Surfshark's One plan is heavily discounted right now, with an 87-percent discount on the two-year package, plus three extra months. The promo price comes out to $2.29 per month, or $62 for the first 27 months.

We've generally liked Surfshark as a straightforward, speedy service for everyday use, and it's one of the picks in our guide to the best VPNs. In our Surfshark review, we found it delivered excellent speeds overall and reliably unblocked Netflix across most of our test servers, which makes this long-term deal worth a look if you want a VPN deal that also includes extras like antivirus, breach alerts and private search.

In our Surfshark review, the VPN stood out for its excellent performance and approachable design, especially for people who want strong protection without constantly tweaking settings. During testing, it delivered some of the fastest speeds we've seen from a major VPN, with average download speeds dropping by just over five percent worldwide. Upload speeds also held up well, making it a solid option for streaming, browsing and everyday use. We gave Surfshark an overall score of 87 out of 100 and called it one of the best VPNs for casual users.

This deal focuses on the Surfshark One plan, which bundles the VPN with a suite of extra security tools. In addition to the VPN itself, you get Alternative ID for masking your email and personal details, antivirus protection, breach monitoring through Surfshark Alert and a private search engine. It also supports unlimited simultaneous device connections, so you can protect all of your devices with a single subscription.

Right now, the Surfshark One plan is discounted by 86 percent, bringing the price down to $67 total for two years plus three extra months. That works out to $2.49 per month for the first 27 months, billed upfront, with a 30-day money-back guarantee if you change your mind. 

If you want to compare it against other top services before committing, you can also check out our full Surfshark VPN review and our best VPN guide to see how it stacks up. We'll be keeping our best VPN deals roundup updated regularly, too.

Disclaimer: SS: Related to Collapse because it address the loss of biodiversity on the planet and overpopulation, with the link between the two.

Growth in human population increase demand for food, home and products, and how agriculture is unsustainable with modern methods, but without those methods the amount of food needed to sustain the poulation would not be enough.

Also human population will either have high consumption like on first world countries or enable overconsumption by working on third world factories to produce what is consumed on the first world.

Alex Marquez leaves the Sepang MotoGP test as the fastest rider over all three days. The Gresini Ducati rider put in a very fast time to beat the best time ever set at a Sepang test, though he was a few hundredths off Pecco Bagnaia's pole record from 2024.

• Read more about 2026 Sepang MotoGP Test Combined Times : Bezzecchi Interloper In Ducati Field
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Combined times from Day 3 of the Sepang Test:

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I have a love-hate relationship with Spotify that might just be leaning more towards love today. While I struggle with some of the company's choices about the type of content it allows on its platform, I have always had a soft spot for its Wrapped roundups and the monthly audiobook hours included with my Premium subscription. For those like me, Spotify's news today will likely enhance the appeal of its audiobook offerings. It's announcing a partnership with Bookshop.org — which lets indie bookstores sell their wares online through a unified platform — allowing users to buy physical books from within its app, and launching a new Page Match feature that helps sync your progress across the physical books you read and the audiobooks in Spotify's catalog. Also, the audiobook recap feature that summarizes the plot so far is expanding to Android this spring, following its iOS debut (in beta form) last fall.

Page Match is coming to all places where Spotify's audiobooks are available, starting with the English language titles in its 500,000-strong library. Meanwhile, you can access Bookshop within the Spotify app in the US and the UK, where Bookshop operates. 

Though I'm thrilled that this will mean easier and greater support of independent bookstores in those areas, I'm more excited by the prospect of Page Match, which I previewed at a recent launch event in the company's offices in New York. I'm the sort of person who reads the same title in its ebook, physical and audio forms. (I often wish that a purchase of a physical book came with free ebook and audio versions, but that's besides the point.) 

While Kindles currently do a decent job of getting you to your latest page read across various devices, switching between, say, Martha Wells' All Systems Red on Spotify and the paperback copy is not quite as easy. With Page Match, though, that should get a lot easier.

When you get access to the feature (which is rolling out today), you'll find the Page Match button under the title of each audiobook. You'll have to first look up the book on Spotify and tap into its full chapter list to find this, which means the book you want to use has to be one of the hundreds of thousands in the company's library. Then, tap the green "Scan to listen" button if you're looking to move over to the audio version or "Scan to read" below it if you're switching over to a hard copy instead.

Whichever you pick, you'll need to enable access to your device's camera and then scan the page of the book you're on. This should work on ereaders as well, and appears to be using some form of optical character recognition to match the part of the book to its audio counterpart.

If you're scanning to listen, the process is fairly straightforward. Once you've placed the page in the viewfinder, the app will quickly jump to that very spot in the chapter track. I'll note that it was hard for me to confirm whether this actually worked during my first demo, since I never felt like I found the words being spoken on the page I was looking at. In this case, it was Lights Out: An Into Darkness novel by Navessa Allen, and I mostly felt like the narration had simply gone past the page I was on, rather than a complete failure. Subsequent attempts with other books, like Stephen King's It, were more effective.

Things get a bit trickier when you're trying to move from audio book to the paper (or ereader). After pressing "Scan to read," you'll need to place a page in front of the camera and wait for it to tell you to move forward or backward. Ideally, you'd already know more or less where you were, so you won't have to flip too many pages.

In my demo, because we were a few chapters too far from where we paused in the early part of It, there was a lot more page-turning required to get to the right spot. What I found helpful was the progress bar at the bottom of the screen, which highlighted the correct location and how far away we were from it. The instructions "Move forward" and "Move back" were clear and came up in a timely manner. When we finally landed on the right page, the screen highlighted the specific lines on the page to start from, too.

I have to caveat this with the observation that there were a few starts and stops during my demo, which were resolved once I established a solid internet connection. And though "Scan to read" did eventually work as promised, there was a bit of flipping around that seemed to be part of the process, which might be tedious and not quite the magical experience some might expect.

The good news is that Spotify seems to already be working on even more features to make it easier to read physical books in tandem with listening to audiobooks. The company said it sees "the future of reading as one that's personalized, flexible, and built to move fluidly across formats and moments. Page Match is an early example of how Spotify is helping shape that future at scale. "

Rabid media coverage of the Epstein files has breathlessly focused on political gossip at the expense of centring victims and survivors. As such, public discussion of elite sexual abuse often gravitates towards spectacle: powerful men, hidden networks and institutional failure. Of course, coverage from mainstream media is complicit in upholding power structures that decide who counts as a victim - and who doesn't.

Instead, the newly released Epstein files point to an uncomfortable reality. It has been noted from FBI interview records and grand jury testimony that Epstein's "preference was short, little, white girls." Crucially, Epstein's operation did not rely on chance or opportunism. Instead, Epstein paid girls to recruit other minors and enforced his preferences through discipline and reward. When recruiters failed to comply, the system reprimanded them. In practice, race did not sit in the background. Rather, it structured how the trafficking itself operated.

When recruiters violated those expectations, Epstein reprimanded them. In one instance, he refused to allow a Black girl to massage him, telling the recruiter that he "was not interested in black girls." As a result, racial selection operated not as personal taste but as an enforced rule within the trafficking system.

This is not simply evidence of personal bias. It is evidence of racialised trafficking.

A 2019 prosecution memorandum from the Southern District of New York reinforces this pattern. Drawing on multiple victims' accounts, the memo describes how Epstein's operation recruited, paid, recycled, and excluded girls. Epstein "expressed displeasure" when certain girls were brought to him and "did not like dark-skinned girls".

This language confirms that race operated as a selection criterion within the abuse economy. The operation expected recruiters to internalise Epstein's preferences and adjust their behaviour accordingly. When recruiters failed, the system punished them through loss of payment, emotional reprimand, or exclusion from favour. Trafficking here did not operate opportunistically or chaotically. It functioned as a regulated system, with whiteness operating as currency and Blackness marking disposability.

Black women-led anti-trafficking advocates have long warned that sexual exploitation cannot be understood outside race. As survivor-leader Vednita Carter, founder of Breaking Free, has stated:

Prostitution is a racial justice issue..you can't just take race out of it.

The Epstein files bear this out.

Institutions frame misogynoir solely as hypersexualisation, with Black women and girls rendered excessively visible and exposed to violence. The Epstein material reveals a quieter but equally damaging mechanism. Black girls were not hypervisible. Institutions filtered them out. Their exclusion did not signal safety. It signalled erasure.

Exclusion from the pipeline meant exclusion from testimony, from media coverage, and from public memory. It also reinforced a persistent myth: that elite sexual exploitation primarily harms white girls.

This is how racialised sexual violence hides. Black girls are routinely denied access to the category of the "ideal victim": young, innocent, credible and deserving of sympathy. Research on adultification bias shows that Black girls are routinely denied the presumption of innocence and vulnerability afforded to white girls.

