National & International News Stories from 2019 to date

[Dave]

Latest post of the previous page:

London's Thames river has record-high levels of cocaine, and researchers are trying to figure out if it's making eels high.

A research team at King's College London found water overflowing into the Thames river from sewers during storms contains traces of cocaine. London has the continent's highest concentration of cocaine in its sewage, and another study suggests critically endangered eels could be made "hyperactive" by the traces of drugs in Britain's waters.

Read article here.

[boatbuilder]

This is such a sad story.

[boatbuilder]

Tesco to axe 15,000 jobs and close deli counters, while bakeries will be scaled back in purge on costs at 732 stores

Tesco is set to axe about 15,000 jobs and close meat, fish and delicatessen counters in one of the biggest shop floor culls of boss Dave Lewis’s reign.
The chief executive of the Britain’s biggest supermarket will also overhaul the in-store bakeries – where frozen instead of fresh dough will be used, cutting the need for skilled bakers – and replace staff canteens with vending machines.
The plans are expected to affect the majority of Tesco’s 732 larger stores.
A typical Tesco Extra has five fish mongers, five butchers and six deli and cheese counter workers.
The Mail on Sunday understands that counters in a handful of the biggest Extra stores will open on Thursdays to Sundays – but others face closure or being scaled back dramatically.

Daily Mail full report

[boatbuilder]

Belchamp Walter 'light plane incident'

Emergency services are at the scene of a "serious incident" amid reports of a light aircraft coming down near a landing strip.
Essex Police confirmed it had been called to a site in Belchamp Walter, Essex.
Eight fire crews from Essex and Suffolk were sent to the scene in Bells Road at about 12:00 GMT.
Belchamp Walter is close to the Suffolk border, which is about five miles from Sudbury.
An Essex Police spokesman could not say if there were any casualties.

BBC News

[boatbuilder]

Emiliano Sala plane wreckage found in Channel

Wreckage from the plane which disappeared with Cardiff City's Emiliano Sala and pilot on board has been found in the English Channel.
It follows a search by two ships off Guernsey on Sunday.
David Mearns, on behalf of the Sala's family, confirmed the wreckage was located by his ship earlier.
Teams from the Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) have now moved into location at the site to recover the aircraft.
"The families of Emiliano Sala and David Ibbotson have been notified by police," Mr Mearns said.
"Tonight our sole thoughts are with the families and friends of Emiliano and David."

Mr Mearns had been coordinating a privately-funded search, after £324,000 was raised in an online appeal.
Working jointly with the AAIB, his ship and another search vessel, the Geo Ocean III, began searching four square mile area of the channel 24 nautical miles north of Guernsey on Sunday morning.
The AAIB ship has remained at the site where the missing Piper plane was located, to deploy an underwater search vehicle to make visual confirmation.
A recovery operation will then get under way.
Officials at the AAIB said they expected to give an update on the operation on Monday morning.

BBC News

It's good news in a way, that it will hopefully lead to some closure for the families of the two men.

[boatbuilder]

It has now been reported that an underwater remote rover camera sent down to scan the wreckage of the plane in the previous post has so far 'found' one body with the wreckage.

BBC News

[boatbuilder]

Very sad to read about four children having died in a house fire overnight in Stafford.

MSN - Daily Telegraph

[boatbuilder]

[boatbuilder]

Emiliano Sala: Body identified as Cardiff City footballer

The body recovered from the wreckage of a crashed plane is that of Cardiff City player Emiliano Sala, Dorset Police have said.
Sala, 28, was travelling to Cardiff in a plane piloted by David Ibbotson, which went missing over the English Channel on 21 January.
The body was recovered late on Wednesday after the wreckage was found on Sunday morning.
Dorset Police confirmed the identification on Thursday night.

BBC News

[boatbuilder]

[Dave]

Sheffield bomber crash: Flypast on 75th anniversary.

