Peter Dutton has announced the Coalition proposes to build seven nuclear power plants and two proposed small modular reactors, but dodged questions about the cost of the plan.

A snap Coalition party room meeting on Wednesday heard the opposition proposes that Tarong and Callide in Queensland; Mount Piper and Liddell in New South Wales; Collie in Western Australia; Loy Yang in Victoria; and the Northern power station in South Australia host nuclear power plants.

The plan has been panned as more expensive than firming renewable energy and guaranteed to increase emissions due to increased reliance on fossil fuels until nuclear power is ready, which the Coalition claims could be as soon as 2035 in contrast to expert advice.

At a press conference in Sydney, Dutton confirmed the power plants, if built, would be owned by the commonwealth government, a similar model to NBN Co and Snowy Hydro.

But Dutton refused to say what the cost will be to the Australian taxpayer, claiming without evidence it will “cost a fraction” of Labor’s power plans. He said the cost would be released “in due course”, but did not commit to it before the election.

The sites are mostly in Coalition-held electorates: Colin Boyce’s seat of Flynn, the Nationals leader David Littleproud’s seat of Maranoa; Rick Wilson’s seat of O’Connor; and Rowan Ramsey’s seat of Grey. Liddell is in Labor MP Dan Repacholi’s seat of Hunter. Mount Piper is in National turned independent MP Andrew Gee’s electorate of Calare.

The sites were chosen on the basis of water availability, connection to the grid and the closure date of existing coal power plants. None are currently owned by the commonwealth, which Dutton suggested could be overcome by compulsorily acquiring the sites.

Dutton said the seven locations “can host new nuclear sites and that’ll be part of an energy mix with renewables and significant amounts of gas … particularly in the interim period”.

Construction of nuclear power plants would “utilise the existing distribution networks” when coal power plants reach the end of their life, he said.

The CSIRO Gencost report advised a “15+ year development time” should be expected for nuclear in Australia, meaning if a decision to pursue the technology was made next year then a plant would be deployed “no sooner than 2040”.

Dutton suggested that building two plants by 2035-37 with the remainder to be built in the 2040s was “achievable” and a “sensible rollout”. Dutton made light of the lead time, joking “I only have plans for three to four terms” in government.

Dutton said the Coalition would work with experts to determine the best technology for each site but, according to a media release, the power stations in Western and South Australia would be “SMR only”.

Despite the fact SMRs are not currently commercially available, Dutton asserted that the “technology is available”, with the same technology for nuclear propelled submarines “able to be translated” into civilian electricity.

The federal Coalition has attempted to ramp up pressure on Labor for refusing to lift the ban on nuclear energy, but faces opposition at the state level from its own side of politics, as Guardian Australia revealed in March.

Nuclear power is banned in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, which prompted questions in party room on Wednesday. The Coalition would also require the Senate to overturn the federal ban.

On Tuesday the Queensland Liberal National Party leader, David Crisafulli, ruled out repealing Queensland’s legislated ban on the construction and operation of nuclear reactors.

“The answer is no, and I’ve made my view very clear on that,” he said, describing nuclear power as “not on our plan, not on our agenda”.

Dutton denied that his party is divided but acknowledged there had been “some debate” about whether premiers would agree to the plan. He suggested the commonwealth would negotiate to overcome their objections if the Coalition were elected.

“Somebody famously said ‘I would not stand between the premier and a bucket of money’,” he said.

The Coalition also played down the potential for local communities to oppose the plan. The shadow energy minister, Ted O’Brien, said they will benefit from “the cheapest and cleanest and most consistent energy in the country”; while Dutton said former coal communities are “instantly supportive of this proposal”.

In its latest GenCost report the CSIRO said electricity from nuclear energy would be at least 50% more expensive than solar and wind, with a theoretical 1,000MW nuclear plant built today to cost at least $8.6bn.

The chief executive of the Clean Energy Council, Kane Thornton, said the Coalition policy “is a recipe for delay and skyrocketing energy bills”.