That category was never built to include them. When Black girls are missing from abuse narratives, it is not because they were protected, but because institutions are structured to look past them.

This omission is not politically neutral. Silence here is not an oversight. It is an organising strategy. When Black girls are written out of sexual abuse narratives, institutions are spared the obligation to protect them, fund services for them or confront the racialised nature of exploitation.

The National Black Women's Justice Institute has noted that Black women and girls face "intersecting challenges rooted in racism, sexism and systemic oppression", which not only heighten vulnerability to trafficking but also create barriers to recognition, justice, and healing once harm occurs.

Elite abuse narratives often rely on a narrow feminist crime that centres white girlhood as the default site of innocence. This framing does not merely overlook Black girls. It depends on their absence. It allows institutions to perform concern while leaving intact the racial hierarchies that decide whose suffering is legible.

It is within this framework that Epstein's documented interests in eugenics becomes relevant. As the Canary has previously reported, Epstein repeatedly expressed "Nazi-like" eugenic obsessions around intelligence, breeding, and hierarchy. These views are disturbing, but they are not the story on their own.

What matters is how this ideology aligns with the trafficking practices documented in the files.

Eugenics did not create Epstein's abuse, but it helped rationalise the sorting, ranking, and exclusion that defined it. Belief systems rooted in hierarchy sustain racialised trafficking by framing inequality as natural and exclusion as reasonable.

In that sense, Epstein's eugenic thinking functions as context rather than cause. It helps explain how institutions normalised racial selection, enforced it through practice, and largely refused to interrogate it.

Understanding misogynoir only through sexualisation misses how it operates in elite abuse systems. Here, misogynoir functions through subtraction. Black girls disappear twice: first from protection, then memory -trafficking organisations working with Black survivors have warned that this has material consequences. This leads to gaps in accountability, long-term support, and prevention. Absence from the record becomes absence from remedy.

When abuse narratives centre those only deemed recognisable victims, accountability remains partial. Power survives by narrowing the field of concern.

The Epstein files show how institutions produce that acknowledgement: through recruitment rules, racialised preferences, reprimand, reward, and silence.

Public outrage around sexual exploitation often peaks around individual villains, then dissipates. Structural analysis demands more and offers less comfort. Without it, the same hierarchies persist.

Institutions continue to under-identify Black girls as victims of sexual violence, under-protect them, and write them out of high-profile cases. When commentators read that absence as evidence of safety rather than exclusion, misogynoir does its quiet work.

The Epstein files do not simply expose an individual abuser. They show how systems of power decide whose suffering they record in the first place. As long as racialised trafficking remains peripheral to how institutions understand sexual exploitation, they will continue to frame abuse as exceptional rather than structural.

This is not a failure of evidence. It is a failure of political will.

Featured image via the Canary

By Vannessa Viljoen

Academic Shaiel Ben-Ephraim describes himself as a "Jew from occupied Palestine". He has posted what he describes as "probably the most important Hebrew tweet I've ever seen". Ben-Ephraim introduces and translates the Hebrew words of Israeli general Moshe 'Bogie' Ya'alon, one of Israel's most senior military and establishment figures.

Ben-Ephraim's words - and the explosive words of Ya'alon - need little elaboration, except to flag to readers that Ya'alon describes Israel as ethno-supremacist "Judeo-Nazis" for their crimes against Palestinian people. And he mocks the common Zionist tactic of complaining that we must never compare Israel to the Nazis. Read in full below - emphases added:

This is probably the most important Hebrew Tweet I've ever seen. Moshe Ya'alon is a former chief of staff and defense minister. The absolute cream of the Israeli defense establishment. In this text he admits that the Israeli government and settlers have become Judeo-Nazis and their policy is based on Jewish supremacy. Here is a full translation:

"On the last Tuesday evening, I attended an event marking the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. When I got home, I received a message about Jewish pogromists attacking Palestinians in the south of Hebron, stealing their livestock, and burning their property. "We can't compare!…"

After ambulances, which tried to reach the scene, were delayed by the Jewish terrorists, three Palestinians were evacuated to the hospital, one of them with skull fractures. "No event can ever compare to the Holocaust, which we endured!" …

I turned, of course, immediately to the security authorities in the area, and I was assured that the incident was being handled by the IDF. To this day not a single Jewish terrorist has been stopped (as in many other cases), because … the Israel Police is controlled by a convicted criminal, a fascist racist Nazi, the Shin Bet is controlled by a representative of "Jewish supremacy" from the schools of the rabbis Tao, Lior, Ginzburg, and Zini (Dodo), the defense minister prevents administrative detentions of Jewish terrorists, and the other minister in the Ministry of Defense encourages illegal outposts and equips them with off-road vehicles, to torment the lives of Palestinians, to evict them from their land, and to settle the land with Jews (you'll ask again why I blamed the government for "ethnic cleansing"!?). The ideology of "Jewish supremacy," which has become dominant in the Israeli government, resembles Nazi racial theory, "but we must not compare!" …

When I commanded the Jerusalem and Samaria Division, the Central Command, and the IDF, I was acquainted with the warnings of Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz, regarding the process of dehumanization to the point of turning us into "Judeo-Nazis" (as he put it), under our control of another people. I did my best, even as defense minister, "so that we may know how to defeat terrorism and remain human."

I never deceived myself into thinking that only through concessions would we achieve "peace now," and I also understood the danger of "Jewish supremacy" over our future and our existence. Therefore I advocated separation according to the proto-programmatic speech of Yitzhak Rabin of October 5, 1995, and therefore I named my book is "A Long Short Way." As of now, Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz was right and I was wrong.

The task of the next Israeli government is to prove that Professor Leibowitz was wrong, and not to bring ruin upon our state. The government of "Jewish Supremacy" — the government of lies and betrayal — the government of messianism, the traitors and the corrupt — must be replaced before ruin."

Israelis of conscience see that it is adopting the policies of Judeo-Nazism and Jewish supremacy. They have known it for a long time. But most do not have the courage to say so. This is an earthquake.

Unsurprisingly, the silence of 'mainstream' media and pro-Israel groups on Ya'alon's words is deafening.

Featured image via the Canary

By Skwawkbox

Keir Starmer is perhaps the most unpopular prime minister we've ever had, and he's embroiled himself in what may be the most disgusting scandal. Can this loathed public figure survive this self-inflicted catastrophe?

Almost certainly not.

And one person who's ahead of the curve on this is Zack Polanski:

Important discussion this evening on Palantir.

Keir Starmer having meetings in Washington - and then the US spy tech company receive £260m.

The largest defence contract in British history - through Peter Mandelsons lobbying company. https://t.co/i9lDjfEx22

— Zack Polanski (@ZackPolanski) February 4, 2026

As we've reported, Starmer appointed Peter Mandelson to be ambassador to the US despite knowing he maintained a friendship with the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein after his conviction. The media presented it as some great revelation when Starmer admitted to this in parliament yesterday, but it was never a secret; the media just failed to interrogate Starmer when he returned Mandelson to public office.

We reported on Mandelson maintaining his ties with Epstein way back in 2023.

It wasn't a secret.

Starmer knew.

The media knew.

This is all just a grim pantomime.

In the clip above, Polanski describes hiring Mandelson as "the most catastrophic lapse in judgement you can imagine". In our opinion, the "lapse of judgement" is that Starmer thought the media would ignore this obvious scandal forever. It's not that he hired a notorious sleazeball, because he clearly doesn't care about that; after all, he's part of a movement which is entirely comprised of such people:

Peter Mandelson is not some random outlier.

He was one of the founders and central pillars of the New Labour project.

He was a central player in the Starmer project - including as mentor to the chief of staff.

He is the very core of the Labour Right! https://t.co/lypJOfU8hz

— Owen Jones (@owenjonesjourno) February 4, 2026

Polanski also said:

I think it's clear the Prime Minister should do the right thing and step down, because actually the rut runs right throughout the Labour government.

This is a man in Keir Starmer who knew that Peter Mandelson was friends with one of the most known paedophiles in the world, was still staying in his apartment, and he brought him into the heart of government solely because, I imagine, he thought he could whisper in Trump's ear.

Polanski is absolutely correct that the "right thing" for Starmer to do would be to "step down". Given that this is the guy who hired Mandelson, however, there's no reason to expect him to do the right thing.

Featured image via Zack Polanski

By Willem Moore

In a 3 February debate, nationalist and unaligned Northern Ireland Assembly members (MLAs) pilloried the selective education system used on 11 year olds in the region. MLAs described their own experiences of feeling "like a failure" after not passing the test, which determines whether pupils will go on to a selective grammar school via success in the test. Those who get a lower one of the six bands in the Schools' Entrance Assessment Group (SEAG) exam will typically attend a non-selective school.

