Appeals court rules US president will not have to pay award until the US supreme court reviews case or rejects an appealA federal appeals court has ruled that Donald Trump will not have to pay the $83.3m defamation award to writer E Jean Carroll until the US supreme court either reviews the case or rejects an appeal.The second US circuit court of appeals in New York issued the order on Monday, granting a request by the president’s lawyers to delay the payment while he seeks supreme court review. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 14:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Court cases in Kenya point to a growing market for ants as exotic pets in Asia and Europe that has implications for conservation and biosecurityIn the biblical text Book of Proverbs, King Solomon describes the harvester ant as a model of wisdom and industriousness: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!”Almost 3,000 years later, the thriving international parallel market for a distinct species of the ant native to east Africa has been thrust into the global spotlight after a series of convictions in Kenya for ant smuggling. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 02:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Pioneering environmentalist Charles Waterton enclosed his parkland and lake near Wakefield in the 1820sOver four years in the 1820s, Charles Waterton built a 9ft-high, 3-mile-long wall around the parkland and lake of Walton Hall. The fox- and poacher-proof boundary enclosed what could be the world’s first nature reserve, completed in Yorkshire 200 years ago.Waterton, an eccentric, controversial and pioneering environmentalist, built nest boxes, special banks for sand martins and innovative bird hides, and offered local people sixpence for every hedgehog they brought into his reserve. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 14:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Matter Industries founder Adam Root has developed a filter to trap microfibres at home and on an industrial scale. But is it just a drop in the ocean?The dinky device slots seamlessly into the modest space above my washing machine. A pipe snakes down from it, drawing in wastewater from my clothes washes. At the end of each wash cycle, the machine makes a polite whirring noise: that’s the sound of the groundbreaking bit of technology working, according to its inventor, Adam Root. That invention is a microplastics filter.“The most common thing we hear [from customers] is: ‘I cannot believe how much material is coming out of the washing machine,’” says Root. “Somebody sent me [photos of] dinner-platefuls.” Continue reading...

13 May 2026 08:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

First we heard its call, then a large, plump bird materialised beneath a bush, walking purposefully towards usFew things beat breakfast in the bush. We were in the Mallee forest near Lake Gilles, about five hours north-west of Adelaide, and more or less halfway across Australia.But although I am famous for enjoying my food, I love birds even more. And so when my guide Steve Potter detected a repetitive whistling call in the distance, our coffee and cornflakes had to wait. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 05:00 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Project organisers say high costs and energy crisis have scuppered green route from Camden to King’s CrossThe Camden Highline, a multimillion-pound effort to transform a disused rail line into a greenery-filled walking and cycling paradise, has been all but scrapped.Nearly a decade since it was conceived as London’s answer to New York’s fabled High Line, the project has fallen victim to high costs and the energy crisis. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 17:53 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN

Organisers as well as speakers will be held responsible for unlawful speech as police face exceptionally busy weekendThe Metropolitan police have said organisers of this weekend’s Unite the Kingdom and March for Palestine demonstrations will be held responsible for any hate speech connected with the events, in what they expect to be “one of the busiest days for policing in London in recent years”.Tens of thousands of people are expected to march in the capital for the Unite the Kingdom event in central London and the Nakba: 78 March for Palestine from south Kensington to central London. Senior officers said protesters would face “the highest degree of control”. The FA Cup final is also due to be held at Wembley on Saturday. Continue reading...

13 May 2026 17:27 ✍️ RSS THE GUARDIAN