“Australia has no nuclear power industry, so building new reactors would take at least 20 years.”

Ahead of the announcement the treasurer, Jim Chalmers, described the Coalition’s policy as “economic insanity”.

“Nuclear takes longer, it costs more and it will squander Australia’s unique combination of advantages,” he told Radio National.

“It is the worst combination of economic and ideological stupidity … it is fiscally irresponsible.”

Microplastics have been discovered in penises for the first time, raising questions about a potential role in erectile dysfunction.

The revelation comes after the pollutants were recently detected in testes and semen. Male fertility has fallen in recent decades and more research on potential harm of microplastics to reproduction is imperative, say experts.

The researchers said the penis could be particularly vulnerable to contamination with microplastics due to high blood flow during erections. People ingest microplastics through eating, drinking and breathing and the tiny particles have been detected in blood.

The study assessed tissue taken from five men who were undergoing surgery related to erectile dysfunction. Microplastics were found in four cases, with PET and polypropylene being the most prevalent. Both are used in food and drink packaging and other everyday items.

There appears to be widespread contamination of people’s bodies with microplastics, with scientists finding them wherever they look. The impact on health is as yet unknown but microplastics have been shown to cause damage to human cells in the laboratory.

The particles can cause inflammation in tissue, as air pollution particles do, and chemicals in the plastics could also cause harm. Doctors found a substantially raised risk of stroke and heart attack death in people whose arteries were contaminated with microplastics.

Millions of tonnes of plastic waste are dumped in the environment every year and much is broken down into microplastics. These have polluted the entire planet, from the summit of Mount Everest to the deepest oceans.

Dr Ranjith Ramasamy, who led the new research while at the University of Miami in the US, said: “The penis is a vascular, spongy organ so is definitely vulnerable. During an erection, a fifth of the blood volume in the whole body gets pumped to the penis.”

He added: “We know erectile dysfunction is multifactorial. You need good hormones, nerves, blood supply, and good smooth muscle tissue for an erection to happen.

“We found that microplastics were present in the smooth muscle of the penis. All we know is that they are not supposed to be there, and we suspect that it could lead to smooth muscle dysfunction.”

Ramasamy said more research was urgently needed to determine the potential role of microplastics in erectile dysfunction and male infertility. Sperm counts in men have been falling for decades and 40% of low counts remain unexplained, although chemical pollution has been implicated by many studies. Recent studies in mice have reported that microplastics reduced sperm count and caused abnormalities and hormone disruption.

Ramasamy said: “We’ve moved past whether we have microplastics in us, to whether there is a level of microplastics beyond which things become pathologic.”

The new research, published in IJIR: Your Sexual Medicine Journal, analysed tissue samples taken from five men who were undergoing surgery for an inflatable penile prosthesis, which is a treatment option for men with severe erectile dysfunction. The microplastics detected ranged in size from 0.5mm down to 0.002mm.

The researchers said the pervasive spread of microplastics was alarming andit was imperative to understand the potential implications for human health.

Ramasamy said: “As a society, we need to be cognisant that drinking water from plastic water bottles, getting takeout food in plastic containers and, even worse, microwaving food in plastic containers, are contributing to having things in our body that should not be there. And the penis is the one organ that everybody will pay attention to.”

Nearly 2,000 children under five are dying every day from air pollution, which has overtaken poor sanitation and a lack of clean water to become the second biggest health risk factor for young children around the world.

More than 8 million deaths, of children and adults, were caused by air pollution in 2021, according to a new study from the Health Effects Institute (HEI), as both outdoor and indoor pollution continue to take an increasing toll on health.

Dirty air is now the second biggest killer globally, overtaking tobacco use, and second only to high blood pressure, as a risk factor for death among the general population. Among children under five, air pollution is second only to malnutrition as a risk factor in mortality.