Cara Hunter, Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) MLA for East Derry, described the stress young children are subjected to. She recalled from her childhood:

…breathing exercises in a circle [and] relaxing music before going to sit the exam.

If schools are deploying on 11 year olds techniques more common to a trauma counselling session, it's fair to say you've failed to produce a humane education system. Danny Baker of Sinn Féin recalled speaking to parents of a child who didn't leave his room for three days after failing the test.

The politicians made their points during a debate on a motion that called on:

…the Minister of Education to produce a time-bound plan to end academic selection and transfer tests in post-primary admissions and to develop and implement a fair, inclusive and non-selective system of primary education that ensures equality of opportunity for all children…

The non-binding motion passed by a margin of 48-30. Voting was split between nationalist and unionist camps, with all 'no' votes coming from the latter bloc. No unionist MLA voted for the motion. Nowhere in Britain maintains a system where academic selection features to such an extent. In England, only around 5% of state secondary are grammars. In the North of Ireland, that figure is over 40%. Scotland and Wales have entirely comprehensive (i.e. non-selective) systems.

Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) MLA David Brooks was the most staunch defender of the current approach. He declared that he "absolutely believes in academic selection". Describing his own upwards trajectory as a working class pupil who passed the old '11 plus' test and went to a grammar school he said:

…a generation of children from working class families - many without an academic tradition at home - have used grammar school as a ladder of opportunity.

This is a little like the fobbing-off exercise deployed by private schools when they grant scholarships to a handful of less affluent students. 'Ignore all those people drowning,' they effectively say. 'Just keep focusing on the few we've granted a lifeboat.'

The man at the centre of the debate, education minister and rabid Zionist Paul Givan, said MLAs were failing children by labelling them failures for children not passing the selection process. This dishonestly misrepresented what was actually being said - that children were made to feel like failures by a system that pressured and graded them at such an early stage in life.

Nick Mathison from Alliance criticised the test itself, saying it doesn't offer any "objective measures of ability". The current format focuses on evaluating ability in English and Maths, which is indeed a limited spectrum of human capacities. It ignores social, musical, physical and empathic qualities, along with many others, in favour of a narrow definition of what we ought to value.

He also decried the missed opportunity for "deep learning", saying:

From P5 [around age 9], certainly from P6-7, almost all focus is on exclusively teaching to the SEAG test, an exclusive focus on numeracy and literacy.

Baker denounced the pressure the transfer test puts on the "same schools doing all the heavy lifting". These schools take on a disproportionate number of children with additional support needs and those from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds, leaving fewer resources to dedicate to teaching. Qualifying for free school meals is a strong indicator of poverty. Around 16% of children at selective schools have this entitlement, against roughly 39% in non-selective ones.

In what was a largely intelligent and civilised debate, only leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the insufferable Jon Burrows, sought to inject inanity into proceedings. He made a nonsensical point about selection providing choice, and followed up with a smear on how this preference would be "ideologically inconsistent" for Sinn Féin MLAs to back, given their apparent support for Marxism.

A) A society drawing on the best of Marx's thought would likely be considerably more democratic and choice-rich than our current system of fake free markets; and B) It'll be a fine day when the targets of his ire are even one quarter as Marxist as his fevered imaginings.

His unionist fellows Brooks and Givan did make one valid point - the observation that no school system, be it selective or otherwise, can ever be truly free from existing inequalities. Affluent parents will always have the option of buying tuition for their children, or moving house to within the catchment area of the best schools.

Like so many societal ills, the underlying cause is an economic system - capitalism - that distributes resources so unequally and gives some children unfair advantages from the moment of birth. The true solution is to fix this shoddy foundation which everything else is built upon.

Featured image via the Canary

By Robert Freeman

Zarah Sultana has thrown her support behind the Green Party's Gorton and Denton candidate, Hannah Spencer. In doing so, she's demonstrated exactly how solidarity on the left should work. In a statement, Sultana said:

The candidate list is now published and it is clear that Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and trade unionist, is the strongest challenger to Labour and Reform. ​ I am, therefore, giving my personal critical support to her and the Green Party in this by-election, and I urge others to do the same.

I have always been clear that the left is strongest when it is united. ​ Our real opponents are not one another. ​ They are Reform and the far-right.

However, Sultana's comments are unfortunately at odds with a statement from the Grassroots Left slate for Your Party - who she backs.

Your Party (YP) had already issued a statement outlining that after deliberation with local members, it had decided that a YP candidacy would not serve their 'collective goals' of defeating Reform. But, the Grassroots Left (GL) slate subsequently stated that:

Grassroots Left will not lend unconditional support to the Green Party candidate, because the Greens are a pro-capitalist, pro-Nato party and have been enforcing cuts in councils all over the country.

Many people from across the leftist spectrum have, rightly, been pointing out this is an immature and short-sighted approach in the face of rising fascism.

Zarah Sultana's statement came after the GL left one, and is interesting for outlining exactly why, on that statement, GL got it wrong:

My statement on the Gorton & Denton by-election: pic.twitter.com/HSrgDf70h2

— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) February 3, 2026

In particular, it's worth looking at one passage from Sultana:

As a young Muslim woman, I understand viscerally what it would mean for the far-right to gain power in this country. This is not an abstract debate for me, nor the millions of people across the country whose safety would be directly affected.

Ultimately, this is what the Gorton and Denton by-election has turned into: a testing ground that is an opportunity for the Green party to show that people are coming together to reject the fascism of Reform. And, Sultana's comments show exactly what happens when a socialist who has lived experience of racism can do when understanding the very real cost of parties like Reform. This isn't an abstract political debate for many people in this country.

It is a reality that has material consequences. In choosing to focus on other policy issues, rather than the much more immediate threat of Reform, GL have shown naive judgement that is disappointing to see.

However, this rather public disagreement is not a dramatic sign of a 'rift.' Instead, it is another sign that Sultana is well practiced at productive disagreements that make the movement stronger. Unity does not require uniformity. Leftists are not required to agree on every single point. Instead, we must be able to unite when necessary to resist racism and fascism.

In what many onlookers will probably view with understandable frustration, a heated battle of the factions will soon be underway with the Central Executive Elections (CEC) of Your Party due to take place on the 26th February. Apparent differences in mission have driven a divergence among members, signaling an existential moment for the movement. Namely, Jeremy Corbyn has endorsed the For the Many slate, while Sultana has endorsed the Grassroots Left slate.

It is worth noting, the GL statement has faced pushback from within the group itself, with some members expressing dissatisfaction with the tone it adopted.

Chloe Walker, CEC Northwest candidate standing on the Grassroots Left slate shared her views on the difference in views amongst members in the community-grounded movement. She told the Canary:

Personally as I've stated previously, I think that the most prevalent sentiment amongst local members is correct - it would have been nice to back a candidate, Tony Wilson, but the party's not in a place to be able to fight a campaign like this at present, because of how slow and disempowering the founding process has been. I don't think we should be going out of our way to criticise the Greens or their candidate in this instance - she's a strong candidate in any case and I'd obviously rather see them than Labour or Reform win here. But we don't have to come out and back the Greens to the hilt, either. Individual YP members might choose to help out with their campaign, and that's their prerogative. But we shouldn't use party infrastructure to support them; we have to retain some independence while we try to carve out a political identity that is visibly distinct from that of GPEW. Our intervention should be limited to criticising the Labour and Reform candidates, if we feel inclined to make any statement on an election we're not involved with.

Walker added:

specific views towards this by-election do vary amongst GL candidates, reflecting our commitment to a pluralistic and open party where members have the autonomy and mutual respect to disagree while still remaining committed to broader shared political goals.

Ashley Walker, a Grassroots Left member from Stockport also stated:

Despite what some people think the Grassroots Left does not belong to any one person alone, it belongs to every member of every group who is a part of it. And if we win this election the CEC we form, and the party it will help build, will belong not to us but to every member of this party. Because without true democracy there will never be socialism.

We published a piece on Monday on Palestinian journalist Ahmed Alnaouq's plea to factions on the left to unite against the billionaire-funded fascist threats facing all of us. Alnaouq pleaded:

My friends, fascism is not at the doorsteps in the UK. It is here. And unless we join forces with each other, unless we hold hands, we will not be able to defeat it. And we don't have the luxury for trial and waiting. We do not have time. We have to act. My friends, we have the numbers. We have the resources. We have the support of the people. What we don't have is organisation. We need to learn how to work with each other in order to defeat fascism, in order to defeat far-right, in order to defeat Zionism. And we must never shy away from calling ourselves anti-Zionists because we are anti-Zionists.

Sultana has shown that unity does not require spoon-feeding members the statements they are permitted to make. Grassroots Left has demonstrated that it will not submit to control by powerful figures and will instead maintain autonomy over its messaging. They have also worked collaboratively and supportively with independent candidates to advance a shared mission for a transparent, democratic, and accountable political party.

