Comments come after Andy Burnham says he would renationalise water and other businesses as PMInvestors in Thames Water have told the Labour government that a temporary nationalisation of the embattled company would slow its turnaround, after calls from Andy Burnham to put key utilities under public control.As Keir Starmer’s grip on power appeared to be fading, the Greater Manchester mayor suggested at the weekend that the renationalisation of water and energy would form part of his policy agenda should he become prime minister. Continue reading...
Minister defends preparedness against novel threat after officials detonate device suspected to be from UkraineAuthorities in Greece have intensified investigations into how an explosive-packed drone ended up in waters off the west of the country.An inquiry, involving specialised military teams, broadened at the weekend after bomb disposal experts detonated the unmanned device at sea. Continue reading...
David Hinton will remain in post while successor is found, utility says, a week after group’s chairman quitThe chief executive of South East Water has announced plans to step down just a week after the group’s chairman quit in the wake of major supply outages in Kent and Sussex.The supplier said David Hinton, who joined the group’s board in 2013, would stay in post to allow an “orderly transition” over the summer while the group hunts for his successor. Continue reading...
Water minister Rose Jackson calls drying in Gwydir region ‘devastating’ as bill passes upper house Sign up for climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s free Clear Air newsletter hereWater flows to parched New South Wales wetlands where an urgent rescue mission to save dying wildlife unfolded are a step closer to resuming after legislation passed the state parliament’s upper house.The water minister, Rose Jackson, told the parliament on Thursday night the impact of a halt to water flows in the internationally significant Gwydir region had been “devastating” as she introduced legislative amendments she said would allow flows to resume.Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton’s Clear Air column as a free newsletter Continue reading...
Proposal includes cutbacks for three years as negotiations over future of shrinking reservoirs have been unsuccessfulThe states of California, Arizona and Nevada have proposed voluntary water-saving measures for the next three years aimed at buying time while negotiations remain deadlocked over the future of shrinking reservoirs filled by the Colorado River.The Colorado River provides water to some 40 million people in the American west. But the two massive reservoirs filled by the river, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, both stand at historically low levels, after consistent overdrawing coupled with reduced snowpack and warming from climate change. Continue reading...
The calf, nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was transported to the North Sea in rescue attempt deemed ‘inadvisable’ due to low chance of survivalRescuers have released a young humpback whale that became a national sensation after it was beached in shallow waters off the coast in Germany, although marine experts have said its chances of survival are low.The whale, variously nicknamed Timmy or Hope, was released into the North Sea off Denmark after being transported there in a water-filled barge by rescuers. Continue reading...
• The Environmental Protection Agency has classified microplastics and antidepressants as drinking water contaminants, responding to advocacy from the MAHA movement and public health concerns.
• The classification marks a significant regulatory step in addressing emerging contaminants in U.S. water supplies that have raised concerns among health experts and environmental advocates.
• The designation may prompt future regulatory actions to establish drinking water standards and treatment requirements for these substances.
Wilderness Society says changes undermined intent of national standards intended to reverse decline of plants, animals and ecosystemsGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastGreen groups have accused the Albanese government of watering down a proposal to protect threatened species and ecosystems.National environmental standards were the key plank of reforms to Australia’s nature laws, passed by the parliament in November. Continue reading...
Parliamentary committee takes unusual step of declaring no confidence in executives at utility providerMPs have accused the leadership of South East Water of incompetence over repeated water outages for tens of thousands of customers, and expressed no confidence in their ability to reform the company.MPs from across the political spectrum said David Hinton, SEW’s chief executive, and the board of directors operated a culture of unaccountability at the company, which provides drinking water for 2.3 million customers in Berkshire, Hampshire, Kent, Surrey and Sussex. Continue reading...
Cocaine use also reaches record highs, Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission figures showGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMethamphetamine use in Australia has almost doubled in the past decade and stimulants are being taken at record highs, new wastewater monitoring reveals.On Wednesday evening the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (Acic) released its latest annual report after testing wastewater samples from 64 treatment plants across the country between August 2024 and 2025. Continue reading...
• North Korea launched multiple ballistic missiles into the Sea of Japan on Monday, prompting immediate condemnation from Seoul and Washington amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
• South Korea's military detected at least three missile launches, with analysts assessing the tests as part of Pyongyang's ongoing weapons development program.
• The U.S. State Department condemned the launches as destabilizing and reiterated its commitment to defending South Korea and Japan through extended deterrence.
• Environmental Working Group study finds 20% of Americans used systems with elevated nitrate levels from 2021-2023 data.
• Nitrate poses health risks including cancer and developmental issues in contaminated supplies.
• Affects millions nationwide, urging stricter regulations and testing.
Engineer and two drivers killed in recent weeks as scarcity of clean water fuels spread of preventable diseasesIsraeli forces in Gaza killed a water engineer and two drivers who transported water to displaced families over four days in mid-April, exacerbating severe shortages of clean water that are fuelling the spread of preventable disease.Israeli limits on the shipment of soap, washing powder and other hygiene products into Gaza have also forced prices up, adding to the challenge of keeping clean and avoiding infection in overcrowded shelters and tent encampments. Continue reading...