This year’s State of Global Air report, published by the HEI since 2017, and produced this year in partnership with Unicef, also shows that children in poor countries are suffering some of the worst impacts, with the death rate linked to air pollution in children under five 100 times higher in most of Africa than it is in high income countries.

Pallavi Pant, the lead author of the report and head of global health at HEI, pointed to the vast inequalities that the report has uncovered. “Far too much of the burden [is] borne by young children, older populations, and low and middle income countries,” she said.

Tiny particles called PM2.5 – meaning they are smaller than 2.5 micrometres in diameter – are to blame for more than 90% of global air pollution deaths, the report found. PM2.5 particles can enter the bloodstream and have been found to affect organs throughout the body. They have been found to be associated not only with lung disease but heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia and miscarriage.

The report showed how pervasive and damaging the prevalence of PM2.5 pollution has become, finding that the presence of elevated levels of the fine particles was now “the most consistent and accurate predictor of poor health outcomes” around the world.

Kitty van der Heijden, the deputy executive director of Unicef, said: “Our inaction is having profound effects on the next generation, with lifelong health and wellbeing impacts. The global urgency is undeniable. It is imperative that governments and businesses consider these estimates and locally available data and use it to inform meaningful, child-focused action to reduce air pollution and protect children’s health.”

The impacts of the climate crisis are also worsening air quality, according to the HEI. The report found that “as droughts become more severe and prolonged, and lands grow ever drier, wildfires ravage once-thriving forests and dust storms impact vast plains, filling the air with particles that linger for long periods of time.”

Higher temperatures in summer can also worsen the impacts of airborne pollutants such as nitrogen oxides, which at elevated temperatures can turn more readily into ozone, an irritant gas when breathed in. Long-term exposure to ozone contributed to nearly half a million deaths in 2021, the report found.

Tackling air pollution could also have beneficial impacts on the climate. About half a million of the deaths of children in 2021 were linked to dirty air indoors, mainly the result of cooking with dirty fuels, including biomass, charcoal, paraffin and coal. Switching to cleaner fuels, such as solar cookstoves, could vastly reduce PM2.5 emissions, as well as emissions of carbon dioxide.

About 2.3 billion people around the world lack access to clean cooking fuels. The International Energy Agency estimates that about $4bn a year is needed between now and 2030 to solve the problem in sub-Saharan Africa alone. It held a global summit last month that raised $2.2bn for projects to help move people across the continent to cleaner methods.

Fatih Birol, the executive director of the IEA, said the problem needed to be seen as a global priority for governments, with impacts on health, the climate and national economies, as well as gender equality, because women and girls are often given the task of finding firewood. “This is an issue that has been ignored for too long,” he said.

The State of Global Air report used data from the Global Burden of Disease study from 2021, covering more than 200 countries and territories around the world. Previous reports have found that nearly every person breathes unhealthy levels of air pollution each day, and that half a million babies were being killed each year by filthy air.

A coalition of environmental non-profit organizations have called on the the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) to add extreme heat and wildfire smoke to its list of major disasters that could qualify for emergency funding.

The Center for Biological Diversity signed a joint petition on Monday urging Fema, the federal government’s lead agency in responding to natural disasters, to officially recognize the increasing number of heat-related crises.

“It’s past time for Fema to address the climate emergency head-on. That means unlocking crucial funding for local governments to build robust and resilient solutions like community solar and storage, cooling centers and air filtration,” said Jean Su, energy justice director and senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity.

“That’s a critical way we can protect workers and vulnerable communities from the ravages of the climate emergency.”

More than 270 million Americans – roughly 80% of the country’s population – are experiencing a kind of heatwave, smashing records with temperatures at or above 90F (32.2C) for long periods of time under a weather phenomenon known as a heat dome. Experts said the type of heatwave the north-east is facing has not been seen in decades.

And it’s not even July.

Scientists warn that heatwaves are increasing in frequency as the climate crisis intensifies due to human activity, especially burning fossil fuels and deforestation. Last year was the hottest year on record and the US faced the most heatwaves since 1936.

