Exclusive: 7,280 suspected illegal spills in rivers and sea recorded in first five months of 2026
The number of suspected illegal discharges of raw sewage into rivers and seas by water companies during dry weather increased significantly during the first five months of 2026.
Dumping raw sewage into waterways during dry spells via overflows amounts to pollution. It is considered a breach of the permits given to water companies and is illegal. Discharging during dry weather increases the toxicity of the sewage pollution entering waterways. Rivers have less flow and volume, and there is no rainwater to dilute the sewage pollution entering the waterway.
Last year, in what regulators said was tougher action on sewage pollution, water companies in England were for the first time required to report to the Environment Agency the number of times they discharged raw sewage from combined sewer overflows during dry weather. A dry day spill is flagged when an overflow operates despite little to no rainfall that day and the previous day.
In 2025, water companies in England and Wales reported 8,576 dry spill pollution discharges. But according to freedom of information requests submitted by Environment Agency whistleblower Robert Forrester, the pollution is getting worse, not better, despite the regulator’s promise of tougher action.
UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s abrupt abandonment of his flagship pledge to bring Thames Water into public ownership exposes the emptiness of his promises to “reverse Thatcherism.”
Last week Burnham backed down at the very moment the criminal pollution record and financial collapse of Britain’s most distrusted and environmentally destructive privatised utility demanded decisive action and the prosecution of those responsible. He now insists nationalisation would be “too costly,” “too complex,” “too disruptive.”
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UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham admits to blatently lying and engaging in deception to become leader of the UK Labour Party and Prime Minister.April 2023 Surfers Against Sewage and Extinction Rebellion protests in St Agnes, Perranporth, Truro and Charlestown which unveiled spoof Blue Plaques to the MPs and Conservative Government who allowed raw sewage to be dumped in the sea (Image: Surfers Against Sewage)
In-store inflation has been led by higher prices for tinned and packaged food, which increased by 2.5% last month on an annual basis. Photograph: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images
In-store inflation rises to an annual 1.5% in August, according to a survey for the British Retail Consortium
The pace of price rises in UK shops rose to its highest level in two years in August, a trade body index shows, with higher energy costs pushing up the price of food and AI chip demand making technology more expensive.
In-store inflation stepped up to 1.5% year on year in August, up from 0.9% in July, led by prices for tinned and packaged food which increased by 2.5% against 1.1% in the prior month, according to data from the research company NIQ for the British Retail Consortium.
Inflation for fresh produce remained high at 3%, amid pressure on growers from the hot dry summer plus hefty fuel and energy costs. However, that marked a slight easing off from the 3.1% recorded in July,
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The evidence of higher shop prices comes after the boss of Asda said he was seeing inflation on some fresh food begin to rise after a hot dry summer that affected crop yields.
Cereals including wheat and barley were hit particularly badly, according to the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Its first harvest report of 2026 said the hot weather had resulted in the earliest harvest since records began in 2006.
US President Donald Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting American forces attacking Kharg Island on August 30, 2026. (Photo: Donald Trump/Screengrab via Truth Social)
The chief executive of Iran’s government-run oil company dismissed the US president’s social media posts “laughable.”
US President Donald Trump published a string of unhinged posts to his social media platform overnight and into Monday morning, including an artificial intelligence-generated video attempting to depict American forces bombing Kharg Island—Iran’s primary oil export terminal.
The post, which drew mockery from Iranian officials and alarm from observers concerned about Trump’s increasingly erratic behavior, came after US forces attacked Larak Island, which is located hundreds of miles east of Kharg in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” Trump wrote in the caption of his post. It is unclear whether Trump, who frequently shares inane AI-generated videos with his 13 million Truth Social followers, confused Larak Island with Kharg Island, which the president has repeatedly threatened to invade.
An unnamed US official confirmed to Reuters in the wake of Trump’s post that American forces did not target Kharg Island during their Sunday attacks.
Trump posts AI slop with the caption, “Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!” pic.twitter.com/HVTF9xFC6B
Hamid Bovard, the chief executive of Iran’s government-run oil company, called Trump’s posts “laughable” and described conditions on Kharg Island as “calm and appropriate.”
