clean

The Paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are collecting bodies after the deadly takeover of North Darfur capital, US researcher says.

A researcher at Yale University in the United States says the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) are digging mass graves in el-Fasher, the city in Sudan’s western Darfur region that has seen mass killings and displacement since the RSF took over last month.

Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Humanitarian Research Lab at Yale’s School of Public Health, told Al Jazeera on Tuesday that the RSF “have begun to dig mass graves and to collect bodies throughout the city”.

“They are cleaning up the massacre,” Raymond said.

The RSF seized control of el-Fasher, the capital of North Darfur state, on October 26, after the withdrawal of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), which has been fighting the paramilitary group for control of Sudan since April 2023.

More than 70,000 people have fled the city and surrounding areas since the RSF’s takeover, according to the United Nations, while witnesses and human rights groups have reported cases of “summary executions”, sexual violence and massacres of civilians.

A report from Yale’s Humanitarian Research Lab on October 28 also found evidence of “mass killings” since the RSF took control of el-Fasher, including apparent pools of blood that were visible in satellite imagery.

UN officials also warned this week that thousands of people are believed to be trapped in el-Fasher.

“The current insecurity continues to block access, preventing the delivery of life-saving assistance to those trapped in the city without food, water and medical care,” Jacqueline Wilma Parlevliet, a senior UN refugee agency (UNHCR) official in Sudan, said.

Sudanese journalist Abdallah Hussain explained that, before the RSF’s full takeover, el-Fasher was already reeling from an 18-month siege imposed by the paramilitary group.

“No aid was allowed to access the city, and no healthcare facilities [were] operating,” Hussain told Al Jazeera from the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, on Tuesday. “Now it’s getting even worse for the citizens who remain trapped.”

Amid global condemnation, the RSF and its supporters have tried to downplay the atrocities committed in el-Fasher, accusing allied armed groups of being responsible.

The RSF’s leader, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti, has also promised an investigation.

But Raymond at the Humanitarian Research Lab said: “if they want to actually have an investigation, then they need to withdraw from the city [and] let UN personnel and the Red Cross and humanitarians enter … and go house-to-house looking to see who’s still alive”.

“At this point, we can’t let the RSF investigate themselves,” he said.

Raymond added that, based on UN figures and what can be seen on the ground in el-Fasher, “more people could have died [in 10 days]… than have died in the past two years of the war in Gaza”.

“That’s what we’re talking about. That’s not hyperbole,” he told Al Jazeera, stressing that thousands of people need emergency assistance.

More than 68,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza since October 7, 2023.

As the Group of 20 leaders gather in Cape Town, clean air features on the agenda as a standalone priority for the first time in the forum’s history. The reality, however, is stark. Outdoor air pollution claims 5.7 million lives each year, and a report released last week highlights the lack of international development finance for clean air. Only $3.7bn was spent globally in 2023, representing barely 1 percent of aid, with only a fraction reaching Africa.

As the minister chairing the G20’s environment workstream this year, I am proud to have worked with member countries and international organisations to place air pollution firmly on the agenda. When Japan held the presidency in 2019, the focus was on marine plastics. Last year, under Brazil’s leadership, the G20 prioritised finance for forests. This year, we sought to treat the right to breathe clean air with the urgency it deserves.

In South Africa, our Constitution guarantees every person the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or wellbeing. That principle guides our domestic policy and informs our leadership of the G20’s discussions.

This is the first G20 presidency on African soil, a fitting setting to confront this crisis. Africa is the fastest urbanising continent on Earth, and the choices we make today in how we power our homes, move our people, and build our cities will shape health, climate, and economic outcomes for decades to come. The burden of air pollution is already visible in hospital admissions, school absenteeism, and productivity losses across the continent. According to the World Bank, outdoor air pollution causes global economic losses equivalent to nearly 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) each year.

This reality is now reshaping the global debate. In May, governments adopted the world’s first global goal on air quality at the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly, which aims to halve deaths caused by poor air by 2040. It was a landmark step, but without finance to match ambition, such commitments risk remaining words on paper.

