Kevin KeaneScotland environment, energy and rural affairs correspondent
BBC
Researchers took the coral to the St Abbs Marine Station
Deep sea corals that colonised oil and gas platforms in the North Sea have been moved to a new home on an artificial reef.
They have been growing on the legs of subsea structures for decades but are now under threat as old rigs are being decommissioned.
Scientists from the University of Edinburgh – with the help of the offshore sector -used remotely-operated subsea robots to capture the corals.
They were looked after at a special facility before being attached to the artificial reef with cable ties and then lowered back into the sea in the north Atlantic.
Corals are small animals, similar to jellyfish, which live inside hard shells anchored to the seabed.
They often live in small groups – or colonies – and form reefs when lots of colonies join together.
University of Edinburgh
A remotely-operated robot dislodged the coral from the rig where it fell into a basket
Prof Murray Roberts, a marine biologist at the University of Edinburgh, said he started noticing the formation of colonies in the North Sea more than 20 years ago.
“Deep sea corals are very important; they’re the cities of the deep sea,” he said.
“The skeletons are really complex structures and when they die, they remain there. Other animals come and live in those cities.
“On the legs of the platforms, they’ve been growing for 50 years and they form a part of that ecosystem now.”
Hundreds of North Sea facilities are being decommissioned after reaching the end of their working life.
Under international maritime law, the operators have a responsibility to completely remove the structures.
The tiny tentacles of the living coral can be seen coming out of the ends of the hard shells
Until now, coral attached to the legs of oil and gas installations have either been composted or sent to landfill when the platforms have been removed.
But the new initiative is giving them new homes close to west of Shetland oil fields where exclusion zones will protect them from destructive fishing.
It is hoped that Offshore Marine Protected Areas, which are being proposed by the Scottish government, will protect them in the longer-term.
Experts say the once abundant cold-water corals of the northern North Sea fell victim to bottom-trawling and dredging, a fishing method which can damage the sea bed.
Tropical corals, which live in shallower water, face an existential threat from climate change, with warming waters causing bleaching.
But deep sea corals face different problems from an increasing lack of food and ocean acidification which can corrode the hard structures.
University of Edinburgh
Coral has been attached to the artificial concrete reef with cable ties and placed on the sea bed
The project does not set out to fully recreate the reefs but to “seed” sites, allowing the corals to recover naturally.
Remotely-operated vehicles, widely used for subsea operations in the oil and gas sector, were used to dislodge corals from the rigs.
They fell into a basket which was returned to the surface, then taken to the St Abbs Marine Station in the Scottish Borders.
They were kept in tanks for about four months before being attached to concrete columns which were lowered about 500m (1,640ft) back onto the sea bed.
The team hopes they will continue to reproduce, with the “baby corals” spreading to other areas.
On September 1, 2025, changes to Nova Scotia’s Occupational Health and Safety Act came into force. The amended Workplace Health and Safety Regulations require every provincially-regulated employer in Nova Scotia to implement a written Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy, provide every employee with training on the Policy and review and update the Policy as necessary every three years.
The Workplace Health and Safety Regulations has defined “workplace harassment”, as follows:
…a single significant occurrence or a course of repeated occurrences of objectionable or unwelcome conduct, comment or action in the workplace, including bullying, that, whether intended or not, degrades, intimidates or threatens, and includes all of the following, but does not include any action taken by an employer or supervisor relating to the management and direction of an employee or the workplace:
workplace harassment or bullying that is based on any personal characteristic, including, but not limited to a characteristic referred to in clauses 5(1)(h) to (v) of the Human Rights Act,
inappropriate sexual conduct, including, but not limited to, sexual solicitation or advances, sexually suggestive remarks or gestures, circulating or sharing inappropriate images or unwanted physical contact.
