The wheels of diplomacy are oiled by the exchange of tokens – and plenty of booze, it seems
Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker of the House of Commons, has declared hundreds of gifts he received from foreign dignitaries and others since 2021. Here is a small selection of the items he kept.
1) Bottle of rum
Continue reading...Work to raise the Bayesian is put on hold as investigators seek to establish the cause of the 39-year-old Dutchman’s death
Recovery operations to raise the late tech tycoon Mike Lynch’s superyacht Bayesian from the seabed off Sicily have been suspended after a diver died during underwater work.
Rob Cornelis Maria Huijben, a 39-year-old Dutch diver, died on Friday while doing preparation work to cut the ship’s mainmast. He was employed by the maritime company Hebo, whose barge arrived last week in Porticello, a fishing port near Palermo. The luxury vessel was anchored just off Porticello when it was struck shortly before dawn by a violent storm on 19 August 2024. It sank within seconds, killing seven people, including Lynch and his daughter Hannah.
Continue reading...Fire at warehouse storing pool cleaning products sends cloud over wide area around Vilanova i la Geltrú
Spanish authorities have told more than 160,000 people near Barcelona to stay indoors after a fire at an industrial warehouse released a toxic cloud of chlorine over a wide area.
The blaze, in the coastal city of Vilanova i la Geltrú, south of Barcelona, started at dawn on Saturday in a warehouse storing pool cleaning products, the regional fire service said.
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It is the first time the leaders of the four European nations (France, the UK, Germany and Poland) have made a joint visit to Ukraine, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).
“We are clear the bloodshed must end. Russia must stop its illegal invasion,” the leaders said in a joint statement, adding:
Alongside the US, we call on Russia to agree a full and unconditional 30-day ceasefire to create the space for talks on a just and lasting peace.
We will continue to increase our support for Ukraine. Until Russia agrees to an enduring ceasefire, we will ratchet up pressure on Russia’s war machine.
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