Breaking Waves: Ocean News

UK records hottest day of the year as fifth summer heatwave reaches peak

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 15:48:53 +0000

Kew Gardens in London hits 38.1C and 40C-plus expected in parts of Europe with continent trapped under heat dome

Europe heatwave – latest updates

The UK has recorded its hottest day of the year so far with a provisional temperature of 38.1C in southern England as Europe sweltered under a major heat dome.

Piranha drama: boy, 8, hooks fearsome exotic fish in Pennsylvania lake

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:34:51 +0000

South American fish with razor-toothed jaws was probably released by someone who owned it as a pet, officials say

An eight-year-old boy fishing for bass in Pennsylvania was stunned to catch something more associated with the Amazon – and countless horror movies – than the rolling landscape of the eastern US.

Seamus Coffey, who was fishing with his father Michael in a lake near Philadelphia, hauled in a large red-bellied piranha, complete with the razor-toothed jaws that the fearsome breed is so famous for.

Wing and a prayer: how probiotics might save bat species from a killer fungus

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:02 +0000

Bat experts were shocked at how fast white-nose syndrome had spread to Canada’s northernmost colonies from the US. Now, the race is on to find a cure before species disappear

Crawling through a narrow passage in a cave beneath a boreal forest near Fort Smith in Canada’s Northwest Territories in May, two biologists spotted a lifeless bat on a limestone ledge, its body covered in a spindly white fungus.

When they shone their headlamps to get a closer look, they saw another bat with the fungus on its forearms. “It hissed at us and crawled back into a crack,” Jesika Reimer says.

California bans paraquat, highly toxic herbicide outlawed in more than 70 countries

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:00:00 +0000

State is US’s largest user of pesticide that is virtually proven to cause Parkinson’s disease

California is banning paraquat, a highly toxic, controversial herbicide used across millions of acres of American cropland.

Severe storms cut power supply to 540,000 homes in US midwest

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 11:49:29 +0000

Indiana faced most outages at 267,000, about 8% of its customers, with severe thunderstorms and wind ahead

Power supply was cut on Thursday ⁠to about 540,000 homes and businesses across the US midwest as severe storms battered the region, data ⁠from PowerOutage.us showed.

Lost jobs, inequality, rogue agents: why are we accepting oligarchs’ AI agenda? | Robert Reich

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 10:00:56 +0000

The dangers of AI become clearer every day. Why are we still acting as if we have no choice about our future?

Rather than producing jobs, the US economy actually lost 23,000 jobs in July, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on Friday. In addition, May and June’s job numbers were revised downward, showing a combined 103,000 fewer jobs than previously reported.

As if this weren’t bad enough, wage growth has also slowed. Average hourly earnings rose by just 0.1% from June.

How to keep babies and children safe in heatwaves

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:13:10 +0000

Biological factors mean a child’s core temperature rises faster than an adult’s – and that can result in a medical emergency

Children and babies are more vulnerable in heatwaves than healthy adults. As temperatures rise again, how do we keep children safe?

Water customers are not a ‘blank cheque’, Burnham warns suppliers

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 08:10:54 +0000

Firms in England and Wales given green light for extra spending that will add billions to bills

Business live – latest updates

Andy Burnham has accused water companies of treating their customers “as a bottomless source of funding” for the industry’s failings, after proposals that will push households bills even higher were approved.

Europe heatwave live: UK sees temperatures of 38.1C, the hottest day of 2026; Greece battles gale force winds, sparking fears about wildfires

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 07:58:26 +0000

A former UK government scientific adviser warned amid the ‘shattering’ heat that worse is still to come

Met Office has just offered an update on temperatures across the UK, with several stations already reporting temperatures above 30C – and it’s not even 11am.

It’s 30.4C in Wych Cross, 30.3C in Charlwood, 30.2C at Kenly Airfield.

Britain's scorched fields mean a food crisis – and the government is ignoring the one measure that would help | George Monbiot

admin — Thu, 13 Aug 2026 07:00:52 +0000

This summer’s extreme weather and wars in Iran and Ukraine have made our need for food stockpiles more pressing than ever

When a business makes long-term plans, they call it prudence. When a government makes long-term plans, they call it communism. Any sustained state intervention attracts the prefix “Soviet-style”, and triggers vicious attacks across the billionaire media. So governments have developed a bias against long-term thinking. This may explain why we no longer maintain strategic food reserves.