Breaking Waves: Ocean News

A national heatwave plan has been activated to help people stay cool during the Netherlands’ increasingly hot summers Households in Amsterdam are being urged to hang their curtains outside their windows as health experts recommend simple hacks to moderate the heatwave rolling across the Netherlands, where homes were built for old-fashioned damp and coldish northern European weather. In a viral social media post last week, Eline Coolen, the heat coordinator at the city’s public health institute, urged sweaty city-dwellers to rig up temporary curtain rails or drape curtains or sheets outside to stop the sun’s rays reaching their large windows. Continue reading...

Sports and nationwide music festival affected, with temperatures for some expected to reach 42C from Monday Authorities in France have placed more than a third of the country under a red heat alert, cancelled some outdoor sports events and restricted alcohol consumption at the nationwide Fête de la Musique event amid a brutal heatwave forecast to push temperatures above 40C. Level 1 or 2 heat alerts were issued on Sunday for about 53 million people, just over 75% of the population. A record 35 of the country’s 96 mainland departments were put on danger-to-life red alert, with another 45 under an orange warning. Continue reading...

This blog has now closed Get our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcast Ted O’Brien distanced himself from Pauline Hanson’s suggestion that Australia shouldn’t give aid to Pacific countries that also take aid from China. He said it was a legitimate concern, but her solution was “completely wrong” for the Pacific and not in Australia’s national interest. The idea that you effectively hold a gun to the head of our Pacific neighbours – that’s not what a friend does, that’s not a way of building trust, you don’t basically create an ultimatum. You certainly don’t say it’s all about who you’re going to get money from. The relationship that we have with the Pacific islands is far deeper than development money. From Australia’s perspective, I think that’s the main thing that we should be concerned about, because that has a direct impact on the prices we pay here in Australia. A permanent toll would be bad in practice, wrong in principle, and set a dangerous precedent for how otherwise waterways should be managed internationally. Continue reading...

Mona Khalil led decades-long effort to protect nesting site for turtles near her home in south of the country The Lebanese marine activist Mona Khalil, who became a beloved figure in the country for a decades-long effort to protect a nesting site for turtles near her home, has died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike. Khalil, 76, ran a sanctuary called the Orange House Project near the Mediterranean city of Tyre. She hosted volunteers in her house to clean and monitor a mile-long beach and welcomed tourists to stay and learn about conservation. Continue reading...