The Guardian

Conservationists criticise ‘disappointing’ and ‘dangerous’ move to allow harpooning of fin whales after curbs last year

Iceland has granted a licence to Europe’s last whaling company to kill more than 100 animals this year, despite hopes the practice might have been halted after concerns about cruelty led to a temporary suspension last year.

Animal rights groups described the news as “deeply disappointing” and “dangerous”.

Coal and gas-fired power plant owners say interim target an important step to net zero by 2050

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

The owners of Australian coal and gas-fired power plants have joined the country’s leading business groups in saying the Coalition should keep Labor’s 2030 climate target if it wins the next election.

The Australian Energy Council, which represents electricity companies and gas wholesalers and retailers, the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Industry Group said maintaining an interim target – legislated as a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – was an important step in getting to net zero emissions by mid-century.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

In the run-up to July's general election, the Guardian video team is touring the UK looking at the issues that matter to voters. After swimmers and rowers fell sick from sewage discharges into the River Thames we went to the seat of Henley and Thame to see how environmental concerns rank for voters in a seat that has been Conservative for more than 100 years

Anthony Albanese says Australia is 'very much on track' to meet the Paris agreement's 2030 emissions reductions targets. Speaking at Parliament House this afternoon, he labelled opposition leader Peter Dutton’s comments about climate policy 'rather extraordinary'

► Subscribe to Guardian Australia on YouTube

• Coalition won’t reveal 2030 emissions target unless it wins election, Peter Dutton says

• Peter Dutton’s plans will breach the Paris agreement on climate – that much is clear

Institutions alleged to have given billions of dollars to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are harming the rainforests

Five of the world’s biggest banks are “greenwashing” their role in the destruction of the Amazon, according to a report that indicates that their environmental and social guidelines fail to cover more than 70% of the rainforest.

The institutions are alleged to have provided billions of dollars of finance to oil and gas companies involved in projects that are impacting the Amazon, destabilising the climate or impinging on the land and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples.

Families in Taranto, Italy, watch their kids play in polluted soil in the shadow of a steelworks, knowing that many people there have lost their lives to cancer. Lisa Sorgini captures their struggle

Open letter signed by naturalist Chris Packham and comedian Paul Whitehouse says pollution from United Utilities treatment plants is degrading lake

The next government must give Windermere greater protection from sewage pollution, campaigners including the naturalist Chris Packham and the comedian Paul Whitehouse have urged in an open letter to all party leaders.

The campaign group Save Windermere, which organised the letter, says the lake has huge ecological significance, is home to rare and protected species and brings in about £750m to the economy. But the signatories, who include the Wildlife Trust, the countryside charity the CPRE and WildFish, say it is being degraded by sewage pollution from United Utilities treatment plants.

North Warwickshire council seeks to extend controversial order against ‘persons unknown’ for Kingsbury terminal

A council is trying to extend a controversial injunction against “persons unknown” to stop any future protests outside an oil terminal operated by Shell UK.

Lawyers for North Warwickshire borough council will argue in the high court on Tuesday that an interim injunction granted in 2022 should be made permanent to stop protests outside Kingsbury oil terminal in Tamworth.

Seven Przewalski’s horses, the only truly wild species of the animal in the world, flown to central Asian country from zoos in Europe

A group of the world’s last wild horses have returned to their native Kazakhstan after an absence of about 200 years. The seven horses, four mares from Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the central Asian country on a Czech air force transport plane.

The wild horses, known as Przewalski’s horses, once roamed the vast steppe grasslands of central Asia, where horses are believed to have been first domesticated about 5,500 years ago.

Far-right gains unlikely to unravel deal but may dampen support for bringing EU in line with 1.5C, say analysts

• European elections live – latest updates

The new European parliament is on course to have more politicians from parties that deny climate science and fewer from parties that want to cut pollution faster.

The results of the four-day election, which are still being finalised, show sizeable gains for far-right parties and a drop in support for the Greens that has cost them about a quarter of their seats. It has raised fears that the EU is about to put the brakes on climate ambitions that have helped set pollution-cutting standards globally.

In high-density places such as Sydney many drones may hover over an animal at once, amplifying disturbance pressure

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

As whales migrate up Australia’s east coast in the coming months, drones are hot on their tails. However, experts warn that low-flying drones seeking a viral shot can disrupt the whales’ migration patterns and may even place their mating season at risk.

