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Derbyshire: Waste company ordered to pay £68,500 after cyanide leak kills hundreds of fish | UK News

A waste transport company has been ordered to pay £68,500 after hundreds of litres of a liquid containing diluted cyanide leaked from a lorry.

The leak happened after a container was ruptured as the driver began moving it around, using a forklift truck, at an industrial estate in Heanor, Derbyshire.

The liquid escaped onto the floor before entering the drainage system and natural waterways following the spill on 6 February 2018, the Environment Agency (EA) said.

Hundreds of fish in a nearby pool died as a result of the water becoming toxic, Nottingham Crown Court heard.

Fire crews were deployed to set up a decontamination zone and ensure anyone involved was fully washed down, the court heard.

The EA prosecuted waste transport firm J & G Environmental Ltd, based in Fareham, Hampshire, after estimating the clean-up costs reached £50,000.

Officials took samples of the dead fish, with all of the 73 sent for testing found to have died from cyanide poisoning.

On Wednesday, the company was fined £16,000 and ordered to pay £52,500 in costs after earlier pleading guilty to causing an illegal water discharge.

Read more:
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Prosecuting water companies ‘won’t solve environmental problems’
Farmers told to ‘do better’ on river pollution

An EA spokesperson said: “We welcome this sentence as this was a serious pollution which caused considerable disruption besides fish deaths.

“The Environment Agency will pursue any company that fails to uphold the law or protect nature and will continue to press for the strongest possible penalties.

“Failure to comply with these legal requirements is a serious offence that can damage the environment and harm human health.”

Just weeks earlier, a truck crash in Brazil saw sulfonic acid spill into a local river, covering it in thick foam and putting dozens of neighbourhoods’ access to drinking water in jeopardy.

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Acid spill in Brazil covers river in thick foam

UK weather: Scotland faces snow warning as hundreds of flood alerts remain in place for England | Weather News

People in Scotland are bracing for more snow and ice-related disruption, while those in the south of England have been told homes and businesses could be flooded in the coming days.

The warnings come after dozens of schools in northern England and North Wales were closed and travel was disrupted on Thursday.

While amber weather warnings for Wales and the Pennines have passed, yellow warnings for snow and ice are in place for much of Scotland for Friday and Saturday.

Get the forecast where you are

The Met Office has said roads and railways are likely to be affected, and there is also a chance people will experience power cuts and disruption to mobile phone services.

Ferry operator Calmac, which operates services between the Scottish mainland and isles, has announced cancellations and delays due to adverse weather.

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Schools closed as snow hit the UK on Thursday

Two flood warnings have also been issued for Scotland – covering north and south Luce Bay in Dumfries and Galloway – while 81 flood warnings are in place in England, mostly in the South and the Midlands.

A total of 294 less severe flood alerts are in force in England while 19 are active in Wales.

Rain is set to arrived across the UK later today. Pic: Met Office
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Rain is set to arrive across the UK later today. Pic: Met Office

Flooding in York. Storm Jocelyn will thrash the UK with more wind and rain after Storm Isha left two people dead and one seriously injured. Picture date: Tuesday January 23, 2024.
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The warnings come weeks after areas like York were flooded during Storm Isha. Pic: PA

Dozens of schools in northern England and North Wales closed due to snow on Thursday.

The Met Office measured 10cm of snow in Kirkwall, Orkney, while 9cm was recorded in Bingley, West Yorkshire.

In Harbertonford, south Devon, a total of 43.2mm of rainfall was measured – almost half the average for the area in February.

Trains between Bath and Swindon were also disrupted due to flooding.

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A snow boarder in Allenheads, Northumberland.
Pic:PA
Image:
A snowboarder makes the most of the weather in Allenheads, Northumberland. Pic: PA

School children pushing a bus in Sheffield.
Pic:Chris Mann/PA
Image:
School children pushing a bus in Sheffield. Pic: Chris Mann/PA

Temperatures across the UK have been fluctuating with a low of -13.8C (7.2F) being recorded in the Scottish Highlands in the early hours of Thursday, while a high of 13.6C (56.5) was recorded in Exeter later on the same day.

Met Office meteorologist Dan Stroud said: “We’ve still got rain and many have snow making its way northwards, we have got further weather warnings in force.

“Temperatures are recovering a little, across the far South it’s generally mild.

“We’ve got a second band of cloud and rain moving northwards, it makes for challenging driving conditions.

“We’ve had the worst of it but it’s still not completely clear. Where we have falling snow we see there is a risk of a few icy patches on roads.”

He added that as the focus “is probably starting to shift more towards ice, people should still be cautious”.