Our G20 deliberations identified four barriers to cleaner air. The first is limited institutional capacity. The second is inadequate monitoring and data, leaving policymakers and citizens without reliable information. The third is weak cooperation across borders. The fourth is the shortage of finance relative to the scale of the problem.

The Clean Air Fund’s recent report makes this plain. In 2023, support for outdoor air quality in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 91 percent to only $11.8m. Globally, just 1 percent of aid was spent on clean air, and only 1 percent of that reached sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, less than one-10,000th (1/10,000) of global development funding supports clean-air efforts in one of the regions most in need.

That is not only inequitable; it is also economically short-sighted. Clean-air action reduces healthcare costs, boosts productivity, and supports the transition to more resilient economies.

South Africa’s own experience demonstrates what is possible. Through the National Air Quality Framework and the National Environmental Management Act, we have built a foundation for accountability and transparency in monitoring air quality. We have strengthened coordination between national and municipal governments, introduced targeted interventions in the Highveld and Vaal Triangle, and expanded our air-quality monitoring network so that communities can access real-time data. These measures are supported by our broader Just Energy Transition, which directs investment towards cleaner transport, renewable power, and improved waste management.

The lesson is that progress requires both political will and predictable finance. Domestic measures alone are not enough. International financial institutions and development banks must embed clean-air objectives within climate and development portfolios.

This year’s G20 discussions also underscored the importance of data. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. Expanding reliable air-quality monitoring networks in low-income countries is one of the smartest investments the international community can make. It empowers local decision-makers, supports innovation in clean technologies, and strengthens accountability.

The message from Cape Town is clear: clean air belongs at the top table. That recognition must now be matched by sustained progress to deliver measurable outcomes. In practice, this means embedding clean-air objectives at the heart of development finance and prioritising regions that have been left behind, especially across Africa, where pollution levels are high but funding remains negligible.

Clean air is not a peripheral issue; it is central to achieving climate goals, health targets, and sustainable growth. The science is clear: the same pollutants that harm human health also warm the planet. Tackling them together delivers faster and more cost-effective results.

We therefore call for a collective effort among governments, development partners, and the private sector to ensure that clean air becomes a central measure of success in the global transition. The right to breathe clean air is universal. Delivering it requires fairness, commitment, and finance that match ambition.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

SACRAMENTO — U.S. Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III announced today that he will resign at the end of July or in early August.

He told a news conference that an independent prosecutor investigating his personal financial affairs had found no grounds for legal action against him and therefore he could leave the Reagan Administration with a clear name.

“I have stated that I would not resign under a cloud or until I was completely vindicated,” Meese said, adding that the filing of a report by independent counsel James McKay–rather than an indictment–”fully vindicates me.”

Meese’s tenure at the Justice Department has been marked by repeated controversy surrounding his conduct and marred by resignations by senior personnel.

Won’t Be ‘Hounded’

Explaining why he had now decided to resign, Meese, who has always maintained his innocence, declared, “to allow myself to be hounded out of office by false accusations or allegations, unjust political attacks and media clamor would undermine the integrity of our system of justice which I have championed. . . . “

He said: “I have informed the President that I will be leaving the Administration towards the end of July or early in August.”

Earlier today, McKay ended his investigation of Meese without bringing criminal charges, but filed a report that raised questions about Meese’s ethics.

Sources close to the nearly 14-month-old probe said the secret report, totaling more than 800 pages, referred certain matters on Meese’s ethical behavior to the Justice Department for further review.

The department’s Office of Professional Responsibility, the agency’s internal ethics unit, is expected to review whether Meese violated federal ethics rules that prohibit actions that create the appearance of impropriety.

Allegations Detailed

McKay, who previously said he had insufficient evidence to indict Meese on most key matters under scrutiny, detailed in the report his probe into various conflict-of-interest charges against the attorney general.