Contents required in the Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy
To be compliant with the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations, the Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy will need to include: (i) a definition of “workplace harassment” that is consistent with the definition under the Workplace Health and Safety Regulations; and (ii) statements, commitments, and information that satisfies all of the following requirements:
The Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy is required to include the following statements by the employer:
every employee is entitled to a workplace free of harassment;
all employees have an obligation not to engage in harassment;
employees are encouraged to report incidents of harassment;
the employer will not disclose any information obtained in relation to a complaint of harassment, unless the disclosure is:
required by law,
necessary for the purposes of investigating the complaint, or
necessary for the purposes of taking corrective action with respect to the complaint.
the employer will not reprimand or seek reprisal against an employee who has made a harassment complaint in good faith; and
the policy is not intended to discourage, prevent or preclude a complainant from exercising other legal rights under any other law.
The Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy is required to include the following commitments by the employer:
to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that no employee will be subjected to harassment;
to investigate all complaints of harassment; and
to take appropriate corrective action towards anyone under the employer’s direction who subjects an employee to harassment.
Additionally, the Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy is required to include information about:
how to recognize, prevent and respond to harassment;
the procedure for reporting incidents of harassment;
the procedure for making a harassment complaint to a person other than the employer or supervisor, if the employer or supervisor is a subject of the complaint;
the procedure for investigating a complaint of harassment; and
the procedure for informing the complainant and the subject of the complaint of the result of the investigation.
If you need any assistance with compliance or developing your Workplace Harassment Prevention Policy, please contact DLA Piper (Canada) LLP’s Labour and Employment Group.
An Australian mother who was detained in Lebanon along with 60 Minutes presenter Tara Brown and a Channel Nine crew after a botched “child retrieval” in 2016 has had her children returned to her after winning temporary custody in a US court.
Sally Faulkner returned to Queensland in January this year with her daughter and son nearly a decade after she last saw the children in person, the Guardian can reveal.
She won custody from her former partner, Ali Elamine, after he and the children fled Lebanon for the US state of Georgia during last year’s war between Israel and Hezbollah, US court documents released to the Guardian show.
Sign up: AU Breaking News email
Faulkner flew to Georgia to see the children last November, arranging with Elamine to meet them a few days after they arrived in the US. According to documents filed by Elamine, he and Faulkner had recently signed a “consent agreement” that purported to nullify previous legal rulings in their long-running dispute over the children and granted full custody to Elamine.
But unbeknown to her ex husband, Faulkner had days earlier filed a temporary protection order in Georgia accusing Elamine of family violence during their marriage a decade ago. Elamine was served with the order by sheriff’s deputies when he arrived at the meeting, and Faulkner left with the children.
Journalist Tara Brown, left, and Sally Faulkner after they were released from a Lebanese jail with the three 60 Minutes crew members, in Baabda, east of Beirut, Lebanon, in April 2016. Photograph: Hussein Malla/AP
Faulkner alleged in her application for the protection order that during their relationship Elamine had once locked her in a bedroom, thrown glasses and other objects in her direction, and that he had kidnapped the children in 2015 and refused to return them to her custody.
Elamine, in subsequent filings, described the allegations as false and said the protection order was “improperly obtained”. A judge dismissed the order in December, ruling it was unnecessary as the couple lived on different continents and citing a lack of evidence for the family violence allegations.
Faulkner was then granted temporary custody in a hearing on 14 January in order to participate in a “family reunification program” with the children – the youngest of whom had no memory of living with his mother, according to the court documents.
The reunification program, called Family Bridges, was recommended by a guardian ad litem, an independent court-appointed advocate for the minors’ best interests. Elamine’s lawyers argued in opposition to the order that programs in the style of Family Bridges – under which Elamine was not allowed to contact the children – had been banned in some states across the US.
Faulkner and her lawyer have acknowledged that her proceedings in the US court are mostly funded by the Australian government, according to transcripts from the Georgia court, which also show that officials from the Australian embassy in Washington DC have been present at some hearings.
A Georgia judge presiding in a status hearing on the matter on 19 August called it “the most screwed up case I’ve ever had in my entire 45 years of being a lawyer and a judge” and “the most bizarre case I’ve ever seen in my life”, according to a US court transcript.
