‘Half the tree of life’: ecologists’ horror as nature reserves are emptied of insects
View image in fullscreen Light traps have long been used to monitor nocturnal insect numbers. Out of the forest darkness, a tornado of insects would flock to its glow, spinning and dancing before the light. Reports of falling insect numbers around the world are not new. Photograph: George Ruhe/NYT/eyevineWhen David Wagner stepped out into the US’s southern wilderness this spring, he found landscapes emptied of life. “There just wasn’t any insect life to speak of.”It was not only the insects missing, he says, it was everything.
Source:The Guardian
June 03, 2025 17:30 UTC
Australia to lobby Unesco over barring of ancient rock site from world heritage list due to Woodside emissions
The Unesco recommendation is due to go before the 21-country world heritage committee at its next meeting on 6 July in Paris. A government spokesperson told the Guardian it was now “actively engaged in the process” and would make “strong representations at every opportunity” to have Murujuga listed as a world heritage site at the Paris meeting. “Our role is to make sure that when sites are nominated [for world heritage status], we’re reassured that the values for which it’s being evaluated are protected,” he said. The chair of MAC, Peter Hicks, said the ICOMOS report had made clear the site should be on the world heritage list. “While we are disappointed, we are determined to finish our journey and see the Murujuga Cultural Landscape included on the world heritage list as soon as possible.”A spokesperson for Woodside said the final decision on the nomination would rest with the world heritage committee.
Source:The Guardian
June 03, 2025 16:04 UTC
‘The walk is shot through with melancholy and romance’: a new trail to the north face of the Eiger
View image in fullscreen The writer’s father Ian, centre, with Bugs McKeith, left, and Kenny Spence before they started their successful ascent of the north face in 1970. The north face was first conquered in July 1938 by a German–Austrian party, including Heinrich Harrer, the author of Seven Years in Tibet. Up close to the north face, I really sense Dad’s achievement for the first time. View image in fullscreen The writer scattered some of his dad’s ashes by the north face. An earlier version incorrectly stated it was the Eiger mountain when it shows the Grindelwald valley and Wetterhorn, Switzerland.
Source:The Guardian
June 03, 2025 07:30 UTC
Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, spews plumes of ash
A huge plume of ash, gas and rock has spewed forth from Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, but authorities said there was no current danger to the population. Surveillance cameras showed “a pyroclastic flow probably produced by a collapse of material from the northern flank of the south-east crater”, the agency said. A pyroclastic flow occurs when volcanic rock, ash and hot gases surge from volcanoes. View image in fullscreen Officials are keeping a close watch on the volcano but say there is no danger to people at present. A red alert issued for aviation authorities said the height of the volcanic cloud was estimated at 6.5 kilometres (more than four miles).
Source:The Guardian
June 02, 2025 23:18 UTC
UK swings behind Morocco’s autonomy proposal for Western Sahara
The UK has thrown its weight behind Morocco’s autonomy proposal for Western Sahara, marking a shift in Britain’s position on one of Africa’s longest-running territorial disputes. The UK has previously said the status of the disputed territory in north-west Africa remains “undetermined”, while supporting “self-determination” for “the people of Western Sahara”. Under Morocco’s autonomy plan, Western Sahara would remain under Rabat’s sovereignty but with a degree of self-rule. The US recognised Morocco’s claim over Western Sahara in 2020 during Trump’s first administration. He said British investments in Western Sahara were under discussion.
Source:The Guardian
June 02, 2025 22:57 UTC
Russia says blasts led to deadly train crashes in regions bordering Ukraine
Separately, railway track on the Unecha-Zhecha section in Russia’s Bryansk region was damaged without casualties, the national operator, Russian Railways, said. Videos posted on social media from Bryansk showed rescuers climbing over the mangled chassis of a Russian Railways train, while screams could be heard in another video. Separately, in the Kursk region a rail bridge collapsed, derailing a freight train that was going across. after newsletter promotionView image in fullscreen The freight train at the scene after a railway bridge collapsed in the Kursk region. Russia’s emergency ministry said a team was on site in Bryansk, while Russian Railways said it had sent repair trains.
Source:The Guardian
June 01, 2025 22:35 UTC
Footage shows major Ukrainian drone attack on Russian bombers – video
Ukraine conducted a 'large-scale' drone attack on Russian military aircraft on Sunday, striking more than 40 warplanes thousands of kilometres from its own territory, a security official said. The claims could not be independently verified. But if confirmed, the attacks in Siberia would mark Ukraine’s most damaging drone strike of the war to date, amid an escalation in cross-border incursions before planned peace talks in Istanbul on Monday. Among the aircraft reportedly hit were Tu-95 and Tu-22 strategic bombers, which Russia uses to fire long-range missiles at Ukrainian cities
Source:The Guardian
June 01, 2025 22:27 UTC
‘This is ground zero for Blatten’: the tiny Swiss village engulfed by a mountain
The entire mass descended into the valley below, obliterating the village that had been there for more than 800 years. In short, this is ground zero for Blatten.”Moment glacier partially collapsed, burying part of the Swiss village Moment glacier partially collapsed, burying part of the Swiss village. View image in fullscreen A large part of the village of Blatten was buried under masses of ice, mud, and rock. View image in fullscreen The village of Blatten pictured on 23 May 2025, left, and one day after the glacier collapse, right. For now, the only version of Blatten village that exists is invisible, Bellwald says, held in the minds of the people that have left.