It was filed under seal with a special panel of three federal appeals court judges. After Meese’s defense attorneys comment on the report, the judges will decide when to release it.

Meese, the nation’s top law enforcement officer who had President Reagan’s continued support throughout the inquiry, has denied any wrongdoing.

Most of McKay’s investigation centered on action Meese took as a government official that benefited his longtime friend and former lawyer, E. Robert Wallach, and on assistance that Wallach extended to Meese.

Wallach has been indicted on charges of attempting to illegally influence Meese and other government officials in helping win lucrative government contracts for the scandal-plagued Wedtech Corp., a defense contractor.

The most serious charge against Meese involved his role in a failed Iraqi oil pipeline deal that allegedly called for payoffs of as much as $700 million over 10 years to Israel and the Israeli Labor Party.

Meese received a secret 1985 memo from Wallach, who represented one of the project’s promoters, outlining the alleged payoff plan in return for an Israeli commitment not to attack the pipeline.

Meese then helped set up a meeting between a top White House national security adviser and former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to discuss the project.

Telephone Contacts Probed

McKay also investigated Meese’s meetings with regional Bell Telephone company executives while holding $14,000 in phone stock.

Outscoring the opposition was the mentality at Tottenham last season but now the focus is on keeping out goals at the other end of the pitch.

Tuesday’s 1-0 win against Villarreal in Spurs’ Champions League opener was the fourth clean sheet they had kept in five games so far this season under Thomas Frank.

In contrast, they had kept just one at the same stage of last season, when the more attack-minded Ange Postecoglou was in charge.

“We talked a lot about ‘clean sheet mentality’ this year because we conceded a lot last year,” Tottenham midfielder Lucas Bergvall told Amazon Prime.

“They [Villarreal] did not have a shot on target, so we did a really good job.”

Defender Micky van de Ven added: “I think we are a difficult team to play against, for sure. Structure-wise we are standing really good and we all know what to do, so we’re a difficult team to beat.”

The style of Frank’s Tottenham side against Villarreal was in stark contrast to the swashbuckling football played under Postecoglou.

They were much more cautious, even after being gifted a fourth-minute opener thanks to a calamitous mistake by Villarreal goalkeeper Luiz Junior.

But their defence was excellent, with Van de Ven in particularly halting most of Villarreal’s attacks.

Even though the visitors had 10 shots, Guglielmo Vicario didn’t have a save to make throughout.

The price for that level of pragmatism was that Tottenham themselves only had one shot on target – very little for the home fans to get excited about.

“We defended really well and gave little away throughout the game against a really good Villarreal side,” Frank said.

“I think offensively we didn’t hit the highest level. There was definitely a spell second half where we decided let’s give it to the Villarreal guys and then we’ll sprint back, that’s a very good fun thing.

“It was a very even game that we just edged.”

If you read the Western press this morning, you may come to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s desire to take military control over Gaza is new. But dropping 2000lb bombs does not rescue captives and wiping out whole neighbourhoods does not come without plans to build something in their place.

On Friday, Israel’s security cabinet approved the occupation of Gaza City, formalising what was always the endgame of this genocide. The plan follows a deliberate sequence: First destroy, then starve, occupy, demand demilitarisation, and finally carry out full ethnic cleansing once Palestinians have no political power and capacity to resist. This is how the dream of “Greater Israel” is achieved.

But why formalise this occupation now, after 22 months of systematic slaughter? Because the crime scene must be sanitised before the world sees what remains of Gaza.

On Sunday, the Israeli army assassinated Al Jazeera journalists Anas al-Sharif, Mohammed Qreiqeh, Ibrahim Zaher, Mohammed Noufal and Moamen Aliwa by dropping a missile on a media tent near al-Shifa Hospital. Their names are now added to the long list of more than 230 Palestinian journalists and media workers that Israel has killed since October 2023.

With Israel banning all foreign media from freely accessing Gaza, Palestinian journalists have been solely responsible for covering and documenting Israeli war crimes. The assassination is a clear message to them to stop, to stay silent.