The custody dispute between Faulkner and Elamine, a Lebanese and US national, made global headlines in 2016 when Faulkner and Channel Nine’s 60 Minutes engaged a team of self-styled “child recovery agents” to abduct the two children from a Beirut street and document the operation for a segment of the news program.
The agents snatched the children while they were out walking with Elamine’s mother, who he alleges in the court documents was knocked to the ground and suffered a brain bleed. Faulkner managed to spend time in a safe house with the children before Lebanese police arrested her, Brown, the TV crew and the child-recovery team.
Ali Elamine talking to the press as he leaves the court in Baabda northeast of Beirut on 20 April 2016. Photograph: Anwar Amro/AFP/Getty Images
It later emerged that Elamine, who had separated from Faulkner the previous year, had been tracking the plot using his daughter’s iPad, which was still connected to the email account Faulkner was using to coordinate the operation.
Faulkner said the incident was a desperate attempt to regain access to her children, who were taken to Lebanon the previous year by Elamine for a holiday and then kept there against her wishes.
Faulkner was released from the Lebanese jail only after signing an agreement giving up her claims to custody of the children. An affidavit from a Lebanese lawyer, filed by Faulkner’s lawyers in the US case, claimed she had signed the agreement while handcuffed and without receiving an English translation.
A war in Lebanon, a flight to Georgia
Until November, Faulkner had only had occasional video and telephone contact with her children in the near-decade since the 60 Minutes incident, according to documents filed in the US court. During that time she continued to pursue legal avenues against Elamine.
She told the court in her petition for a temporary protection order in November that in 2017 she learned Elamine was considering travelling to California for a surf contest. She lodged a temporary protection order against him in the state along with a travel ban on the children – but Elamine never made the trip.
In September last year, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated into a full-blown war and the southern Lebanese town where Elamine ran a surf school was repeatedly bombed. According to the documents, Faulkner learned of Elamine’s plans to relocate to the US for the children’s safety, and she agreed to sign off on emergency US passports to allow the children to travel.
skip past newsletter promotion
after newsletter promotion
Before making the trip, Elamine asked Faulkner to sign the “consent agreement” recognising his sole custody of the children.
Faulkner’s lawyers later told the US court that she signed that document “under extraordinary coercion and duress … solely to incentivise [Elamine] to both remove the children from a war-torn, dangerous environment in Lebanon and in a desperate attempt to induce [the] father to bring the children to a jurisdiction which could provide an avenue for [Faulkner] to finally recover the children”.
When she confirmed that Elamine had landed in Georgia with the children, Faulkner lodged the temporary protection order in the state.
On 19 November last year, Elamine was served with the order after arriving to meet Faulkner and was separated from the children. The children were “screaming and [doing] everything they could to try to stop it from happening”, he alleged in a submission. Another document, filed by Faulkner’s lawyers in February, claimed that the police were later called to her temporary residence, either by Elamine or one of the children seeking to be returned to their father.
At the hearing on 14 January after hearing evidence from both parties and the guardian ad litem, the judge ordered that Faulkner be granted temporary custody so she and the children could participate in the Family Bridges program to repair their “severely alienated” relationship.
Opposing the order, Elamine’s lawyers said the program was based on a controversial and “not scientifically proven” method that involved isolating the children from Elamine in order to help them re-establish their bond with their mother.
His lawyers argued in their challenge to the temporary custody order that this kind of program had been banned in many US states and pointed to a UN Human Rights Council report and a story from the investigative outlet ProPublica raising doubts about the efficacy and safety of such programs.
Faulkner’s lawyers have said in response there was no evidence that attending the program “had caused the children any harm or trauma whatsoever”.
They argued in submissions that Elamine had “wrongfully and purposefully excised [their] mother from the children’s lives, never gave the children an opportunity to have a relationship with [their] mother, and caused the children to become entirely dependent on [their] father as the only parent they ever knew”.
They added: “It is not in the children’s best interests to let [their] father continue with his campaign of alienation and estrangement toward [their] mother. Again, it is not in the children’s interest to reward [the] father for the effectiveness of his wrongful actions”.
