Researchers warn the high-pressure conditions could disrupt marine life and ecosystems if it continuesSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxFor more than a century, shoreline stations operated by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have measured water temperatures along the California coast. This year, they are flashing a warning sign.Over the last three months, several stations have repeatedly posted record-breaking daily high temperatures – with the La Jolla station registering temperatures a full 10F above historical average at one point last month. Continue reading...
Citizen science data reveals early flowering, nesting and insect activity as global heating accelerate seasonal changeBluebells are flowering, swallows are returning and orange-tip butterflies are flying in what could become Britain’s earliest recorded spring.Records for early spring occurrences are being smashed as 2026 looks to be the earliest this century for frogspawn laying, blackbirds nesting, brimstone butterflies emerging and hazel flowering, according to Nature’s Calendar, which has logged citizen science records of seasonal change since 2000. Continue reading...
Russian advances slowing, thinktank’s data shows; 14 killed in Ukraine in massive drone and missile salvo. What we know on day 1,501Russia’s army recorded almost no territorial gains on the frontline in Ukraine in March for the first time in two-and-a-half years, according to analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) conducted by Agence France-Presse. The Russian army has been slowing in its advances since late 2025 – because of Kyiv’s localised breakthroughs in the south-east of the country. Across the entire frontline, the Russian army seized only 23 sq km (8.9 sq miles) in March, losing territory in some areas, according to the analysis. This figure excludes infiltration operations conducted by Russian forces beyond the frontline, as well as advances claimed by the Russian side but neither confirmed nor denied by the ISW.The Russian army made 319 sq km of gains in January and 123 sq km in February, which was then the smallest advance since April 2024. Its advance in March was the smallest since September 2023. The ISW attributed the slowdown to Ukrainian counteroffensives, but also to “Russia’s ban on using Starlink terminals in Ukraine” and “the Kremlin’s efforts to restrict access to Telegram”. The messaging app – very popular among Russians, including those fighting on the front – has been barely usable in recent months due to blocks imposed by the authorities. As in February, Russia lost ground on the southern section of the frontline, between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.Russian strikes killed 14 people in Ukraine on Friday, officials said, as Moscow launched the latest in an increasing number of daytime barrages. Moscow has been firing aerial broadsides at Ukraine throughout its more than four-year invasion, mostly at night, but in recent weeks has stepped up daytime attacks. The Russian military used more than 500 drones and dozens of missiles in its salvo on Friday, according to the Ukrainian air force.Russia’s Baltic oil export hubs at Ust-Luga and Primorsk remain unable to handle shipments after a series of Ukrainian drone attacks, prompting the country’s refineries to find alternative routes for export, industry sources said on Friday. The attacks have damaged port infrastructure and continued through the last two weeks of March, with at least five strikes on Ust-Luga in the space of 10 days. Sources said the export restrictions, along with disruptions at large refineries, could lead to a decrease in oil production in Russia. Traders said refineries had been unable to deliver diesel fuel to Primorsk for export since 22 March, leaving refineries in European Russia and Siberia without their most viable export route. Traders said refineries were having to consider more expensive rail transport routes to other export terminals.Zelenskyy has called on lawmakers to pass key legislation next week to avert a funding crisis, help Ukraine fight the war against Russia, and enact key reforms required for EU accession. Due to lagging reforms and slow legislative progress in late 2025 and early this year, Ukraine missed deadlines to unlock billions from its key lenders, economists said. With the need for external financing standing at $52bn this year – equivalent to about a quarter of annual economic output – the budget situation is desperate. “I have a list of key draft laws that are critical for securing funding,” the Ukrainian president said in remarks released on Friday. They range from strengthening the court system to reforming energy sector procedures. “I believe that members of parliament from all parties must understand the importance of these bills for Ukraine’s budget,” said Zelenskyy, who has a majority in parliament but its relations with his government have soured. Continue reading...
• On March 10, the University of Houston announced researchers at its Texas Center for Superconductivity broke the ambient-pressure temperature record for superconductivity, potentially enabling more efficient energy generation, transmission, and storage.
• Superconductivity is a quantum phenomenon where materials exhibit zero electrical resistance and expel magnetic fields when cooled below a critical temperature threshold.