The risks associated with the intense heat include more wildfires, poor air quality and a strain on infrastructure that delivers much needed power to keep cool. The National Weather Service says heat is the leading disaster-related killer in the US, killing more people than hurricanes, floods and tornadoes combined.

“One construction worker dies every three days in Texas and a huge factor in these deaths is heat; whether it’s heat stroke or hyperthermia or in some cases, prolonged illness that can affect eyesight and quality of life,” said Margarita Del Cid, Workers Defense Dallas member-leader.

Del Cid added: “Additionally, communities of color including Latines, generally reside in areas that are more susceptible to the effect of wildfire smoke that can lead to life-threatening illness such as asthma, bronchitis, and even affect the brain’s function. A federal standard to qualify heat and wildfire smoke as a major disaster will make way for life-saving and proactive resources and support in these vulnerable communities and areas”.

Fema has not issued a specific response to the petition, but the agency’s spokesperson for the western US states said there was nothing that would preclude an emergency declaration for extreme heat and noted that there would need to be an immediate threat to life and safety that local authorities could not respond to.

Fema did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

More than 270 million Americans – about 80% of the country’s population – are experiencing a kind of heatwave not seen in decades, smashing records with temperatures at or above 90F (32.2C) for long periods of time under a weather phenomenon known as a heat dome.

New York governor Kathy Hochul has announced that she activated the National Guard to assist in any heat emergencies that may develop over the next several days.

Cooling centers have opened in cities across the US in anticipation of the sweltering heat. Government officials have warned people to limit outdoor activities, drink plenty of water, and cautioned those without reliable air conditioning to find a way to cool down.

What is a heat dome?

Heatwaves happen when abnormally hot weather lasts more than two days. The National Weather Service said: “The duration of this heat wave is notable and potentially the longest experienced in decades for some locations.”

A heatwave can be caused by several factors including a heat dome, which occurs when strong, high pressure traps hot air over a region, preventing cool air from traveling in and causing temperatures to rise on the ground and stay high.

This heat dome now seen in the eastern half of the country originated from the south-west, where many cities were placed under excessive heat warnings.

What impact does the climate crisis have on heatwaves like this one?

Scientists warn that heatwaves like this one can increase in frequency as the climate crisis intensifies due to human activity, such as burning fossil fuels and deforestation.

Last year, the US saw the most heatwaves since 1936.

The nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity sent a petition Monday to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) asking it to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke as major disasters.

The agency did not immediately issue a specific response to the petition, but a Fema spokesperson for the western US states said there was nothing that would preclude an emergency declaration for extreme heat and noted that there would need to be an immediate threat to life and safety that local authorities could not respond to.

What are other risks associated with the heat?

Wildfires are sweeping parts of the US as a result of the soaring temperatures.

In New Mexico, residents of Ruidoso, a town of roughly 7,000 people, were ordered to evacuate on Monday evening as the South Fork wildfire tore through neighboring areas.

Many wildfires are also active on the west coast, according to agencies like the California department of forestry and fire protection.

In southern California, 1,200 people were evacuated on Sunday from Gorman, a town nearly 62 miles (100km) north-west of Los Angeles. Referred to as the “Post fire”, it burned more than 16 sq miles and damaged at least two commercial buildings. So far, 24% of the blaze has been contained.

Poor air quality is also a concern right now since higher temperatures and humidity can contribute to air pollution. In addition to communities near these wildfires, states further away in the midwest such as Ohio and Illinois, and the east coast are also under air quality alerts.

“An Air Quality action day means that Ground Level Ozone within the region may approach or exceed unhealthy standards,” according to the National Weather Service.

Last June, wind blew smoke from wildfires in Canada to the US’s east coast region, placing cities like New York under air quality alerts and shrouding them in an orange haze.

