Which came first: the feeder or the bird? A seemingly straightforward question, but the answer might not be so simple. According to a recently published study in Global Change Biology, the use of human-made hummingbird feeders has changed the beak sizes and shapes of Anna’s hummingbirds, and spread their range from a narrow pocket of…
Sunny spring weather sent shoppers flocking to supermarkets and specialists such as butchers, bakers and alcohol outlets last month, fuelling the strongest quarterly increase in retail sales in Great Britain in almost four years. Retail sales volumes rose by 1.2% in April, well ahead of City economists’ forecasts of an increase of between 0.2% and…
The chair of Creative Australia is departing the organisation, with the arts minister, Tony Burke, announcing on Friday Robert Morgan’s intention to retire. The First Nations playwright and creative director Wesley Enoch will serve as the acting chair and is expected to replace Morgan. Morgan presided over the controversial board meeting in February that voted…
Heavy rainfall across Sydney has caused chaos on roads and railways as authorities warn of delays for those descending on the city for the opening of the Vivid lights festival. More than 200mm of rain fell in Richmond, about 90mm in Camden, more than 50mm in Katoomba and at least 75mm at Sydney airport in…
Environmental activists in Brazil have decried a dramatic rollback of environmental safeguards after the senate approved a bill that would dismantle licensing processes and increase the risk of widespread destruction. The upper house passed the so-called “devastation bill” with 54 votes to 13 late on Wednesday, paving the way for projects ranging from mining and…
The US Federal Trade Commission dropped a case that sought to block Microsoft’s $69bn purchase of the Call of Duty maker Activision Blizzard, saying on Thursday that pursuing the case against the long-closed deal was not in the public interest. Andrew Ferguson, the FTC chair, is seeking to use the agency’s resources for cases that…
The Northern Irish rap trio Kneecap have claimed a campaign is being mounted to prevent their performance at Glastonbury this summer, at a surprise gig staged a day after one of its members was charged with a terror offence. The group told the crowd at the 100 Club in central London on Thursday night that…
There are less than 80 miles between them, but the gulf in quality is massive, according to a Which? survey that ranked Gloucester services top of the stops, and Bridgwater bottom. For many people motorway service stations are a place to take a break, grab a snack and use the toilet, but the rankings from…
The US Federal Trade Commission has demanded documents from Media Matters about possible coordination with other media watchdogs accused by Elon Musk of helping orchestrate advertiser boycotts of X, according to a document seen by Reuters on Thursday. The civil investigative demand seen by Reuters seeks information about Media Matters’ communications with other groups that…
Top finance officials from the world’s seven wealthiest democracies set aside stark differences on US tariffs and agreed to counter global “economic imbalances”, a swipe at China’s trade practices. In a communique issued on Thursday, the Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors, meeting in the Canadian Rockies, left out their traditional defense…
