‘Fragmented’ policies leading councils to prioritise approval of housebuilding over parks, researchers find
Children in cities across Britain face barriers to playing outside because urban planners are prioritising housebuilding over parks, a study has found.
The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cities and Health, found that planners were prioritising the approval of new homes ahead of outdoor play spaces due to a combination of policy misalignment, financial constraints and pressures stemming from a lack of housing.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
09/05/2025 - 10:00
09/05/2025 - 06:49
Kokichi Akuzawa climbed with 70-year-old daughter to break record for oldest person to make ascent – a second time
Kokichi Akuzawa has become the oldest person to climb to the top of Mount Fuji at the age of 102 – despite almost giving up during his trek.
“I was really tempted to give up halfway through,” Akuzawa said. “Reaching the summit was tough, but my friends encouraged me, and it turned out well. I managed to get through it because so many people supported me.”
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09/05/2025 - 05:20
Temperatures climb above 40C, while a powerful hailstorm in the US lashes Kansas and Oklahoma
A spate of extremely hot weather in British Columbia has broken Canada’s national maximum temperature record for September.
On Tuesday, it reached 40C (104F) in Lytton, matching the previous all-time high. That was only the third time that temperature has been recorded in the country in September.
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09/05/2025 - 04:15
Survey of eight countries finds 82% of people support 30x30 biodiversity target, as progress stalls on protected areas
Much of the world favours protecting 30% of the world’s land and water for nature by 2030, according to new research that has found overwhelming public support for the goal across eight countries on five continents.
Nearly 200 nations agreed in 2022 to set aside 30% of the world’s land and 30% of marine areas for nature. But just 17.6% of the world’s land and 8.6% of the seas are now under global protection, and more than 100 nations are less than halfway to meeting the target, which was established under the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
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09/05/2025 - 02:00
Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are beautiful tourist destinations, but off their coasts is a darker hidden reality, where overfishing and unregulated catches are rife and fishers face exploitation and loss of income. The freelance photojournalist Nicole Tung spent nine months reporting in south-east Asia and was this week awarded laureate of the 15th edition of the Carmignac Photojournalism Awards
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09/05/2025 - 01:00
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
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09/05/2025 - 00:00
Exclusive: Analysis shows farmers ploughing to the edge of waterways, destroying crucial wildlife ecosystems
Huge tracts of precious riverside habitats for water voles and other wildlife in England are being lost as they are not covered by post-Brexit farming rules, campaigners warn.
New analysis by the Wildlife Trusts found more than 400 square km of riverside habitat in England may have been lost since the UK left the EU in 2020.
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09/04/2025 - 13:00
Airborne particles cause toxic clumps of proteins in brain that are hallmarks of Lewy body dementia, study indicates
Fine-particulate air pollution can drive devastating forms of dementia by triggering the formation of toxic clumps of protein that destroy nerve cells as they spread through the brain, research suggests.
Exposure to the airborne particles causes proteins in the brain to misfold into the clumps, which are hallmarks of Lewy body dementia, the second most common form of dementia after Alzheimer’s disease.
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09/04/2025 - 11:53
States claim Revolution Wind project was stopped illegally, threatening jobs, clean energy and billions in investments
Rhode Island and Connecticut will sue the Trump administration over its decision to halt the huge Revolution Wind electricity project off the north-east coast of the US, the two announced on Thursday morning.
“This kind of erratic and reckless governing is blatantly illegal, and we’re suing to stop it,” said Connecticut attorney general, William Tong, in a statement.
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09/04/2025 - 10:00
Documents tabled in NSW parliament show state agency took four years to publish report and told miners it would be put online ‘quietly’ but EPA says it was released to community earlier
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The New South Wales environment watchdog sat on a report for four years linking elevated levels of lead in children’s blood to current mining, and promised mining companies they would not do any “finger-pointing”, new documents tabled in state parliament show.
The documents include internal emails released under freedom of information laws that show the scientist who produced the report into lead exposure in Broken Hill was at one point texting the Environment Protection Authority every two days asking when it would be published.
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