Meanwhile, foreign journalists who rode on airdrop flights to Gaza were also warned. Aerial footage they released offered glimpses of Gaza’s corpse: A patchwork of shattered concrete, ruins and hollowed streets. It is complete desolation.

The footage shocked viewers across the world and so the Israeli government was quick to ban filming on these flights, warning that aid drops would be halted if there were any violations.

Israel knows it cannot continue to block foreign media access to Gaza forever. The genocide will come to an end eventually; aid convoys and relief workers will be allowed in and with them, foreign journalists with cameras.

So before that day arrives, Israel is racing to erase the evidence because once the world sees Gaza, it will no longer be able to pretend that the war was about anything other than the mass killing of Palestinians and the erasure of their history.

The occupation of Gaza City is the murderer returning to the crime scene to hide the body. The goal is not only to cover up the crimes, but to convince the world that the dead have not died and that what we see is not what it is.

The official death toll in Gaza stands at 60,000, a number that by many expert accounts is an undercount. According to estimates, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have likely been murdered. As UN experts declared on August 7, “Israel is exterminating the people of Gaza by any and all means.” There are a lot of crimes to cover up.

We have already seen the modus operandi of the Israeli army in trying to destroy evidence in Gaza. It has buried massacred civilians in mass graves with bulldozers; it has withheld bodies of Palestinian torture victims; it has dug into the sand whole crime scenes of execution; it has planted weapons in hospitals that it has ransacked; it has lied about discovering tunnels.

All of this fits neatly with Israel’s long history of burying evidence of atrocities. Since 1948, Israeli authorities have systematically erased their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by building on top of the ruins of pillaged Palestinian villages and towns.

Israeli intelligence has also removed documents from archives that provide evidence of Zionist and Israeli forces committing war crimes during the Nakba of 1948. Some of the documents that have disappeared give gruesome details about the brutality of Zionist fighters during massacres of Palestinians, like in the village of Dawaymeh, near Hebron, where hundreds of Palestinian men, women, and children were killed by artillery fire or directly executed. In 1955, the settlement of Amatzia was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village.

By occupying the northern part of the Gaza Strip now, Israel will certainly resort to these same methods of erasure and falsification. It will also be able to control foreign media coverage, just as it has done until now.

The Israeli army has only allowed foreign journalists into Gaza embedded with its military units under strict conditions that transform reporters into participants in hasbara. Embedded journalists must submit all materials for military review before publication, must operate under constant observation, and cannot speak freely with Palestinians.

Journalists thus become mouthpieces for the Israeli military, parroting their justifications for wholesale destruction and propagating their lies about Palestinian civilians as “human shields” and Gaza hospitals and schools as “terror hubs”.

The full-scale occupation can also help facilitate further massacres and ethnic cleansing. Those who refuse forced displacement will be labelled “militants” to excuse their slaughter. Israel used this strategy early into the genocide, dropping leaflets warning Palestinians in northern Gaza that they will be deemed “partners in a terrorist organisation” if they do not comply with “evacuation orders”.

Mass displacement is essential to the cover-up because it creates a new narrative that Palestinians are voluntarily migrating rather than being ethnically cleansed. The short-term goal is to force those willing to comply into concentration camps in the south and detach them from their homes and land. Over time, it would become easier to expel Palestinians elsewhere and deny them the right to return. It is the same way Nakba refugees were forced to flee to Gaza and were then denied their internationally recognised right of return.

The response of the international community to Israel’s plan has been just more condemnations. Germany went as far as halting military exports that could be used in Gaza – something that should have been done 22 months ago, when Israel started indiscriminately bombing civilians.

These actions are pathetic. They do not absolve these governments of their complicity in aiding and abetting the crime of genocide; they are just another sign of their moral cowardice.