Thousands of people cheered a flypast honouring 10 airmen who died when their plane crashed in a park 75 years ago.
The US bomber came down in Endcliffe Park, Sheffield on 22 February 1944, killing everyone on board. A campaign for a flypast started after a chance meeting between BBC Breakfast presenter Dan Walker and Tony Foulds, who tends a park memorial. A tearful Mr Foulds was given a rousing round of applause as the planes flew over. He said: "This is unbelievable."

Full story and video here.

[boatbuilder]

I found that very moving when I watched it on BBC Breakfast, Dave.

[Dave]

I found that very moving when I watched it on BBC Breakfast, Dave.

I first saw it on 'The One Show' with both Tony Foulds and Dan Walker present. I watched some of it this morning and it was on the news tonight, it certainly got a lot of attention and rightly so.

[boatbuilder]

It was on BBC Breakfast sometime either early this month or last month when Tony Foulds was in the studio and they had a live link with the USAF at one of the air force bases and they told him that they were going to do the fly-past. It was a shame that Dan Walker was in Tanzania today training for his climb of Kilimajaro. I think Tony Foulds should be honoured for his dedication to looking after the memorial for all those years.

… and it also made a fitting tribute for what would have been my mum's 113th birthday on Friday.

[boatbuilder]

Brexit 'likely to cause cancer test delays'

Hospitals are likely to experience delays to cancer testing and treatment regardless of the result of next week's Brexit vote, BBC Newsnight has learned.
The Royal College of Radiologists has told doctors to prepare for possible delays for some drugs used to detect cancer if there is a no-deal Brexit.
It says clinicians should reduce their workload in the days after 29 March, when the UK is due to leave the EU.
The government said it had "robust" plans for however the UK leaves the EU.
MPs will vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit withdrawal agreement by 12 March.
If Parliament does not vote in favour of her deal and there is no extension of Article 50 - the two-year process for leaving the EU - the UK will leave with no withdrawal agreement, known as a no-deal Brexit.
The five-page guidance to doctors from the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), seen by Newsnight, warns that some radiopharmaceutical suppliers "anticipate there may be some delay to their delivery times".
It advises clinicians to: "Keep [your] workload lighter for the first week following a no-deal Brexit, in order to see more clearly what the impact is likely to be."
It adds: "In the weeks leading up to Brexit you should consider how to prioritise requests based on clinical need, should supplies be compromised."
The guidance refers to the radioisotopes commonly used in the diagnosis and treatment of some cancers.
These cannot be stockpiled in advance because of the rapid decay of their radioactivity and "a one-day delay to delivery would reduce available activity by approximately 20%", according to the guidance from the RCR.

BBC News

[boatbuilder]

Yousef Makki stabbing: Teen on murder charge bailed

A 17-year-old boy accused of the stabbing murder of another teenager has been granted bail.
The accused, who cannot be named, was also charged with possessing a knife when he appeared at Manchester Crown Court
Yousef Makki, also 17, from Burnage, died after being stabbed in Gorse Bank Road, Hale Barns, near Altrincham, on Saturday.
The boy was bailed until his next court appearance on 29 April.
Manchester Grammar School, where Yousef was studying for his A-levels, said he was a "dearly loved, incredibly bright pupil".
The defendant, who is privately educated and from a wealthy family from south Manchester, was granted bail by Judge David Stockdale QC.
His bail application, made by barrister Kate Blackwell QC, was held in chambers, with the press and public excluded from the 90-minute hearing.
Judge Stockdale, the Recorder of Manchester, said: "The fact that he has been bailed, it seems to me, is a matter for public knowledge.
"The terms and conditions under which I granted bail were under a hearing in chambers. What the conditions attached to bail are, are not a matter of public knowledge nor are the reasons why I took that decision."
A trial date was set for 18 June.
Another boy, 17, who is charged with assisting an offender and possession of a blade, was bailed on Wednesday to appear at youth court on 28 March.

BBC News

What is this country coming to? If this isn't a case of 'Money Talks' I don't know what is! What sort of message is this sending out and I wonder what the 'reasons' referred to in the quote "nor are the reasons why I took that decision", are? I can imagine!