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Hazy skies hung over parts of the midwest and northeastern U.S. on Sunday, caused by smoke drifting across the border from hundreds of wildfires in Canada.

Canada is experiencing its second worst wildfire season on record, according to government data, with almost 4,000 fires recorded already this calendar year.

Smoke coming across the border has affected air quality in several U.S. states. This weekend, air quality reached concerning levels across Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota. Parts of Illinois and Indiana are also under air quality alerts. People in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine are also being advised to limit outdoor activity due to pollution from the smoke.

National Weather Service Lead Forecaster Bob Oravec told NPR that the current wind patterns are once again driving the spread of polluted air into the U.S. from Canada.

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One of the world's strongest earthquakes struck Russia's Far East early Wednesday, an 8.8-magnitude temblor that set off a tsunami in the northern Pacific region and prompted warnings for Alaska, Hawaii and south toward New Zealand.

Tsunami warning sirens blared Tuesday in Honolulu and people moved to higher ground.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said a first tsunami wave of about 30 centimeters (about 1 foot) reached Nemuro on the eastern coast of Hokkaido.

Damage and evacuations were reported in the Russian regions nearest the quake's epicenter on the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The first tsunami wave hit the coastal area of Severo-Kurilsk, the main settlement on Russia's Kuril Islands in the Pacific, according to the local governor Valery Limarenko. He said residents were safe and staying on high ground until the threat of a repeat wave was gone.

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Tuvalu is preparing to carry out the first planned migration of an entire country in response to the effects of climate change. Recent studies project that much of its territory could be submerged in the next 25 years due to rising sea levels, forcing its inhabitants to consider migration as an urgent survival measure.

This island nation in Oceania is made up of nine coral islands and atolls inhabited by just over 11,000 people. The country’s average altitude is just 2 meters above sea level, making it extremely vulnerable to rising oceans, flooding, and storm surges, all exacerbated by the climate crisis.

A study by NASA’s Sea Level Change Team revealed that, in 2023, the sea level in Tuvalu was 15 centimeters higher than the average recorded over the previous three decades. If this trend continues, it’s projected that most of the territory, including its critical infrastructure, will be below the high-tide level by 2050.

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Two high-ranking officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were placed on administrative leave on Friday, fueling speculation that the Trump administration was retaliating against them for actions taken during the president’s first term.

Two high-ranking officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration were placed on administrative leave on Friday, fueling speculation that the Trump administration was retaliating against them for actions taken during the president’s first term.

Jeff Dillen, who was serving as deputy general counsel, and Stephen Volz, who heads the agency’s satellites division, led the investigation into whether agency administrators abdicated their scientific ethics when they altered the forecast of a deadly hurricane to match statements made by the president.

First reported by CNN, the two were placed on leave just days before Neil Jacobs – the former Noaa chief at the center of the scandal – returns for a confirmation hearing as Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency once again.

During the 2019 debacle known as “Sharpiegate”, named for erroneous marks added by marker on a National Hurricane Center map to justify incorrect claims made by the president that Hurricane Dorian would reach Alabama – a path not in line with what forecasters initially reported – left a blemish on the science-focused agency’s record. The investigation, it was announced in June 2020, found Jacobs and another official had violated the agency’s “scientific integrity policy”, when they succumbed to political pressure.

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The Trump administration has unveiled plans to speed the development of the highly polluting artificial intelligence sector, sparking outrage from climate advocates.

Rolled out on Wednesday, the 28-page scheme pledges to remove so-called “bureaucratic red tape” and streamline permitting for datacenters, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and fossil fuel infrastructure.

To do so, it will dismantle some environmental and land-use regulations, roll back some Biden-era rules for subsidies for semiconductor plants related to climate requirements, and seek to establish exclusions for datacenters from the National Environmental Policy Act and streamline permits under the Clean Water Act.

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Trump’s EPA eliminates research and development of
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. One union leader said the moves “will devastate public health in our country”.

The agency’s office of research and development (ORD) has long provided the scientific underpinnings for the EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues such as air and water.

The agency said on Friday it is creating a new office of applied science and environmental solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science “more than ever before”.

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