In today’s newsletter: Misinformation, rising bills and shifting party lines have reshaped attitudes toward green policies at a time when the UK has experienced unprecedented weather events
Good morning. It has rained for 40 days and 40 nights.
No, I’m not reciting the story of Noah’s Ark, but a tale from the Met Office. In some parts of the UK, the forecaster said it really has rained for 40 days in a row. Devon, Cornwall and Worcestershire have barely had a break.
Politics | Female Labour MPs have told Keir Starmer to appoint a woman as his de facto deputy to oversee a “complete culture change” in Downing Street after a series of scandals.
Canada | Canadian police have identified the suspect who carried out a school massacre in remote British Columbia as an 18-year-old woman with a history of mental health problems.
UK news | An undercover officer who deceived three women into sexual relationships said his superiors did nothing to prevent him from doing so, the spycops public inquiry has heard.
US news | A Cheshire woman who was shot dead by her “reckless” father while visiting him in the US after a row about Donald Trump was unlawfully killed, a coroner has ruled.
Television | James Van Der Beek, the actor best known for playing the lead in hit 90s teen drama Dawson’s Creek, has died.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
02/12/2026 - 01:48
02/12/2026 - 00:11
A dozen red roses may say 'I love you', but many conventional bouquets carry an environmental price, having been imported by air, dipped in chemicals and wrapped in plastic. Guardian Australia's Petra Stock explains how you can choose flowers that show you care for both a valentine and the environment
Roses are red, violets are blue: why Valentine’s Day flowers need a redo
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02/12/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 12 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-026-00184-3
Towards climate-ready marine protected areas: challenges and strategic pathways
02/11/2026 - 19:58
The government has not made enough of a dent in emissions, but global trends and a shambolic opposition offer a rare opportunity to act
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There is good news out there, even if it feels like scraps in a world on the brink. Some came last week – with plenty of caveats – when analysts at the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) found coal-fired power generation decreased in both China and India last year.
This is a potentially big shift. Among other things, it exposes the hollowness of arguments in Australia that there is no point doing anything about the climate crisis because the big Asian economies are building endless new coal plants.
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02/11/2026 - 11:00
Continued global heating could set irreversible course by triggering climate tipping points, but most people unaware
The world is closer than thought to a “point of no return” after which runaway global heating cannot be stopped, scientists have said.
Continued global heating could trigger climate tipping points, leading to a cascade of further tipping points and feedback loops, they said. This would lock the world into a new and hellish “hothouse Earth” climate far worse than the 2-3C temperature rise the world is on track to reach. The climate would also be very different to the benign conditions of the past 11,000 years, during which the whole of human civilisation developed.
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02/11/2026 - 07:00
The radical project is an attempt to preserve wildlife in one of Europe’s most light-polluted countries, but can they persuade local people they will still feel safe?
Two yellowing street lamps cast a pool of light on the dark road winding into the woods outside Mazée village. This scene is typical for narrow countryside roads in Wallonia in the south of Belgium. “Having lights here is logical,” says André Detournay, 77, who has lived in the village for four decades. “I walk here with my dog and it makes me feel safe and gives me some protection from theft.”
Belgium glows like a Christmas decoration at night, as witnessed from space. It is one of the most light-polluted countries in Europe, with the Milky Way scarcely visible except in the most remote areas.
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02/11/2026 - 05:00
Lead author of Australian study says breeding slowdown is linked to climate-driven changes in ‘magnificent’ whale’s foraging grounds
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After decades of recovery, southern right whales are showing signs of a climate-driven decline in breeding rates, which scientists say is a “warning signal” about changes in the Southern Ocean.
After being hunted to near extinction by commercial whaling in the 19th and 20th centuries, southern right whales remained endangered in Australia.
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02/11/2026 - 03:00
Wildfires that left 23 people dead were made about three times more likely by global heating, researchers say
The climate crisis inflamed deadly wildfires that left 23 people dead in Chile and devastated forests in Argentina that host some of the world’s oldest trees, scientists have found.
The hot, dry and windy conditions that enabled the fires to blaze across huge areas in January were made about three times more likely by global heating, researchers from the World Weather Attribution (WWA) consortium found.
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02/11/2026 - 00:00
npj Ocean Sustainability, Published online: 11 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s44183-025-00177-8
Achieving 30×30: How different nations report their contributions to international marine conservation targets
02/10/2026 - 18:43
Three-year-old black coat female, known as BEY03F, crossed into LA county around 6am on 7 February
A gray wolf wandered into Los Angeles county for the first time in more than a century on Saturday morning.
“This is the most southern verified record of a gray wolf in modern times,” Axel Hunnicutt, gray wolf coordinator for the California department of fish and wildlife, said.
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