The Guardian

An 1857 decree to drain swamps and plant a monoculture, detritus from the trees and global heating combined to produce the conditions for the Gironde inferno The ruinous fires that overran parts of France this summer have burned more land than ever recorded, forced more people from their homes than at any point since the second world war and caused what scientists suspect is the country’s first f…

Andrey Kelin left last month after seven years in diplomatic post with no sign yet of anyone replacing him in role Russia has withdrawn its ambassador to the UK, it has emerged, as the Kremlin continues to try to put pressure on Britain over its support for Ukraine. Andrey Kelin left last month after seven years in the diplomatic post, with no indication about whether he would be replaced. Contin…

Researchers say texts from 12th to 15th centuries ‘hint at a culture which has not even been imagined’ Unprecedented insights into the literary and intellectual life on the island of Guernsey during the middle ages have been revealed through the discovery of 17 medieval manuscript fragments. Dating from between the 12th and 15th centuries, they offer evidence of wide-ranging reading tastes, with …

Even products labeled ‘eco’, ‘green’ or ‘natural’ can contain dangerous compounds including Pfas Common personal care products widely contain unlabeled toxic chemicals, results from a new peer-reviewed study suggest. The testing of more than 110 items ranging from shampoo to baby lotions found evidence of unlabeled toxic chemicals in about 85%. Many contained multiple ingredients known to be carc…

PM Mark Carney says ‘we got attacked’ as tariffs come into force on items from hockey sticks to tongue depressors Donald Trump has hit back at Canada after a breakdown in negotiations plunged the two countries into a trade war . In his first public comments since negotiations collapsed on Friday in Washington, the US president wrote on social media: “Canada wants the benefits of being a State, wi…

Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen broke record for farthest distance traveled from Earth The crew of the historic Artemis II lunar flyby mission have earned the US’s top space medal, officials have announced. Cmdr Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are set to receive the Congressional Space Medal of Honor on 28 A…

Since Hurricane Sandy in 2012, a growing labor movement has addressed the climate crisis and economic inequality Ryan McElroen had spent years repairing the New York City subway underground when he got the opportunity to work in the middle of the ocean. “I had no views other than the darkness at work,” he said. “Then I went polar opposite.” Continue reading...

Michigan Senate nominee and others have re-energized one-time Democratic voters who abandoned the party under Biden Two years ago, Zainab Bibi Ahmed thought she had turned her back on the Democrats for good. Now, she is volunteering for the party’s US Senate nominee in Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed. Ahmed was one of 100,000 people to vote uncommitted in the February 2024 Democratic Michigan primary , …

Incident marks apparent escalation by Tehran in its in retaliation against UK over allowing US to use British bases Hackers linked to Iran have been blamed for a cyber-attack that caused a British power plant to be temporarily shut down. The incident involved a small-scale energy generator, according to the UK government and at no point was there there risk to the wider energy system. Continue re…

New quotas to protect UK firms and jobs appear to be having opposite effect in products such as galvanised steel At Tata Steel’s factory in Llanwern, south Wales, production lines that should be running full-time are now falling quiet for parts of the day, with workers being put on to maintenance and cleaning work while machines sit idle. There aren’t enough orders to keep them running all the ti…

Redcar MP says Teesside community is ‘reeling’ as PM offers condolences and asks public to avoid speculation Tributes are being paid to two police officers who died on Teesside when a car travelling the wrong way along the A66 crashed head on into their vehicle, also killing five young men. PC Matthew Blades, 37, and PC Tom Clough, 38, were killed when the marked armed response vehicle they were …

Move would allow mayors to greenlight large-scale developments and have more say on national housing funding Andy Burnham will give mayors new powers to take control of local planning decisions and greenlight large-scale developments in proposals to be presented next week. The move will allow mayors to “call in” the decisions and direct councils to take them forward or refuse them. They will also…

Similar initiatives have been launched from Barcelona to Bogotá, but they have misinformation, political pressure and vested interests stacked against them Ten years ago, Alastair Harper was an advocate for young people’s health sitting in a stuffy meeting room in London planning an air pollution campaign. “My phone started buzzing,” he said. “I took the call, and then told the room I needed to l…

Opposition leader Jess Wilson says new dedicated court of criminal appeal would set precedents for tougher sentences Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A radical overhaul of Victoria’s highest court, proposed by the Liberal party to increase sentences, has been criticised by legal and human rights groups who warn it would politicise the judiciary. The opposition leader, …

Friends close to Margarita Reutt are shocked she could allegedly plant bomb that killed Ukrainian defector Robert Shageev, while others recall a stubborn grit to see any plan through It was just after dawn in Sevastopol when a powerful explosion tore through a quiet square in a residential district of the Russian-occupied Crimean port city. Hidden inside a rubbish bin, a bomb containing the equiv…