Prince Andrew’s alleged links to Epstein could come under further scrutiny as judge approves release of hundreds of files | US News

Prince Andrew’s alleged links with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein could come under further scrutiny with the release of hundreds of files from a defamation case.

They include 40 documents of evidence from Johanna Sjoberg, who has claimed the Duke of York touched her breast while sitting on a couch inside Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.

Buckingham Palace previously said the allegations are “categorically untrue”.

US Judge Loretta Preska ruled on Monday that documents relating to more than 170 people who were either associates, friends or victims of disgraced US billionaire Epstein should be made public.

The documents are part of a 2015 US defamation case by Virginia Giuffre against Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite who supplied Epstein with underage girls.

The individuals who are set to be named in the documents will have 14 days to appeal against the judge’s decision – meaning they are likely to be released in early January.

Johanna Sjoberg has accused Prince Andrew of touching her breast in 2001. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock
Image:
Johanna Sjoberg has accused Prince Andrew of touching her breast in 2001. Pic: ANL/Shutterstock

Ms Giuffre settled her civil claim against Maxwell, but representatives of the media have since argued documents that were sealed as part of the case should be made public.

Judge Preska ordered some individuals should be named because they had already given interviews to the media – including Ms Sjoberg.

Prince Andrew stepped down from public life after the furore over his friendship with Epstein and paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case to Ms Giuffre, a woman he claimed never to have met.

The out-of-court settlement was reported to be as much as £12m.

Read more:
Who’s who in the Jeffrey Epstein sex scandal?
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein: The claims and denials

Epstein’s death ‘raises serious questions that must be answered

Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in a photo believed to have been taken in 2001. Pic: Rex/Shutterstock
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Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell, pictured in a photo believed to have been taken in 2001. Pic: Rex/Shutterstock

The duke was cast out of the working monarchy and no longer uses his HRH title after Ms Giuffre, who was trafficked by Epstein, accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.

In January 2022, ahead of his legal settlement, his mother Queen Elizabeth II stripped Andrew of all of his honorary military roles, including Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges.

The death was ruled a suicide.

Jeffrey Epstein was found dead while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges
Image:
Jeffrey Epstein was found dead while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges

Maxwell has been imprisoned since July 2020, despite numerous attempts from her defence counsel to have her released on bail.

She was sentenced to 20 years in prison at the federal court in the Southern District of New York in June last year.

The socialite indicated her desire to appeal shortly after her conviction, with her lawyers claiming victims had “faded, distorted and motivated memories”.

Her appeal is currently scheduled to be heard in November next year.

UK pledges hundreds of new attack drones to Ukraine ahead of Zelenskyy-Sunak summit | World News

The UK has pledged to send hundreds of new long-range attack drones to Ukraine ahead of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s meeting with Rishi Sunak today.

The Ukrainian president will meet Mr Sunak at Chequers, the prime minister’s country retreat, for “substantive negotiations” over military aid.

Two Russian commanders killed – latest updates

The government said Mr Sunak will confirm today the further provision of hundreds of air defence missiles and further unmanned aerial systems, including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200km.

Mr Sunak said it was a “crucial moment” in Ukraine’s resistance against Russia’s invasion, adding: “We must not let them down.”

It comes as Mr Zelenskyy embarks on a multi-stop European tour for more support from allies, as Kyiv prepares for its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Mr Zelenskyy tweeted ahead of his arrival, describing the UK as a “leader” when it comes to Ukraine expanding its capabilities on the ground and in the air.

The UK government’s announcement of further military aid follows last week’s confirmation that it has donated long-range precision missiles to Ukraine’s military.

The government said the further provisions which will be confirmed later today will be delivered in the coming months.

On Saturday, the German government promised Kyiv its biggest military support package so far, with further arms deliveries worth €2.7bn (£2.35bn).

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What could happen next in Ukraine?

France also pledged further military aid, as French president Emmanuel Macron and Mr Zelenskyy met in a surprise summit in Paris on Sunday.

Mr Macron’s office said France will supply dozens of light tanks and armoured vehicles “in the weeks ahead”, without giving specific numbers.

Read more:
Has Ukraine’s counter-offensive begun?
Ukrainian home town of country’s Eurovision act comes under missile fire

Fierce fighting in Ukraine’s eastern city of Bakhmut, which has inflicted heavy losses on both sides, continues.

Neither Kyiv nor Moscow’s forces have been able to take full control of the city despite months of fighting, as analysis suggesting the battle for the city is not about seizing ground but maximising enemy casualties.

Mr Zelenskyy has said his troops would not attack Russian territory as part of their counteroffensive.

