Paris city hall expected to propose cutting back lighting of monument by more than an hour a dayThe Eiffel Tower, whose twinkling lights define the night-time Paris skyline, is to fall dark earlier because of the energy crisis.Paris city hall is expected to propose this week that the monument, which is among the most visited in the world, should go dark more than an hour earlier than usual, as Europe faces spiralling energy costs aggravated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading...
Madrid museum buys three hand-carved canoes from Zapatistas, with proceeds going to Open Arms NGOThree exquisitely decorated canoes hand-carved in the jungles of southern Mexico and borne across the Atlantic on a ship tasked with a peaceful, symbolic – and cumbia-soundtracked – invasion of Spain could soon find a permanent mooring in the heart of Madrid.More importantly, proceeds from the sale of the small boats could help save some of the tens of thousands of men, women and children who risk their lives crossing the Mediterranean each year. Continue reading...
Energoatom says staff able to transfer facility to ‘safest state – cold shutdown’ after restoration of power lineThe last operating reactor at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has been shut down and the plant “completely stopped”, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator has said.The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia plant was disconnected from the grid last week after all its power lines were disconnected as a result of fighting in the area, and was operating in “island mode” for several days, generating electricity for crucial cooling systems from its only remaining reactor in operation. Continue reading...
Man was interviewed by counter-terrorism officers in connection with 1996 attack that injured 200A man who was arrested in connection with the 1996 Manchester IRA bombing has been released without charge.He was held on suspicion of terrorism at Birmingham airport on Thursday and has now been released from custody, Greater Manchester police said. The man was interviewed by officers from Counter Terrorism Policing North West. Continue reading...
Former business secretary reveals in memoir that he tried to keep health issues a secret and carry on workingVince Cable had a minor stroke when he was leader of the Liberal Democrats that seriously affected his performance when giving speeches and at other political events, he reveals in a memoir published on Sunday.The former business secretary decided to keep his health issues secret for more than a year and to soldier on as leader, until he stepped down in July 2019. Continue reading...
Low-paid workforce could leave the profession in droves, with very survival of health service at riskNurses will vote to go on a national strike for the first time in their history because the NHS has “gone over the precipice” and may not survive, the leader of the UK’s largest nursing union has told the Observer.Pat Cullen, general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing (RCN), said there is anger among nurses, who feel that ministers do not believe they are important. Continue reading...
From first horse at four to victory on the turf, contribution to the sport has been incalculableThe death of Queen Elizabeth II means horse racing has lost one of the most devoted and enthusiastic royal supporters of the sport in four centuries of association between the monarchy and the turf.Charles II turned Newmarket into the home of British flat racing in the 17th century, Queen Anne founded Ascot in 1711 and Edward VII owned Minoru, the Derby winner in 1909. No king or queen, though, has ever had a passion for racing and breeding thoroughbreds to stand any comparison to the lifelong dedication of Elizabeth II. Continue reading...
A man was held at Birmingham airport on Thursday night on suspicion of terrorism offences, Greater Manchester police saidA man has been arrested in connection with the 1996 bombing of Manchester city centre.Greater Manchester police said a man was held at Birmingham airport on Thursday night on suspicion of terrorism offences. Continue reading...
Brothers of Italy’s Federico Mollicone urges state broadcaster not to show episode with co-parenting polar bearsA senior member of a far-right Italian political party tipped to win general elections this month has appealed to state broadcaster Rai not to screen an episode of the globally popular children’s cartoon series Peppa Pig over the inclusion of a same-sex couple in its cast of characters.The episode, called Families, was shown for the first time in the UK on Tuesday, and features two co-parenting lesbian polar bears. A character called Penny announces: “I live with my mummy and my other mummy. One mummy is a doctor and one mummy cooks spaghetti.” The family then sit down for a meal together. Continue reading...
Dukes of Cambridge and Sussex expected to stay in Windsor until Queen’s state funeralThe Queen’s grandsons, the Duke of Cambridge and the Duke of Sussex, have returned from Balmoral castle to Windsor to be with their families, where they are expected to remain until the Queen’s state funeral.
The new September temperature record is now 107F or 41.7C in Salt Lake City, UtahThrough this week the heatwave in the US has been continuing, allowing more September records to fall. Salt Lake City in Utah saw its September temperature record broken, with each day hotter than the last, until the current highest ever September temperature was recorded on Wednesday. The new September temperature record is now 107F or 41.7C, which astonishingly is also tied as the all-time temperature record for Salt Lake City. It is extraordinary to record a tied record high temperature in meteorological autumn.Farther south earlier this week, the tropical storm off the west coast of Mexico, previously Twelve-E, developed into a category 2 hurricane, bringing sustained winds of 100mph, and was named Hurricane Kay. The hurricane brought intense flooding all the way up the west coast of Mexico, from Oaxaca to Nayarit by Thursday 8 September. In the last 48 hours Kay has weakend into a tropical storm, but continues to bring extreme rain in its path, across the Baja California Peninsula and up towards the US state of California. Continue reading...
