Plans have been unveiled for a solar farm capable of powering up to 190,000 homes in Lincolnshire.

Developer Low Carbon wants to build the farm, known as the Beacon Fen Energy Park, near Sleaford, between Heckington and Helpringham.

The proposals have been submitted to the government’s Planning Inspectorate due to the size of the project.

If approved construction on the site would start “no earlier than 2026”, the company said.

Initial design and layout documents are expected to be released within the next week, with a public consultation due to be launched in “the coming weeks”.

While the planning application will not be determined by North Kesteven District Council, the authority will be given an opportunity to comment on the plans.

Eight other solar farms are also planned across the region, including sites near Gainsborough, Boston, Horncastle and on the Rutland-Stamford border.

Scientists have filmed a fish swimming at an extraordinary depth in the ocean, making it the deepest observation of this nature that has ever been made.

The species – a type of snailfish of the genus Pseudoliparis – was filmed swimming at 8,336m (27,349ft).

It was filmed by an autonomous “lander” dropped into the Izu-Ogasawara Trench, south of Japan.

The lead scientist said the snailfish could be at, or very close to, the maximum depth any fish can survive.

The previous deepest fish observation was made at 8,178m, further south in the Pacific in the Mariana Trench. This discovery therefore beats the depth record by 158m.

“If this record is broken, it would only be by minute increments, potentially by just a few metres,” Prof Alan Jamieson told BBC News.

The University of Western Australia deep-sea scientist made a prediction 10 years ago that fish would likely be found as deep as 8,200m to 8,400m. A decade of investigations around the globe has confirmed this.

Laja Falls, locally referred to as Salto del Laja, is a mesmerizing waterfall that is formed from the Laja River in the south-central part of the Republic of Chile.

Located more precisely in the northern part of the Biobío Region between the cities of Los Ángeles and Chillán, Laja Falls is considered to be one of the most significant icons that should never be missed whenever in the area.

Still, the spectacular cascade is located alongside the famous Pan-American Highway that transverses the Americas, it is formed by the Laja River after which it was named, where the river flows into a deep rocky canyon that has been drilled into by raging rapids.

The waterfall has formed a significantly narrow canyon, and it consists of four horseshoe-shaped falls, with the tallest being 35 m (115 ft) in height.

Some stories say that the land where the waterfall is located belonged to the Araucanos, more commonly referred to as the Mapuche indigenous inhabitants, and this was their site of worship where the elders would gather to meditate, quite often chewing pine nuts, and wait on the young adults to “turn into men” by simply crossing from one to the other side of the largest waterfall.

Unfortunately, when the Spanish conquistadors arrived, numerous wars were going on between the Mapuche and Pehuenche tribes that inhabited the land, which then continued with the Spanish, but afterward, with the parley assisted by the conquistadors, the area became known as one of the natural boundaries of the territories known as Laja Island.

Due to its natural beauty and significant historical importance, Laja Falls have become way too commercialized place that saw somewhat changes from its initial surrounding, as some structures were built in its vicinity and with the influx of local visitors and tourists alike, it started getting a bit overcrowded, but fortunately, the local representatives took initiatives to protect this amazing place.

Nowadays, this significant natural landmark can be accessed by foot through a footbridge that allows for water drops to splash every visitor, and as it is featured on the majority of touristic and promotional material, Laja Falls have become a Chilean symbol that should not be missed whenever in this amazing nation of South America.

All in all, even though not the great Niagara Falls, Laja Falls is a natural wonder from the Chilean Andes that will make certainly every visitor feel like they are in for a great adventure, even though visitors are just admiring them from a distance.

The Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, has urged the international community to fully support Nigeria’s quest to save Lake Chad from extinction and revive its potentials.

Scientists say the Lake Chad, that borders Nigeria and some other countries, has shrunken by 95 percent over the past 50 years.

Adamu, who made the call in an interview in New York, said it was important to lend his voice to President Muhammadu Buhari’s call to revive Lake Chad.

Adamu was in New York to attend the just-concluded 2023 UN Water Conference.

“If you recall from the beginning of this administration, President Buhari has made this call in several fora, especially at all the engagements during Conference of Parties (COP) on Climate Change and his interactions with world leaders.

“It is a consistent call because you know the problem we have in the Northeast, problem of Boko Haram. It has been clearly linked to the lack of opportunities and abject poverty around the Lake Chad that was caused by the shrinking of the Lake. It sank as low as 10 per cent of its storage capacity 50 years ago,” he said.

The minister said the shrinking of the Lake had impacted negatively on the source of livelihood of the people leaving in the area, adding that more than 40 million people were affected.

Adamu said that all the opportunities for finishing, farming, irrigation, grazing were all lost, and the lack of opportunities had caused poverty in that area, giving room for breeding ground for Boko Haram fighters.

“From the security perspective, it’s very important to make this call and from economic development perspective, loss of jobs and poverty. Also, there is climate change issue and desertification,’’ he said.

The minister also said that Nigeria had recently ratified the instrument of Accession to the UN Water Convention and had submitted it at the conference.

Adamu said Nigeria, under the leadership of President Buhari, had acceded to the Water Convention as an instrument to strengthen the existing transboundary commitments under the Niger Basin Authority and the Lake Chad Basin Commission.

Nigeria shares at least one transboundary water body with each of its neighbouring states.

The Lake Chad Basin is the largest inland drainage area in Africa and covers an area of 2,434,000 km2, equal to eight per cent of the total area of the African continent.

The basin extends through Algeria, Cameroon, Niger, Nigeria, Central Africa Republic, Chad, and Sudan. In Nigeria, the basin drains about 20 per cent of the country.

Nigeria is also home to about 80 per cent of the 100 million people residing in the basin of the River Niger, which crosses Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Chad before emptying into the Atlantic Ocean through the Gulf of Guinea.

President Buhari ratified the Accession to the Convention in December 2022 and Nigeria also ratified the Amendment to Article 25 and 26 of Nov. 23, 2003.