While work remains to build robust democratic processes that ensure such statements genuinely reflect the will of its membership, a powerful movement is clearly emerging: one that challenges the dominance of privileged public figures and meaningfully empowers its members.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

Italy's foreign minister says the country has already started swatting away cyberattacks from Russia targeting the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.…

Multiple newly disclosed bugs in the popular workflow automation tool n8n could allow attackers to hijack servers, steal credentials, and quietly disrupt AI-driven business processes.…

Some of the largest banks in the nation for years have eschewed the business of private prison giants like GEO Group and CoreCivic, the two firms that operate more than half the private carceral facilities in the country, including many U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

The moves to "debank" the companies, which have been dogged by reports of rights abuses, came after the banks' reviews of their environmental, social, and governance policies, which included site visits and meeting with civil rights leaders. According to a nonprofit report, the moves by banks, including JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, cost the prison companies billions in potential financing.

"Private prisons profit purely from locking people up, but the market is not immune to public accountability."

Now, the private prison firms are fighting back, spending millions on lobbying Congress to pass a law to require that the banks can't deny their business.

The two prison giants spent millions lobbying for legislation known as the Fair Access to Banking Act, a pending bill that seeks to prevent banks from denying access to institutions or people including those involved in "politically unpopular businesses but that are lawful under Federal law." A press release marking the bill's introduction last year said, "The legislation requires that lending and services decisions must be based on impartial, risk-based analysis, not political or reputational favoritism."

Civil liberties advocates have criticized the legislation.

"Private prisons profit purely from locking people up, but the market is not immune to public accountability," said Eunice H. Cho, a senior counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project who has represented immigration detainees housed in privately operated ICE facilities. "Consumer advocacy is a very important part of the democratic process, including economic boycott and protest against corporations. Banks are sensitive to understanding the risks of doing business with harmful industries."

"We value the relationships we have with our financial partners," Ryan Gustin, a spokesperson for CoreCivic, said in a statement. "We also believe all lawful businesses should be treated fairly under the banking system."

GEO Group did not respond to a request for comment.

Last year, GEO Group spent $3.3 million in lobbying various departments and agencies of the federal government, of which $1.37 million was spent in lobbying the House and the Senate on issues that included the Fair Access to Banking Act, according to federal lobbying disclosures.

Meanwhile, in 2025, CoreCivic spent $3.5 million total on lobbying, of which $2 million went toward pushing for the legislation, according to the disclosures.

Despite hiring high-profile D.C. firms for their lobbying activities, both prison companies utilized their in-house government relations experts when it came to advocating for the banking legislation, which is moving through the Senate and the House.

In its fourth-quarter lobbying report, GEO Group mentions "S. 401 and H.R. 987, Fair Access to Banking Act; Issues related to the availability of banking services for federal contractors" as one of its lobbying issues. CoreCivic's lobbying issues in the same quarter also mentioned "Issues pertaining to financial industry practices; H.R. 987/S. 401 - Fair Access to Banking Act."

Related Private Prison CEO on ICE Contracts: We're a Better Deal Than El Salvador's CECOT

GEO Group and CoreCivic have long faced criticisms and lawsuits from rights groups for poor prison conditions, undermining medical needs of detainees, and not doing enough to prevent deaths in their facilities.

In December and January alone, for instance, five of the 11 people who died in ICE custody were housed in detention centers owned and operated by one of the firms, ICE's press statements show. At least four people died while detained in a GEO Group facility, and one other individual died while detained in a CoreCivic center.

In 2019, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, SunTrust, BNP Paribas, Fifth Third Bancorp, PNC Bank, and Bank of America said that they would no longer provide any new financing to the private prison industry. At the time, the banks reportedly constituted more than 70 percent of the total financing available to the two companies, with many of them having loaned money to either one or both firms.

Many of these Wall Street banks took similar action against gun manufacturers, oil and gas companies, and porn sites, among other industries, in what came to be known as debanking.

The impact was considerable. CoreCivic reportedly had to scramble for finances abroad.

If the new legislation passes, however, the two companies will have access to fresh lines of credit that could help them build new facilities at a faster pace and cash in on a higher demand for ICE detention facilities.

Related Deportation, Inc.

Last July, the federal government approved funding of $45 billion to build new immigration detention centers as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

In its third-quarter earnings report, GEO Group said it had secured four ICE contracts for four new ICE detention facilities totaling about 6,000 beds. CoreCivic also reported receiving contracts for four facilities with over 7,000 beds. Financial statements suggest that the new contracts have boosted the revenue figures of both the companies, who rely heavily on federal contracts to support their bottom lines.

The concerted effort put into lobbying by GEO and CoreCivic has already reaped some success.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order last August that empowered federal banking regulators, such as the Small Business Administration, to monitor financial institutions that denied services to clients based on "politicized or unlawful debanking action." Last month, Trump announced he would sue JPMorgan Chase for debanking him over the January 6 riots.

In December, the Treasury Department's Office of the Comptroller of the Currency published a report that scrutinized nine banks and listed private prisons as being among the sectors affected by debanking. The bureau said that it intends to "hold these banks accountable for any unlawful debanking activities, including by making referrals to the Attorney General."

In June, even before Trump's order, Bank of America, which had cut ties with private prisons, reinstated CoreCivic as its client, according to Semafor. A JPMorgan Chase spokesperson said the bank hasn't changed its policy of freezing out private prisons. Meanwhile, most other banks have been quiet about whether they will change course on financing private prisons. (None of the banks responded to The Intercept's requests for comment.)

If the Fair Access to Banking Act passes Congress, the banks may not have a choice.

"It has been the worst year for immigration detainees in decades," said Cho, the ACLU lawyer. "Private prisons have an astronomical amount of funds available to them, and it's unsurprising they are also looking to protect ways to expand those funds with extra lines of credits available. But for detainees, this can have serious implications."

The post ICE's Private Prison Contractors Spent Millions Lobbying to Force Banks to Give Them Loans appeared first on The Intercept.

Charity praises effort to stop Ramsgate's Pie Factory Music closing but calls for more youth services in coastal towns

The last remaining youth centre in one of England's most deprived coastal places has been saved from being sold after a long campaign by the charity that has for 13 years called it home.

In November the Guardian revealed how the centre in Ramsgate on the Kent coast was facing being auctioned off by Kent county council, despite an independent report that estimated the centre was saving the council more than £500,000 a year in costs, including for services in mental health, youth justice and social care.

FOSDEM 2026 CentOS Connect 2026 took place in Brussels last week, over the two days preceding the sprawling FOSDEM festival of FOSS - the nerd world's Glastonbury, complete with the queues and the questionable hygiene.…

Interview Sovereignty remains a hot topic in the tech industry, but interpretations of what it actually means - and how much it matters - vary widely between organizations and sectors. While public bodies are often driven by regulation and national policy, the private sector tends to take a more pragmatic, cost-focused view.…

Recent storms washed away large sections of roads in the UK after sea defences were damaged. For residents, it was a shock. But for coastal scientists, it was not unexpected.

Parts of the A379 between Torcross and Slapton, in south Devon, collapsed leaving a 200-metre stretch of road broken apart and part of a nearby car park destroyed. Engineers say even steel-reinforced protection failed under repeated wave action.

The road runs along the crest of a shingle barrier beach, with the sea on one side and Slapton Ley, a freshwater lake, on the other. Recent monitoring shows the beach has become narrower and steeper as storms move sediment along and away from the shoreline.

With less material in front of it, waves now break closer to the road and can undercut the edge of the carriageway. In places like this, the problem is not a single extreme storm. Rather, it is the gradual loss and redistribution of beach material that leaves the road increasingly exposed.

Hard defences such as seawalls and rock armour are often the first response. They can hold the line for a while, but they do not remove the force of incoming waves. The energy simply moves elsewhere, often speeding up erosion further along the coast. The risk is diverted rather than resolved.

As sea levels rise and storms intensify, these defences simply cannot keep up. What they usually provide is time, not lasting protection.

Even the science used to inform coastal management decisions comes with caveats. Computer models help estimate how beaches might change in the future, but real coastlines are messy and constantly evolving. Small differences in the assumptions of these models can produce very different forecasts, which makes long-term planning difficult.

Natural ways to manage the coastline are increasingly put forward as alternatives. Restoring dunes, saltmarshes or wetlands can help absorb wave energy while supporting biodiversity and storing carbon. These natural landscapes can adapt, hard defences cannot.

However, they are not quick fixes. They take time and space to establish, and their protection varies. Studies show they can reduce wave energy, but often only modestly reduce flooding during extreme events.

Public expectations often pull the other way. In the UK, natural ways to manage the coastline are popular in principle, yet when storms threaten, people tend to favour hard defences because they offer immediate, visible protection, even if it does not last.