In late August, the US court ordered Elamine be permitted a 30-minute call with his children and that the Family Bridges program be ended. The case continues in Georgia.
A lawyer for Elamine declined to comment. Lawyers for Faulkner in Australia and the US did not respond to requests for comment.
Shares in Warner Brothers Discovery and Paramount Skydance have surged following reports that Paramount Skydance is preparing an offer to buy the rival studio.
The reported bid would be for the entire Warner Brothers Discovery business, which includes news network CNN, HBO, and the film studio behind Barbie and Harry Potter.
The deal would mark further consolidation in the US media industry, which has been dramatically reshaped by the rise of streaming, and comes as US media firms face scrutiny from US President Donald Trump’s administration.
Warner Brothers Discovery declined to comment. Paramount Skydance did not respond to a request for comment.
The potential offer from Paramount Skydance was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.
The firm is led by David Ellison, whose father, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, briefly became the world’s richest man this week.
It comes just weeks after the completion of Paramount Skydance’s own $8bn (£5.89bn) merger, in which David Ellison’s independent movie studio Skydance purchased Paramount, home of the CBS news network and hits such as Yellowstone.
Mr Ellison is also reportedly closing in on a plan to by The Free Press, a digital media outlet co-founded by Bari Weiss.
Warner Brothers Discovery shares closed up 29% on Thursday while Paramount Skydance closed up 16%.
The Wall Street Journal reported that a bid had not been submitted and the plan could fall apart.
David Ellison has been in the film business since dropping out of University of Southern California roughly two decades ago, eventually earning his own reputation in Hollywood as a producer on films such as Top Gun Maverick and World War Z.
His father, an ally of President Donald Trump, this week briefly overtook Elon Musk as the world’s richest person, worth some $380bn, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires index.
The Paramount takeover plunged his son into politics as well.
The deal faced a lengthy approval process due to a row over President Donald Trump’s legal battle with CBS over a Kamala Harris interview he alleged had been edited to favour the Democratic Party.
Paramount eventually agreed to pay $16m to settle the dispute. The money will go to a future presidential library.
The settlement did not include a statement of apology or regret.
Democrats have called the payment a “bribe” – an accusation that Paramount has denied – and demanded documents about the negotiations from the firm.
Warner Brothers Discovery is the product of a 2022 merger. Since the deal, it has struggled with debt and has made significant job cuts.
The company said earlier this year it planned to split the business, dividing its streaming brands from its more traditional cable television business.
Sydney Sweeney leaves fans gasping with shocking new role
Sydney Sweeney shocked fans with her dramatic transformation in the first trailer for the upcoming biopic Christy.
The actress, who turns 28 on Friday, stepped into the role of boxing legend Christy Martin after gaining 30 pounds to embody the fighter’s strength and struggles.
The trailer, set to Stevie Nicks’s hit Edge of Seventeen, gave audiences a glimpse of Sweeney as they never seen her before.
The Euphoria star appeared bulked up, bruised and disheveled in raw scenes that followed Christy’s rise to fame as one of the first celebrated female boxers.
Sweeney changed her look completely, wearing several hairstyles throughout the film, starting with a short brunette mullet in early scenes.
She shared the screen with Ben Foster, who portrayed Christy’s trainer and later husband Jim.
In the story, the Echo Valley actress portrayed Christy’s battles both inside and outside the ring.
However, the film explored family issues, identity struggles and a volatile marriage that reached frightening moment when Jim warned, “If you leave me I’ll kill you.”
The film premiered last week at the Toronto International Film Festival and received glowing reviews.
The 27-year-old actress revealed that she loved the challenge of transforming her body, saying, “I absolutely loved it. I truly felt Christy’s power as I transformed.”
She trained three times a day for months with top boxing coaches and fitness experts while following a strict diet that included fast food, milkshakes and protein shakes.
Sydney Sweeney appeared at TIFF alongside the real Christy Martin, calling it an honor to portray her story.
For the unversed, Christy will hit theaters on November 7.
Such determination has been a constant throughout Wissa’s career.
