Author: News Desk

Monster pickup trucks accelerate into Europe as sales rise despite safety fears A Dodge Ram 1500 is bigger than a Panzer I tank and campaigners say heavy trucks are ‘lethal’ in collisions. The engines rev, the guitars thrum and a gruff narrator lays out why the vehicle occupying the driveway is more than just a machine. “A truck is a tool,” he says, “but a Ram – a Ram is life.” So begins an advert for the Ram 1500, a pickup truck slightly bigger than the Panzer I tanks of Nazi Germany and almost as heavy. It is growing in…

‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home. Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019. She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she…

UK leader Keir Starmer is marking 100 days in office. It has been a rocky ride British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office Saturday with little cause for celebration. Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party was elected by a landslide on July 4, sweeping back to power after 14 years. But after weeks of stories about feuding, freebies and fiscal gloom, polls suggest Starmer’s personal approval rating has plummeted, and Labour is only slightly more popular than a Conservative Party that was rejected by voters after years of infighting and scandal. “You couldn’t really have imagined a worse start,”…

Starmer risks ministerial rift with slap down of transport secretary after £1bn investment loss Keir Starmer has risked deepening a rift in his own government after he used an interview with the BBC to criticise his transport secretary Louise Haigh. The prime minister appeared on the BBC News Newscast podcast with Adam Fleming and Chris Mason, where he was pressed on Ms Haigh’s comments to ITV earlier this week where she suggested a boycott of P&O ferries. The transport secretary had been discussing widespread anger with the ferry company over its decision to fire and rehire 800 employees to save…

No 10 appalled by Israel’s attacks at the UN. A Downing Street spokesperson says the government is “appalled” by reports that Israel has deliberately fired at an observation post belonging to the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Lebanon. It follows a statement from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon which said an Israeli tank fired on Unifil facilities in southern Lebanon yesterday, hitting an observation tower and wounding two peacekeepers. Andrea Tenenti, Spokesman for Unifil in Lebanon said that the Israeli attacks on UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon are a breach of international humanitarian law. Additionally, the United Nations…

Grzegorz Braun a Polish MEP calls for Israel to be declared a terrorist state to solve the conflict in Gaza and Lebanon. Polish MEP calls for Israel to be declared a terrorist state During a European Parliament discussion on the Middle East, The MEP Grzegorz Braun for Poland accused the EU of enabling Israeli aggression, labeling Israel as a “terrorist state.” To solve the conflict in Gaza, Israel must be declared a terrorist state, Polish MEP Grzegorz Braun said during a debate in the European Parliament on Monday, marking the first anniversary of the 7 October attacks calling Mr Netanyahu…

China & Russia celebrate 75th anniversary of peace and diplomatic ties as president Xi sent a congratulatory message sent to Russian President Vladimir Putin with a view to expand ties. China & Russia celebrate 75th anniversary of peace Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday said that he stands ready to work with Russian President Vladimir Putin to take the opportunity of the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties to continue expanding all-round practical cooperation. Since the establishment of diplomatic ties 75 years ago, the two sides have continuously upgraded the quality of bilateral ties based on the fundamental interests of the two…

‘Cock up not conspiracy!’ – Inside the downfall of James Cleverly At about 2.30pm yesterday James Cleverly was with his entourage talking to representatives of the Girl Guides who had a stall for the day in Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate. He seemed relaxed and confident just a like man destined to go through to the final round of the Tory leadership contest. But already things were going badly wrong for the former home secretary. An hour later Bob Blackman, chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, announced that he had been eliminated from the contest. It led to…

UK could send British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers Military chiefs are considering sending British troops to Ukraine to train soldiers and boost Kyiv’s recruitment efforts, it has emerged. Ministry of Defence (MoD) sources confirmed to The Independent that discussions are ongoing about whether to send troops to the country to support it amid Russia’s ongoing invasion. There is already a small number of British medical personnel in Ukraine, delivering training and mentoring to the country’s armed forces. And, under plans being discussed, small groups of military trainers would travel to secluded locations in the west of the country…

Picasso’s ‘Motherhood’ covered with picture of Palestinian mother and child in Gaza protest Two members of the British civil resistance group Youth Demand have been arrested after they pasted a photo of a mother and child from Gaza over Pablo Picasso’s painting Motherhood at the National Gallery on 9 October to protest arms sales to Israel. The activists who put the photo on the protective glass of Picasso’s 1901 work and dumped red paint on the floor were National Health Services worker Jai Halai, 23, and Politics and International Relations student Monday-Malachi Rosenfeld, 21. The photo they used was taken…