The economics add another layer.

Flood and erosion risks affect where people live and invest. When people see flood maps, they often look elsewhere and pay less for homes in exposed areas. Property prices and insurance costs reflect that. But these maps are usually treated as certain, even though they are not, so prices can fall suddenly after major storms.

In practice, that means money and development often remain concentrated in places that science suggests will become increasingly vulnerable.

The situation at Slapton brings all of this into focus. Rebuilding the same stretch of road after every storm may not be physically or financially realistic.

Some shoreline plans already acknowledge this potential reality through policies such as managed realignment or "no active intervention", allowing the coast to move inland and creating natural buffers such as mudflats and marshes. In some places, relocating development inland may simply be safer and cheaper than trying to defend an increasingly exposed shoreline.

But these decisions come with real trade-offs.

Roads may need to be rerouted. Farmland may flood more often. Homes and businesses may have to relocate. Existing habitats may be lost before new ones establish. In areas dominated by high-value waterfront properties or second homes, decisions about who receives protection, and who does not, quickly become political as well as practical.

The alternative is a costly cycle of damage, repair and rebuild, with less benefit each time.

Slapton is not simply an engineering failure. It is a reminder that coastlines are inherently dynamic and cannot always be pinned in place. Seawalls can buy time. Nature can help soften impacts. Better information can guide smarter decisions. But none of these removes risk altogether.

Long-term resilience means accepting how coasts really behave and being practical about where to defend, where to adapt and where it may be wiser to step back and let the shoreline reshape itself.

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The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Ducati and Kawasaki are getting formidable new editions of their manufacturer's bikes, get the full picture here!

Several big changes took place over the winter break involving the minds supporting their riders from pit lane

Fast chargers are no longer a nice-to-have item. With phones, tablets, laptops and wearables all competing for outlets, the right charger can make a difference in how quickly you get back to full power without worrying about overheating or long-term battery wear. Since many devices now ship without a power brick, choosing a charger with the right compatibility, ports and charging technology is just as important as raw speed.

Today's best fast chargers are designed to handle multiple devices at once, whether that's a phone, laptop, AirPods or even an Apple Watch. Many models combine Type-C ports with a USB-A charger option to support older cables like a Lightning cable, while newer designs focus on multi-port chargers that can intelligently distribute power across everything you plug in. Brands like Anker continue to refine their designs, with compact options such as an Anker charger that's easy to toss in a bag but powerful enough for everyday use.

With so many wattages, port layouts and standards to consider, finding the best fast charger depends on how and where you charge. Whether you want a simple wall adapter, a travel-friendly option or a desktop hub built to power everything at once, this guide breaks down our top picks for 2026.

Before you start looking at specific chargers, it's critical to determine three things: how many devices do you need to charge, how much power do they require and whether or not you're planning on traveling with any of them. This is especially true if you're charging a mix of devices that still rely on a Lightning cable alongside newer USB-C gear.

The reason for the first question is simple. If you only need to charge a single device, like an iPhone or Android phone, it's cheaper and usually more space-efficient to get a lower-wattage phone charger with one port instead of two or three. Next, it's critical to figure out how much electricity your gadgets need because it doesn't make sense to buy a power brick that pushes out more juice than your device can actually use. This may sound a bit tricky, but most major manufacturers will list a product's max charging speeds in its tech specs, which is typically denoted by a specific wattage (15W, for example) or a quick-charge rating.

Unfortunately, very powerful or large laptops like gaming notebooks can suck a ton of juice (more than 140 watts), which means they may rely on more traditional power adapters with barrel plugs. This may result in them not being compatible with universal chargers. Some of these PCs may also support charging over USB-C, so even if a specific adapter can't deliver its full power draw, it can still send over some energy — but it will do so at a slower rate compared to the laptop's included charger. To get the best performance, using a fast charging cable, such as a USB-C cable, can make a big difference in maintaining consistent power delivery.

For frequent travelers, size and weight are often important considerations, because the bigger and heavier a charger is, the more annoying it will be to lug around. You'll also want to think about other factors like support for international plugs, which can be a big help to anyone who regularly visits other countries. If you're already traveling with power banks or a charging station, choosing a compact GaN charger can help streamline your gear.

Finally, you'll want to figure out if your smartphone uses a proprietary charging standard or if it's compatible with the USB Power Delivery spec (USB PD). For example, the OnePlus 13's included SuperVOOC power adapter can send up to 100 watts to the phone. However, if you use a generic USB-PD charger, speeds top out at 45 watts. That's still pretty quick, but not nearly as fast as OnePlus' brick — and the same applies to devices with super fast charging support. Also, make sure your charging cable and connector are up to spec, as lower-quality accessories can bottleneck speeds or contribute to overheating during fast charging.

When looking for chargers, you may notice that some are marked as GaN, which stands for gallium nitride. This is an important distinction because, when compared to older adapters that use silicon switches, GaN-based devices support increased power efficiency and output, allowing manufacturers to create more compact bricks that run cooler and support higher wattages.

Depending on the specific power output, GaN adapters can be 30 to 50 percent smaller and lighter than silicon-based alternatives. That might not sound like much, but when they're sitting in a bag alongside a laptop and a half dozen other accessories you might have, cutting down on excess bulk and weight goes a long way.

Technically yes, because the process of sending a ton of watts into a gadget and potentially generating additional heat while doing so can decrease battery health over time. That said, modern devices and chargers use various protocols to ensure temperatures and power levels stay within preset limits — in large part to avoid damaging the product or creating a safety risk. At a base level, simply charging a gadget regardless of speed will cause degradation over time (nothing stays perfect forever, you know?). So as long as you use compatible chargers and cables, the impact of fast charging is generally quite negligible.

There isn't a single generally accepted definition of fast charging. However, with power adapters capable of sending as little as five watts or less, it's important to know how much juice your device is getting, especially if you need to recharge something quickly. So depending on who you ask (particularly when it comes to smartphones), any charger that can push out more than 15 to 18 watts is generally considered to be "fast." That said, with some phones capable of receiving more than 100 watts and up to 240 watts for some laptops, it's more important than ever to consider what devices you own before buying a new fast charger.

Times for the afternoon session of the final day at Sepang:

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Dele Fadele looks back to The Bad Seeds album that has odd parallels with gangsta rap. This feature was first published in 2016

In the mid-1990s, I spotted Nick Cave's distinct figure at London's Subterrania venue, under The Westway, for gigs by Wu-Tang Clan leader GZA and Method Man. Cave appeared as enthused as the rest of the room at Genius/GZA's show, and I imagine he couldn't have failed to have heard 'Luminal' from Legend Of The Liquid Sword, a controversial track that severely dented that excellent LP's commercial prospects with its grisly depictions of the serial killer's methodology and awful deeds. Certain acolytes of Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds were also staunch Geto Boys fans. If GZA and...

The post Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' Murder Ballads As Gangsta Rap Album appeared first on The Quietus.

The courts system in England and Wales has moved 37 applications out of two outdated datacenters, although some will use a temporary hosting facility until they are replaced, according to the senior civil servant responsible.…

Huge thanks to my February sponsor, John Rember, author of the three-book series Journal of the Plague Years, a psychic survival guide for humanity's looming date with destiny, shaped by his experiences living through the pandemic in his native Idaho. Thoughtful, wry and humane, Journal 1 is a pleasure.

"Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.

"Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as "we can't bail out the Earth like we did the banks"."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/05/flawed-economic-models-mean-climate-crisis-could-crash-global-economy-experts-warn

"Greenland shatters temperature record, redrawing economy from fishing to minerals.

"Greenland, the Arctic island coveted by U.S. President Donald Trump, experienced its warmest January on record this year, as a rate of warming four times faster than the global average redraws the outlook for sectors from fishing to mining."

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/greenland-shatters-temperature-record-redrawing-economy-fishing-minerals-2026-02-04/

"What is groundwater flooding and why Dorset is seeing 'historical highs' [UK]

""When the water table rises and reaches ground level, water starts to seep through to the surface and flooding can happen," the EA says. That means it may rise up through floors or underground rooms such as cellars and basements."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj4l7rlxzjxo

"A UK climate security report backed by the intelligence services was quietly buried - a pattern we've seen many times before…

"This episode is not even especially unusual, historically. Governments have been receiving warnings about climate change - and downplaying or delaying responses - for decades."

https://theconversation.com/a-uk-climate-security-report-backed-by-the-intelligence-services-was-quietly-buried-a-pattern-weve-seen-many-times-before-274325

"Europe's public finances in a warming world.