He was playing in front of crowds of fewer than 3,000 supporters away at Chambly in the French second division back in 2019.
Now he in line to feature against Barcelona in the Champions League next week after completing a protracted £55m move from Brentford to Newcastle United.
His rise has not necessarily come as a shock to Pierre-Yves Hamel, who played alongside Wissa at Lorient.
“After the attack, he never complained,” he said. “He immediately wanted to move forward and to blossom today is a just reward for his efforts.
“Once Yoane has an idea in mind, he will do his utmost to make it happen – no matter how long it takes.”
Those words now carry added meaning.
Wissa was so set on joining Newcastle that he removed all association with Brentford from his Instagram account a few weeks ago.
In a statement last month, Wissa urged Brentford to “keep their word” to let him leave and accused the club of “unduly standing in my way”.
Parallels were drawn with another striker looking to leave their club – Wissa, like Alexander Isak, did not feature in any of his team’s opening three games of the season.
And just as Newcastle fans were upset with the manner in which Isak pushed to join Liverpool, following his own explosive social media post, Brentford supporters were dismayed with Wissa’s conduct as he looked to force a move through to St James’ Park.
Ian Westbrook, who is the Brentford fan writer with BBC Sport, stressed supporters are “not vindictive” towards those who “leave in the right way” because they know that their side “sell players to bigger clubs at the right time”.
The season-ticket holder suggested former players Bryan Mbeumo and Christian Norgaard and ex-manager Thomas Frank will all receive good receptions as a result when they return to Gtech Community Stadium following their summer moves.
But it will be different for Wissa.
“His legacy has been soured,” he said. “There’s not many players who have done this to Brentford.”
Matthew Rhys is the latest addition to the cast of “Presumed Innocent” Season 2, Variety has learned.
Rhys will appear in the second season of the legal drama alongside previously announced lead Rachel Brosnahan. The first season of the series, which debuted in 2024, was based on the book of the same name by Scott Turow. The second season will be based on the book “Dissection of a Murder” by Jo Murray, which is due to be published in 2026.
Exact plot and character details are being kept under wraps, but the description from publisher Pan Macmillan states, “When Leila Reynolds (Brosnahan) is handed her first murder case, she’s shocked at how high-profile it is: the murder of a well-respected, well-known judge. This shouldn’t be the kind of case she’s leading; it’s way beyond her expertise. But the defendant, Jack Millman, is clear. He wants her, and only her.”
This marks the second Apple TV+ role for Rhys, as he is set to star in the upcoming series “Widow’s Bay” for the streamer. He will also star opposite John Krasinski in “Silent River” for Amazon Prime Video, and will be seen in the Netflix series “The Beast in Me” in November. Rhys’ other recent credits include “Towards Zero” for BritBox and BBC1 and the films “Saturday Night” and “Hallow Road.” Rhys is perhaps best known for his starring role in the FX Cold War spy drama “The Americans,” for which he won an Emmy Award in 2018. He also starred in HBO’s “Perry Mason” series for two seasons.
He is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and United Agents.
David E. Kelley developed “Presumed Innocent” for television and serves as executive producer and co-showrunner under his David E. Kelley Productions (DEKP) banner. Erica Lipez will also serve as co-showrunner and executive producer on Season 2. J.J. Abrams and Rachel Rusch Rich executive produce for Bad Robot Productions. Matthew Tinker of DEKP also executive produces. Jake Gyllenhaal, who starred in Season 1, will executive produce via Nine Stories. Dustin Thomason also serves as executive producer along with Brosnahan. Turow is a co-executive producer, as is Murray. Warner Bros. Television is the studio.
“Presumed Innocent” Season 1 debuted to critical and popular acclaim when it launched in June 2024. The first season has received four Emmy nominations — best lead actor in a limited or anthology series (Gyllenhaal), best supporting actor in a limited or anthology series (Bill Camp & Peter Sarsgaard), and best supporting actress in a limited or anthology series (Ruth Negga).
BBC
University of Edinburgh
University of Edinburgh