• This breakthrough represents a major advancement in materials science that could have significant implications for energy infrastructure and technology development.
Daniel Kebede tells delegates, government’s education policies fall short as he signals growing support for Greens’ among teachersThe leader of the UK’s biggest education union has torn into the government’s record on schools, accusing Labour of letting down the nation’s children and failing to deliver on its promises for education.Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, was unsparing in his criticism of education secretary Bridget Phillipson’s policies in a speech to delegates at the NEU’s annual conference in Brighton on Thursday. Continue reading...
• FDA announced on April 1, 2026, that new drug approvals last year reached near-record levels, surpassing five-, ten-, and multi-year averages.
• This update highlights continued acceleration in innovative therapies reaching US patients, boosting treatment options for various diseases.
• Strong approval momentum underscores FDA's commitment to expediting safe, effective drugs amid public health priorities like cancer and rare diseases.
• Nvidia posted first-quarter revenue of $28.3 billion, representing a 106% year-over-year increase and surpassing Wall Street consensus forecasts by 8%, driven primarily by sustained demand for AI data center GPUs.
• The chipmaker's gross margin expanded to 72.1%, the highest level in five quarters, as production efficiency gains and favorable product mix offset supply chain costs.
• Guidance for Q2 revenue of $32-34 billion exceeded analyst estimates, reinforcing investor confidence in the artificial intelligence infrastructure boom and supporting semiconductor sector valuations amid broader market volatility.
Single biggest donation ever given to a UK university will establish a new school of government bearing his nameThe British billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Rokos has donated a record £190m to the University of Cambridge to establish a new school of government, which will bear his name.It is believed to be the single biggest donation to any UK university in modern times and is intended to support Cambridge to become a leading training ground for future world leaders. Continue reading...
Union boss says workers have received some, but not all, of their paySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxHello and welcome to the US politics live blog.Security lines have eased at airports, clearing the worst of the bottlenecks as Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) officers began receiving backpay for working during the government shutdown.Allegations swirl that a broker for Pete Hegseth inquired into an investment in key defense companies before the Iran war began. The Morgan Stanley broker allegedly made an inquiry with BlackRock regarding an investment into a defense-focused equity fund. The Pentagon denied the allegations calling them “entirely false and fabricated”.Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill to rename the Palm Beach International Airport after Donald Trump. This would make the airport the latest in a long list of institutions, government programs, buildings and even money named after the president.The US government has directed all of its embassies and consulates to launch coordinated campaigns against foreign propaganda. Marco Rubio signed a cable on Monday directing the embassies to coordinate with the US military’s psychological operations unit to address disinformation. It suggested using Elon Musk’s social media platform X to carry out the campaign.José Guadalupe Ramos, a Mexican national, becomes the 14th known person to die in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody since the beginning of the year. He was found unconscious in his bunk last week at the Adelanto detention center in California and pronounced dead after being taken to a nearby medical center.The army is investigating a helicopter fly-by at Kid Rock’s hillside swimming pool in Tennessee on Saturday. Two army choppers on a training run visited and hovered by the rocker’s house as he saluted them. According to the army, there was no official request for the fly-by, which triggered the administrative review. Continue reading...
• Perplexity announced b.well as the infrastructure partner behind its health data integration, enabling citation-backed AI search capabilities for actual patient records and medical information retrieval.
• The partnership aligns with broader industry trends toward integrating large language models with electronic health record systems, following OpenAI's ChatGPT Health launch and other healthcare AI initiatives.
• b.well has emerged as a significant health AI infrastructure company, having also launched bailey (a white-label health assistant) and expanded partnerships with Samsung to transform Galaxy phones into portable health records with point-of-care data sharing.
Brent crude jumps 51% since start of March and gold suffers fifth-largest monthly fall in 50 yearsMiddle East crisis – latest updatesThe Brent crude oil price is on track for its biggest monthly gain on record in March after the Iran war caused mayhem in the markets.Brent crude, the international benchmark, has climbed by 51% since the start of March, LSEG data shows, beating the previous monthly record of 46% in September 1990 after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, leading to the first Gulf war. Continue reading...