"Climate change is increasingly shaping macro-fiscal outlooks. Extreme weather events, chronic damages from global warming, and decarbonisation efforts all have growing implications for public finances and the economy."

https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/europes-public-finances-warming-world

"Photos: exceptional storm floods Antibes streets. Three weeks' worth of rain fell in just a few hours…

"Locals took to social media to share images and videos of the continuous rainfall, lightning, and hailstones which caused streets to quickly fill with water…"

https://www.connexionfrance.com/news/photos-exceptional-storm-floods-antibes-streets/767706

"Rising rivers and deadly floods slam Portugal as Storm Leonardo hits.

"Portugal faces floods and evacuations as Storm Leonardo swamps rivers and streets, after deadly weather in Spain and weeks of storms across Iberia… Portuguese civil protection said thousands of incidents were reported…"

https://www.euronews.com/video/2026/02/05/rising-rivers-and-deadly-floods-slam-portugal-as-storm-leonardo-hits

"Andalucian mountain town soaks in an astonishing 500mm of rain in just 24 hours - obliterating 78-year record [Spain].

"Grazalema, the picturesque pueblo blanco in the Cadiz mountains, recorded a staggering 512.5mm [20+ inches] of rain in a single 24-hour period ending at 8pm on Wednesday…. it has annihilated the town's previous daily rainfall record - which had stood for nearly eight decades."

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2026/02/04/grazalema-rain-record-24-hours/

"Tornado Strikes Corfu as Heavy Rain Triggers Flooding in Kefalonia.

"Severe weather hit the Ionian Islands with force, as a tornado struck a village in Corfu and caused extensive damage, while heavy rainfall in Kefalonia triggered flooding in several areas… Authorities continue to closely monitor the evolving conditions."

https://greekcitytimes.com/2026/02/05/tornado-strikes-corfu-as-heavy-rain-triggers-flooding-in-kefalonia/

"Morocco evacuates over 100,000 people from 4 provinces after floods.

"Authorities set up emergency shelters and reception centers and provided essential assistance to those affected by the floods, the ministry said, adding that the measures aim to reduce the impact of the disaster and ensure public safety."

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/morocco-evacuates-over-100-000-people-from-4-provinces-after-floods/3820547

"EXTRAORDINARY. >170 countries are breaking heat records. In Particular the tropics of all Continents are with unprecedented heat.

"Central Africa has been with record heat for months, every single day. Last record: 35.7 [96.3F] Franceville GABON. February record smashed."

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2019076799502963010

"Prolonged rainfall delays harmattan, disrupts crop fruiting season [Nigeria].

"The unusually prolonged rainfall recorded in January and February 2026, well outside the typical 2025 rainy season cycle, has raised concerns among farmers, who fear it could disrupt the fruiting cycle of key economic trees…"

https://businessday.ng/agriculture/article/prolonged-rainfall-delays-harmattan-disrupts-crop-fruiting-season-experts/

"SOUTH AFRICA RECORD HEAT: one after another like an unstoppable factory, South Africa keeps breaking records continuously.

"February hottest night in history in many stations; MINIMUMS: 22.2 Stillbaai, 22.9 Somerset East, 23 Grahamstown, 23 [73.4F] Cape St Francis, 24.2 Uitenhage, 25.3 Pennington."

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2019059864186605973

"South Africa classifies drought, water shortages as national disaster…

"Elias Sithole, head of the National Disaster Management Center in the CoGTA, said that the decision was made "after having considered reports submitted on drought and the possible interruption of large scale water provision by organs of state in terms of the potential impact and magnitude in the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Northern Cape.""

https://english.news.cn/20260205/9e515e9b923041b28bfea1cb35a5c5ac/c.html

"'We have to rebuild': Mozambique flood victims persevere in face of loss…

"This season, heavy rains and overflowing rivers have resulted in floods, which authorities say are some of the worst in decades, killing more than 150 people and affecting an estimated 800,000 people…"

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2026/2/5/we-have-to-rebuild-mozambique-flood-victims-persevere-in-face-of-loss

"HISTORIC HEAT all over the tropics continue… 35.5 [95.9F] Juan de Nova Island. FRENCH SOUTHERN TERRITORY HOTTEST FEBRUARY DAY IN HISTORY.

"The area has been with relentless record heat since early 2014 breaking and rebreaking records continuously."

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2019056633511641462

"Amid worsening drought and crop failure, Zimbabweans support government investment in climate-resilient infrastructure, green energy.

"The country's major challenges include reduced and erratic rainfall (Government of Zimbabwe & UNDP, 2017). Whereas droughts occurred in one in 10 growing seasons between 1902 and 1979, their frequency increased to one in four between 1980 and 2011."

https://www.thezimbabwean.co/2026/02/amid-worsening-drought-and-crop-failure-zimbabweans-support-government-investment-in-climate-resilient-infrastructure-green-energy/

"Why Israel's Vulture Population Isn't Recovering…

"Poisoning has been harming Israel's vultures for roughly three decades, with cumulative damage pushing the species toward critical endangerment. A series of mass poisonings over the years wiped out, among other sites, the country's largest breeding colony at the Gamla Nature Reserve in the Golan Heights."

https://www.haaretz.com/science-and-health/nature-environment/2026-02-04/ty-article-magazine/.premium/why-israels-vulture-population-isnt-recovering/0000019c-283b-dc80-a9be-2e3be06a0000

"On Wednesday, February 4, the Mehr News Agency reported that Tehran is approaching what officials call "water tension," a situation where supply can no longer meet demand.

"The warning comes after months of recurring water cuts across different parts of the city, with residents experiencing outages lasting several hours at a time."

https://iranwire.com/en/news/148706-tehran-close-to-water-tension-as-dam-water-drops-to-worrying-levels/

"FAO Warns of Unseasonably Warm Conditions Across Afghanistan.

"The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has warned that unusually warm temperatures are expected across much of Afghanistan in the coming days, raising concerns about water availability and long-term agricultural impacts."

https://kabulnow.com/2026/02/fao-warns-of-unseasonably-warm-conditions-across-afghanistan/

"A dam threatens Nepal's Indigenous community; they want it on the ballot.

"Residents of Mulkharka, largely from the Indigenous Tamang community, learned only in 2023 about plans for the Nagmati Dam near their settlement on the northern edge of Kathmandu and now strongly oppose it…"

https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/a-dam-threatens-nepals-indigenous-community-they-want-it-on-the-ballot/

"Compound Heat-Drought Threatens China's Oil Crops…

"A groundbreaking study led by Guo, S., Zhao, C., Jin, Z., and colleagues delves into this alarming phenomenon with a specific focus on oil crop production across China, revealing how the interplay of temporal and spatial extremes critically undermines crop yields and threatens agricultural sustainability."

https://bioengineer.org/compound-heat-drought-threatens-chinas-oil-crops/

"At least 35 killed after weeks of heavy snowfall in Japan.

"At least 35 people have been killed and nearly 400 injured after an extended period of extreme snowfall dumped up to 6.5 feet (about 2 meters) of snow across parts of northern Japan, with authorities now warning that rising temperatures could trigger dangerous avalanches"

https://snowbrains.com/at-least-35-dead-as-historic-snowfall-buries-northern-japan-and-avalanche-risk-rises/

"Flash floods hit parts of Lahad Datu following hours of heavy rain. [Malaysia].

"On social media, the situation appeared serious, with videos and photos showing vehicles being swept away by strong currents, along with a wooden stilt house reportedly carried off by floodwaters."

https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2026/02/04/flash-floods-hit-parts-of-lahad-datu-following-hours-of-heavy-rain

"Floods Inundate Pemalang Again [Java].

"Heavy rain that pounded Pemalang Regency on Wednesday night (February 4, 2026) again triggered flooding in several areas. This incident, the third recorded in February 2026, underscores the ongoing challenges of flood control…"

https://www.g-news.id/pemalang/1582267939/banjir-kembali-rendam-pemalang-wakil-bupati-tinjau-lokasi-dan-janjikan-penanganan-cepat

"More than 80% of flying fox colony wiped out as January heatwaves kill thousands of bats [South Australia]…

""It's a devastating loss of numbers," said Judith Bemmer, a carer at Bat Rescue SA. Among the surviving 180 animals, about 34 underweight and dehydrated babies were rescued, and would face months of recovery."

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/feb/05/flying-foxes-january-heatwaves-kill-thousands

"Heat waves kill thousands of fish in Australia.

"Most of the dead fish, found at Sunset Strip on the banks of Lake Menindee, were native bony bream, along with some carp, ABC News reported. The die-off followed last week's record-breaking temperatures that peaked near 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit)."

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/heat-waves-kill-thousands-of-fish-in-australia/3819850

"After the historic January heat wave, February started with some cold records in AUSTRALIA:

"February records low: 0.8 Coonawarra, 3.0 Windy Harbour, 3.9 King Island; Low maxes: 23.9 Victoria River Downs, 22 Lajamanu. Cool also in New Zealand with afternoon temps in the 10s in the South."

