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Germany and the European Union announced Saturday that they have reached an agreement in their dispute over the future of cars with combustion engines, allowing the registration of new vehicles with such engines even after 2035 provided they use climate-neutral fuel only. EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans tweeted that “we have found an agreement with Germany on the future use of e-fuels in cars.” German Transport Minister Volker Wissing tweeted that the way had been cleared for vehicles with internal combustion engines that only use climate-neutral fuels to be newly registered even after 2035. “We secure opportunities for Europe by preserving important options for climate-neutral and affordable mobility," Wissing wrote.

Leading lawyers say they will refuse to prosecute climate protesters or represent new fossil fuel projects. More than 120 lawyers have vowed to not act against activists from groups such as Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil who are "exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest". They have published a "Declaration of Conscience", and face the prospect of disciplinary action. The chair of the Bar Council Nick Vineall KC said it was "disappointing". Barrister Paul Powlesland, who signed the declaration, said: "We're refusing to advise fossil fuel companies on how to dig for new oil and gas, the same way we wouldn't advise a killer how to commit serial murders." The group, who call themselves 'Lawyers Are Responsible', say they will withhold their services supporting new fossil fuel projects and any action against climate protesters who are "exercising their democratic right of peaceful protest".

Should fossil fuel companies face homicide charges for their contributions to climate change? That’s the question explored in a paper set to be published in the Harvard Environmental Law Review next year. Oil and gas companies have faced a wave of litigation in recent years, typically over greenwashing and fraud. In February, environmental law charity ClientEarth even personally sued Shell’s board of directors over their alleged failure to properly manage risks associated with the climate crisis. But does this go far enough? The paper’s authors - Donald Braman, a law professor at George Washington University, USA, and David Arkush, a director at consumer advocacy group Public Citizen - argue that it doesn’t.

Ford is ready to send its electric trucks into hyperspace. The automaker has reconfirmed plans to build an all-new electric pickup at the new BlueOval City manufacturing complex it is building in west Tennessee. The yet to be revealed pickup will be a follow-up to the F-150 Lightning that is currently on sale. The vehicle is being developed under the name Project T3, which Ford says stands for "Trust The Truck."

Iran proxy forces launched about seven rockets targeting a U.S. base in Northeast Syria today in retaliation to the U.S., a defense official confirms to Fox News. In first assessments, there are no U.S. casualties and no damage to the base near the Al-Omar oil field. The rocket attacks came after President Biden ordered a series of retaliatory strikes in response to a suspected Iranian-made drone that killed a U.S. contractor and wounded six other Americans on Thursday. The US. strikes reportedly killed eight Iranians.

Physician-assisted suicide has been a hotly debated topic across the United States for decades but a push to legalize the controversial practice in more states is picking up steam this year. Starting with Oregon in 1997, ten other states and the District of Columbia have made it legal for a terminally ill patient to ask their doctor for a lethal cocktail of drugs they ingest to die. They include California, Montana, Vermont, Washington, New Jersey and Hawaii. Lawmakers in ten more states have introduced physician-assisted suicide laws in 2023.

12:55 Today is World Water Day, an annual event that aims to highlight the problems millions of people around the world have in accessing clean, safe drinking water. The United Nations children's agency UNICEF says that on the continent of Africa alone, 190 million children in ten countries are at the highest risk from a convergence of three water-related threats - inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene-related diseases. The triple threat was found to be most acute in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, and Somalia. Central Africa is one of the world's most water-insecure and climate-impacted regions, according to the UNICEF analysis.

Scientists have discovered a new disease in seabirds that eat plastic. Every day, around 8 million pieces of plastic spew into the world’s oceans. Much of it ends up in the guts of seabirds. These birds have scarred digestive tracts - a phenomenon that scientists at the Natural History Museum in London have named ‘plasticosis’. This plastic induced illness has major knock-on impacts on growth and survival, warns Dr Alex Bond, co-author of a study into the pollution. “While these birds can look healthy on the outside, they’re not doing well on the inside,” he says. “This study is the first time that stomach tissue has been investigated in this way and shows that plastic consumption can cause serious damage to these birds’ digestive system.”

Lawmakers in Sweden voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Nordic nation joining NATO, signing off on the country's membership along with the required legislation. The 349-seat Riksdagen, or parliament, authorised Sweden’s accession to NATO on a 269-37 vote, with 43 absent. It was the last required domestic hurdle to the country becoming part of the 30-member Western military alliance.

Extreme weather events are increasing in many parts of the world, but can we always blame their mounting severity on climate change? Join us for a live YouTube debate, and ask your questions! In the aftermath of a heatwave, flood or drought, public interest is often intense, but can scientists really pinpoint whether a storm was made worse by climate change, and how can the science of extreme weather event attribution help them to do so? At 2pm (CET) on 23 March our panel of experts will discuss the role that extreme weather attribution plays in educating the public about the link between climate change and today's weather.

The Bank of England is expected to raise interest rates for the 11th time in a row, after yesterday’s shock rise in inflation and a banking crisis that has rocked the financial world. is due to announce its decision at noon, with economists and financial markets predicting that the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will lift interest rates a quarter of 1 per cent, to 4.25 per cent – mirroring yesterday’s US Federal Reserve’s hike. Any rate rise would be consistent with the Bank’s plan to battle inflation, but would have a detrimental impact on borrowers and those on tracker mortgage deals. Recent bank failures in the US have been blame partly on rising rates.

On Thursday, TikTok's CEO, Shou Zi Chew, will be opening a lion's mouth and placing his own head into it. He's giving testimony in the US Congress for the first time, a scary thing to do. And at stake is the future of the phenomenally popular video-sharing app in the US. "I think that there is a real risk that if this hearing doesn't go well… that could have a massive impact on the future of TikTok," said Chris Stokel-Walker, author of TikTok Boom. Mr Chew is likely to face a barrage of questions on TikTok's relationship with China, what data it collects, and what it does with it. He'll also be quizzed on why several journalists were spied on by ByteDance employees - something TikTok has already admitted.

Ford’s new era has begun: the Explorer is a European-focused, European-designed and European-built electric SUV channelling the Blue Oval’s American spirit and conceived to do battle in one of the market’s fiercest emerging segments. Due to start rolling down the production line at Ford’s revamped Cologne factory (where it currently builds the Ford Fiesta) from mid-2023, the squat new crossover measures 4460mm long. This pitches it roughly between the highly competitive small and midsized SUV markets and means it will compete with everything from the Jeep Avenger and Mini Aceman to the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Skoda Enyaq iV.

Think what you like about ‘electromodded’ classic cars; love them or hate them, there is definitely demand for them - and it’s taken North Oxfordshire’s conversion specialist Electrogenic to what you might call the second phase of its expanding business model. Having spent five years doing bespoke conversions of cars as different as a Citroen DS, Daimler Majestic Major, Reliant Kitten and TVR Cerbera, then, the firm is now acting as a supplier of ‘electrification swap’ kits to be fitted by any one of a number of independent garage partners around the world.