The Guardian

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

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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

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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.

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

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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.

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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

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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”.

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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

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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.

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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.

I think we’ve heard this one before

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The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world

In these still largely prosperous rural heartlands, filthy water has become a surprisingly powerful symbol of national decline

Laura Reineke has been a mermaid for seven years now. Or more precisely, she’s a member of Henley Mermaids, the name she and a few friends from her open-water swimming club gave to the WhatsApp group they created for arranging river dips. Seven years of navigating various unmentionable waterborne substances later, the mermaids aren’t just swimmers now but fully fledged clean-water activists, campaigning to highlight pollution in Oxfordshire’s waterways alongside the likes of TV presenter Steve Backshall (who lives nearby with his Olympic rower wife Helen Glover) and lobbying local politicians.

Reineke, who works for the conservation charity Wild Fish, still swims daily with the help of an app tracking Thames Water’s regular discharges into the river: but lately, she says even the supposedly clean stretches seem murkier. “You can’t see the bottom any more, the plant life is covered in sewage – it’s grotty. It’s really, really sad.” Though as she points out, it’s much worse for the fish.

Gaby Hinsliff is a Guardian columnist

Promise to invest in ‘cheap, clean, homegrown energy’ ticks every box but £8.3bn over a parliament is not game-changing

Great British Energy, Labour’s proposed publicly owned energy company, scores well with voters, according to the pollsters, and one can understand why. The promise to invest in “cheap, clean, homegrown energy, to cut bills for families and rebuild the strength of British industry” ticks every imaginable box. What’s not to like?

And, since the privatised utilities are never going to win a popularity contest (especially when the boss of British Gas’s owner is being paid £8m), the publicly-owned structure of GB Energy is almost a cherry on top. Other countries have state-owned firms making good profits in the UK energy market. Now the home side will be on the pitch.

Exclusive: Party wants to appeal to voters’ patriotism by improving access to nature and green spaces

Local communities would be given the right to buy up derelict eyesores and turn them into parks under a Labour government, while walkers and swimmers would gain access to hundreds of miles of river pathways, the party has pledged.

Labour will make a direct appeal to voters’ patriotism, presenting the restoration of nature as a matter of national identity and status.

Exclusive: Data shows implementing policy that closes 92% of English countryside cost £69m over five years

England’s model for countryside access cost six times more to implement than Scotland’s right to roam policy, new figures reveal.

In England, only 8% of the countryside is open for walking, picnicking and other outdoor activities. This includes footpaths, the coastal path, mountains, moors, heaths and downs. In Scotland, all of the countryside is open for access as long as guidelines are followed such as leaving no trace and not harming farmland.

Up to 90% ‘lost in the blink of an eye’, say scientists studying Cyclone Ilsa’s effect on birds on Western Australian island

Increased tropical cyclones due to global heating could lead to dramatic declines in seabird populations, according to a new study.

Scientists found that after Cyclone Ilsa – a category-5 tropical cyclone – hit Bedout Island in Western Australia in April 2023, several seabird populations experienced a collapse of 80-90% due to the storm at the internationally important breeding site.

Millions of Americans are sweltering as experts warn early heat could herald next record-smashing summer

With the official start of summer still weeks away, a potentially record-setting heatwave is cooking the south-western US, causing dangerous conditions far earlier than normal.

Excessive-heat warnings have been issued from the southern tip of Texas across Arizona and Nevada, and up through the center of California to the northern part of the state, as more than 36 million people across the country brace for days of potentially life-threatening temperatures. Affected areas of California could see conditions of 30F higher than normal for this time of year, as south-west cities, including Phoenix and Las Vegas, prepare to hit peaks above 110F.