Twitter blue tick cull – The Pope, JK Rowling and Ant and Dec among hundreds of thousands losing their verification | Science & Tech News

Twitter has finally started removing “legacy” blue ticks from verified accounts, with some of the world’s best-known figures losing the verification sign.

The Pope, author JK Rowling, football star Cristiano Ronaldo, US rapper Jay-Z, and TV stars Ant and Dec have lost their blue ticks on the social networking site, along with the Labour and Conservative parties.

Twitter had about 300,000 verified users under the original blue tick system, many of them athletes, musicians, journalists and other public figures.

The Labour Party lost its verified account status
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The Labour Party lost its verified account status
Conservative Party

The only blue ticks left will be those with a Twitter Blue subscription, which costs up to £11 a month in the UK, or those who are affiliated with the company.

But, unlike the “legacy” blue ticks introduced soon after Twitter launched to help people know which accounts were legitimate, Twitter will no longer verify the accounts to ensure they are who they say they are.

Accounts with different coloured checkmarks will keep those – gold indicates they are a verified business, while grey means they represent a government, multilateral organisation or official.

It brings the curtain down on one of the most controversial elements of Mr Musk‘s stewardship of Twitter since his $44bn (£38bn) takeover last October.

One of his first big decisions was to allow users to pay for a tick, declaring “power to the people”, but the move backfired, leaving the platform awash with accounts posing as brands, celebrities, and politicians.

Author JK Rowling, one of the world's most recognisable tweeters, lost her blue tick
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Author JK Rowling, one of the world’s most recognisable tweeters, lost her blue tick
Beyonce's twitter account

One purporting to be former US president George W Bush tweeted “I miss killing Iraqis”, while another disguised as Nintendo’s official account posted a picture of Super Mario making a rude gesture.

Twitter paused the rollout of paid-for ticks as a result, introduced different coloured ticks to distinguish between governments, businesses, and people, and relaunched Twitter Blue a month later.

Oprah loses her blue tick
Justin Bieber loses his blue tick

In a final controversy before setting a date for their removal, Twitter made the old verified ticks indistinguishable from those who had paid for one.

Hundreds of people have lost sight due to NHS treatment delays | UK News

Hundreds of people have lost their sight due to treatment delays caused by NHS backlogs, it has been revealed.

NHS England figures, released after a Freedom of Information request by the Association of Optometrists (AOP), showed that more than 200 eye care patients had suffered because of long waits for care since 2019.

Of those, 99 incidents involved “severe harm” and 120 “moderate harm” – including one patient who went blind in their left eye after going three months without what should have been a monthly injection.

Hundreds more people are suspected to have been affected by what the AOP described as a “health emergency”.

The backlog for ophthalmology appointments in England is the second-largest in the NHS, standing at 628,502 – with 27,260 waiting a year or more.

Nearly half of UK optometrists are now seriously concerned about the number of patients who could lose sight unnecessarily because of NHS backlogs, the AOP warned.

People ‘terrified’ of going blind

It comes after a poll revealed more than half of Britons who have needed treatment for macular eye conditions in the past two years have experienced a delay waiting for an appointment or care.

Nearly half of the 498 people surveyed have experienced a loss or decline in vision during this time.

Cathy Yelf, chief executive of eye charity Macular Society, said people are “terrified” at the prospect of going blind.

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The AOP is calling on the government to adopt a “national strategy for eye care” to tackle the issue, including allowing more community optometrists to provide care and follow-up services to reduce pressure on the NHS.

AOP chief Adam Sampson said: “There are good treatments available for common age-related eye conditions like macular degeneration, but many hospital trusts simply do not have the capacity to deliver services.”

“It’s incomprehensible and absolutely tragic that patients are waiting, losing their vision, in many parts of the country because of the way eye healthcare is commissioned,” he added.

The Department of Health and Social Care said the NHS was making good progress in reducing wait times and is working towards eliminating delays of a year or more for elective care by March 2025.

The government plans to spend more than £8bn between 2022 and 2025 to support elective recovery.

“No one should have to suffer avoidable sight loss, and we are taking action to improve access to services, including appointing a national clinical director for eye care to oversee the recovery and transformation of services, so patients receive the care they need,” said a spokesperson.

“We are also investing in the ophthalmology workforce, with more training places provided in 2022 – and even more planned for 2023 – alongside improved training for existing staff.”

Eurostar: Hundreds of seats on trains left unsold to avoid long queues at stations | UK News

Hundreds of seats on Eurostar trains from London to the continent are deliberately being left unsold so long queues don’t build up at stations, the company has admitted.

