The Guardian

In recent years, the long-term viability of aviation has been called into question by governments, environmental scientists and aviation regulatory authorities worldwide. Unlike other industries where a greener alternative might be a solution to the excessive consumption of fossil fuels, the likelihood of an electronic planes are decades away. Meanwhile, the aviation industry continues to guzzle a shocking 5 million barrels of oil daily and the burning of that fuel contributes 2.5% of total carbon emissions, rising to as high as 22% by 2050 according to a study for the European Parliament.

Like many residents of Mexico City, my experience of the floating gardens of Xochimilco has mostly been tinged with alcohol. After all, every weekend, this Unesco world heritage site turns into a bacchanal, with groups aboard the canals’ iconic boats celebrating everything from high school graduations to engagements and weddings. But this is a weekday morning, and Carlos Sumano, who is steering my canoe through the floating gardens, or chinampas, says that sort of unfettered use has taken its t

On 31 August, the night before the first day of the World Ploughing Championship, the bar of the Hotel Fortuna in the small German town of Reutlingen was crammed with the global ploughing elite. The scene resembled a low-key United Nations afterparty – Swiss, Kenyans, Australians, Latvians, Canadians and French, all slugging back long glasses of German beer. The top flight of international ploughing is a limited pool, the same faces recurring every year, and so the atmosphere was jovial, like a school reunion, 50-odd ploughmen and two ploughwomen (the sport has historically been dominated by men) hailing each other affectionately across the room.

This week brought the news that “an alarming number” of former residents of Melbourne’s Gatwick Hotel are now in jail. It’s not like no one could see this coming.

The government wants the option of extending the Brexit transition period up to the end of 2022, the business secretary, Greg Clark, has said, a move likely to further enrage the Conservative party plotters who hope to remove Theresa May this week. Amid predictions from hardline Brexit-backing Tories that the crucial mark of 48 MPs seeking to depose May could be reached on Monday, Clark endorsed an idea raised by the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator, Michel Barnier, which could keep the UK tied to

Contributed photo.

The proposed ban on poppers implicitly criminalises homosexual sex. In the end, what is drug criminalisation meant to achieve?

Driving around in a vintage, bright orange Unimog – a monstrous decommissioned military vehicle that belches fumes – sums up the ethos of Dutch post-punk trio the Homesick: eccentric, a bit mad, but a whole lot of fun. The same sense of mischief that compelled drummer Erik Woudwijk to save up from the age of 12 to buy the Unimog also fuels their scratchy, lo-fi anthems lampooning Christianity and exploring teenage boredom.

Culture evolves and undergoes various alterations over the generations. This changing nature cuts across various aspects like dressing and traditional rites. Yet, one of the few things that have remained unique over time is the value and influence of natural creatures on man.

Millions of chickens could soon be sold across the EU without being individually inspected for contamination or signs of disease after being killed, in a move some experts believe will put consumers at increased risk of food poisoning bugs.

Most war games focus on dramatic on-the-ground heroics, but Unmanned illuminates the effects of drone warfare from a pilot’s perspective.

Vast underground reservoirs beneath the city’s Centenary Park can store 1m gallons of water.

A few weeks after US Customs and Border Protection completed a border wall along Arizona’s southern boundary in 2008, a monsoon arrived. Floodwaters rose to 7ft, nearby patrol roads eroded and debris clogged the wall’s mesh fencing and grates, turning it into a temporary dam.

Antibiotics crucial to human medicine are still being used in “unacceptable” quantities on US livestock farms, an investigation has found, despite rules brought in last year to curb their use and combat the spread of deadly superbugs.

UK news organisations have cited tweets from Russian trolls more than 100 times, a Guardian investigation has found, in stories about topics including Donald Trump, Donald Glover and Lena Dunham. In June the US Congress released details of 1,000 accounts that Twitter believes were run by the Internet Research Agency (IRA), a state-backed misinformation operation based in St Petersburg, adding to more than 2,000 accounts the company had already identified. The accounts were cited in news storie

A $1.2bn Chinese-built “luxury city” is being built.

A major police academy in Thailand has announced it will ban women from enrolling, sparking accusations of gender discrimination.

Human rights officials and activists have warned that the rule of law in Guatemala is under threat after a UN-backed special prosecutor was banned from re-entering the country – the latest in a series of clashes between the government and an international anti-corruption commission.

Two Reuters journalists have each been sentenced to seven years in prison after they were found guilty breaching the official secrets act in Myanmar.

The seven-year jail sentence handed down to two journalists arrested while investigating a massacre of Rohingya Muslims was condemned worldwide.

In Bangkok’s upmarket Siam Paragon shopping mall, close to a Cold Stone Creamery, a young man crawls through a small, dank-looking tunnel...

Article written by a journalist who travelled to the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh with Oxfam.

James Ricketson has been found guilty of espionage in Cambodia.

Originally published on The Guardian. Water management is still the biggest obstacle in achieving equal distribution of water resources. Pollution, coming mostly from Bogotá’s domestic input, threatens the Chingaza watershed and the ecosystem services it provides to the inhabitants of such region.

Indigenous people in the Brazilian Amazon are mourning the murder of a community leader who campaigned to protect the forest from logging amid escalating violence in the region.

Birth is messy. It’s often not until you’re pregnant that you learn about the third stage of labor – the bit after the baby appears, when the mother pushes out the placenta that has provided life support for the previous nine months. In developed nations, birth is assumed to be safe. Yet in the United States, the maternal mortality rate doubled between 1990 and 2013, and infant mortality rates are rising in England and Wales, due largely to social inequality and cuts to maternity services. As

The staggering landscapes of Wales are a major draw for visitors. They’re also the perfect base for adrenaline-filled activities – from the world’s fastest zip line to journeying deep underground – and accessible by train...