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The ‘Jilamito Five’ are the latest to be caught up in battles over land and natural resources, that have seen more than 130 defenders killed since 2009

The suspects pray together on a concrete podium opposite the courthouse where they face criminal charges. Their alleged misdemeanour: “land invasion” during a protest against the construction of a dam. A guilty verdict could bring a jail term of up to four years.

If that seems harsh, then it’s because this is Honduras, where hundreds have been jailed and scores killed for environmental activism over the past decade. The accused – a teacher, hardware-store owner, farmers and the newly elected municipal mayor – are opposed to a dam on the Jilamito river in the tropical region of Atlántida. The authorities are hoping a prosecution will enable them to clear a makeshift community blockade in the remote hilly pastures so construction can begin.

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Frydenberg says Labor's emissions reduction target of 45% is "recklessly high," and at "extremes of the debate." He must have missed Macron's speech.

Wenlock Edge, Shropshire: I collect leaves of garlic mustard, ground ivy, nettle, dandelion, cow parsley and lords and ladies, roll them into a ball and inhale

Garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata, has suddenly materialised in the hedgebank: white, cruciform flowers of the cabbage family with skin-like apple-green, dog-toothed, glossy leaves. In the white pulse of spring, with dazzling blackthorn and wild cherry above and an under-flow of wood anemone, wild garlic, white deadnettle (where all the carder bees are), and cow parsley coming, less flashy plants such as garlic mustard are often overlooked. There are the blues of forget-me-not (some of which are also white), ground ivy, bluebell, dog and sweet violet and the yellows of dandelion, cowslip, primrose and the last of the celandines. But spring is not all about colours, it’s also about scent. When touched, the leaves of garlic mustard smell, as their name suggests, of a mustardy garlic. Those of ground ivy, Glechoma hederacea of the mint family, smell somewhere between catnip and cat pee.

The hedgebank is full of the fragrance of verdure. I collect leaves of garlic mustard, ground ivy, nettle, dandelion, cow parsley and lords and ladies, roll them into a ball and inhale their fragrance as if the green grenade of hedge weeds is a rose. It’s not a fragrance that unravels itself into its constituent parts but instead creates something else. The smell is funky and fresh, full of the chemical language of plants, sending signals into the damp spring air to flow and make meaning through the hedges, just like birdsong. This smell is full of the doings of plants that have pushed out of the earth, bringing something of its dark essence into the light.

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A unique view - from the sky - of Australia's accelerating uptake of renewable energy, and rooftop solar in particular.

The promise of blockchain has been to cut out the bloated and inefficient middleman, so it is natural that platforms would emerge targeting the retail value stream.

A new Melbourne hotel will set new design standards in energy efficiency to help cut as much as 25 per cent of its energy consumption, drawing on a $39 million investment commitment from the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

Western Sydney University is sending its Solar Car Team to the other side of the globe – as the first Australian team to ever compete in the American Solar Challenge (ASC).

Sapphire wind farms turns on 100MW of capacity to help meet ACT 100% renewables target, with more wind and solar to come.

Northumbrian Water signs deal with LightsourceBP to build 10 solar farms and help achieve its goal of being carbon neutral.

A new initiative that allows both renters and landlords to cash in on the benefits of rooftop solar energy has been unveiled for Victoria.

Bango Wind Farm Pty Ltd had originally sought permission from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment to establish up to 122 wind turbines in three clusters between Boorowa and Yass.

Trade volumes remain subdued, while a range of new financial instruments have emerged to assist the rise of renewable energy projects. The STC market enjoyed solid pricing across April.

Sanjeev Gupta signs contract with Neoen to use new solar farm to power Laverton steel mill in Victoria and slash costs. Turnbull and Macron were on hand to witness signing, and the promise of a cheaper energy future via renewables.

Scientists and public health experts say Trump administration’s bid to undo pollution rules are ‘extremely counterintuitive and worrying’

America’s leading cities have some of the cleanest urban air in the world but huge advances made in reducing smog are in danger of falling backwards, experts are warning.

New Yorkers breathe air that is 800 times less polluted than Delhi’s and twice as clean as in London and Berlin, the World Health Organization reported.

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London scientist Tom Pike is looking forward to InSight, Nasa's new mission to the Red Planet.

Charlie Veron's team have compiled a major information base called 'Corals of the World', which is used by more than 20,000 researchers and scientists across the world.

Officials say frogs caught at city’s Audubon zoo could soon pose a threat to native frogs across the Mississippi river

Invasive, noxious Cuban treefrogs that eat smaller frogs and grow as big as a human fist have established a population in New Orleans, and officials say they could soon pose a threat to native frogs across the Mississippi river.

The US Geological Survey says frogs caught at the Audubon zoo in the city and at a nearby riverfront park are the first established population of Cuban treefrogs on the US mainland outside Florida, where they’ve been multiplying at least since the 1950s.

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Rich cities have improved, but pollution in poorer countries is still rising and kills 7 million people a year globally, WHO data reveals

Pollution inequality between the world’s rich and poor is widening, according to the latest global data from the World Health Organisation (WHO) which shows that 7 million people – mostly in developing nations – die every year from airborne contaminants.

Overall, nine in 10 people on the planet live with poor, even dangerous, air, says the WHO report, which is considered the most comprehensive collection of global air quality data. But levels of contamination vary widely depending on government actions and financial resources.

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A daily summary of our news plus bite-sized updates from around the world.

Australia has always suffered heat and flood, but a detailed seasonal rainfall reconstruction of the last 800 years shows the extremes are intensifying. Mandy Freund, PhD student, University of Melbourne Ben Henley, Research Fellow in Climate and Water Resources, University of Melbourne Kathryn Allen, Academic, Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, University of Melbourne Patrick Baker, ARC Future Fellow and Professor of Silviculture and Forest Ecology, University of Melbourne Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.