A cut in the number of border officials means it takes nearly 30% longer to process passengers leaving St Pancras International than before Brexit and the pandemic.

Also contributing to the delay is the post-Brexit requirement to stamp UK passports for outbound travel.

Eurostar train

Seat numbers are now being capped to prevent bottlenecks at stations.

The first daily services connecting London to Paris and Brussels can take up to 900 passengers.

But 350 of those seats are intentionally not being sold.

Eurostar runs the only high-speed trains that directly link the UK to France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel.

As well as London’s St Pancras, it also runs UK services from Ebbsfleet and Ashford, both in Kent.

Read more:
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France vows financial support to ‘maintain strategic Eurostar link’ with UK

Eurostar chief executive Gwendoline Cazenave said it was vital that the first trains to leave are on time to avoid a knock-on problem.

“If you delay the first train, then you delay the second and then it’s a very bad customer experience,” she said.

“Our customers say it’s awful.”

Eurostar trains at St Pancras
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Eurostar trains at St Pancras

Passengers are being urged to arrive up to 90 minutes before their departure so they have sufficient time to get through border checks, which is three times longer than before the pandemic.

Liberty Steel blames ‘unviable’ market as restructuring threatens hundreds of jobs | Business News

Liberty Steel UK has placed 440 jobs under threat through a series of actions to secure its future amid “unviable” market conditions.

The company said high energy costs had combined with other uncompetitive factors such as cheap imports and it was vital its operations were “refocused”.

Liberty, part of Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance, said its Newport and West Bromwich plants would be made idle under the changes.

They would also include operations at Rotherham being shifted towards premium products.

Liberty, which has been battling financing headwinds since the collapse of its biggest lender Greensill Capital in 2021, said the next phase of its restructuring programme would see workers affected offered an alternative to redundancy.

The proposed scheme aims to retain, redeploy and reskill affected employees and guarantees salary and outplacement opportunities.

Liberty said they could be redeployed within the business, on previous employment terms, when market conditions allowed.

‘Unviable market’

Its statement said: “Despite the injection of £200m of shareholder capital over the last two years, the production of some commodity grade products at Rotherham and downstream mills has become unviable in the short term due to high energy costs and imports from countries without the same environmental standards.

“Primary production through Rotherham’s lower carbon electric arc furnaces (EAFs) will be temporarily reduced while uncompetitive operating conditions prevail.”

The company said the measures would forge a “viable way forward” for the business and help safeguard jobs among its wider workforce of 1,900 permanent employees, rising up to 5,000 when contractors are included.

It made the announcement despite the promise of extra financial help for energy intensive industries, including steel, through a new discount scheme for businesses.

Sanjeev Gupta, boss of Liberty Steel, speaks to Sky News 1/4/21
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Sanjeev Gupta

Jeffrey Kabel, chief transformation officer for Liberty Steel Group, said: “Refocusing our operations will set the right platform for Liberty Steel UK’s high-quality manufacturing businesses to adapt quickly to challenging market realities.”

He added: “Liberty’s shareholder Sanjeev Gupta has supported the business through a very difficult period and remains committed to the workforce here in the UK and ensuring our lower carbon operations help deliver a sustainable, decarbonised UK steel industry.”

‘Change in plans is devastating’

Alun Davies, national officer of steelworkers union Community, responded: “Since the collapse of Greensill Capital, the trade unions have supported the company because we believed that delivering the company’s business plans, which were audited and backed by the unions’ independent experts, was the best route to safeguard jobs and the future of all the businesses.

“However, the plans we reviewed were based on substantial investment and ramping up production, including at Liberty Steel Newport, and did not include the ‘idling’ of any sites.

“These are challenging times for all steelmakers but the company’s decision to change their plans, on which we based our support, and announce a strategy seemingly based on capacity cuts and redundancies is devastating.”

The government pledged continued support for the sector in its response, but Gareth Stace, head of industry body UK Steel, said: “High energy prices have played an important role in the decisions announced today, with long-standing uncompetitive electricity prices having constrained UK investment and steel production for some time.

“This highlights again the need for government to fully address the UK’s structurally high industrial energy prices, looking beyond the important announcements made regarding the energy bills discount scheme earlier this week.

“It is crucial we also now see the development of a long-term decarbonisation plan for the sector, ultimately ensuring that the UK can be seen as an attractive place to invest in steel production.”

Downing Street said reports of potential job losses at the firm were “concerning” but that ministers would continue to offer “extensive support” to the sector.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “Obviously it will be concerning for workers at Liberty Steel. We are committed to ensuring a sustainable future for the UK steel sector. We want to work closely with the industry to achieve this.”

