Chemical industry backed laws in three US states to restrict use of air pollution data 10. September 2026 (13:00) As public air monitors disappear, federal rollbacks and state laws are making it harder than ever to know what’s in the airAs the US’s network for monitoring air pollution deteriorates, a Floodlight investigation has found that the chemical industry is going state-to-state to restrict one of the few options citizens have left for holding polluters accountable: low-cost air sensors.Over the past two years, the non-profit investigative newsroom determined, lawmakers in Louisiana, Kentucky and Ohio have passed strikingly similar laws barring regulators from acting on air-quality data that communities collect themselves – unless it comes from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-approved equipment that typically costs tens of thousands of dollars. Similar legislation has repeatedly been introduced in West Virginia. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
‘Our forefathers are coming back’: Naga people celebrate after Oxford museum agrees to return remains 10. September 2026 (13:00) Following six years of talks, Pitt Rivers Museum will return body parts collected by British colonial administrators to north-east IndiaAnthropologists and community leaders from Nagaland, a remote state in north-eastern India bordering Myanmar, have expressed joy and relief that human remains belonging to their ancestors that had been on display in a British museum for nearly a century are finally being returned.On Monday, the Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford announced that 39 pieces of human remains – including parts of skulls, a finger and a piece of skin with hair – belonging to the Naga tribes, will be returned to Nagaland after six years of negotiation between the community and the museum. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Hospitality industry fears jobs at risk from plan to give mayors powers to impose ‘tourist tax’ 10. September 2026 (12:03) The sector is concerned by reports that there won’t be a cap on the levy that can be imposed by mayorsKemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives are opposed to giving mayors the power to impose a tourism tax.Speaking on Sky News, she said:Right now we’re not even getting the number of tourists that we used to get. They’re going to so many other places.We need to create jobs and grow our economy. Business does that. Taxing does not create jobs. It reduces them. We saw that with Rachel Reeves’ budget. I wish Labour had learned that lesson.Waiting lists in England went up in July, reaching their highest level for nine months. The Press Association says:An estimated 7.33m treatments were waiting to be carried out at the end of July, relating to 6.21 million patients, according to NHS figures.This is up from 7.27m treatments and 6.15 million patients at the end of June. Continue reading...(The Guardian)
Russian drones kill at least nine in strikes targeting warehouses and ports in Ukraine – Europe live 10. September 2026 (12:01) The strikes come after it was revealed that Ukraine’s president Volodomyr Zelenskyy’s plane was almost hit by a drone when leaving Moldova this weekAddressing German ambassadors, Wadephul repeats that the Russian threat “has reached our doorstep and it’s tangible.”He adds:“The Russian attempted attack at the airport in Leipzig is only the most recent incident in a string of constantly growing Russian aggression against Europe and against Nato.Russia and its partners operate with a global network against our interests and in favour of an own imperialist claim to great power status." Continue reading...(The Guardian)