The international community must take decisive action. It must undertake military intervention, as mandated under international law, to force Israel to immediately end the violence, to allow unrestricted humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to give Palestinians the freedom they are entitled to. International journalists must be granted immediate access to collect whatever evidence remains of Israel’s crimes before it disappears under the cover of “military operations”.

It is time the world starts believing Palestinians. For 22 months, Palestinians have said this is genocide. They have said it while stuck under the rubble, while starving, while carrying their children’s bodies. They said Israel was not defending itself but trying to erase Palestinians. They said occupation and ethnic cleansing are the goal. Israeli politicians themselves have said it.

Without urgent international action, the words “never again” will refer not to the prevention of genocide, but to the existence of Palestinian life in Gaza. The truth so many Palestinians have died to tell must not be buried with their bodies.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

Beach lovers looking for a ‘peaceful’ spot that’s ideal for a day out or watching beautiful summer sunsets

Blackpool is one of the UK’s most beloved holiday resorts, home to a gorgeous sandy beach and other attractions. However, beachgoers looking for a seaside getaway might also love a lesser-known beach found nearby.

St Annes Beach is well worth a visit for holidaymakers or day-trippers who find themselves near Lytham St Annes. The smaller resort is a short drive from Blackpool and less than 90 minutes by car from central Manchester. Visitors love the “peaceful” beach, recommending it as the perfect spot to watch the sun go down in the summer.

Posting online as @hannxhml, a Manchester-based blogger shared a video praising the beach. Her video said: “You found the most peaceful beach one hour away from Manchester.” Her caption continued: “This beach was so clean and quiet, definitely recommend for a day trip and for amazing sunset views!”

She added: “It is a bit of a walk to the water so it’s worth noting if you want to swim, but it made for a nice walk.” Elsewhere, a blogger who posts on TikTok as @zahidrahman also praised the beach. He wrote: “St anne’s beach – only 1hr from manchester – must visit this summer to watch the sunset.”

Both videos impressed viewers, who agreed the beach makes for a great day out. Someone replied: “What a beautiful beach.” Another response read: “One of my favourite places.”

Someone shared: “Love it there. My friend lives in Lytham St Annes I’m honestly jealous,” and a commenter joked: “Takes 4 days to reach the water. Amazing beach though.”

Visit St Annes says the beach is lovely year-round, though it shines brightest during the summer months. The website says: “Huge, open acres of golden sand front against a traditional Victorian seaside seafront at St Annes.

“It’s a lovely place to enjoy a stroll, look around the gardens, and take in the seaside vibe. Listen to children playing and soak up the fresh air and weather. Lovely at any time of the year, it really comes into its own when the sun shines!”

The beach has an average rating of 4.5 out of five stars on TripAdvisor, and it’s also ranked as the number one thing to do in the area. One recent review said: “St Annes’s beach is gem of place. We had booked 2 huts.

“Majority time spent on beach. Kids enjoyed. Well equipped and maintained facilities. Clean toilets. Only missed is the sea water was too far away. Did try to walk towards but were unsure about tide time so came back. Must visit.”

Someone else wrote: “A lovely spacious beach. We have also rented the beach huts in the past. Check the tide times as the sea is rarely seen here but it’s because it’s in an estuary.

“Parking is accessible, they have lovely cafes all around and you will have fun here for sure. Very compact sand just a little bit in. Pillowy closer to the edges.”

McALLEN, Texas — Adults fighting kids for clean water, despondent toddlers, and a child with swollen feet denied a medical exam: These first-hand accounts from immigrant families at detention centers included in a motion filed by advocates Friday night are offering a glimpse of conditions at Texas facilities.

Families shared their testimonies with immigrant advocates filing a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from terminating the Flores settlement agreement, a 1990s-era policy that requires immigrant children detained in federal custody be held in safe and sanitary conditions.

The agreement could challenge President Trump’s family detention provisions in his massive tax and spending bill, which also seeks to make the detention time indefinite and comes as the administration ramps up arrests of immigrants nationwide.