Hundreds of ‘outstanding’ schools not inspected for years have got worse, says Ofsted | UK News

Hundreds of English schools previously rated “outstanding” have been downgraded by Ofsted after their first inspections in years.

More than 500 were visited in the last academic year after a clause was lifted that had made them exempt from regular reinspection.

Introduced in 2012, it meant outstanding schools didn’t need regular visits unless there were specific concerns – but that system ended two years ago.

The school’s watchdog said only 17% of the 370 schools it inspected in 2021-22 kept their outstanding rating.

It added that the schools’ average gap since their previous inspection was 13 years.

Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief, said it showed “removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better”.

Some 62% of schools reinspected were demoted one level to “good”, while 21% were said to either “require improvement” (the third tier) or were “inadequate” (the bottom tier).

Ofsted said that while the falls seen in the reinspected schools might not reflect all exempt schools, the results were none-the-less “concerning”.

“A higher proportion now require improvement or are inadequate than is the case for all schools nationally, especially for the primary schools,” it said.

The watchdog must inspect all previously exempt schools by the end of July 2025.

“Regular inspection gives parents confidence in the quality of their child’s school,” Ms Spielman added.

“Exempting outstanding schools deprived parents of up-to-date information. It also left a lot of schools without the constructive challenge that regular inspection provides.

“The exemption was a policy founded on the hope that high standards, once achieved, would never drop, and that freedom from inspection might drive them even higher.

“These outcomes show that removing a school from scrutiny does not make it better.”

UK weather: One person swept into river and hundreds of others face flooding threat as heavy rain batters Scotland | UK News

A woman has been reportedly swept into the River Don in Aberdeenshire, as heavy rain is set to bring more disruption to Scotland as well as the northeast of England today.

Police Scotland said the force was called to the river near to Monymusk in Aberdeenshire at around 3.05pm on Friday following reports of a person in the water.

While the search was stood down overnight, police inquiries are ongoing.

The person, who is believed to be a woman, may have been trying to rescue a dog, according to reports.

It comes as much of Scotland and northeast England have been battered by heavy rain in the past few days.

In the northeast of Scotland, the council has urged residents to protect their properties from flooding, with some areas including Stonehaven and Inverurie experiencing power cuts.

Rest centres have been opened in some parts of Aberdeenshire after flood warnings escalated to severe.

Significant increases in river levels across the east of Scotland due to persistent rain are expected to continue today.

‘A month’s worth of rain in some parts’

Vincent Fitzsimons, flood duty manager for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa), said: “We have seen almost a month’s worth of rain in some parts already this week and we are expecting around the same again over the course of Friday and Saturday in parts of northeast Scotland.”

He added that the worst impacts will occur between early Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning, with riverside communities in parts of Aberdeenshire and Angus facing the highest risks.

Sepa has issued seven severe flood warnings and 30 flood warnings in Scotland.

People living and working in the affected areas have been advised to plan and prepare only essential journeys.

Travel disruptions are expected on much of the rail network in Scotland and northeast England, due to flooding and power cuts.

Travel disruptions and advice:

  • National Rail says that speed restrictions will be in place on a number of routes in Scotland meaning trains may be cancelled, delayed, revised or suspended – causing disruption until at least lunchtime on Saturday
  • Major rail disruption is expected between Newcastle and Edinburgh until the end of Saturday because of flooding which had blocked the line on Friday
  • ScotRail has urged passengers to check journeys ahead of travel using their app or social media with some passengers being told not to travel
  • Police Scotland has warned drivers to plan ahead, be mindful of increased stopping distances and be prepared with warm clothing and sufficient fuel should they be delayed

There has also been localised flooding in some parts of Edinburgh, with pictures showing the Crewe Toll roundabout in the west of the city submerged under water.

On Friday, hundreds of people were left stranded at Newcastle Station due to the cancelled services north to Scotland, with huge queues for replacement buses and passengers told they might have to wait up to five hours to board.

Queues for the bus services stretched hundreds of metres down the street outside the city centre station and spiralled around the concourse inside.

Hundreds of rail passengers queue outside Newcastle train station for replacement buses after trains to Scotland were cancelled due to flooding
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Hundreds of rail passengers queue outside Newcastle train station for replacement buses

One woman heading for Edinburgh said: “This just can’t be happening. I’ve got a health condition and I can’t wait outside like this.”

James Brownhill, from London, said: “It’s just chaos. But there’s nothing you can do. If it’s flooded, it’s flooded.

“I think I’m just going to have to stay in Newcastle tonight.”