Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Environment minister defends ‘balanced and sensible’ changes amid questions of how ‘rushed legislation’ would work Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates See all our Australian election 2025 coverage Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter here The Albanese government’s new bill to protect Tasmanian salmon farming has passed the lower house, despite experts warning it could stop communities challenging other decisions, including coal and gas developments, and may not even be effective in its principal aim. Labor’s changes to amend the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act sailed through the House of Representatives on Tuesday evening, with 111 votes in favour and 14 votes in opposition, and were due to be dealt with in the upper house on Wednesday. Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...

Downing Street says PM focusing on ‘bringing durable peace in Ukraine’ after Steve Witkoff’s comments There have been a lot of claims recently, in the rightwing papers and on social media, that the government is wasting a fortune on expensive cars for disabled people getting benefits, through the Motability scheme. Archie Bland has a very good explainer setting out how the scheme actually works, and showing why many of these allegations are false or misleading. The forthcoming plan to fix the NHS will see funds allocated to social care, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has suggested. PA Media reports: Streeting said spending NHS resources “more effectively though social care” will be better for patients and deliver better value for taxpayers. At present, social care is most often paid for by councils, but thousands of people at any one time are stuck in NHS hospital beds even though they are fit to be discharged. Continue reading...

A carbon crime or bright new future? For nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over demolishing the site’s high-rise flats For nearly four years, a fierce debate raged over the future of the Wyndford estate in Glasgow, dividing residents and sparking wider national controversy. Was the demolition of its high-rises an environmental travesty or the first step toward much-needed regeneration? The dispute began in November 2021, days after the city hosted the UN climate conference Cop26, at which politicians and businesses promised to curb wasteful building destruction. Yet residents of Wyndford soon found leaflets on their doorsteps heralding a “bright new dawn” – one that involved the demolition of all four high-rise blocks on the estate. The decision set off years of protests, legal challenges and community divisions. The four high-rise blocks of the Wyndford estate one week before demolition. Three blocks were demolished by controlled explosion on 23 March – the block on the left will be brought down floor by floor because of its proximity to other homes on the estate Continue reading...

H5N1 virus found in single animal in Yorkshire but risk to general public is very low, say experts Bird flu has been detected in sheep for the first time in the world, UK experts have announced, although they stress the risk to livestock and the general public is low. The H5N1 virus was detected in a single animal in Yorkshire, England, after routine testing that was carried out because the flock was kept on a site where avian influenza had previously been found in birds. No other sheep in the flock was found to be infected. Continue reading...