Iran retaliated for the US strike on Larak with a drone attack on two American military installations in Jordan and condemned the Trump administration’s ongoing aggression as an “obvious violation” of the United Nations Charter.
“It is obvious that full responsibility for the consequences of America’s new aggressive actions, as well as the continuation of the maritime blockade and economic war against Iran, rests with the US regime and all parties that in any way cooperate or participate in preparing and implementing the US’ illegal and unlawful actions,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The military exchange between the US and Iran was the first in weeks amid stalled efforts to achieve a lasting solution to the historically unpopular war that Trump and his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, launched in late February, sparking a global energy crisis that has jacked up gas prices in the US and prompted fears of a global food emergency.
In a separate Truth Social post on Monday morning, Trump declared that Iran is “officially a Failed Nation,” adding in all-caps, “IT IS DEAD!”
“They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police, Inflation is at 300%, and their leadership is in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country” Trump wrote.
Trump’s attempt to convey overwhelming and unflagging US military superiority conflicts with internal assessments by top American officials, who reportedly warnedPentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month that “prolonging large-scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the US homeland.” US intelligence assessments have also found that, despite Trump’s claims, Iran’s government is still intact after six months of American bombing.
“The president of the United States is mentally unwell and has been for quite some time,” Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), who has supported congressional efforts to end Trump’s illegal war, wrote in a social media post on Monday. “He fantasized blowing up Iran’s Kharg Island. Except it didn’t happen.”
“And why would Trump need to blow it up if, as Trump claims, the US has total control of the Strait,” Lieu asked.
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says Sundown Syndrome is a dead givaway and he wishes someone would Lock Him UpDonald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Donald Trump says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
US President Donald Trump holds an image showing the size of Meta’s new data center in Washington, DC on August 26, 2025. (Photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
“Donald Trump is actively trying to help as many Democratic senators as possible get elected,” said one polling expert.
President Donald Trump on Monday warned Americans that they risk becoming “backwards and poor” unless they allow Big Tech companies to build artificial intelligence data centers in their communities.
In a social mediapost, the president expressed indignation that any town or city wouldn’t welcome data centers, which have drawn nationwide opposition for generating pollution and jacking up utility bills.
“The only reason that communities throughout the USA should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”
In reality, AI data centers create very few jobs once they are completed, as most of their functions are fully automated.
Trump then said that Americans “will only have yourselves to blame” if they “kill the Golden Goose” that is AI data centers.
“China could not be happier with this anti Data Center movement,” Trump wrote. “Actually, they can’t believe it is happening!”
Building AI data centers has become massively unpopular throughout the US.
A poll conducted by Embold Research and published by Heatmap Pro earlier this month shows that 75% of Americans now oppose building AI data centers in their area, including 61% registering strong opposition.
While Republicans polled in the survey were more supportive of data centers than Democrats and independent voters, it nonetheless found that opposition among Republicans outweighed support by 43 points.
Polling analyst G. Elliott Morris marveled at how politically tone deaf the president sounds when it comes to data centers, commenting that “Donald Trump is actively trying to help as many Democratic senators as possible get elected.”
Longtime GOP operative Frank Luntz similarly noted data centers’ unpopularity, citing a recent Gallup poll showing 63% of Republican voters oppose having one of the facilities built in their communities.
“We’re about to see whether President Trump can sway those voters to support them, as he’s done on many issues before,” Luntz remarked.
Democratic US Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed wasted no time tying the president’s position on data centers to his opponent, Republican Mike Rogers.
“Make no mistake—this is Mike Rogers’ position on data centers,” wrote El-Sayed. “He’s got up to $2.6 million invested in companies cashing in on the data center boom, all while Michiganders watch their utility bills soar. You can’t trust a word out of Mike’s mouth because he’s only out for himself, for Donald Trump, and for Big Tech—not Michigan.”
Faiz Shakir, a longtime adviser to US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), observed that Trump is merely “sharing the perspective of Wall Street and Big Tech” and is showing “no interest… in grappling with the mass revolt across American communities, or to learn anything from them.”
Screenwriter David Simon, creator of the acclaimed television series The Wire, accused Trump of brazenly lying about data centers’ economic benefits.