One of the monarch’s charities is also under police investigation, and what to do about Prince Andrew?• Britain mourns death of Queen Elizabeth - latest updatesKing Charles faces many challenges as he ascends to the throne. Here are some key issues in his in-tray.1. Prince Harry is expected to publish a memoir in late 2022 that his publishers have pitched as the definitive account of his “experiences, adventures, losses and life lessons”. Penguin Random House, which is believed to have paid $20m for the book, described it as “intimate and heartfelt”. Continue reading...
All monarchical discretion over the appointment of prime ministers fell away but she continued to exert influence at audiences with themFor 70 years, the Queen combined, with great success, two roles: head of state and head of the nation. These roles are both complementary and contradictory.As head of the nation, the Queen sought to represent the country to itself, and indeed came closer than any monarch in history to reaching the soul of the British people. A head of the nation has to represent the whole nation, not just one part of it, and that requires political impartiality. Continue reading...
From the first days of her reign, Elizabeth was seen as a character out of a fairytaleBack in May 2012, Barack and Michelle Obama made a state visit to the UK that involved the usual photo-friendly rigmarole such as wreath-laying and Beefeater-inspecting. They also spent the night at Buckingham Palace and attended a state dinner in their honour where Obama gave a short speech and toast to the Queen. Journalists, however, noticed something unusual about the man who is one of the most eloquent politicians of all time: he was nervous.“You could really see that he seemed a bit anxious,” recalled Max Foster, CNN’s royal correspondent. But if the Obamas displayed characteristic American hesitancy about royal protocol, they also shared that equally typical American sentiment in having an enormous fondness for the Queen. According to Foster, Obama later told the US ambassador that his visits to Britain were among his favourite trips abroad. Continue reading...
Her father coined term ‘the firm’ and as Queen she ran the royal institution with the acumen of a canny CEO who knows when to bend to public pressureGeorge VI is usually credited with first referring to the monarchy as “the firm” after abruptly inheriting a position he had neither anticipated nor sought, and having perhaps come to realise that, for all its pomp, the institution had much in common with an unwieldy family corporation. Certainly by the mid-20th century, when his daughter Elizabeth assumed the throne, one could argue that the business of being a monarch was less about ruling than about, well, business.The modern monarchy Elizabeth inherited required the skills of a canny manager rather than a roistering ruler: financial acumen, deft negotiating skills and an acute nose for PR. And then there were the opinionated, and sometimes downright troublesome, members of the board. Throughout her reign, the greatest challenge Elizabeth faced was managing not the relationship of the monarchy with the state, but the relationships of her children and extended family with their spouses, the press and the public. Continue reading...
PM praises monarch’s extraordinary achievements and sense of duty that has been ‘personal inspiration’• Queen Elizabeth dies – latest updatesLiz Truss has paid tribute to the Queen, describing her as “the rock on which modern Britain was built”, whose death is a “huge shock” to the country and the world.The new prime minister praised the deceased monarch’s “extraordinary” achievements during her 70 years on the throne, saying her sense of duty had been a “personal inspiration” to her and to many Britons. Continue reading...
Notable deterioration only occurred in last two years and particularly after death of Philip• Queen Elizabeth dies - latest updatesThe Queen had smiled broadly but appeared frail, gripping a cane in her left hand, as she greeted Liz Truss, the 15th prime minister of her 70-year reign, in Balmoral Castle’s drawing room on Tuesday.An official photograph of the historic moment had also born witness to an ominous dark purple bruise across the top of the 96-year-old monarch’s right hand. Whether the result of a fall or perhaps the removal of a cannula, the palace was not commenting, and it had prompted public concern. Continue reading...
Road safety experts say more needs to be done to reduce fatalities by focusing on young menMen would be banned from getting a driver’s licence until they are 21 under a “controversial” proposal being made to the New South Wales government.The proposal is one of several being made by road safety experts, who say more needs to be done to reduce road fatalities by focusing on young drivers – and particularly young men. Continue reading...
Chris Heaton-Harris makes first visit to Northern Ireland to say UK aims to get Stormont running and ‘solve problems of protocol’Sinn Féin has urged the new Northern Ireland secretary, Chris Heaton-Harris, to lean on the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) to restore the power-sharing executive at Stormont.Michelle O’Neill, the party’s first minister-designate, told Heaton-Harris on Thursday that the British government should stop “pandering” to the DUP, which has paralysed power-sharing in protest against the Northern Ireland protocol. Continue reading...
Crisis at debt-laden Chinese property developer deepens in wake of default last year and failure to sell buildingLenders to the struggling Chinese developer Evergrande Group have appointed a receiver to seize its Hong Kong headquarters, two sources have said, as the world’s most indebted developer struggles to emerge from its debt crisis.Evergrande is saddled with more than $300bn (£260bn) in liabilities and has been kept alive by a government-run rescue operation since it defaulted on $22.7bn of overseas debts in December last year. Continue reading...
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