The Iran war has exposed the country’s reliance on fossil fuels – and its wilful neglect of people’s basic needs

Up in the driver’s seat of a lime green CLAAS tractor, a young man called Dylan told me he was the second tractor to arrive on O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main street, for fuel protests that would bring Ireland to a standstill for nearly a week. The tractor in front of him, belonging to his boss, had a sign warning “No Farms, No Food”. The 19-year-old agricultural contract worker sat with two friends, young women of 16 and 17, out to support him. He had slept nights in the tractor in the biting April cold, along with many other farmers, fishers and truckers whose vehicles lined both sides of the street.

“It’s profit before people,” Dylan said of campaigners’ complaints about the government’s levying of 60% in duties and taxes on fuel continuing during a crisis. “It’s affecting everyone – it’s affecting our businesses, it’s affecting yourselves if you’re running a car or heating your house. Eventually if we don’t get what we want, it’s going to start affecting the price of food on the shelves and no one is going to be able to afford anything.”

Caelainn Hogan is a journalist and the author of Republic of Shame

Continue reading...

Amid growing evidence of fungi’s key role in ecosystems and storing carbon, mycologists seek greater recognition of the need to preserve ‘funga’ as much as flora and fauna

Madagascar has long been celebrated for its remarkable wildlife, with the vast majority of its species – from ring-tailed lemurs to certain species of baobab trees – found nowhere else on the planet. But when discussing the island nation’s endemic treasures, fungi are often left out of the conversation.

Yet “fungi are some of the most important things in the world”, says Anna Ralaiveloarisoa, a Malagasy scientist. “They feed 90% of terrestrial plants. Without them, there is no life on the Earth.”

Continue reading...

Iron Maiden, Billy Idol, Queen Latifah and Joy Division/New Order will also be inducted, along with the late Luther Vandross

Phil Collins, Iron Maiden, Billy Idol, Queen Latifah, Oasis, Sade and Joy Division/New Order will be inducted into the Rock + Roll Hall of Fame, along with first-time nominees Wu-Tang Clan and the late Luther Vandross.

The list was revealed on Monday night in the US, during an airing of American Idol. To be eligible, artists must have released their first commercial recording at least 25 years prior. Nominees were voted on by more than 1,200 artists, historians and music industry professionals.

Continue reading...

Door het winnen van twee zetels in Toronto krijgt de Liberale Partij zeker 173 zetels in het 343-zetels tellende Lagerhuis. Daarmee kan de regeringspartij van premier Carney wetgeving doorvoeren zonder steun van oppositiepartijen.

Op deze dinsdagochtend liggen koning Willem-Alexander en koningin Máxima te slapen in het Witte Huis. Ze zijn daar op uitnodiging van president Trump.

Na het verdwijnen van eventueel aanwezige mist die plaatselijk kan voorkomen, krijgen we vandaag een prachtige lentedag met veel zonneschijn en het blijft droog. Landinwaarts ontstaan vanmiddag enkele stapelwolken. De maximumtemperatuur komt uit op circa 16 graden. De wind waait zwak en aan zee hooguit matig uit het westen (windkracht 2 tot 3).

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

Thomas Hawk posted a photo:

The "mudcrabs" battling to remediate Sydney's sickest waterway. Scurrying about the banks of Sydney's Cooks River, an army of volunteers known as the "mudcrabs" is working to bring one of the nation's most toxic waterways back to life.

Tiny variation in temperature weakened a component and when a critical moment arrived, that mattered

Japan’s space exploration agency (JAXA) thinks a manufacturing process that didn’t properly take into account the qualities of an adhesive caused the December 2025 failure of a satellite launch using its locally developed H3 rocket.…