Pair, believed to be mother and son, recovered from water but died at scene in Elthorne Park, Ealing A woman and her young child have died after getting into “difficulty” in the water at a west London park, police said.Police were called to Elthorne Park in Ealing just before 4.30pm on Saturday, where a woman and child were recovered from the water, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...
• Egypt has convened an emergency regional summit with Ethiopia, Sudan, and other Nile Basin nations to address water allocation disputes intensified by Sudan's ongoing civil war and dam infrastructure threats.
• The summit, held in Cairo on Friday, focused on protecting the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam and Blue Nile water flows during heightened regional conflict; negotiations remain deadlocked.
• US officials are monitoring the summit closely, concerned that water scarcity could fuel refugee crises across the Horn of Africa and destabilize a critical US partner region.
Top commander fired after wife of one malnourished soldier posted shocking images on social mediaUkraine’s defence ministry has fired a top commander after photos emerged of a group of emaciated soldiers who have been left on the frontline for months without proper food and water.The scandal erupted after the wife of one of the soldiers, Anastasiia Silchuk, posted the images on social media. The four men appear to be pale and visibly malnourished, with prominent ribcages and thin arms. Continue reading...
Divers are installing waterproof speakers in the ocean to help pull a coral reef near Jamaica back from the brinkThe northern coast of Jamaica once served as the backdrop for scenes in the James Bond thriller No Time to Die. But today, beneath those same turquoise waves, a real-life mission is unfolding: the race to pull a dying coral reef back from the brink.However, the tools a team of divers are carrying to the seafloor are not what you would expect to find in a marine biologist’s kit. They are installing waterproof speakers at the bottom of the ocean, and the man leading the team is not a scientist. Continue reading...
• NASA's Perseverance rover discovered extensive water ice deposits beneath Mars' surface in Jezero Crater using advanced ground-penetrating radar technology, with findings suggesting accessibility for future human missions.
• The subsurface ice layers extend up to 300 meters deep and contain an estimated 5 million metric tons of water ice, according to data released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on April 21.
• Scientists believe the water deposits could support long-term human habitation and fuel production, making Mars exploration more feasible for sustained presence beyond current rover missions.
River ecologist says ‘classic bureaucratic tangle’ led to government agency stopping flows to Gwydir wetlands region in March Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastA leading scientist has criticised an “appalling” New South Wales government agency decision to stop water flowing to wetlands in the state’s north-west, saying it was “absolutely crazy” that researchers had to scramble to save animals buried in drying mud.Guardian Australia reported on Saturday that turtles, waterbirds, frogs and sheep had died after Water NSW abruptly stopped flows to the Gwydir wetlands region near Moree in March. Continue reading...
• Egypt's Ministry of Water Resources announced Friday that the Nile River has reached its lowest water level in five decades, threatening agricultural production for 105 million people and jeopardizing regional hydroelectric power generation.
• The drought, attributed to prolonged upstream precipitation failures and upstream dam construction by Ethiopia, could reduce Egypt's wheat harvest by 18% this season, prompting emergency grain imports.
• Egypt's government appealed to the UN and international donors for humanitarian assistance, warning of potential food security crisis and mass displacement in rural farming communities by summer.
• NBC News reports a major study shows fluoride in U.S. drinking water has no impact on children's IQ or brain function, countering prior concerns.
• The research, involving large-scale data analysis, confirms safety levels set by U.S. regulations pose no neurodevelopmental risks.
• Findings matter as they support ongoing public fluoridation policies amid debates, potentially easing community health disputes.
David Hinton will receive only his £400,000 salary this year after thousands of customers were left without waterThe chief executive of South East Water has said he will forgo his bonus in an act of penitence for “unacceptable outages” that left thousands of customers in Kent and Sussex without water.David Hinton told MPs on the environment, food and rural affairs select committee that he had decided not to accept an additional “performance payment” this year. Instead, he will receive only his £400,000 salary. Continue reading...
Lynette and Brian Hooker, from Michigan, were years into a sailing adventure when Brian said his wife fell overboardLynette Hooker bounced around the deck of the docked Soul Mate, smiled into the camera and proclaimed, “We’re finally leaving Kemah,” referring to a Texas port town.“It’s only been four months,” she said as her husband, Brian, tugged on some rigging as they got ready to set sail. Continue reading...
Royal Navy type 45 destroyer deployed to reinforce security around RAF base in Cyprus to undergo short maintenance stop, says MoDHMS Dragon has docked in the eastern Mediterranean after suffering technical issues with its water systems.The UK’s prime minister, Keir Starmer, announced on 3 March that the type 45 destroyer would be deployed to reinforce security around RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, two days after the base was struck by a Shahed 136 drone. Continue reading...
