Breaking Waves: Ocean News

A koala has been spotted browsing the aisles of an IGA grocery store in regional Australia. Koalas are frequent visitors to the Victorian town of Meeniyan, population 840, but it's the first time one has entered the local supermarket. After 20 minutes exploring, the marsupial was carefully removed from the store with the help of a wildlife carer Hands off the koala: why cuddling Australia's iconic marsupial could soon be a thing of the past Continue reading...

Prisoners fled when the walls of their jail collapsed in the country’s worst flooding in two decades More than 200 inmates escaped from a prison in north-east Nigeria in the aftermath of the worst flooding there in over two decades, authorities have announced. There have been 37 deaths in Borno state after parts of its capital Maiduguri were overrun by water on 9 September following the collapse of a dam, according to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). As many as 200,000 others have been displaced. Residents of the city said some areas were still flooded on Monday when President Bola Tinubu visited. Continue reading...

Scientists have discovered a new species of fish, the 'grumpy dwarfgoby'. Found among coral reefs in the Red Sea, it has large canines and a fierce expression, even though it is only 2 cm long. Its existence highlights the region's rich biodiversity, but also stresses the need for conservation efforts as climate change causes major disturbances to the reef's ecosystem.

Cultural protection order has been framed as a push to curry favour with inner-city seats, ignoring grassroots campaigns from Indigenous and non-Indigenous locals Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter Join the Rural Network group on Facebook to be part of the community Among the concerns listed by the 2,000 farmers who converged on the lawns of Parliament House in Canberra last week was the protection of prime agricultural land from renewable energy developments. It has become a common refrain. The National party leader, David Littleproud, warned at the party’s annual federal council on Friday of the risk to prime agricultural land from energy transition projects. The mining magnate Gina Rinehart took to the stage at a business event last year to warn that one-third of Australia’s prime agricultural land could be “taken over” by renewable energy projects. In almost every campaign against a proposed development in the bush, the potential impact on prime agricultural land is raised as a key concern. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Continue reading...