Big Butterfly Count: People asked to join in to help address extinction

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Big Butterfly Count: People asked to join in to help address extinction

In an effort to save them from extinction, people are being urged to count the number of butterflies they encounter during the next three weeks.

According to Butterfly Conservation, two-fifths of the British butterfly population is endangered.

The nonprofit organisation advises taking a 15-minute walk outside to count the number and variety of butterflies and moths seen.

The information gathered will be used to evaluate the impact of pollutants and climate change.

Sir David Attenborough, the charity’s president, actress Joanna Lumley, and gardener Alan Titchmarsh all support the annual Big Butterfly Count.

According to experts, the event will collect data from locations that would otherwise go unrecorded and assist scientists in their understanding of how environmental changes are affecting insects.

Normal butterflies are also in danger of going extinct; numbers of common species like the tiny tortoiseshell have decreased by 79% since 1976.

More than ever before, 150,000 sets of results from throughout the UK were submitted for the count last year, but it also saw the lowest average number of butterflies recorded since the program’s inception 13 years earlier.

Royalty was among those participating; Princess Charlotte was captured with a Red Admiral butterfly she discovered close to her family’s Norfolk house.

“Thanks to the amazing British public, the Big Butterfly Count is the largest natural history citizen science project involving insects in the world and gives us a crucial snapshot of what is occurring for butterflies,” said Dr. Zoe Randle, senior surveys officer at Butterfly Conservation.

It can serve as an early-warning system, informing us of the effects of changing environmental conditions on insects, and it enables the collection of crucial data from locations that would otherwise go completely unrecorded.

Spending time in nature is really beneficial to our mental health and can make us feel happier and more energised, said the ambassador, Dr. Amir Khan.

It is beneficial for both you and butterflies to help Butterfly Conservation obtain the necessary data to understand how to properly protect these unique creatures. It really is a win-win situation for all of us.

This year’s count will take place from July 15 to August 7; participants can transmit their results via a dedicated website and app.

For the first time in 20 years, the euro slips below the dollar.

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For the first time in 20 years, the euro slips below the dollar.

The euro has dropped below the dollar for the first time in almost 20 years due to the situation in Ukraine.

One euro cost $0.998 at 12:45 GMT, a decrease of 0.4 per cent from the previous day’s trading.

Fears that Russia will restrict Europe’s access to energy have increased the risk of a recession in the eurozone.

The European Central Bank has lagged behind other central banks in raising rates, significantly depreciating the euro.

As international investors want a higher return for holding assets valued in that currency, currencies often climb when the applicable central bank raises interest rates.

The US central bank’s hiking interest rates, as well as investors looking for a safe haven in dollar assets during times of global unrest, have helped to support the dollar’s strength in recent months.

In particular, items priced in dollars like crude oil will become more expensive for countries in the eurozone to import.

The eurozone’s already high inflation rate of 8.6 per cent for June could be made even higher by this.

According to a representative for the organisation, the ECB does not “target a particular exchange rate, but we are always vigilant to the influence of the exchange rate on inflation, in line with our mandate for price stability.”

The bank is expected to start boosting interest rates starting next week.

The value of the euro relative to the dollar has dropped by about 12% since the start of the year.

The euro has been valued higher than the dollar for the vast majority of its history. In the years after the currency’s introduction in 1999, it lagged behind the dollar; however, the last time it did so was in December 2002, less than a year after the first-ever distribution of euro notes and coins.

Three men are accused of planning to resell Hotel California lyrics by The Eagles.

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Three men are accused of planning to resell Hotel California lyrics by The Eagles.

Three people are accused of planning to sell the handwritten lyrics to the Eagles song “Hotel California” while aware that they had been stolen.

Don Henley, the band’s singer and drummer, wrote the lyrics and notes for their well-known 1976 record, which are now valued at more than $1 million (£840,000).

According to the prosecution, the defendants lied about the provenance of the material to the police, prospective buyers, and auction companies.

Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski all deny the allegations.

Mr. Inciardi is an “employee with curator responsibilities” at the Cleveland, Ohio-based Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, according to the institution.

According to the New York District Attorney’s office, the three were involved in a “years-long campaign to hinder Henley from reclaiming the manuscripts.”

The district attorney claims that in the late 1970s, someone who was being paid to write a biography of the group stole the lyrics of songs like Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, and New Kid in Town.

In 2005, the biographer purportedly sold them to Mr. Horowitz, a trader in rare books.

According to the allegations, Mr. Horowitz sold the products to Mr. Kosinski in New Jersey and Mr. Inciardi in Brooklyn.

After learning that the latter two were attempting to sell part of the 100 pages of manuscripts, Henley filed police complaints and demanded the return of his property. However, the men allegedly refused to do so.

In New York, all three defendants have entered not-guilty pleas to accusations of conspiracy and criminal possession, as well as Mr. Horowitz’s charge of obstructing justice.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame said that Mr. Inciardi had been suspended and that an internal inquiry was being carried out.

The Eagles’ fifth studio album, Hotel California, debuted at number one on the US Billboard chart, and the album’s title single was named record of the year at the Grammy Awards.

With more than 30 million copies sold worldwide, it continues to be one of the best-selling LPs of all time. It was twice ranked at number 37 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Over time, Henley’s late bandmate Glenn Frey talked about how the record led to the breakup of the Eagles.

Henan: China to repay customers after mass bank protests

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Henan: China to repay customers after mass bank protests

Authorities in the Henan province of China have announced that they will begin releasing money to consumers whose funds have been frozen by several rural banks.

The declaration was made the day after a rare demonstration in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan, descended into violence.

According to regional regulators, payments will start to be made in phases on Friday.

