News

Steel is a major building block of our modern world, used to make everything from cutlery to bridges and wind turbines. But the way it’s made – using coal – is making climate change worse.

The manufacturing world is facing one of its greatest challenges in years — a global shortage of semiconductors — and there doesn’t appear to be an end in sight any time soon.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a new naming system for the coronavirus that uses Greek letters to refer to the different variants. For the variants of concern, B117 (the UK or Kent variant) will now be known as alpha, B1351 (South Africa) will be beta, P1 (Brazil) is...

Last week, President Joe Biden announced he had ordered a further US intelligence investigation into the origins of COVID-19, asking for a report back in 90 days.

Despite the tragic deaths, suffering and sadness that it has caused, the pandemic could go down in history as the event that rescued humanity. It has created a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset our lives and societies onto a sustainable path. Global surveys and protests have demonstrated the appetite for fresh...

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast in the UK.

One vessel destroyed and fishing catch and equipment confiscated as Border Force cutter intercepts Indonesians operating illegally.

City of Newcastle lifeguard Mick Body dived into treacherous seas to bring an 8-year-old girl to safety. Now his efforts have been honoured.

Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka took a stand this week that called attention to the mental health of professional athletes. She refused to conduct interviews with the media after her matches at the French Open, citing concerns over her own mental well-being.

The COVIDSafe app was pretty popular upon its release, with around 70% of surveyed Australians saying they supported the idea. And it was a good idea at the time. Now? Not so much.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

Katharine Murphy, The Guardian Australia’s political editor, marvelled recently that Scott Morrison pulls what she called a “Jedi mind trick”, rebadging disasters as triumphs – and getting away with it.

Where most antiviral agents we’ve tried to treat COVID-19 target the inflammatory and immune response resulting from infection, Pfizer’s pill directly targets SARS-CoV-2 — the virus itself.

Australia issues three-year ban on MV Maryam entering the country’s ports after ongoing problems with poor maintenance and crew treatment.

Scott Morrison can feel well satisfied after travelling to New Zealand for the final two days of May. Talks there with his prime ministerial counterpart, Jacinda Ardern, could have been uneasy.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast in the UK.

Mistaken identity and incompetence believed to be behind two – possibly three – murders in Victoria linked to outlaw motorcycle gangs.

Experts got it catastrophically wrong, according to Dominic Cummings, UK prime minister Boris Johnson’s former chief adviser. Cummings has argued that the UK government’s official scientific advice in March 2020 hugely misunderstood how the pandemic would play out, leading to a delay in locking down that cost thousands of lives.

This debate about the near-term outlook is matched by an equally lively debate about long-term inflation, relating to drivers such as the effect of baby boomers retiring, China’s changing labour force, automation and so on. So who is right in all this? Are the inflation numbers a blip or are...

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

Every coastline in the North Atlantic is vulnerable to tropical storms, but some areas are more susceptible to hurricane destruction than others.

Body is concerned that Netflix, on-demand video services and even TV networks are opposing local content regulation.

But Climate Council says the Federal Government is trying to claim credit for something that it played no part in achieving.

When we think of Australia’s threatened corals, the Great Barrier Reef probably springs to mind. But elsewhere, coral species are also struggling – including a rare type known as “cauliflower soft coral” which is, sadly, on the brink of extinction.

More than 19,000 Australian children were recorded homeless on census night in 2016. That’s about one in six of the nation’s homeless population.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast in the UK.

As part of the lockdown, schools will close and move to remote learning, and today is a pupil-free day while schools prepare to teach online.

The International Energy Agency confirmed last week what many already knew: the world is undergoing a huge transformation in global energy markets. Fossil fuels are dying and renewables are on the rise.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

Australia is unquestionably in the midst of an extinction crisis. Some 34 native mammal species have been driven to extinction since European invasion, and threatened species and ecological communities now number more than 1,900.

The International Energy Agency’s recent, landmark report put another glaring spotlight on Australia’s failure to act on climate change.

With COVID-19, thinking like a pathogen leads to an inevitable conclusion: Getting the vaccine out to everyone in the world as quickly as possible is not just an ethical imperative, but also a selfish one.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast in the UK.

Scientists are ‘surprised’ to find a chocolate-coloured tree frog related to Australia’s common green tree frog living in the jungles of New Guinea.

Aerial resources and knowledge of delivering medical services out bush make the RFDS an important part of vaccinating Australia.

The Gulf of California – a sea near the western border of the U.S. and Mexico – is home to some of the world’s most incredible underwater landscapes. It generates 60% of Mexico’s fish catch, but overfishing is threatening its marine ecosystems and the people who make a living off...

According to a recent survey by the American Psychological Association, undesired changes in weight driven by pandemic stress are widespread: 42% of adults reported gaining weight, with a median weight gain of 15 pounds, while 18% reported undesired weight loss.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

President Joe Biden is calling for a more than 60% increase in spending to fight climate change in his first federal budget, with more than $US36 billion in climate-related investments spread across nearly every agency of the government.

In 2020, as lockdowns were enforced across the country, unemployment and underemployment soared. Even for those in stable jobs, wages growth was stagnant.

Mosaic Brands made false claims about its hand sanitisers and face masks during last year’s Covid-19 lockdown in Australia.

The taking of journalist Roman Protasevich from a commercial airline flight has further estranged Belarus from an outraged west and will force the country deeper under the influence of an increasingly powerful Russian Federation.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast in the UK.

As soft drink consumption rises and the health risks become more apparent, how do we help vulnerable consumers to resist the temptation?

Trees and forests have become increasingly important in plans to tackle the climate emergency, yet our work shows that once you factor in how the soil, oceans and other parts of the Earth system would respond, tree planting is not as potent a solution as it may first seem.

Growth requires more material extraction, which in turn requires more energy. The fundamental problem we face in trying to replace fossil energy with renewable energy is that all our renewable technologies are significantly less energy dense than fossil fuels.

Be prepared for any weather with our daily forecast for Australia.

In seven hours of testimony to MPs, Dominic Cummings, former ally of Boris Johnson, gave a scathing report on the government’s handling of the pandemic.

She had recently come under fire after her party lost the by-election in the seat of Upper Hunter.