0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.
UK government to scrap European law protecting special habitatsEnvironment secretary George Eustice wants to tear up a key piece of European law that environmentalists say protects cherished habitats in the UK.Eustice told MPs the Habitats Directive was in a list of laws he wanted to amend in the forthcoming Brexit freedoms bill designed to cut red tape, saying it was bureaucratic and fundamentally flawed on multiple levels.The directive has provided protections for UK habitats since 1992. It supports a network of areas – known as Natura 2000 sites – where special habitats are protected. There are more than 320 Natura 2000 sites in England, nearly 900 in the UK and more than 25,000 throughout Europe.
TV advert breaks could get longer and more frequent under review of rulesTV viewers may have to watch longer and more frequent adverts if broadcasting regulator Ofcom decides to raise advertising limits under a review of broadcasting rules.Ofcom said the reassessment would take place because TV watching habits have changed, mainly as a result of the prevalence of online streaming services such as Netflix and Disney+.The regulator’s current rules state that the “total amount of advertising in any one day must not exceed an average of seven minutes per hour of broadcasting” for ITV, or STV in Scotland, Channel 4, and Channel 5.These channels can run advertising breaks of up to eight minutes per hour during prime time – between 7am and 9am, and 6pm and 11pm.Other channels are allowed up to nine minutes of advertising per hour of broadcasting, plus an extra three minutes for teleshopping.Ofcom’s previous stance was that lengthening or increasing adverts would disrupt people’s viewing of TV programmes.But it said it would “listen to different views and examine what TV viewers say” before making any changes that it said sought to “strike the right balance between protecting viewers’ interests and sustaining our traditional broadcasters”.
Missing homing pigeon Bob found 4,000 miles away in AlabamaA confused pigeon has turned up thousands of miles away in the US after getting lost racing back to Tyneside.Bob set off from Guernsey in the Channel Islands three weeks ago on the 400-mile (644 km) route to Gateshead, which was supposed to take 10 hours.But instead of heading home to Tyneside the four-year-old was found at the home of a puzzled Alabama resident.
QuoteMissing homing pigeon Bob found 4,000 miles away in AlabamaA confused pigeon has turned up thousands of miles away in the US after getting lost racing back to Tyneside.Bob set off from Guernsey in the Channel Islands three weeks ago on the 400-mile (644 km) route to Gateshead, which was supposed to take 10 hours.But instead of heading home to Tyneside the four-year-old was found at the home of a puzzled Alabama resident.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-61994590
Purple jellyfish numbers in relative declineThe purple jellyfish, whose tentacles carry a very painful sting and which have have proliferated in several parts of the Aegean and Ionian seas this year, are now in relative decline according to researchers at the Hellenic Center for Marine Research (ELKETHE) as there have not been any recent reports of dense congregations.
Body of a 22 y-o foreign national recovered from the sea yesterday morning at Hersonissos Bay, Crete.
A west of Ireland man has tragically died following a drowning incident in Greece.The young man, known around Mayo and Galway and named locally as Cian McHale, was in the island of Crete on holiday with his friends when the incident occurred.It is understood he lost consciousness while swimming off the coast of Hersonissos and was swept out further to sea by the currents.
Scottish civil servants warned of ‘farts’ in the workplaceStaff attending a workplace ‘trans 101’ course told the term is an acronym for ‘feminism appropriating ridiculous transphobeWomen who question transgender ideology have been branded ‘farts’ as part of equalities training offered to civil servants in Nicola Sturgeon’s Government, it has emerged.Workers who attended a workplace “trans 101” course were told the term was an acronym for “feminism appropriating ridiculous transphobe” and that women who oppose inclusivity measures were part of a “trans hate group”.Staff who attended the training session, run by the Scottish Government’s taxpayer-funded LGBTI+ internal staff network, were also urged to study claims that biological sex is a “falsehood” invented by the medical profession to “reinforce white supremacy and gender oppression”.A grassroots feminist movement has become prominent in Scotland and is vocal in opposition to SNP plans to allow Scots to change their legal sex simply by signing a declaration.Civil servants were directed to claims that so-called “gender critical” women or “terfs” (trans exclusionary radical feminists) “hate all trans people” and have “an unhealthy fascination with trans kids”.
The tourism office is reducing the current Covid numbers too.......
Swarm of malfunctioning driverless taxis brings traffic to a halt for hoursMore than a dozen driverless taxis caused a gridlock in one of the first public trials of the technologyIn April, police officers stopped a Cruise vehicle after it was found driving without headlights on after dark. After initially being confused when they found there was no driver in the car to question, they contacted the company. Last year, cars operated by Waymo, Google’s self-driving car spin-off, were found repeatedly travelling up and down an otherwise quiet cul-de-sac in a street in San Francisco, with residents claiming that more than 50 a day were arriving.
The Dos And Don'ts Of Buying Property In GreeceWho wouldn’t love to own an apartment at the Athens Riviera, or a summer house in an Aegean island?! Paradise!Indeed. BUT what about all the legal, tax, banking, administrative, and other bureaucratic procedures that a potential buyer might encounter.So, brace yourself for a different journey, through which I will try to guide you, pinpointing some ‘red flags.’
Chris Pincher suspended from Conservative Party after groping allegationsNumber 10 braced for another by-election as pressure grows on ex-deputy chief whip, the Tamworth MP, to stand down
Ken Livingstone threatened with castration by daughter’s ex-boyfriend, court toldThe abusive ex-boyfriend of Ken Livingstone’s teenage daughter threatened to castrate the former London mayor and behead other members of her family, a court has heard....