The Illinois environmental protection agency warned those under the air quality action day alert to “Limit driving, Conserve energy to reduce energy demands”, and “avoid using gasoline-powered equipment like lawnmowers and leaf blowers”.

Hezbollah has published a video lasting nine minutes and 31 seconds of what it says is drone footage gathered from its surveillance aircraft of locations in Israel, including the sea and air ports of the key northern city of Haifa.

Distribution of the footage was flagged up by the Lebanese armed movement, including on its Telegram channel, advising viewers on several channels to “watch and analyse” what it said were “important scenes”, including the cryptic message that it would show what the “hoopoe had brought back”. The hoopoe is both the name of a drone and a bird seen as a messenger in Arabic mythology.

Hezbollah has sent surveillance and attack drones into Israel in the past eight months as it exchanges fire with the Israeli military in parallel to the Gaza war.

The decision to broadcast the footage, which had images of residential and military sites in and around Haifa, including port facilities, appeared aimed as much at an Israeli audience as at a wider international one.

The veracity of the footage could not be independently confirmed and it was unclear when the footage was filmed. However the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, said in November that it had been sending surveillance drones over Haifa.

If verified as genuine, the footage is likely to alarm Israel’s security establishment, suggesting an even greater vulnerability to drone incursion than previously recognised, not least with the implicit threat of being able to overfly Haifa. It is a major population centre, home to 300,000.

The footage appeared to show parts of a factory belonging to Rafael defence – including Iron Dome batteries, rocket engine depots, David’s Slingshot facilities and radar.

The IDF did not immediately comment on the broadcast footage.

The US and France are working on a negotiated settlement to the hostilities along Lebanon’s southern border.

The footage, if confirmed as real, would underline the mounting difficulties Israel has encountered in dealing with the drone threat from Hezbollah, including several incidents where incoming drones were not detected by Israeli air defence systems, including a recent attack on a group of Israeli troops that killed one person.

Experts have assessed that Hezbollah is using a combination of tactics to avoid its drones being detected, including flying low and using multiple channels to avoid jamming technology.

Although about 150 drones have been intercepted, others have got through to their targets, with Israeli officials disclosing that they have begun spending millions of shekels to counter the drone threat.

Among reported planned improvements to Israel’s air defence systems are upgrades to the Iron Dome system to make it better equipped to deal with slower-flying unmanned aircraft and the reintroduction of retired conventional anti-aircraft weapons, include the Vulcan system.

The disclosure of the footage appeared to be timed to coincide with the visit of the US envoy Amos Hochstein to Lebanon after meeting senior Israeli officials, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the day before.

In Beirut, Hochstein called for the “urgent” de-escalation of cross-border exchanges of fire between Hezbollah and Israeli forces raging since the start of the Gaza war.

“The conflict … between Israel and Hezbollah has gone on for long enough,” the presidential envoy said. “It’s in everyone’s interest to resolve it quickly and diplomatically – that is both achievable and it is urgent.”

Despite Hochstein’s visit to the region, there appeared to be little evidence of a breakthrough in efforts to reduce tension on the Israel-Lebanon border, with reports in Israel suggesting Hochstein did not see any prospect for significant movement while the war in Gaza was continuing.

After several days of relative quiet between Israel and Hezbollah over the weekend, following last week’s barrages which included the heaviest of the war, Tuesday saw a rise in hostilities again.

State media in Lebanon reported an Israeli drone strike on a car on the highway north of the coastal city of Tyre. It was not immediately clear who was in the car or how many people were killed or injured.

Last week Hezbollah launched hundreds of drones and rockets, including more than 200 on a single day, and the Israeli military struck Hezbollah targets in return.

Justin Timberlake is facing a charge of driving while intoxicated in the Hamptons in New York and is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, a local court official confirmed to the Guardian.

The pop star’s arraignment was set to occur at the courthouse in Sag Harbor after he was arrested in that community on Monday night, New York’s Newsday reported.

