Environment

The US state of Alaska’s largest city and two other state locations reached record high temperatures on Independence Day. The National Weather Service says Anchorage on Thursday afternoon reached 90F (32.22C). Meteorologist Bob Clay says the previous record for Anchorage was 85F (29.44C) on June 14 1969. Kenai and King Salmon also reached new high temperatures of 89F (31.67C). https://twitter.com/AlaskaWx/status/1146984891386494976 Palmer matched its record high at 88F. Mr Clay said a high pressure ridge over much of south-central Alaska is...

More than a thousand sharks and rays are known to have become entangled in plastic debris with “significantly greater number of species” likely to be affected, a study found. Scientists at the University of Exeter found reports of 1,116 of the creatures caught up in plastic in the world’s oceans after scouring existing studies and social media. The true number is likely to be far higher, the researchers said, calling debris from land-based pollution and discarded fishing gear a “severely...

Strongest earthquake to hit Southern California in 20 years

The Government has been accused of “dangerously fudging” data on its migration integration report. There is also little to no evidence of “woefully unambitious” targets to integrate ethnic minorities into the workforce being met, according to the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Joe O’Brien, the organisation’s integration outreach officer, said the data gives a false impression of Ireland’s progress on migrant issues. The Government’s Migration Integration Strategy is a three-year project to support migrants in participating fully in life in Ireland...

A seal who was found with a plastic frisbee ring stuck around his neck has been nursed back to health and released into the wild. The severely injured adult male grey seal was rescued by volunteers at Horsey beach in Norfolk in April and taken to an RSPCA centre at East Winch, near King’s Lynn. Staff there named him Sir David, after Sir David Attenborough, whose Blue Planet II series raised awareness of the environmental damage caused by plastic pollution....

Demonstrators forced their way into Amazon offices in northern Paris.

The UK headquarters of five major oil companies have been targeted by climate change activists.

Local authority housing in Ireland could be completely wiped out if Brexit causes an economic downturn, a committee has heard. An Oireachtas Committee on Tuesday heard that housing bodies may have to compete for funding alongside other capital projects, including the Children’s Hospital overrun, Brexit, and the National Broadband Plan, in the event of any significant fiscal pressure. “If Brexit hits as hard as we think it could, we go from a small government surplus to a large deficit, and...

The figure was £59.7 billion in 2017.