Ofwat to penalise Thames, Northumbrian and Yorkshire for ‘catalogue of failure’ over illegal discharges
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Thames, Yorkshire and Northumbrian Water will be fined a record £168m between them for a “catalogue of failure” over illegal sewage discharges into rivers and the sea after the industry regulator’s biggest ever investigation.
The water regulator for England and Wales, Ofwat, has proposed penalties of £104m for Thames, £47m for Yorkshire and £17m for Northumbrian for failing to manage their wastewater treatment works and networks, including their operation of storm overflows. It said it was the first of more crackdowns to come.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/06/2024 - 01:47
08/06/2024 - 00:56
Newcastle doctor Dave Hogbin named as man killed by 4.9-metre crocodile near Cooktown
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The wife of a man who was killed by a 4.9-metre crocodile in far north Queensland has said his last act was to save her life and stop her from being pulled into the water too.
Human remains were located inside a crocodile at Cooktown in an extensive search for a man who went missing at the weekend. Queensland police said a formal identification process was under way and a report would be prepared for the coroner, but the remains were believed to be those of a missing 40-year-old New South Wales man.
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08/05/2024 - 23:01
Percentage of badgers with bTB fell to zero in Cornish study, raising hopes of end to cull of 210,000 badgers since 2013
A large-scale vaccination programme could help eradicate bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in badgers, according to a first-of-its-kind study with “really promising” results for cattle farmers, whose herds have been devastated by the disease.
Over four years, researchers vaccinated 265 badgers across 12 farms in Cornwall. They found the percentage of badgers testing positive for bTB fell from 16% to zero.
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08/05/2024 - 23:00
Married couple from Bristol attract awe and abuse on X with photos that show ‘staggering’ changes in the Alps
A tourist has posted “staggering” photos of himself and his wife at the same spot in the Swiss Alps almost exactly 15 years apart, in a pair of photos that highlight the speed with which global heating is melting glaciers.
Duncan Porter, a software developer from Bristol, posted photos that were taken in the same spot at the Rhone glacier in August 2009 and August 2024. The white ice that filled the background has shrunk to reveal grey rock. A once-small pool at the bottom, out of sight in the original, has turned into a vast green lake.
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08/05/2024 - 15:19
One dolphin was discovered near Chelsea Harbour Pier, the other on the riverbank at Greenwich
Two dolphins have reportedly been found dead on the banks of the Thames in London, after one was spotted in the river last week.
The common dolphin was seen multiple times from late morning on Thursday, and was described as appearing to be “struggling with the tide”.
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08/05/2024 - 10:00
Each piece of information about this xenophobic rodent is worse than the last, but you cannot stop reading
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To read about the naked mole rat is to come across information that you wish you never knew – and then to look for more.
The first thing to know about this tunnelling creature is that some people call them sand puppies. The next is that they are “eusocial” mammals. What could that mean, you wonder, and you look it up: as it is with termites, so it is with naked mole rats.
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08/05/2024 - 07:03
Industry downgrades forecast for sales of battery vehicles after 18.8% rise in July on a year earlier
The UK car industry has downgraded its forecast for electric vehicle sales this year in the latest sign of pessimism in the industry over its ability to meet government targets for shifting away from fossil fuels.
The number of battery EVs sold in the UK in July rose by 18.8% on the figure a year ago, according to data published on Monday by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders.
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08/05/2024 - 05:15
America’s landmark climate law, which turns two years old this month, has Harris’s signature all over it
Two years ago this week, I watched as Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the largest climate investment in American history. It was an emotional moment. After decades of inaction, the US had finally passed a climate law – one of the strongest climate laws in the world.
I didn’t know it then, but a month later I would get a call asking if I would like to interview the vice-president about climate policy.
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08/05/2024 - 05:00
Climate denialists – 23 in Senate and 100 in House – are all Republicans and make US an outlier internationally
US politics is an outlier bastion of climate denial with nearly one in four members of Congress dismissing the reality of climate change, even as alarm has grown among the American public over dangerous global heating, an analysis has found.
A total of 123 elected federal representatives – 100 in the House of Representatives and 23 US senators – deny the existence of human-caused climate change, all of them Republicans, according to a recent study of statements made by current members.
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08/05/2024 - 03:53
Rangers euthanise large crocodile believed to have attacked man who went missing while fishing near Cooktown on Saturday
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A large crocodile believed to be responsible for a fatal attack on a 40-year-old father in far north Queensland has been euthanised.
Rangers had targeted a crocodile with a distinctive scar near its snout as an extensive search for the NSW man near Cooktown entered a third day.
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