Opponents fear Elon Musk firm’s plan to develop 18-mile strip of Pecan Island will badly damage fragile ecosystem
Plans by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to build a vast rocket launch site on a stretch of Louisiana’s rapidly eroding coastline have stirred a backlash among some local opponents who fear it will badly damage the area’s fragile ecosystem.
A deal for SpaceX to take control of 130,000 acres of coastal Vermilion parish is reported to be close to being finalized, allowing the company to escalate its number of launches, including of its new Starship mega rocket. SpaceX also has ambitions to deploy artificial intelligence datacenters in space, and while some experts have doubts about this, it has submitted regulatory filings to build a constellation of up to a million of them.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
08/10/2026 - 09:00
08/10/2026 - 07:13
Firm urges customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm on Wednesday
Where in the UK will get the best view of the solar eclipse?
Business live – latest updates
Great Britain’s biggest household energy supplier is calling on its customers to use less electricity this week during the deepest solar eclipse in almost 30 years.
Octopus Energy has urged customers to avoid running washing machines and dishwashers between 6pm and 8pm this Wednesday as the moon is expected to block up to 95% of the sun over parts of Britain.
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An ambitious new project in Florida is giving marine scientists hope: ‘I just see so much potential’
08/10/2026 - 07:00
Conservationists have created a ‘coastal corridor’ of ocean-based projects designed to preserve and nourish vulnerable marine life
From disappearing manatees to bleached coral reefs, gender-changing turtles and oyster beds destroyed by hurricanes, no other state’s marine life faces the magnitude of climate-related challenges than Florida’s.
Now, wildlife authorities are attempting to bring some cohesion to tackling the diverse slate of issues by borrowing from a playbook that has already proved successful on land.
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08/10/2026 - 06:00
Extreme conditions in Washington and Oregon have fueled fast-moving fires, leaving the region draped in toxic plumes – and the danger isn’t over
Piles of twisted metal and ashen debris line the cul-de-sacs where the tranquil suburbs of Spokane, Washington, once stood.
The scale of devastation from a historic fire season of wildfire in the Pacific north-west has come into sharper focus as firefighters wrangle a trio of blazes that consumed at least 846 structures on the eastern side of the state.
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08/10/2026 - 06:00
Rainforest communities face a silent crisis as mercury from gold mining contaminates their food and water
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08/10/2026 - 05:07
Thousands of residents in British Columbia's wine and orchard region were ordered to evacuate on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire in western Canada nearly doubled in size overnight. The Bald Range fire was burning out of control across about 9,500 hectares, prompting evacuation orders in Summerland, Peachland and other districts west of Okanagan Lake
Canadian government steps in as ‘out of control’ wildfires force thousands to flee
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08/10/2026 - 05:00
Truman Capote had a ‘crow bro’; Dickens had a raven. And I get standoffish Susan, who has never brought me a present or perched on my shoulder
One of the greatest failures of my life to date (along with my sons’ shameful inability to eat apples correctly, down to the core) is my inability to attract a “crow bro”. That’s a corvid companion, and more and more people apparently have them, including Washington Post journalist Caitlin Gibson, who recently wrote about hers, Cormac, a charismatic fish crow with a taste for cashews.
It’s not a new phenomenon – Charles Dickens had a pet raven, Grip; Truman Capote had a crow called Lola – but thanks to CrowTok (a wholesome online enclave where people post enthusiastically about the exploits of their feathery familiars), there seem to be more corvid whisperers than ever. Yet however many unshelled peanuts (the recommended treat) I scatter, I can never seem to get a shred of attention from a black-feathered beauty.
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Typhoon Dolphin: more than a million people evacuated in China as record rainfall dumped on Shanghai
08/09/2026 - 22:46
Authorities warn that days of intense rain could trigger widespread flooding and landslides as storm moves north and further inland
More than a million people were moved to safety across eastern China by Sunday evening as powerful Typhoon Dolphin made landfall amid fears torrential rain would cause flooding and landslides.
Wenzhou, a coastal city in Zhejiang province, said it relocated more than 900,000 people and opened more than 1,500 emergency shelters. In neighbouring Fujian, 98,900 people were moved from high-risk areas.
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08/09/2026 - 21:00
Average sea surface temperature outside polar regions was highest on record for July, beating previous high in 2023
The world’s seas were hotter last month than in any July on record, scientists have said, as devastating heat struck western Europe.
Sea surface temperatures hit record highs for July on the Atlantic coast and western Mediterranean, the EU’s Copernicus climate change service found, with severe marine heatwaves roiling Europe’s seas. Globally, the average sea surface temperature outside the cold polar regions was the highest on record for the month, beating the previous July record set in 2023.
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08/09/2026 - 13:20
British Columbia battling 102 fires day and night across province, as breakneck speed hampers firefighters’ efforts
Canada’s federal government has announced it will provide urgent assistance to British Columbia after an onslaught of unprecedented fast-moving wildfires that killed one person and forced about 22,000 people to flee their homes in frantic evacuations.
A total of 102 wildfires were raging across the province on Sunday, of which nearly half were categorised as “out of control”, according to the BC Wildfire Service. Of those fires, 78 ignited during the past week.
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