[Extreme Temps]

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2018644629269442665

"Melting Antarctic ice may weaken a major carbon sink.

"Melting ice from West Antarctica once delivered huge amounts of iron to the Southern Ocean, but algae growth did not increase as expected. Researchers found the iron was in a form that marine life could not easily use. This means more melting ice does not automatically boost carbon absorption."

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/02/260204042457.htm

"'Doomsday Glacier' is melting faster than we thought. Can a 150-metre wall stop it flooding Earth?

"Located on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, Thwaites Glacier earned its apocalyptical name due to its potential impact on sea levels. Covering a vast 192,000 km², making it comparable in size to Great Britain… can the consequences of climate change really just be barricaded off?"

https://www.euronews.com/green/2026/02/04/doomsday-glacier-is-melting-faster-than-we-thought-can-a-150-metre-wall-stop-it-flooding-e

"HISTORIC WARMTH IN OCEANIA. Min 28.3C [82.9F] Majuro is FEBRUARY HOTTEST NIGHT EVER RECORDED IN MARSHALL ISLANDS.

"Also, record warm night again in MICRONESIA. The Min of 28.0 on Feb 2nd in Pohnpei was the February warmest night in history."

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2018876888958271776

"2025 was Hawai'i's second driest, warmest year on record, new report confirms.

"Hawai'i experienced its second driest year in more than a century. Alongside drought, the state saw persistently above-average temperatures throughout the year, according to the inaugural Hawai'i Annual Climate Report for 2025."

https://kauainownews.com/2026/02/04/2025-was-hawaiis-second-driest-warmest-year-on-record-new-report-confirms/

"Austerity hinders fight against wildfires in Argentina's Patagonia.

"Wildfires are sweeping through Argentina's Patagonia region, consuming more than 450sq km (175sq miles) of native forests, including parts of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Los Alerces National Park."

https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2026/2/3/wildfires-devastate-argentinas-patagonia-threaten-ancient-forests

"Severe storm floods Itaperuna and raises alert for climate disasters in Northwest Fluminense [Brazil].

"In less than an hour, rain gauges recorded 76 millimeters of rain, a volume almost four times greater than the 19 millimeters predicted by Civil Defense for the entire period. The extreme rainfall transformed streets into muddy rivers, and images recorded by residents show vehicles being swept away…"

https://sengerj.org.br/temporal-severo-inunda-itaperuna-e-acende-alerta-para-desastres-climaticos-no-noroeste-fluminense/

"70% of the department of Córdoba is flooded due to the winter storm. [Colombia].

"The National Federation of Cattle Ranchers (FEDEGAN) issued an urgent warning about the millions of dollars in losses that the winter storm is causing to cattle ranchers on the Caribbean Coast."

https://caracol.com.co/2026/02/03/el-70-del-departamento-de-cordoba-se-encuentra-inundado-por-la-ola-invernal/

"Cuba records first freezing temperature amid deepening energy crisis.

"Cuba experienced its coldest temperature on record on February 3 when the mercury dropped to zero degrees Celsius, an unprecedented event for the Caribbean island nation that comes as it faces an acute energy crisis triggered by dwindling oil supplies and mounting US pressure…"

https://www.intellinews.com/cuba-records-first-freezing-temperature-amid-deepening-energy-crisis-424103/

"This week's cold blast was a total freak-show. Dozens of record lows were broken. That just doesn't happen in Florida anymore - until now.

"Since 2020, Tampa and Miami have only had 1 record low each - both this season. Ft Myers 2. But each city has had well over 100 record highs! Yeah, record highs are outnumbering record lows ~100 to 1 there. That's how freakish this week's cold has been." [Jeff Berardelli]

https://x.com/WeatherProf/status/2019033879026213364

"The cold arriving in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic this weekend will be next level.

"Here's why: The incoming air mass comes all the way from the Russian Arctic and will be passing the North Pole en route to the United States. This is known as cross-polar flow."

[Ben Noll]

https://x.com/BenNollWeather/status/2019037095948693557

"Lake Erie Nears 100% Ice Coverage After Record Cold Stretch.

"It has been 30 years since the last time Lake Erie was 100% frozen over in February 1996. This year, however, Cleveland's Great Lake has come extremely close… As of Feb. 3, 2026, Lake Erie is 94% frozen over…"

https://clevelandmagazine.com/articles/lake-erie-nears-100-ice-coverage-after-record-cold-stretch/

"Colorado River Negotiators Are Nearly Out of Time and Snowpack.

"With another federal deadline only weeks away and record-low snowfall further drying out the watershed, states have begun talking about whether they are prepared for litigation… as the Feb. 14 deadline looms, basin states, particularly Arizona and Colorado, have begun discussing the prospect of settling their disputes in court."

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04022026/colorado-river-record-low-snow-litigation/

"Ohio farmers face weather whiplash.

"Last spring, many Ohio farmers struggled to plant their corn and soybeans because persistent rain made their fields too soggy to work. But by August, many farmers faced the opposite problem. Drought plagued much of the state."

https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2026/02/ohio-farmers-face-weather-whiplash/

"All-time driest January for two Okanagan cities [BC, Canada].

"It's s been a drier-than-normal January in many parts of B.C., but particularly in the Okanagan. Two cities set all-time records. As Travis Lowe reports, if the pattern continues, it could be cause for concern on the wildfire front."

https://globalnews.ca/video/11653298/all-time-driest-january-for-two-okanagan-cities/

"EXCEPTIONAL WARMTH IN CANADA. Summer day with temperatures up to 20.6C [69.1F] in Alberta and 19.5C in British Columbia.

"Several records of February high Temperature pulverized: 20.3 Bow Island, 19.5 Bella Bella, 18.5 Brooks, 18.1 Tatlayoko Lake etc."

https://x.com/extremetemps/status/2019230031579607468

"Record warmth moves into Alaska, with colder weather along the Slope…

"Following record warmth through parts of Southeast Tuesday, another warm stretch of weather remains with the panhandle. We'll keep waves of rain in the forecast through the close of the week, with some dry time between each passing storm."

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2026/02/04/record-warmth-moves-into-alaska-with-colder-weather-along-slope/

"January's record snowfall in Southcentral Alaska has created dangerous avalanche conditions across Alaska's backcountry, burying weak snow layers that could trigger deadly slides even for experienced snowmachine riders.

""We've got three inches of precipitation and 40 inches of snow in town. So that's really unusual," John Sykes, Avalanche Forecaster for Chugach National Forest Avalanche Center, said."

https://www.alaskasnewssource.com/2026/02/04/buried-threat-weak-snow-layers-threaten-alaska-snowmachine-riders/

"January 2026 Arctic sea ice extent was statistically tied (with last year) for the 2nd lowest on record for the month…

"This was 1,310,000 km² below the 1981-2010 average. January ice extent is decreasing at about 2.85% per decade." [Zack Labe]

https://bsky.app/profile/zacklabe.com/post/3mdymqznbhc24

"Critical moment when El Niño started to erode Russia's Arctic sea ice discovered.

"Scientists discover a tipping point that took place in 2000, where El Niño's effect on sea ice loss in Siberia was amplified… After the year 2000, the transitions out of El Niño started to speed up, possibly due to interactions with the Pacific Decadal Oscillation…"

https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/arctic/critical-moment-when-el-nino-started-to-erode-russias-arctic-sea-ice-discovered

"El Niño update: Westerly wind bursts during January were very unusual and record-breaking in some areas.

"Warm water is now moving across the subsurface Pacific and will probably start to surface in February and March. By mid-2026, ocean-atmosphere El Niño coupling is possible. [Ben Noll]

https://x.com/BenNollWeather/status/2019070943969128835

"Daily global Sea Surface Temperatures are now 0.18°C above 2023, with identical La Niña temperatures in the tropical Pacific.

"Hold on to your hats." [Leon Simons]

https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/2018716403759542705

"Don't put blind faith in climate models:

""Because tipping points are hard to model with any precision, and harder still to predict, they are often left out of climate projections — and hence are still largely ignored by climate negotiators"".

https://x.com/LeonSimons8/status/2019228790593839231

"Extreme Weather Fuels Volatility Across the Global Olive Oil Market.

"Localized extreme climate events are increasingly triggering cascading effects across the global olive oil market, with irregular harvests feeding price volatility, trade tensions and subtle shifts in traditional diets."

https://www.oliveoiltimes.com/business/extreme-weather-fuels-volatility-across-the-global-olive-oil-market/143247

"I'm a prepping expert - this is how I'm getting ready for water shortages.

"Start with some Jerry cans. "I have a couple of 20 litre Jerry cans [they look like petrol containers] for water. You can get them from army surplus stores [for around £30 depending on the brand, and the World Health Organisation recommends two litres per person per day."

https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/prepping-expert-getting-ready-for-water-shortages-4209449

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The post 5th February 2026 Today's Round-Up of Climate News appeared first on Climate and Economy.

