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Study finds global increase in hot, dry days ideal for wildfires

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/18/study-wildfires-danger

Dangerous days have nearly tripled in past 45 years – and increase largely driven by human-made warming

The number of days when the weather gets hot, dry and windy – ideal to spark extreme wildfires – has nearly tripled in the past 45 years across the globe, with the trend increasing even higher in the Americas, a new study shows.

And more than half of that increase is caused by human-caused climate change, researchers calculated.

What this means is that as the world warms, more places across the globe are prone to wildfires because of increasingly synchronous fire weather, which is when multiple places have the right conditions to go up in smoke.

Countries may not have enough resources to put out all the fires, and help will not be as likely to come from neighbors busy with their own flames, according to the authors of a study in Wednesday’s Science Advances.

In 1979 and for the next 15 years, the world averaged 22 synchronous fire weather days a year for flames that stayed within large global regions, the study found. In 2023 and 2024, it was up to more than 60 days a year.

“These sorts of changes that we have seen increase the likelihood in a lot of areas that there will be fires that are going to be very challenging to suppress,” said study co-author John Abatzoglou, a fire scientist at the University of California, Merced.

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Continues at https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/18/study-wildfires-danger

Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Neo-Fascist Climate Science Denier Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Nigel Farage urges you to ignore facts and reality and be a climate science denier like him and his Deputy Richard Tice. He says that Reform UK has received £Millions and £Millions from the fossil fuel industry to promote climate denial and destroy the planet.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Continue ReadingStudy finds global increase in hot, dry days ideal for wildfires

Raw sewage pumped into UK waterways for 4.7 million hours in 2024: ‘This will only get worse’

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https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/sewage-pollution-uk-waterways-sas-environment/

Sewage is only supposed to be discharged following extreme weather. Image: Jeff Buck (cc-by-sa/2.0)

Some 27% of English billpayers have considered withholding their bill payments due to water supplier failings, a survey shows.

The public don’t believe private companies can fix the worsening sewage crisis, a report has found – and at least a quarter are considering boycotting water bill payments. 

Water bills will surge by an average of £31 per year over the next five years. 

Suppliers have justified the increase – which will bring the average annual bill to £588 by the end of the decade – as the only way to fund fixes to Britain’s crumbling sewage infrastructure.

But according to a blistering new Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) report, just a third (33%) of English adults believe that their supplier will take the necessary action to end sewage pollution.

And around a quarter (27%) have considered withholding their bill payments due to the actions of their water supplier. 

This disillusionment is little surprise. Pollution is surging: Water companies in England have collectively failed their targets to reduce pollution incidents, SAS’s 2024 Water Quality Report shows, with 2,487 incidents recorded in 2024. 

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That’s more than double the target set by the Environment Agency – and it’s the tip of the iceberg. In 2024 alone, raw sewage was released into UK waterways 592,478 times, for a combined 4.7 million hours. That’s the equivalent of 535 years’ worth of waste, pouring into the lakes and rivers people swim in, kayak through and drink from.

Article continues at https://www.bigissue.com/news/environment/sewage-pollution-uk-waterways-sas-environment/

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)
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)
Continue ReadingRaw sewage pumped into UK waterways for 4.7 million hours in 2024: ‘This will only get worse’

Rail fares rise by 4.6% in England and Wales

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/01/rail-passengers-england-wales-fares-rise

Rail fares in England and Wales are rising by 4.6% from Sunday and most railcards going up by £5. Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock

Campaigners say if government can find money to freeze fuel duty for motorists they can do similar for railways

Rail passengers in England and Wales face a steep increase in the cost of travel from Sunday, with fares rising by 4.6% and most railcards going up by £5.

The government said the rise is needed because of the dire financial state of the railway, but transport campaigners contrasted it with Labour prolonging the freeze on fuel duty for motorists.

This weekend’s fare increase is only the second time the government has raised fares above the rate of inflation since 2013 – the other being in 2021 when the Covid pandemic had stopped most rail revenue.

London Underground and other rail fares in the capital will also match the national rise, going up by an average of 4.6% across the network, although bus fares will be frozen.

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https://www.theguardian.com/money/2025/mar/01/rail-passengers-england-wales-fares-rise

Continue ReadingRail fares rise by 4.6% in England and Wales

How Facebook restricted news in Palestinian territories

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https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c786wlxz4jgo

Omar el Qataa is a photojournalist operating out of northern Gaza

Facebook has severely restricted the ability of Palestinian news outlets to reach an audience during the Israel-Gaza war, according to BBC research.

In a comprehensive analysis of Facebook data, we found that newsrooms in the Palestinian territories – in Gaza and the West Bank – had suffered a steep drop in audience engagement since October 2023.

The BBC has also seen leaked documents showing that Instagram – another Meta-owned platform – increased its moderation of Palestinian user comments after October 2023.

Meta – the owner of Facebook – says that any implication that it deliberately suppressed particular voices is “unequivocally false”.

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During a period of war, audience engagement might be expected to rise. However, the data showed a 77% decline after the Hamas attacks on 7 October 2023.

Palestine TV has 5.8 million followers on Facebook. Journalists at the newsroom shared statistics with us showing a 60% drop in the number of people seeing their posts.

“Interaction was completely restricted, and our posts stopped reaching people,” says Tariq Ziad, a journalist at the channel.

Over the past year, Palestinian journalists have raised fears that their online content is being “shadow-banned” by Meta – in other words, restricted in how many people see it.

To test this, we carried out the same data analysis on the Facebook pages of 20 Israeli news organisations such as Yediot Ahronot, Israel Hayom and Channel 13. These pages also posted a large amount of war-related content, but their audience engagement increased by nearly 37%.

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See the original article at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c786wlxz4jgo

Continue ReadingHow Facebook restricted news in Palestinian territories