Source:The Guardian
June 01, 2025 21:46 UTC
Russia says ‘explosions’ led to deadly train crashes in Bryansk – video report
Russian investigators said at least seven people died after two bridges collapsed in the Kursk region and Bryansk, which border Ukraine. Officials said blasts caused the two bridges to collapse, triggering the train derailments
Source:The Guardian
June 01, 2025 21:18 UTC
Moment Israeli airstrike hits building in Gaza City – video
A camera captured on video the moment an Israeli airstrike hit a building in Gaza City on 1 June, causing significant damage. People ran for cover as the missile landed in an area behind them but then ran to the site to help rescue survivors. The Israeli military, which relaunched its air and ground campaign in March following a two-month truce, said on 31 May it was continuing to hit targets in Gaza. The campaign has laid waste to large areas of the Gaza Strip, killing more than 54,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, and destroying or damaging most of its buildings, leaving most of the population in makeshift shelters
Source:The Guardian
June 01, 2025 19:52 UTC
Ukraine must urgently be given the €300bn of frozen Russian assets | Phillip Inman
Ukraine needs more than long-range missiles and fibre-optic drones in its fight with Russia. In particular, the war-torn nation should be handed the €300bn (£250bn) of frozen Russian assets stored mostly in accounts hosted by the Euroclear trading system. One analyst said: “Europe needs to move quickly to take advantage of growing disillusionment in the US economy”. The interest generated by Russia’s frozen assets is given to Ukraine, and Belgium hands its shareholder dividend payments to the Volodymyr Zelenskyy war effort. And earlier this month Euroclear said it plans to seize and redistribute about €3bn of Russia’s funds after Moscow last year grabbed investor cash of the same value.
Source:The Guardian
May 31, 2025 19:31 UTC
Carbon footprint of Israel’s war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries
A study shared exclusively with the Guardian found the long-term climate cost of destroying, clearing and rebuilding Gaza could top 31m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCO2e). It also provides the first, albeit partial, snapshot of the carbon cost of Israel’s other recent regional conflicts. This is on a par with the entire 2023 emissions generated by Afghanistan. Israel’s military budget surged in 2024 to $46.5bn – the largest increase in the world, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Based on one methodology, Israel’s baseline military emissions last year – excluding direct conflict and reconstruction climate costs – rose to 6.5m tCO2e.
Source:The Guardian
May 31, 2025 05:25 UTC
‘Like touching climate change’: glaciers reveal records of the way the world was
View image in fullscreen Part of the machinery used to extract the ice cores. Photograph: Riccardo Selvatico/Ca’ Foscari UniversityThe scientists do this by drilling a borehole and extracting long, cylinder-shaped ice cores. View image in fullscreen Ice cores contain climate information dating back over 10,000 years. Photograph: Riccardo Selvatico/Ca’ Foscari University“A glacier is like a book made up of many pages,” said Jacopo Gabrieli, a glaciologist at CNR. The first of the two ice cores was extracted and transported down the mountain, and the second followed a week later.
Source:The Guardian
May 31, 2025 04:10 UTC
Remains of Mayan city nearly 3,000 years old unearthed in Guatemala
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a Mayan city nearly 3,000 years old in northern Guatemala, with pyramids and monuments that point to its significance as an important ceremonial site. “The site presents remarkable architectural planning” with pyramids and monuments “sculpted with unique iconography from the region”, said the ministry. The city takes its name from two human-like sculptures of an “ancestral couple” found at the site. That find was interpreted as proof of ties between the two pre-Hispanic cultures, which were located about 1,300km (800 miles) apart. Tikal, about 23km (14 miles) from Uaxactun, is the main archaeological site in Guatemala and one of the country’s biggest tourist attractions.
Source:The Guardian
May 30, 2025 17:46 UTC
From sixth tier to Swiss Cup final: Biel-Bienne ready for time of their lives
The Swiss Cup was established in 1925 and with the competition celebrating its centenary a remarkable story has emerged – a third division team has reached the final for the first time. Ice hockey is more popular in the city than football, as EHC Biel-Bienne play in the top division and FC Biel-Bienne do not. “We were established in 1896 and are one of the oldest football clubs in the country,” says the FC Biel-Bienne president, Dietmar Faes. “We started over in the sixth division, and had nothing,” the FC Biel-Bienne financial director, Mauro Ierep, says. “In 2019, we played against Young Boys in the first round and the referee stole the win from us,” says Faes.
Source:The Guardian
May 30, 2025 17:34 UTC