“At a time when Congress is considering funding the indefinite detention of children and families, defending the Flores Settlement is more urgent than ever,” Mishan Wroe, a senior immigration attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, said in a statement Friday.

Advocates with the center, as well as the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, RAICES and Children’s Rights contacted or visited children and their families held in two Texas family detention centers in Dilley and Karnes, which reopened this year.

The conditions of the family detention facilities were undisclosed until immigration attorneys filed an opposing motion Friday night before a California federal court.

The oversight of the detention facilities was possible because of the settlement, and the visits help ensure standards of compliance and transparency, said Sergio Perez, the executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. Without the settlement, those overseeing the facilities would lose access to them and could not document what is happening inside.

Out of 90 families who spoke to RAICES, an immigration legal support group, since March, 40 expressed medical concerns, according to the court documents. Several testimonies expressed concern over water quantity and quality.

Emailed messages seeking comment were sent to the office of U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi and to CoreCivic and Geo Group, the private prison companies that operate the detention facilities in Dilley and Karnes, respectively. There was no response from Bondi’s office or the operators of the facilities as of midday Saturday.

One mother was told she would have to use tap water for formula for her 9-month-old, who had diarrhea for three days after. A 16-year-old girl described people scrambling over one another for water.

“We don’t get enough water. They put out a little case of water, and everyone has to run for it,” said the declaration from the girl held with her mother and two younger siblings at the Karnes County Immigration Processing Center. “An adult here even pushed my little sister out of the way to get to the water first.”

Faisal Al-Juburi, chief external affairs officer for RAICES, said Friday in a statement that the conditions “only serve to reinforce the vital need for transparent and enforceable standards and accountability measures,” citing an “unconscionable obstruction of medical care for those with acute, chronic, and terminal illnesses.”

One family with a young boy with cancer said he missed his doctor’s appointment after the family was arrested after they attended an immigration court hearing. He is now experiencing relapse symptoms, according to the motion. Another family said their 9-month-old lost more than 8 pounds while in detention for a month.

Children spoke openly about their trauma during visits with legal monitors, including a 12-year-old boy with a blood condition. He reported that his feet became too inflamed to walk, and even though he saw a doctor, he was denied further testing. Now, he stays mostly off his feet. “It hurts when I walk,” he said in a court declaration.

Arrests have left psychological trauma. A mother of a 3-year-old boy who saw agents go inside his babysitter’s home with guns started acting differently after detention. She said he now throws himself on the ground, bruises himself and refuses to eat most days.

Growing concerns as ICE ramps up operations

Many of the families in detention were already living in the U.S., reflecting the recent shift from immigration arrests at the border to internal operations.

Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and main architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would target at least 3,000 arrests a day, up from about 650 a day during the first few months of Trump’s second term.

Leecia Welch, the deputy legal director at Children’s Rights, said that as bad as facility conditions are, they will only get worse as more immigrants are brought in.

“As of early June, the census at Dilley was around 300, and only two of its five areas were open,” Welch said of her visits. “With a capacity of around 2,400, it’s hard to imagine what it would be like with 2,000 more people.”

Pediatricians such as Dr. Marsha Griffin with the American Academy of Pediatrics Council said they are concerned and are advocating across the country to allow pediatric monitors with child welfare experts inside the facilities.

Challenge to Flores agreement

The Flores agreement is poised to become more relevant if Trump’s tax and spending legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, passes with the current language allowing the indefinite detention of immigrant families, which is not allowed under the Flores agreement.

Trump’s legislation approved by the House also proposes setting aside $45 billion in funding, a threefold spending increase, over the next four years to expand ICE detention of adults and families. The Senate is now considering the bill.

Under these increased efforts to add more detention space, Geo Group, the corporation operating the detention facility in Karnes, will soon be reopening an infamous prison — which housed gangsters Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly — for migrant detention in Leavenworth, Kan.

Immigration advocates argue that if the settlement were terminated, the government would need to create regulations that conform to the agreement’s terms.

