today's environment story

UN renewables goal 'missed by most nations'

What happened?
Most countries are failing to follow through on a key pledge made at the 2023 UN Cop28 climate summit to triple global renewable energy capacity by 2030, according to climate analysts. Despite the landmark agreement, a report by climate think tank Ember found that national targets had barely shifted – to just 2% higher than they were at the time of the pledge – leaving the world on course to miss its clean energy goals and remain heavily reliant on fossil fuels.

Who said what?
Ember's report warned that tripling renewables by 2030 was the "single biggest action" needed this decade to stay within the 1.5C warming limit, but noted that governments remained far off the mark. Only 22 countries, mainly in the EU, have upgraded their targets. Major emitters like the US, China and Russia have yet to act.

What next?
The fate of the world's renewable energy deal "may depend on the actions of Beijing", said The Guardian. China is expected to finalise its 15th five-year plan for energy later this year, covering the period 2026-2030. The US and Russia do not have any 2030 renewable targets, and Ember said their leaders were unlikely to introduce any.

Today's royals story

Queen Mother's drinking blamed for Margaret's illness

What happened?
Princess Margaret may have suffered from foetal alcohol syndrome due to the Queen Mother’s drinking during pregnancy, a new biography claims. Pulitzer Prize-nominated author Meryle Secrest's forthcoming "Princess Margaret and the Curse" suggests that the princess's lifelong struggles can be traced back to the "invisible disability". Princess Margaret died in 2002 at the age of 72 after suffering a series of strokes.

Who said what?
Secrest re-examines Margaret's life in light of the modern understanding of the condition, including her "mood swings, stunted growth, difficulty learning how to write and painful migraines", said The Telegraph. She does not claim that Margaret was ever diagnosed with the syndrome, which was first observed by Dr Kenneth Jones in 1973.

The book also suggests that the Queen Mother consumed little or no alcohol during her first pregnancy with the future Queen Elizabeth II, referencing a 1925 letter in which the pregnant Queen Mother wrote: "The sight of wine simply turns me up!"

What next?
"Princess Margaret and the Curse" will be released on 9 September.

It's not all bad

A rare pair of Montagu's harriers have successfully raised four chicks in an English wheat field – the species' first fledging success in Britain since 2019. Monitored by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and a dedicated farmer, the nest was protected with fencing to deter predators. The male bird was born in the UK in 2015 and the female in France in 2023, offering hope that this cross-border couple might return next year and help revive Britain's rarest breeding bird.

under the radar

The science behind regrowing missing teeth

A pioneering new drug that could eventually help people regrow missing or damaged teeth has begun clinical trials in Japan.

If successful, the "ground-breaking medication" may be a "game-changer for the entire field of dentistry", said Japanese daily The Mainichi.

Unlike many species such as reptiles and fish, humans grow only two sets of teeth in their lifetime: the first as a baby and then a second permanent set for adulthood. The premise of the new drug is that "humans once had the ability to grow a third set" and "still possess the buds" necessary to regrow them, reported Discover Magazine.

The drug research team, led by Katsu Takahashi, head of the dentistry and oral surgery department at the Medical Research Institute Kitano Hospital in Osaka, identified a protein called USAG-1 that was found to limit tooth growth. A new antibody medicine that blocked the protein's function was tested on mice in 2018 with hugely encouraging results. A trial is now under way to test whether the drug is safe and effective for use on humans.

This year scientists from King's College London managed to grow a tooth under laboratory conditions. Xuechen Zhang, a final year PhD student at the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral and Craniofacial Sciences, said lab-grown teeth "would naturally regenerate, integrating into the jaw" in the same way as real teeth.

Although this breakthrough may still be a "long way from filling in the gaps in anyone's mouth, researchers say it is filling in the gaps in research", said the BBC.

on this day

31 July 1998

The UK ratified the "Convention on the Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling, Production and Transfer of Anti-Personnel Mines and on their Destruction" – otherwise known as the Ottawa Treaty – banning anti-personnel landmines. Recently, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have all abandoned the treaty due to the looming Russian military threat.

Today's newspapers

'Air we go again'

The Sun leads on the air traffic control failure that caused disruption for tens of thousands of holidaymakers in airports across the UK. There will be "huge knock-on effects" in the "peak holiday season", says The Telegraph. "Shame on you, Starmer", says the Daily Mail, reporting on a "ferocious backlash" against his plan to recognise a Palestinian state. Some UK lawyers have warned the PM that his pledge "risks breaking international law", says The Times. Sharon Osbourne shed "tears of Ozzy" at his funeral, says the Daily Star, and The Mirror features her "sign of love" salute to fans.

See the newspaper front pages

tall tale

Naked justice

A policeman in Argentina has won compensation after a Google Street View camera captured him naked in his garden. An appeals court ruled that the image, taken while the man was lying behind a 6.5-foot-high wall, flagrantly violated his dignity. "No one wants to appear exposed to the world as the day they were born," said the presiding judges, awarding him the equivalent of about £9,000.

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Martina Nacach Cowan Ros, Sorcha Bradley, Ross Couzens, and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.