Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Report says proposals ‘threaten to affect most vulnerable’, who would be helped by more time to seek advice A group of influential MPs has urged the government to delay controversial planned changes to inheritance tax for farmers to “allow for better formulation of tax policy” and to protect vulnerable farmers by giving them more time to seek advice. The environment, food and rural affairs (Efra) committee has called on the government to hold off announcing its overhaul of agricultural property relief and business property relief until October 2026, before bringing them into effect from April 2027. Continue reading...

Ministers must resist pressure to relax environmental standards in the rush for new housing Almost two decades after the last Labour government announced a zero carbon homes standard, and with the breaking of temperature records around the world now so normal as to seem routine, it ought to be uncontroversial that new buildings should be as environmentally friendly as possible. Given everything we know about global heating, and the law obliging the UK to reach net zero by 2050, it is disturbing that even the basics of promoting energy security and efficiency continue to be questioned. But that is the situation Britain faces, as the government lays the ground for a housebuilding spree that it hopes will last for the rest of this parliament (as planning is devolved, the target of 1.5m new homes is for England only). Much of the blame for this discouraging state of affairs lies with the Tories, who delayed progress towards sustainability by scrapping environmental rules, leading to a disgraceful proliferation of new developments where the houses do not even have solar panels on the roofs. Continue reading...

As avian numbers plunge, activists demand action to save birds from crashing into high-rise blocks The wren’s legs were tucked delicately underneath its diminutive body, slumped on its side as if asleep. If it wasn’t lying on the bare concrete of a Texas street, there would be few clues that it had endured a crunching, violent death. The bird had flown headfirst into the Bank of America building, a 72-storey modernist skyscraper in the heart of Dallas. Its corpse was catalogued by volunteers who seek to document the toll of birds that strike the glass, metal and concrete structures festooned with bewildering lights that form the skylines of our cities. Continue reading...

Organisation receives $2.3m from the Victorian government but has projected operation costs of $10.8m this year Australia news live: latest politics updates Sign up for the Rural Network email newsletter The RSPCA has warned it may not be able to investigate animal cruelty complaints against horses unless it receives more funding, as it reports a surge in the number of horses subject to cruelty complaints in the past 12 months. As drought conditions continue in Victoria, RSPCA Victoria said it had received almost 800 animal cruelty reports concerning horses this financial year, a 37% increase on the number of reports received at this point last year. Sign up to receive Guardian Australia’s fortnightly Rural Network email newsletter Continue reading...