Three-day search effort ends after 65-year-old disappeared near Innamincka in remote north-eastern South Australia on Easter SaturdayGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastPolice have found the body of a 65-year-old man who was swept into flood waters in South Australia’s far north.The man – identified only as Tony by South Australia police – disappeared about 12.30pm on Saturday, sparking a three-day search effort. Continue reading...
Police allege drugs were to be collected from a drop-zone in Bass Strait and distributed across the nation using trucking connectionsWhen a commercial trawler sank off Victoria with four crew members needing rescuing, police became suspicious about an alleged drug trafficking operation.Nine men are accused over a conspiracy to import tonnes of cocaine and methamphetamine before distributing the drugs across Australia using trucking connections. Continue reading...
Proposal, a win for RFK Jr’s Maha movement, is a ‘first step’ toward tackling plastic pollution, advocates sayThe Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed on Thursday to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities.Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said they are responding to Americans who have worried about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. The gesture also aims to hand a win to health secretary Robert FKennedy Jr’s Maha movement, which for months has pressured Zeldin to further crack down on environmental contaminants. Continue reading...
‘Ukraine has expertise concerning sea waterways, and the defence and reopening of maritime traffic,’ says president. What we know on day 1,500Volodymyr Zelenskyy offered on Thursday to provide Ukraine’s expertise in dealing with freedom of navigation in the Black Sea to those countries considering how to keep the strait of Hormuz open amid the conflict in the Middle East. The Ukraine president, speaking in his nightly video address, said the foreign minister, Andrii Sybiha, had taken part in a virtual meeting devoted to reopening the strait of Hormuz, attended by about 40 countries. “Ukraine has relevant expertise concerning sea waterways, and the defence and reopening of maritime traffic,” he said. “If [our] partners are ready to act, we will consider how we can strengthen them, how we can apply our expertise, knowledge and technological potential.”Russia’s army recorded no territorial gains on the frontline in Ukraine in March, for the first time in two and half years, AFP analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) showed. The Russian army’s advances have been slowing since late 2025 due to Kyiv’s localised breakthroughs in the south-east, and losing ground in March and February on the southern section of the frontline, between the Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions, the analysis showed. Across the entire frontline, Ukrainian forces managed to recapture 9 sq km in March.North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, gave “field guidance” at the Memorial Museum of Combat Feats at the Overseas Military Operations, which is under construction , state media KCNA said. The museum in Pyongyang will be a place to commemorate the fallen soldiers sent to support the Russian army in the war in Ukraine. The construction of the museum is almost complete and Kim said the opening ceremony would be held in mid-April, marking the first anniversary of the deployment of the North Korean soldiers.Six Ukrainian children will be returned from Russia to their families in Ukraine, the White House said on Thursday, citing efforts by Melania Trump to expedite their return. A seventh Ukrainian child will also be returned to their family later this month, the first lady’s office said in a statement. Ukraine says almost 20,000 children have been illegally sent to Russia and Belarus, where they are sometimes subject to military training and forced to fight against their own country’s troops.Russian strikes across Ukraine on Thursday killed at least two people and wounded dozens, officials said, as Moscow stepped up its attacks amid stalled peace talks. In the south-eastern Kherson region, Russia attacked “with artillery, mortars and UAVs”, the regional prosecutor’s office said on social media. A 42-year-old man was killed when a drone hit a civilian car, and 16 others – including a teenage boy and three police officers – were wounded in air attacks and artillery shelling, it added. In the Chernihiv region, north of the capital Kyiv, Russia attacked with a ballistic missile, the head of Chernihiv’s military administration, Dmytro Bryzhynsky, said on Telegram.Russian forces maintained a daylong barrage of drone strikes on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Thursday, injuring at least two people, local officials said. Kharkiv’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, posted reports on Telegram throughout the day and well into the evening, noting strikes in four city districts. One city official said there had been at least 20 drone strikes. He said some had triggered fires and two people had been injured in an evening attack, including an eight-year-old girl.Russian forces carried out 129 attacks on Ukrainian gas and heating facilities during the recent 151-day heating season, the state oil and gas firm Naftogaz said on Thursday. “The Russians hit pipelines, gas production, underground storage facilities, heating systems – everything that Ukrainians depend on for heat and gas,” it said in a statement. Continue reading...
Offer reportedly put forward by creditors hoping to save struggling firm from being renationalised temporarilyThames Water is said to be close to a deal with its regulator that would allow the company to avoid new fines for four years, as long as it commits to investing in the business.The controversial offer, reported by the Financial Times, has been put forward by creditors who are hoping to save the struggling utility from being temporarily renationalised. Continue reading...
Brittlestars, sea anemones and a catshark among new-to-science species collected during expedition off the Queensland coastGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastMarine scientists have discovered more than 110 new fish and invertebrate species in the Coral Sea – a figure they believe could exceed 200 as more are identified.The species were found in waters between 200 metres and 3km deep in the Coral Sea marine park, Australia’s largest marine protected area, which spans nearly 1m sq km to the east of the Great Barrier Reef. Continue reading...
