Sixteen activists argued sentences had not adequately taken into account their conscientious motivation
Six protesters jailed for their roles in various climate demonstrations have had their sentences reduced on appeal.
The Just Stop Oil co-founder Roger Hallam was originally jailed for five years for agreeing to disrupt traffic by having protesters climb on to gantries over the M25 for four successive days. His sentence was reduced to one of four years.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
03/07/2025 - 05:00
Investor–state dispute settlements don’t just mean growing debt burdens for countries: they are also a barrier to action on the climate crisis
Donald Trump has thrown a hand grenade into the global economic architecture, destroying some things that are working well. But amid the devastation, some things seem to be surviving that really should be taken down. Among the most notable of these is an arcane set of international agreements by which private investors can sue governments, known as ISDS: investor-state dispute settlement. These disputes are litigated not in public courts with impartial judges but in private arbitration – behind closed doors, and rife with conflicts of interest.
Early on, when they were snuck into many trade agreements, no one paid much attention. For instance, these provisions in Nafta, the so-called free trade agreement between the US, Mexico, and Canada, never got a discussion within the cabinet while I served in the Council of Economic Advisers under President Clinton when Nafta got adopted.
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03/07/2025 - 04:29
Government considering such a move over state-owned firm set up by Labour in June’s spending review, say reports
The UK government is making plans to cut the funding for GB Energy, the state-owned company set up by Labour to drive renewable energy and cut household bills, in June’s spending review.
Cuts to the £8.3bn of taxpayer money promised over the five-year parliament would be another blow for Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, after he was overruled by the government when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, backed the expansion of Heathrow’s third runway.
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03/07/2025 - 03:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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03/07/2025 - 00:37
Cameras stationed by Swellnet to monitor swells on Australia's east coast show the difference a couple of days can make when a tropical cyclone like Alfred approaches. The cameras record how eight beaches, in Queensland and New South Wales, change from Monday to Thursday.
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03/06/2025 - 20:03
Cyclone Alfred is heading for the south-east Queensland coast, causing high winds and big surf. It’s expected to make landfall late on Friday or early Saturday between Noosa and Coolangatta.
Alfred’s slow progress to the mainland could prolong already severe conditions to the south of its projected path, particularly in parts of the Gold Coast and northern New South Wales
Tropical Cyclone Alfred LIVE: latest news and updates
When and where is Cyclone Alfred likely to make landfall?
What we know so far about TC Alfred
Brisbane flood map: suburbs at risk
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03/06/2025 - 19:01
People in capital breathing much cleaner air, with significant improvements in capital’s most deprived areas
People in London have been breathing significantly cleaner air since the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez), a study has found.
Levels of deadly pollutants that are linked to a wide range of health problems – from cancer to impaired lung development, heart attacks to premature births – have dropped, with some of the biggest improvements coming in the capital’s most deprived areas.
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03/06/2025 - 14:33
BoM path track map predicts cyclone off Australia’s coast to make landfall in SE Qld on Saturday morning near Brisbane, the first storm of its size to do so in decades. Follow the latest updates today
Brisbane flood map: suburbs at risk during Cyclone Alfred
Why did TC Alfred slow down on its path towards the east coast?
Send us your photographs and videos of Cyclone Alfred
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Welfare recipients told to perform mutual obligations as cyclone bears down
We have a news story this morning about the impact the cyclone is already having on life in Queensland.
Fallen trees and giant stands of bamboo blocked the single road to our farm until the army and council brought heavy machinery to clear a path some time after.
We were without running water or power for days, maybe weeks, the packing shed a makeshift kitchen where we ate meals cooked off a gas barbecue and drank instant coffee made with rainwater and UHT milk to the hum of a generator.
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03/06/2025 - 14:00
Drop in line with rate of overall insect loss as scientists point to habitat loss, pesticide use and the climate crisis
Butterflies may be among the most beloved of all creatures, routinely deified in art and verse, but they are in alarming decline in the United States with populations plummeting by a fifth in just the past two decades, according to the most comprehensive study yet of their fortunes.
The abundance of butterflies in the US slumped 22% between 2000 and 2020, the new analysis of more than 76,000 mostly regional surveys, published in Science, found. For every five butterflies fluttering daintily around at the start of the century, just four remain today.
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03/06/2025 - 13:00
Caroline Cotto’s research group taste-tests meat alternatives so plant-based companies can attract new customers – and help the climate
I am sitting in a Manhattan restaurant on a frigid Thursday in January, eating six mini servings of steak and mashed potatoes, one after another. The first steak I am served has a nice texture but is sort of unnaturally reddish. The second has a great crispy sear on the outside, but leaves behind a lingering chemical aftertaste. The next is fine on its own, but I imagine would be quite delicious shredded, drenched in barbecue sauce and served on a bun with vinegary pickles and a side of slaw.
If you peeked into this restaurant, you’d see nothing out of the ordinary – just a diverse range of New Yorkers huddled over plates of food. But everyone present is here for more than just a hot meal. We’re participating in a blind taste test of plant- (or sometimes mushroom-) based steaks, organized by a group of people who hope that better-tasting meat alternatives just might be a key to fighting the climate crisis.
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