Appearing on Oprah’s Master Class last year, Timberlake spoke about engaging in what he described as excessive drinking at one point in his career. He discussed turning his life around by seeking help for his addiction and embracing self-care, as the website Singersroom reported.

Timberlake is on tour and has concerts scheduled at Chicago’s United Center on 21 and 22 June. He also has shows scheduled at New York City’s Madison Square Garden on 25 and 26 June.

More details soon …

Police are searching for three children who are missing after a day out at theme park in Surrey.

A 14-year-old girl named only as Khandi was with two younger children – Amelia, nine, and Malik, seven – at Thorpe Park on Monday, before they were reported missing at 7pm, Surrey police said.

The two younger children are related, the police said, but no further information was given on why they were with the teenager.

The force has been in contact with the owner of a flower shop in Chertsey, who said children came into her shop at 3.50pm asking for directions.

The owner, Sam Williams, posted to Facebook a CCTV image appearing to show two girls – a teenager and a younger girl – but it has not been confirmed that these were two of the missing children.

Khandi is black, slim, 160cm (5ft 3in) tall, and was wearing black or grey jogging bottoms, a white top, white trainers, black-framed glasses, and multiple bracelets on each wrist.

Amelia has been described by police as European. She is 110cm (3ft 7in) tall, slim, and was wearing grey jogging bottoms, a grey long-sleeved top with “Believe” written on it and white trainers.

Malik is European and also 110cm tall, slim and was wearing black jogging bottoms, black trainers, and a green long-sleeved top with stripes.

They last confirmed sighting of the three was at 3.17pm on Monday, when they were seen walking away from Thorpe Park towards Staines town centre. It is believed they may have travelled to London.

North Korea’s military has suffered “multiple casualties” after landmines exploded in the heavily armed border that separates the country from South Korea, local media reported on Tuesday.

The explosions in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) were reported just hours before the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, was due to visit the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, for the first time since 2000.

South Korea’s Yonhap news agency referred to “casualties” caused by landmine explosions, while the NK News website quoted the military as saying several soldiers had been “maimed or killed”.

In what appears to be an unrelated incident, dozens of North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the border on Tuesday for the second time in less than two weeks, but retreated after warning shots were fired, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

The DMZ has separated the two Koreas since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, but not a peace treaty.

The 4km (2.5-mile) wide strip of land bisecting the peninsula is strewn with landmines designed to deter enemy troops from making incursions that could upset the delicate decades-old standoff along the border.

The North Korean troops injured in the landmine explosions were working on creating “barren land” and laying additional mines along the border, an official from the JCS said, without revealing the date of the incident.

The soldiers had “suffering multiple casualties from repeated landmine explosion incidents during their work,” it said.

On Tuesday, an estimated 20 to 30 North Korean soldiers carrying tools crossed the Military Demarcation Line dividing the two countries on Tuesday morning, Yonhap said, citing the JCS.

The soldiers left after forces in the South fired warning shots and broadcast warnings via loudspeakers set up along the border, the JCS said, adding that the brief incursion appeared to have been accidental.

The incidents come at a time of rising tensions between Pyongyang and Seoul.

In recent weeks, the North has sent more than 1,000 balloons laden with rubbish to the South, where activists reciprocated with those containing anti-North Korean leaflets and flash drives loaded with K-pop and TV dramas.

The South also suspended a 2018 agreement designed to reduce cross-border tensions and resumed pop music and propaganda broadcasts via loudspeakers set up along the 155-mile long border.

Yonhap quoted a JCS official as saying that the border work had been carried out in locations where North Koreans had fled to the South.

“North Korea’s activities seem to be a measure to strengthen internal control, such as blocking North Korean troops and North Koreans from defecting to the South,” the JCS official said.

North Korea has deployed hundreds of troops to lay mines, build walls and reinforce roads in recent weeks, Yonhap said. Earlier this month, the South fired warning shots after North Korean soldiers briefly crossed an overgrown section of the border, apparently by accident.