Helped

Lawmakers weakened community air monitoring as industry pushed back against greater scrutinyKimbrelle Kyereh lives just a few hundred feet from the massive chemical storage tanks in St Rose, in south-eastern Louisiana. Oily fumes sometimes drift into her home, bringing headaches, nausea and insomnia. On one such night, she grabbed her son at 3am and fled to an all-night Ihop.In 2023, after years of coping with the noxious odors, Kyereh began collecting air samples in her yard for a local environmental justice group. But soon after, Louisiana passed an industry-backed law that sharply restricted how that kind of data could be used.Ten of Louisiana’s heaviest air-polluting facilities, based on self-reported data shared with the EPA, operate without a single public air monitor within five miles.This list includes Dow Chemical’s plastics factory in Plaquemine, which is about eight miles from the nearest air monitoring station. The station measures only ozone even though the plant releases an array of toxic pollutants including ethylene oxide, a known carcinogen.No public monitors measure ammonia – despite the fact that CF Industries’ Donaldsonville plant emits more than 7m lbs of the hazardous chemical each year, according to EPA data.The three chemicals that researchers have concluded “together account for the large majority of total cancer risk” in the area – ethylene oxide, chloroprene and formaldehyde – aren’t monitored by the state at all. Continue reading...

The firm’s share price has risen 80% under Allison Kirkby’s leadership – but pressure remains for her to deliver further growthIf timing is everything, then Allison Kirkby may have judged it perfectly.Since becoming BT’s first female chief executive more than two years ago the company’s share price has climbed 80%, an investor-pleasing turnaround that has seen Kirkby well-rewarded with a pay and bonus package of £5.6m last year, the largest for a boss of the telecoms company in well over a decade. However, there are questions over how much credit Kirkby can take for the apparent revival of the business. Continue reading...

• A new data investigation claims The New York Times contributed to the political controversy surrounding transgender rights by framing the issue as a debate rather than a lived reality. • The analysis suggests that the publication's editorial approach shifted the narrative, potentially fueling polarization over trans identities and rights. • In response, a representative stated that the volume of coverage is simply a reflection of real-world developments, including medical studies and proposed legislation.

Suit ⁠alleged California-based company developed technology that allowed China to surveil members of movement⁠The US supreme court further limited the reach of a federal law used to hold corporations liable for human rights abuses committed abroad, as it issued a ruling on Tuesday ending a lawsuit by ⁠members of the Falun Gong ⁠movement accusing Cisco Systems ​of facilitating religious persecution in China.The justices reversed a lower court’s decision that had breathed new life into the 2011 lawsuit, which was brought under the Alien Tort Statute of 1789. The suit ⁠had alleged that Cisco knowingly developed technology that allowed China’s government to surveil and persecute Falun Gong members. Continue reading...

• Japan secured their first victory of the 2026 World Cup with a dominant 4-0 win over Tunisia in Monterrey, featuring two goals from Ayase Ueda. • The defeat officially eliminates Tunisia from the tournament, while Japan gains critical momentum in their group stage campaign. • In upcoming fixtures, Spain will face 2034 hosts Saudi Arabia in Atlanta, though star player Lamine Yamal remains doubtful for a full game due to a hamstring injury.

Attorney, speechwriter and confidante of King was involved in some of US civil rights movement’s key momentsClarence B Jones, a former speechwriter and confidante of Martin Luther King who helped pen his famous “I have a dream” speech, has died. He was 95.Jones died on Friday at a senior living community in the San Francisco Bay Area suburb of Cupertino, according to a statement released by family members, who were at his side. Continue reading...

Revelation that policing and state agency figures were in secret policymaking group angers victims’ groupsThe British security services were involved in formulating the controversial Legacy Act, which offered an amnesty to soldiers and paramilitiaries despite MI5’s role in many killings during the Northern Ireland Troubles, it can be revealed.The presence of policing and state agency figures among a secret policymaking group involved in devising the act – a fact established through an investigation by Belfast-based newsletter the Detail and shared with the Guardian – has angered victims’ groups already critical of the legislation. Continue reading...