Industry bigger than all but seven world economies, and accounts for more than third of China's economic growth

China's clean energy industries drove more than 90% of the country's investment growth last year, making the sectors bigger than all but seven of the world's economies, a new analysis has shown.

For the second time in three years, the report showed the manufacture, installation and export of batteries, electric cars, solar, wind and related technologies accounted for more than a third of China's economic growth.

The British government today launched the Advanced Nuclear Framework to attract private investment in next-generation nuclear technology for factories and datacenters.…

Baroness Sheehan challenges refusal to remove 25,000 tonnes of waste by school causing 'grave environmental hazard'

A 25,000 tonne illegal waste dump next to a primary school in Wigan presents "a grave environmental hazard" and should be cleared, the chair of the Lords environment committee has told the government.

Baroness Sheehan challenged the refusal of the Environment Agency to clean up an illegal waste dump in Bolton House Road, Wigan, given the agency was spending millions clearing up illegal waste deposited in Kidlington, Oxfordshire.

States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping points

Flawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.

Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as "we can't bail out the Earth like we did the banks".

At a party event in a school hall in Lewisham, people told me how disillusionment with Labour has led to this moment

"How many?"

On the end of the phone is a nice press officer for the Greens, head full from a long day in Gorton, Manchester, showing off their would-be MP. And now, as Friday's sky turns indigo, I'm calling about reports from Lewisham, south London, that tomorrow they're expecting a flood of 500 Green activists. This comes as a surprise to the party's own news machine.

Aditya Chakrabortty is a Guardian columnist

Castletown Bay, Isle of Man: The smell is unpleasant, but these slimy mounds are full of flies, molluscs and sand hoppers - all vital winter food

My British Trust for Ornithology wetland bird survey includes patrolling a storm beach, which, at this time of year, has huge piles of rotting wrack thrown up by the gales. They're made up of hand-like fronds of laminaria, bladderwrack with its buoyant bubble vesicles, sugar kelp and the long "washing line" strands of non-native sargassum seaweed that arrived from Japan on Pacific oysters and ships' hulls in recent years.

These slimy, smelly heaps are generally unpopular with passersby - some even call for their removal - but for wildlife they are a food source of the highest quality.

Cameras had an interesting year in 2025, with the launch of some long-delayed models like Sony's 61MP RX1III, wholly original cameras (the Fujifilm X Half and Sigma BF) and much anticipated updates like the Sony A7 V and Canon R6 III. All told, there were 27 new cameras launched last year that joined the 20 new models on the market from 2024.

Those ranged from compacts to mirrorless to very high-end models, with every price range included. The question is, which one is right for the type of videography or photography you do? Whether you're an aspiring action or wildlife photographer, an extreme sports junkie or a content creator, we'll help you find the perfect camera to match your budget and requirements.

Mirrorless is the largest camera category in terms of models available, so it's the best way to go if you're looking for something with the most advanced features. Canon and Nikon recently announced they're discontinuing development of new DSLRs, simply because most of the advantages of that category are gone, as I detailed in a video. The biggest selling feature of a mirrorless camera is the ability to change lenses depending on the type of shooting you want to do.

The most important features to look for in an action cam are image quality, stabilization and battery life. GoPro has easily been beating all rivals recently in all those areas, but DJI has taken a lot of its business with the Osmo Pocket 3 gimbal camera.

This category has fewer cameras than it did even a few years ago and many models are older, as manufacturers focus instead on mirrorless models. However, I'm still a big believer in compact cameras. They're a noticeable step up from smartphones quality-wise, and a lot of people will take a compact traveling or to events when they'd never bother with the hassle of a DSLR or mirrorless camera.

Compacts largely have type 1-inch sensors, but a few offer larger options, particularly Fujifilm's XF-100V. Another popular model, Sony's XV-1, is primarily aimed at content creators looking to step up. In any case, desirable qualities include image quality, a fast lens, relatively long zoom, flip-out display, good battery life, a high quality EVF, decent video and good pocketability.

Smartphones might get better for video and photos every year, full cameras still have an edge in many ways. The larger sensors in mirrorless cameras let more light in, and you have a wide choice of lenses with far superior optics. Dedicated cameras are also faster for shooting things like sports or wildlife, offer superior video for content creators and create more professional results.

There are a few key things to consider to get the most out of a camera. The first is sensor size: in general, the larger the sensor, the better (and usually more expensive) the camera.

Full frame is the largest sensor size for mainstream cameras, and it's available on models like the new Panasonic S9, the Nikon Z III and Canon EOS R5 II. At a size equivalent to 35mm film (36 x 24mm), it offers the best performance in terms of image quality, low-light capability and depth of field. But it's also very expensive and finicky. While bokeh looks incredible at an aperture of f/1.4, the depth of field is so razor thin that your subject's eyebrow might be in focus but not their eye. This can also make shooting video difficult.

The next size category is APS-C (around 23.5 x 15.6mm for most models and 22.2 x 14.8mm for Canon), offered on Fujifilm's X Series lineup, the Canon R10, the Sony ZV-E10 II and the Nikon Z50. It's cheaper than full frame, both for the camera body and lenses, but still brings most of the advantages like decent bokeh, high ISOs for low-light shooting and relatively high resolution. With a sensor size the same as movie cameras, it's ideal for shooting video, and it's easier to hold focus than with full-frame cameras.

Micro Four Thirds (17.3 x 13mm), a format shared by Panasonic and Olympus, is the next step down in sensor size. It offers less bokeh and light-gathering capability than APS-C and full frame, but allows for smaller and lighter cameras and lenses. For video, you can still get reasonably tight depth of field with good prime lenses, but focus is easier to control.

The other common sensor size is Type 1 (1 inch), which is actually smaller than one inch at 12.7 x 9.5mm. That's used mostly by compact models like Sony's ZV-1 vlogging camera. Finally, action cameras like the GoPro Hero 11 and DJI's Osmo 3 have even smaller sensors (1/1.9 and 1/1.7 inches, respectively).

For photographers, another key factor is autofocus (AF) speed and accuracy. Most modern mirrorless cameras have hybrid phase-detect AF systems that allow for rapid focus and fast burst speeds. The majority also offer AI features like eye-detect AF for people and animals, which locks in on the subject's eyes, face or body to keep them in focus. However, some models are faster and more reactive than others.

The electronic viewfinder (EVF) and rear display are also crucial. The best models have the sharpest and brightest EVFs that help you judge a shot before taking it. For things like street photography, it's best to have as bright and sharp a rear display as possible, so it's easy to see your subject and check focus in all manner of lighting conditions. You may also want a screen that flips out rather than just tilting, too.

DSLRs and mirrorless cameras let you change lenses, but you're stuck with what's built into a compact camera. While that's great for portability, a single lens means you're going to sacrifice something along the way. The Fujifilm X100V, for instance, has a fast but fixed 35mm-equivalent f/2.0 lens and no zoom. The Sony RX100 V has a 24-70mm zoom, but it's slower at the telephoto end (f/2.8) and less sharp than a fixed focal (prime) lens.

When choosing a lens for a mirrorless camera, you'll need to consider the focal or zoom length, along with the minimum aperture. Smaller numbers like f/1.4 for a prime lens or f/2.8 for a zoom are best, as they let you work in darker environments and maximize background blur to isolate your subject. However, those lenses are more complex and thus more expensive.

When it comes to video, there are other factors to consider. Some cameras combine or skip over pixels (line skipping or pixel binning) for video recording, which is not ideal because it can reduce sharpness. Better cameras tend to read out the entire sensor and then "downsample" to improve video sharpness (camera manufacturers don't often say if video is pixel binned, but will say if it's downsampled). Another important factor is sensor speed, as slower sensors tend to have more rolling shutter that can create a "jello" effect that skews video.

In addition, how's the battery life? How do you like the handling and feel? How long can you shoot before the camera heats up or stops? Does it support 10-bit HDR video? Is there a microphone and/or a headphone jack? (If you record a lot of interviews, it's preferable to have both.) How's the video autofocus? All of these things play a part in your decision.

The final session of the Sepang MotoGP test has been dedicated to race simulations and long runs. Alex Marquez leads a Ducati top three, ahead of the two Ducati Lenovos of Marc Marquez and Pecco Bagnaia. All three did race simulations, with Alex Marquez quickest, Pecco Bagnaia second fastest, and Marc Marquez third. Pedro Acosta was fourth fastest overall, and his race simulation was a fraction slower than that of Marc Marquez.

The first spots of rain have been spotted around the track, threatening to bring proceedings to an early close.

4pm results:

• Read more about 2026 Sepang MotoGP Test Day 3 FP6 4pm Times: Alex Marquez Fastest As Riders Work On Race Rhythm
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