“Plaintiffs did not settle for policy making — they settled for rulemaking,” the motion read.

The federal government will have a chance to submit a reply brief. A court hearing is scheduled for mid-July.

Gonzalez writes for the Associated Press.

Reporting from Washington — President Trump stepped up his attack on federal environmental protections Tuesday, issuing an order directing his administration to begin the long process of rolling back sweeping clean water rules that were enacted by his predecessor.

The order directing the Environmental Protection Agency to set about dismantling the Waters of the United States rule takes aim at one of President Obama’s signature environmental legacies, a far-reaching anti-pollution effort that expanded the authority of regulators over the nation’s waterways and wetlands.

The contentious rule had been fought for years by farmers, ranchers, real estate developers and others, who complained it invited heavy-handed bureaucrats to burden their businesses with onerous restrictions and fines for minor violations.

Obama’s EPA argued that such claims were exaggerated and misrepresented the realities of the enforcement process of a rule that promised to create substantially cleaner waterways, and with them healthier habitats for threatened species of wildlife.

The directive to undo the clean water initiative is expected to be closely followed by another aimed at unraveling the Obama administration’s ambitious plan to fight climate change by curbing power plant emissions.

“It is such a horrible, horrible rule,” Trump said as he signed the directive Tuesday aimed at the water rules. “It has such a nice name, but everything about it is bad.” He declared the rule, championed by environmental groups to give the EPA broad authority over nearly two-thirds of the waterways in the nation, “one of the worst examples of federal regulation” and “a massive power grab.”

While the executive orders are a clear sign of the new administration’s distaste for some of the highest profile federal environmental rules, they also reflect the challenge it faces in erasing them. Both the climate and the clean water rules were enacted only after a long and tedious process of public hearings, scientific analysis and bureaucratic review. That entire process must be revisited before they can be weakened. It could take years.

And environmental groups will be mobilized to fight every step of the way. “These wetland protections help ensure that over 100 million Americans have access to clean and safe drinking water,” California billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer said in a statement. “Access to safe drinking water is a human right, and Trump’s order is a direct violation of this right.”

The executive orders are compounded by the administration’s release of a budget blueprint that includes deep cuts at the EPA. Even if the process of changing the environmental rules is slow, the Trump administration will aim to hasten their demise by hollowing out the agencies charged with enforcing them.

At the same time, it is working with Congress to immediately kill some environmental protections under an obscure authority that applies to regulations enacted within the final months of the previous administration. A rule intended to limit water pollution from coal mining has already been killed by Congress, which is now weighing whether to jettison rules that force gas drilling operations on federal land to capture more of the toxic methane they emit.

Trump vowed Tuesday that he would continue to undermine the Obama-era environmental protections wherever he sees the opportunity, arguing they have cost jobs. “So many jobs we have delayed for so many years,” Trump said. “It is unfair to everybody.”

Many industries take issue with that interpretation. Tuesday’s order, for example, was met with a swift rebuke from sport fishing and hunting groups. They said the clean water rule has been a boon to the economy, sustaining hundreds of thousands of jobs in their industry.

“Sports men and women will do everything within their power to compel the administration to change course and to use the Clean Water Act to improve, not worsen, the nation’s waterways,” a statement from a half-dozen of the organizations said.

[email protected]

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England sealed a comprehensive one-day international series clean sweep over West Indies with a nine-wicket thrashing in a rain-affected encounter at Taunton.

Set a target of just 106 in a match reduced to 21 overs per side, England cruised to victory in 10.5 overs with captain Nat Sciver-Brunt finishing unbeaten on 57 from 33 balls.

Sophia Dunkley made 26 at the top of the order as England rejigged their batting line-up, while Alice Capsey finished unbeaten on 20 in another one-sided affair.

West Indies, who were again without star all-rounder Hayley Matthews because of a shoulder injury, had slipped to 4-3 inside the first four overs after England chose to bowl first under gloomy skies.