“If data centers are a geographic benefit to communities, you can be sure they’d be siting and building them in affluent and politically connected environs,” wrote Simon. “Curiously, they’re dumped in poorer, less influential places. Go fucking figure.”
Republican Kentucky state Rep. Savannah Maddox took issue with the president disparaging communities opposed to data centers, which include many of the rural communities that voted for him in three presidential elections.
“Rural doesn’t mean ‘backwards and poor’ and development doesn’t always equate to being ‘successful and rich,’” wrote Maddox. “President Trump wouldn’t be president without the rural voters who inhabit America’s heartland. It is not wrong of us to question the sudden and wide-scale effort to convert arable land into data centers. We are not stupid for wanting to protect our rural way of life.”
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.Donald Trump urges you to be a Climate Science denier like him. He says that he makes millions and millions for destroying the planet, Burn, Baby, Burn and Flood, Baby, Flood.Donald Trump explains why he established his Bored of Peace
A worker sprays herbicide during a Roadside Invasive Management Workshop held July 29, 2025 at the Winchester Department of Public Works in Connecticut. (Jim Shannon/Connecticut Post via Getty Images)
“While everyone’s distracted by the Trump administration’s erratic actions on the world stage, it keeps approving dangerous forever pesticides right here on our own soil.”
Environmental groups have sued the Trump administration, alleging the Environmental Protection Agency approved a potentially cancer-causing “forever chemical” for use as an herbicide without fully assessing the risk.
The petition was filed Friday in the US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit by the Center for Food Safety, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Pesticide Action & Agroecology Network North America, who asked the court to throw out the EPA’s June 30 approval of trifludimoxazin and six products containing it for use on a wide range of crops including corn, wheat, soybeans, and apples.
Trifludimoxazin is part of the family of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, synthetic chemicals with strong carbon-fluorine bonds that can take years to fully break down, earning them the nickname “forever chemicals.”
The trifludimoxazin was initially approved in 2021 during the Biden administration. But the company agreed to stop selling the product the following year after environmental groups sued, citing its potential to cause cancer and harm to threatened and endangered fish. But the Trump EPA last year proposed registering it again for widespread use and issued a final approval in June.
The groups argue that the EPA approved the use of trifludimoxazin without accounting for evidence that the pesticide could cause cancer and harm wildlife and ecosystems.
The EPA itself has acknowledged that the chemical could harm many endangered and threatened species, including posing chronic risks to bees and other invertebrates. Meanwhile, rodent studies have found that at high doses, the chemical can cause thyroid tumors and adverse effects on the liver and reproductive systems.
The chemical, which blocks an enzyme in plants needed for growth, has been described as 10 times as potent as dicamba, another weedkiller used on soybeans and cotton, whose products have caused millions of acres of unintended crop damage since its approval in 2017.
But though the EPA’s own guidance states that carcinogenic effects in animals could point to human risk, the agency stated that its final risk assessment found “no human health risks of concern.”
The plaintiffs argue that the EPA did not take all the proper steps to reach this conclusion, having failed to quantify the chemical’s danger, especially when combined with exposure to other approved chemicals.
“Trifludimoxazin is a likely human carcinogen that belongs to a family of weedkillers that also causes reproductive harm, birth defects, and neurological deficits in animal studies,” said Bill Freese, science director at the Center for Food Safety. “As if the health threats weren’t enough, this incredibly potent herbicide can drift to stunt crops and wild plants hundreds of yards from a sprayed field, while runoff threatens wetland plants. Potent biocides like this have no business on the American landscape.”
The lawsuit also notes that two of the approved trifludimoxazin products combine it with another toxic herbicide called saflufenacil, meaning that farmworkers who apply the chemicals could be exposed to the effects of both at once. The plaintiffs said the EPA did not evaluate the risk that would be posed to farmworkers who are exposed to these chemicals.
“While everyone’s distracted by the Trump administration’s erratic actions on the world stage, it keeps approving dangerous forever pesticides right here on our own soil,” said Nathan Donley, environmental health science director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s unconscionable, immoral, and illegal. Our kids and grandkids deserve better than to be saddled with pollution that never goes away.”
Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says he wishes someone would lock him up, small Orca speaks bluntly.Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Donald Trump says that he obviously deserves a Peace prize because Obama got one and explains why he established his Bored of Peace