Grace Russell, a PhD candidate at Southern Cross University who studies marine mammals with drones, said whales had been known to exhibit disturbance behaviours when drones were flown nearby at low altitudes.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

The Coalition’s rejection of a 43% cut in emissions by 2030 will have major ramifications for us and the world

• Follow our Australia news live blog for the latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Peter Dutton plans to breach the text and spirit of the landmark Paris climate agreement, backed in 2015 by a Coalition government along with the leaders of more than 190 other countries.

This should be clear to anyone who clicks on this link and reads the deal reached in the French capital.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Chinese scientists say further research on potential harm to reproduction from contamination is ‘imperative’

Microplastic pollution has been found in all human semen samples tested in a study, and researchers say further research on the potential harm to reproduction is “imperative”.

Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies.

The warm winter and wet spring spawned a mollusc army. Now they’ve invaded my brassicas, I’m at war with my conscience

It’s the beginning of summer, yet as I type these words, I’m watching sheets of rain coming down at an angle as my chickens cower under their hen house. Aside from a few gloriously sunny days, it feels like the rain hasn’t stopped since the middle of last autumn. While most of my plants appreciate the moisture, the wetter than usual weather has led to some issues in my veg patch.

Our heavy clay soil is more compacted than ever and the slugs and snails now reign, busily mowing down the young plants I raised from seed and entrusted to the veg beds. They came for the lettuces first, which didn’t survive their first night in the soil. Then they came for the brassicas – the radishes, the kohlrabi and the red Russian kale – stripping their leaves back to the scrawny mid-rib, destroying the centre so there was no chance of them growing back. After I convinced myself that they wouldn’t go for strong flavours, they devoured the coriander and dill seedlings that I’d planted, too. All the crops that I’d hoped to be harvesting by now are nowhere to be seen.

Claire Ratinon is an organic food grower and writer

Federal government says opposition is saying ‘white is black’ following Peter Dutton’s comments to News Corp on Paris climate agreement

• Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates
• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

The climate change minister, Chris Bowen, has savaged the Coalition after a frontbencher insisted the opposition was “absolutely committed” to the Paris climate agreement a day after leader Peter Dutton foreshadowed he would scrap Labor’s target to reduce emissions by 43% by 2030.

Dutton told the Weekend Australian he would oppose the legislated 2030 target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election, declaring there was “no sense in ­signing up to targets you don’t have any prospect of achieving”.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Woman, 45, sustained ‘significant trauma’ and had part of arm amputated after one attack, and two teens were injured in another

Two separate shark attacks at Florida beaches wounded three swimmers, including two teenagers, prompting some popular vacation spots to temporarily close, according to authorities.

A shark bit a 45-year-old woman at about 1.20pm on Friday while she swam at Watersound beach, along the coast of Walton county, Florida, in the eastern part of the state.

Imogen May has withheld payments since 2019 and is thought to be one of thousands boycotting water charges

South West Water has taken a legal stake in a customer’s home after she withheld her bill payments in a protest over sewage dumping in rivers and the sea.

Thousands of water company customers are thought to be withholding payments but this is the first known case of a company enforcing a claim against a customer’s home.

Opposition leader reportedly told News Corp he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election

• Get our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcast

Peter Dutton has been accused of planning to break Australia’s commitment to the landmark Paris climate agreement after he said he would reject the country’s 2030 greenhouse gas reduction target.

The opposition leader reportedly told the Weekend Australian that he would oppose the legislated 2030 emissions target – a 43% cut compared with 2005 levels – at the next election but remain committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s free morning and afternoon email newsletters for your daily news roundup

Environment Agency figures show an average of 40 warnings and alerts a day were issued during period

A record number of flood alerts and warnings were issued in Great Britain in the first four months of 2024, averaging 40 a day, according to analysis of Environment Agency figures.

Round Our Way, a not-for-profit organisation supporting people in the UK affected by the climate crisis, obtained data from the agency under the Freedom of Information Act on the number of warnings and alerts issued across the country since records began in 2006.

Roughly half of Arizona and Nevada under excessive heat alert as temperatures soar past 110F in some states

The first heatwave of the year is expected to maintain its grip on the US south-west for at least another day through Friday, after records tumbled across the region with temperatures soaring past 110F (43C) from California to Arizona.

Although the official start of summer is still two weeks away, roughly half of Arizona and Nevada were under an excessive heat alert, which the National Weather Service extended until Friday evening. The alert was extended through Saturday in Las Vegas, where it’s never been hotter this early in the year.