Stand-in captain Shemaine Campbelle and opener Qiana Joseph gradually rebuilt with a partnership of 39 before heavy rain led to a five-hour delay after 12.3 overs had been bowled.

Campbelle fell to Charlie Dean from the first ball after the resumption as the tourists slumped further to 58-6, but they smacked 31 from the last two overs to post 106-8.

Leg-spinner Sarah Glenn was the pick of England’s bowlers with 3-21, while seamer Em Arlott took 2-15.

England also won the preceding T20 series 3-0, and their summer continues with three T20s and three ODIs against India, starting at Trent Bridge on 28 June.

There was plenty of discussion and hope that losing the England captaincy would allow Knight more freedom as a batter, and in her first two knocks since, that has already come to fruition.

She made 43 not out in the first T20 at Canterbury, and was not required to bat in the second, before finishing strongly by reaching her first international T20 half-century on home soil from 38 balls.

West Indies were rewarded for a much more consistent bowling effort, sticking to a simple plan of keeping the stumps in play and squeezing England’s batters as much as possible with a little help from a surface which aided their spin-heavy attack.

It meant that Knight had to work through the gears, focusing on rotating the strike and picking the gaps in her partnership with Sciver-Brunt which came after England posted their second-lowest T20 powerplay score when batting first at home, with only two boundaries struck in the opening six overs.

After Sciver-Brunt was caught on the boundary at the end of the 11th over, Jones’ counter-attacking knock took the pressure off during the the middle overs which allowed Knight to display more versatility, striking one enormous six over mid-wicket and producing an array of cheeky ramps and paddles off the spinners.

Her injury will be a concern as she struggled to run between the wickets in the final couple of overs, but it has been a highly promising return to the batting ranks.

There are questions surrounding Wyatt-Hodge’s form, however, with 17 runs in three innings having already been dropped from the ODI squad for this series. The opener’s 22 ducks are the most in men’s and women’s T20 internationals, and 11 of them have come first ball.

SHE was “really upset” when she thought she’d stained her brand new blender.

Then Hannah remembered a spray she’d bought, and thought there was no harm in giving it a try.

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And when she sprayed the orange-coloured blender bottle with the Fairy buy, she was stunned to watch the stain literally disappear.

“I actually couldn’t believe my eyes,” Hannah said in a video on her TikTok page.

“I can literally see the stain dissolving!

“Are you seeing this?”

She added that she’d tried to wash up the bottle “six times” before coming to the conclusion that it would be “stained forever” after she’d used it for turmeric.

As one last ditch attempt, she decided to try Fairy’s new Skip the Soak spray, which she’d picked up for just £1 thanks to a Tesco Clubcard voucher.

“In all honesty, I just forgot that I had it,” she said.

“Then thought I’d just give it a try seeing as nothing else was working.”

She then showed the spray in action, before rinsing the foam off to reveal a completely clear and clean bottle.

“If you’ve ever had anything come out the dishwasher and it comes out a bit orangey… I’ve never been able to get those kind of stains out before,” Hannah continued.

She also said that, as the name suggests, the spray can be used in place of leaving something to soak to get it clean.

“It says you can use it on surfaces as well,” Hannah said.

“Someone even said you can use it on clothes if you’ve got a stain in clothes.

“I think it’s quite new.

“Wanted to share because I feel like this is such a huge hack!

“I can’t believe it.”

“What is this witchcraft?” Hannah wrote over the top of her video, adding in the caption: “I can’t believe I’ve had this just sitting in my cupboard for weeks!”

And the comments section was almost immediately filled with other chuffed users raving about the budget buy.

“It got bacon grease off my daughters dancing leotard, it’s SO good,” one wrote.

“No, that is incredible!! Saw the ad for it but didn’t think it’d be that good!!” another added.

“It makes cleaning the air fryer so much easier too,” a third commented.

“Can’t wait to try this on the tupperwares that never look clean,” someone else wrote.

As another joked: “You know you’re old when you send this to your mum asking for one on your birthday!”

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