the changes would bring down new domestic gas supplies to $9 or $10 a gigajoule, and came after experts shed doubt on whether the policy could drive down prices through a government market intervention.
Continue reading...
04/08/2025 - 05:00
Workers say fast-paced conditions compound injury risks, while USDA will no longer require reports on safety data
The Trump administration will speed up processing lines for poultry and pork meatpacking plants while halting reports on worker safety, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced recently, in a move that workers and advocates say will lead to more injuries.
Some poultry and pork plants already receive waivers to speed up production lines, and the USDA plans to update its rules to make the changes permanent and applicable to all poultry and pork plants, the department said in a press release.
Continue reading...