A 26-year old man died in a cell in Darwin on Saturday morning, and a 25 year-old man died in a police car on TuesdayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA 26-year-old man died at Darwin correctional centre on Saturday, Northern Territory police said.It was the territory’s second reported death in custody in just a matter of days. Continue reading...
• Tech giants including Meta and Google spent over $39 million in 2025 to influence California politics on AI and crypto, per CalMatters analysis released March 27, 2026.
• Meta alone invested $4.6 million lobbying against AI regulations, its highest ever since 2010.
• This surge precedes high-stakes 2026 elections, including California's open governor race, signaling intensified Big Tech political engagement.
• Yuma, Arizona, hit a March record of 109°F on March 25, 2026, 28 degrees above normal, while sites near Yuma, Martinez Lake, Ogilby, and Winterhaven reached 112°F, tying the US high.
• Sweltering conditions extended across several Southwest states and into Mexico, with Hermosillo setting a new March record at 108°F.
• This extreme early heat signals intensifying climate patterns, challenging weather records and infrastructure in arid regions.
Move is part of £27bn five-year investment plan for A-roads and motorways, with almost a third going on work such as resurfacingMinisters have pledged to spend record amounts on road maintenance as part of a £27bn five-year investment plan for England’s major roads and motorways.The government said it was aiming to “fix the foundations” with almost a third, £8.4bn, of the spending going on maintenance, including resurfacing a quarter of England’s strategic road network. Continue reading...
• NASA announced a $20 billion moonbase initiative on March 25, 2026, as part of expanded lunar exploration plans.
• Simultaneously, unprecedented wildfires ravaged Colorado, Great Plains, and Nebraska, with one fire scorching over 600,000 acres (240,000 hectares) in days.
• The blazes highlight escalating climate-driven fire risks in the US West and Midwest.
Nearly a thousand pounds of steak went into the meaty effort, and TSA agents, unpaid for weeks, ate the resultsPhiladelphia has set a world record for the “Longest Line of Cheesesteaks”, with 1,200ft of the city’s iconic sandwich stretching across the B/C connectors at the Philadelphia international airport (PHL).The airport achieved the record on Tuesday with help from more than 100 employees and volunteers, who assembled foot-long rolls using 990lbs of Philly’s Best Steak and 225lbs of cheese sauce. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the full line took about an hour to complete. Continue reading...
Greg Bovino says Trump’s immigration crackdown hasn’t gone far enough in exit interview with the New York TimesAs his retirement looms, Gregory Bovino, the US border patrol’s former commander-at-large, has contended that efforts to curb illegal immigration by Donald Trump’s administration have not gone far enough – showing no remorse over federal agents’ killings of two US citizens in Minneapolis in January.“I wish I’d caught even more illegal aliens,” he told the New York Times on Tuesday in an exit interview, during which he also referred to the Republican president as “the Trumpster” and acknowledged his retirement at the end of March was not entirely voluntary. Continue reading...
Shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina have increased sharply since the invasion of UkraineA leading Irish metals refinery is part of an international aluminium supply chain that appears to conclude with shipments to arms producers feeding the Kremlin’s war machine in Ukraine, leaked records and public data suggests.Trading records show that shipments to Russian smelters from Aughinish Alumina, which is located on the Shannon estuary in the west of Ireland and has been owned by the Russian aluminium group Rusal since 2006, have increased sharply since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Continue reading...
Donald Gorske has eaten nearly 36,000 Big Macs. His verdict on the new Big Arch? ‘I think the Big Mac is better’The Wisconsin man who holds a seemingly unassailable world record after eating nearly 36,000 Big Macs over his lifetime has found McDonald’s widely publicized new offering, the Big Arch burger, underwhelming.During a brief interview on Sunday, Donald Gorske said he found the white cheddar cheese and tangy sauce that came on the Big Arch his son brought for him to try on 8 March as less preferable to him than the fixings on the Big Macs he has eaten twice daily since May 1972. Continue reading...
• The Department of Homeland Security shutdown risks becoming the longest-ever funding lapse for any federal agency as Congress remains deadlocked, with Democrats pushing to fund all DHS agencies except Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, and the secretary's office.
• Republicans argue the entire department must be funded together and note that ICE and CBP already received approximately $140 billion from tax and spending legislation enacted last summer.
• Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called for immediate TSA funding while negotiations continue on outstanding immigration enforcement issues, but Republicans continue blocking Democratic proposals, holding federal workers hostage according to Democratic critics.
• Amazon MGM's 'Project Hail Mary,' starring Ryan Gosling, debuted at number one with $80.5 million in North American ticket sales, marking the best opening for a non-franchise film since 'Oppenheimer.'
• The sci-fi epic, centered on Gosling's amnesiac astronaut racing to save the sun, drew about 5 million ticket buyers, with premium large format screens accounting for 56% of the gross and IMAX at 24%.
• Amazon MGM Studios head Kevin Wilson stated, 'What we’re seeing in theaters — the energy, the exit scores, the word-of-mouth — is everything we believed this film would deliver.'
Figures seen by the Guardian show the two peers each attended just 1.12% of sessions in past four yearsEvgeny Lebedev’s longstanding commitment to being the most relaxed member of the House of Lords has come under threat from another peer, Ian Botham, with both recording identical attendance rates of 1.12% over the past four years.According to Lords records seen by the Guardian, Lebedev and Botham – who were both appointed by Boris Johnson – each managed to make it to seven of the 625 sessions of the upper house that took place from the start of 2022 to the end of 2025. Continue reading...
Families, advocates and lawmakers say poor care, opaque investigations and bureaucracy leave deaths unexplainedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxThe circumstances of many of the record number of deaths in US immigration custody under the second Trump administration have left loved ones often searching in vain for answers amid a lack of transparency over key investigations.Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports mandated by Congress, autopsy reports and 911 calls collected by the Guardian raise questions about the quality of medical care, allegedly inadequate or haphazard responses to emergencies, and contraction of diseases and infections inside detention facilities that in some cases contributed to detainee deaths. Continue reading...
Martinez Lake, about 145 miles west of Phoenix, reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday amid scorching south-west heatSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxA small community in the Arizona desert has broken a record for the highest March temperature ever recorded in the US, as the south-west bakes in a blistering late-winter heatwave.The astonishing temperature was recorded just outside Martinez Lake, Arizona, which reached 110F (43.3C) on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service. Continue reading...
London museum defies drop in numbers seen elsewhere, attributed to cost of living and fall in international touristsLondon’s Natural History Museum (NHM) was the most popular attraction in the UK during 2025, with its renovated gardens, new climate gallery and lack of entry fee leading to record-breaking numbers of visitors.More than 7.1 million people passed through its doors, a 13% increase in visitors year on year and an all-time record for any UK museum or gallery. Continue reading...
• NSF Center for Oldest Ice Exploration at Oregon State University analyzed Allan Hills ice cores, extending histories of greenhouse gases and ocean temperatures to 3 million years ago.
• Led by Julia Marks-Peterson and Sarah Shackleton, studies published in Nature reveal past climate dynamics using East Antarctic ice.
• New 6-million-year-old ice discoveries and ongoing drilling will refine CO2 reconstructions and preservation methods.
• The United States saw a record amount of new clean power capacity come online in 2025, according to a report released today by the Environmental Defense Fund.
• Despite the record deployment, the renewable energy sector faced significant headwinds including project delays and cancellations that threatened to slow progress.
• The achievement underscores continued momentum in U.S. transition toward clean electricity despite policy uncertainties and regulatory challenges.
Only half the road network is in good condition despite 1.9m repairs last year, says industry bodyA losing battle with potholes has now seen the backlog of repairs across England and Wales reach a record £18.6bn, according to an annual industry estimate, despite councils filling in about 1.9m holes last year.The “national disgrace” of dangerously pockmarked local roads has been exacerbated by a notably wet winter, with only half of the network now reported to be in good condition. Continue reading...
Recording of humpback whale from 1949 could also provide new understanding of how the huge animals communicateA haunting whale song discovered on decades-old audio equipment could open up a new understanding of how the huge animals communicate, according to researchers who say it’s the oldest such recording known.The song is that of a humpback whale, a marine giant beloved by whale watchers for its docile nature and spectacular leaps from the water, and was recorded by scientists in March 1949 in Bermuda, said researchers at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Continue reading...
