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In other high stake talks, EU trade chief Maroš Šefčovič will be in Washington today in another attempt to strike a tariff deal with the US before the 9 July deadline next week.
Our Brussels correspondent Jennifer Rankin takes a look at the EU’s longest-serving commissioner, who has built up a reputation as a reliable and trustworthy fixer.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/02/2025 - 05:13
07/02/2025 - 05:00
Many of the democratic socialist’s policies aim to slash carbon emissions and boost environmental justice
As she canvassed for Zohran Mamdani in New York City on Tuesday last week, Batul Hassan should have been elated. The mayoral candidate – a 33-year-old state assemblymember – was surging in the polls and would within hours soundly defeat Andrew Cuomo on first preference votes in the Democratic primary election.
But Hassan’s spirits were hampered by record-breaking temperatures. In Crown Heights, where she was the Mamdani campaign’s field captain, the heat index soared into the triple digits.
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07/02/2025 - 05:00
Adult raptor was found with one of its legs ripped open from knee to ankle and appearing severely underweight
A veterinarian saved the life of a badly injured American bald eagle using a pioneering fish skin graft procedure more commonly used for human wound, releasing the bird back into the wild in a symbolic act ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.
The adult raptor named Kere was found by a park visitor in Hayward, Wisconsin, in August, with one of its legs ripped open from knee to ankle from an unknown injury, and appearing severely underweight.
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07/02/2025 - 05:00
Research says Google’s carbon emissions went up by 65% between 2019-2024, not 51% as the tech giant had claimed
In 2021, Google set a lofty goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2030. Yet in the years since then, the company has moved in the opposite direction as it invests in energy-intensive artificial intelligence. In its latest sustainability report, Google said its carbon emissions had increased 51% between 2019 and 2024.
New research aims to debunk even that enormous figure and provide context to Google’s sustainability reports, painting a bleaker picture. A report authored by non-profit advocacy group Kairos Fellowship found that, between 2019 and 2024, Google’s carbon emissions actually went up by 65%. What’s more, between 2010, the first year there is publicly available data on Google’s emissions, and 2024, Google’s total greenhouse gas emissions increased 1,515%, Kairos found. The largest year-over-year jump in that window was also the most recent, 2023 to 2024, when Google saw a 26% increase in emissions just between 2023 and 2024, according to the report.
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07/02/2025 - 01:00
Ellie Wilson’s piece titled Moth x Human assigns different sounds to the species on Parsonage Down in Salisbury
They are vital pollinators who come out at night, but now moths have emerged into the bright light of day as co-creators of a new piece of music – composed using the insects’ own flight data.
Ellie Wilson composed Moth x Human in a protected habitat on Parsonage Down in Salisbury, Wiltshire. She assigned each of the 80 resident moth species a different sound, which was triggered when it landed on her monitor.
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07/01/2025 - 23:01
Farmers warn of risk to Britain’s food supply as more than three-quarters take hit to income from extreme weather
More than 80% of UK farmers are worried that the “devastating” effect of the climate crisis could damage their ability to make a living, a study has found.
Farmers have warned that global heating risks Britain’s supplies of home-grown food amid wild swings in weather conditions, in new research carried out by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
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07/01/2025 - 17:50
Vigorous coastal low forecast to keep sending severe weather across eastern New South Wales for much of Wednesday, before gradually easing on Thursday
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Thousands remain without power across New South Wales after severe winds and heavy rain battered the state, with wind gusts up to 130km/h, 13-metre high waves, and several places receiving more than 200mm rain.
The Bureau of Meteorology expected a “second surge” on Wednesday night would bring a further burst of rain and wind to the south coast of NSW and eastern parts of Victoria, with peak gusts of around 90km/h possible along exposed parts of the coast.
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07/01/2025 - 15:21
The national climate assessments help state and local governments prepare for the impacts of a warming world
Legally mandated US national climate assessments seem to have disappeared from the federal websites built to display them, making it harder for state and local governments and the public to learn what to expect in their back yards from a warming world.
Scientists said the peer-reviewed authoritative reports save money and lives. Websites for the national assessments and the US Global Change Research Program were down Monday and Tuesday with no links, notes or referrals elsewhere. The White House, which was responsible for the assessments, said the information will be housed within Nasa to comply with the law, but gave no further details.
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07/01/2025 - 12:55
With net zero targets under attack from the populist right, dangerously high temperatures should refocus minds
At times like now, with dangerously high temperatures in several European countries, the urgent need for adaptation to an increasingly unstable climate is clearer than ever. From the French government’s decision to close schools to the bans in most of Italy on outdoor work at the hottest time of day, the immediate priority is to protect people from extreme heat – and to recognise that a heatwave can take a higher toll than a violent storm.
People who are already vulnerable, due to age or illness or poor housing, face the greatest risks from heatwaves. As well as changes to rules and routines, public health warnings are vital, especially where records are being broken and people are unfamiliar with the conditions. In the scorching European summer of 2022, an estimated 68,000 people died due to heat. Health, welfare and emergency systems must respond to those needing help.
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07/01/2025 - 12:11
Governor Gavin Newsom says bureaucratic roadblocks have made it difficult to build housing in the most populous state
California is overhauling its landmark environmental protection rules, a change state leaders say is essential to address the state’s housing shortage and homelessness crisis.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, had threatened to reject the state budget passed last Friday unless lawmakers overhauled the California Environmental Quality Act, or Ceqa, a 1970s law that requires strict examination of any new development for its impact on the environment.
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