In the US, hardly a food is untouched by immigrant labor – and Ice raids will profoundly affect the food labor system
From his father’s strawberry farm in central California, Tomás Diaz noticed a border patrol vehicle driving toward a field of workers. Diaz, himself Mexican American and a US citizen, yelled in Spanish: “Run for your life! That’s immigration!” As the men scattered, the agents grabbed whom they could. In the chaos, six workers escaped, and Diaz was detained for interrogation. “Why did you yell at the Mexicans to run?” an officer pressed. “No reason at all,” Diaz calmly replied.
This did not happen yesterday, but in 1953. Driven by fears of border infiltration by communists and “criminal” and “diseased” migrants, the Immigration and National Service (the Department of Homeland Security’s predecessor) carried out “Operation Wetback” from 1954 to 1957. Border patrol officers raided public spaces, workplaces and homes and formally deported about 400,000 Mexicans (hundreds of thousands more repatriated out of fear).
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
07/13/2025 - 08:00
07/13/2025 - 08:00
Yes, temperatures are rising. But more and more AC means more and more CO2 – and then more and more global heating. Let’s have some long-term thinking instead
It’s way too hot. I’m cowering inside, curtains drawn, pale limbs clammily exposed, the sound of my overheated laptop fan drowning out the sound of an ancient, feeble desk fan. If it gets any hotter, I’ll stagger to my air-conditioned car and drive to the air-conditioned supermarket to stand in its chilly aisles, shamelessly fanning myself over the ravaged ice-cream cabinet in the freezer aisle. I’ve even become nostalgic for the summer when I shared an office with a man who insisted on having the AC set to 17C, meaning I had to wear a cardigan to work in August.
Ah, air conditioning, the dream. Or the nightmare? Welcome to appliance culture wars, 2025 edition. You may recall, in 2023, the US debated whether induction hobs were a communist plot; then last year Republicans tried, in all apparent seriousness, to pass the Liberty in Laundry and Refrigerator Freedom acts. This year has already featured Donald Trump pledging to “make America’s showers great again” (low water pressure means it takes 15 minutes to wet his “beautiful hair”) and now France is grappling with Marine Le Pen declaring herself its AC champion.
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07/13/2025 - 07:00
Previously, the only way to reduce levels of Pfas was by bloodletting or a drug with unpleasant side effects
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Certain kinds of gut microbes absorb toxic Pfas “forever chemicals” and help expel them from the body via feces, new first-of-its-kind University of Cambridge research shows.
The findings are welcome news as the only options that exist for reducing the level of dangerous Pfas compounds from the body are bloodletting and a cholesterol drug that induces unpleasant side effects.
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07/13/2025 - 06:00
Residents of Alabama’s Lowndes county are still fighting for basic sanitation after Trump’s DoJ canceled a landmark Biden-era agreement
Thelma and Willie Perryman spend most days out front of their family trailer in rural Alabama, shooting the breeze while enjoying the birdsong – and making sure their three-year-old grandson doesn’t wander into the sewage-sodden back yard.
They used to barbecue on the back porch looking out at the woods on their land until a couple of years back when the contaminated wastewater seeping out from a leaky old pipe got simply unbearable. Willie, 71, ripped out the sinking porch as branches began falling off a towering old hickory tree which is now completely dead and at risk of toppling.
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07/12/2025 - 15:00
Co-produced by PHOTO Australia Melbourne and the Rencontres d’Arles, the exhibition marks the first major presentation of Australian photography at the world’s longest-running photo festival
‘A monumental moment’: world’s leading photography festival puts Australia in focus
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07/12/2025 - 12:40
‘Locally heavy rainfall’ of 1-3in predicted as death toll from the Fourth of July flood rises to nearly 130 people
Texas Hill Country was back under a flood watch on Saturday, with the National Weather Service warning of “locally heavy rainfall” of 1-3in with isolated amounts close to 6in possible.
The flood watch, which continues through Sunday evening, comes as the death toll from the 4 July flood continues to rise – now at nearly 130 people - and authorities continue their search for the 160 more who are missing.
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07/12/2025 - 05:00
‘Atypical expenditure’ document suggests utility’s costs over 12 months outstripped the £130m it paid in fines
Thames Water spent at least £136m on the effort to secure emergency funding over 12 months, according to a leaked document that suggests costs outstripped the £130m the struggling utility paid in fines.
The law firms Linklaters and Akin Gump received £45m and £26m respectively during the financial year to March 2025, and another 10 firms were paid more than £1m, according to a document listing “atypical expenditure” for the year, seen by the Guardian. It is the first time the fees paid by Thames Water have been detailed publicly.
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07/11/2025 - 23:00
Farmers are seeking ways to fend off birds who are stirring up soil in flooded paddy fields in Ferrara province
An unusual bird is ravaging crops and infuriating farmers in north-eastern Italy: the flamingo.
Flamingos are relatively recent arrivals in the area, and have settled into the flooded fields that produce rice for risotto in Ferrara province, between Venice and Ravenna.
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07/11/2025 - 23:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 12 July 2025; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00116-7
Climate-smart ocean planning in small island developing states—exploring pathways in Dominica
07/11/2025 - 23:00
Levels even lower than in severe drought year of 2022, data shows, with water firms urged to ‘be proactive’
England’s reservoirs are at their lowest levels for a decade, new data reveals, as experts urge water companies to immediately put hosepipe bans in place.
In June, reservoirs across the country were 76% full, which is below their level in the severe drought year of 2022 when they were at 77% capacity at this time in the summer.
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