A total of 39 billion yuan ($5.8 billion; £4.9 billion) in deposits are thought to have been frozen by the four banks that were the focus of the protests.

In a statement on Monday, the Henan Banking and Insurance Regulatory Bureau and the Henan Provincial-Local Financial Supervision Bureau laid out the strategies for paying clients through a neighbourhood association under the supervision of the People’s Bank of China.

Customers were encouraged to contact the association starting at 9:00 local time (02:00 BST) on Friday, according to the authorities.

However, some Chinese social media users have criticised the announcement.

A demonstration against the frozen deposits that was attended by hundreds of people on Sunday in Zhengzhou, the city of Henan, got violent following an altercation with an unidentified group of men.

The protesters claimed that the banks had frozen their deposits in April due to alleged internal system updates but had not contacted them since.

Social media videos showed a group of unidentified males assaulting demonstrators and hurling water bottles at them while appearing to be security officers but wearing plain clothes.

The deposits of their clients were frozen in April by the Yuzhou Xin Min Sheng Village Bank, Shanghai Huimin County Bank, and New Oriental Country Bank of Kaifeng.

Since then, countless clients have travelled to Zhengzhou to withdraw their money.

Small demonstrations began, building to a sizable rally on May 23, when thousands participated before police broke it up.

The COVID-19 tracking app, which is required in many Chinese cities for citizens to enter buildings and stores, use public transportation, or exit the city, has been reported to have problems by certain bank customers who had just visited Zhengzhou.

Ukraine aims to amass ‘million-strong army’ to recapture south, says defence minister

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Ukraine aims to amass ‘million-strong army’ to recapture south, says defence minister

According to the defence minister, Ukraine intends to liberate the country’s southern region from occupying Russian forces with a “million-strong army” armed with NATO weapons.

According to Oleksii Reznikov, retaking the regions near the Black Sea coast was essential for the nation’s economy.

The comments from the military minister come as Russia advances in annexing land in the eastern Donbas region.

At least 22 people were killed in an attack on a residential building on Sunday, with more bodies possibly trapped under the rubble.

At the site of the five-story building in Chasiv Yar, close to the city of Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region that has been the focus of a Russian offensive, rescuers are still searching for survivors.

In an interview with The Times newspaper, Mr. Reznikov lauded the UK for playing a “key” role in helping Ukraine move from receiving Soviet-era weapons to Nato-standard air defence systems and ammunition.

For the sake of saving our soldiers’ lives, we urgently need more. We risk losing 100 soldiers daily while waiting for howitzers, explained he.

“We have about 700,000 in the military forces, and when you add the national guard, police, and border guard, we are around a million strong,” the defence minister claimed.

The Royal United Services Institute’s senior research fellow, Dr. Jack Watling, issued a warning on the statistic.

The counterattack won’t involve a force of a million people, Mr. Watling.

By making the announcement public, you are partially requiring the Russians to commit more resources to thwart this threat. Normally, you would want an operational surprise when you launch a counterattack.

The regional governor reported that residential areas in the eastern city of Kharkiv were hit by Russian shells, resulting in three fatalities and 28 injuries.

Canada experiences widespread mobile and internet outages.

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Canada experiences widespread mobile and internet outages.

An extensive outage that Canada’s top mobile and internet providers suffered had an impact on bank ATMs and emergency assistance hotlines.

Government operations have been disrupted by the Rogers Communications issue. According to the company, it is acting fast to address the problem.

The second outage in 15 months has no recognised cause at this time. It began at around 4:30 ET (08:30 GMT). According to internet monitoring organisation NetBlocks, internet traffic had dropped to around 75% of normal levels by Friday morning.

With a stake in everything from cable TV to hockey, Rogers is the cellular carrier for almost 11 million Canadians.

Toronto’s police department said that certain mobile phone users were having issues dialling 911 despite being “fully functioning.”

The police recommended people call back if the call didn’t go through and to stay on the line as long as possible if it did.

The Ottawa police tweeted that if your call is unsuccessful, please try again or call from a landline or cellphone with a different carrier.

The outages also disrupted passport offices, courthouses, and transit payment systems.

The on-call medical staff has been asked to report to work by the Scarborough Health Network, which manages hospitals in Toronto until the issue is resolved.

After jail employees were unable to connect disgraced fashion mogul Peter Nygard to a videoconference system, a court hearing for him in Montreal, Quebec, was postponed.

In metropolitan areas, people have flocked to cafes and other sites offering functional Wi-Fi.

On Friday afternoon, the vice-president of Rogers said that the business was still looking for the “root cause” of the issue.

At the right moment, we don’t have an ETA on when the situation will be fixed, said Kye Prigg.

In a little over a year, Rogers has experienced two sizable disruptions. Customers encountered periodic outages in April of last year when attempting to use broadband or place voice calls.

James Caan: Oscar-nominated actor and Godfather star dies at 82

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James Caan: Oscar-nominated actor and Godfather star dies at 82

James Caan, an acclaimed American actor best known for playing Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, died at the age of 82.

Four Golden Globes, an Emmy, and an Oscar were among his nominations. He was a Hollywood leading man in the 1970s.

On Thursday, the Caan family expressed gratitude to the public for its “outpouring of love and real anguish.”

The renowned party-loving New Yorker had four marriages and five children in total.

After being born to a butcher in the Bronx, Caan initially aspired to pursue a career as an American football player.

After enrolling, he began acting. He first met Francis Ford Coppola, who would go on to direct him in The Godfather, at Hofstra University.

Caan eventually got his big break in 1965 when he played the lead in the two Howard Hawks films, Red Line 7000 and El Dorado, following a string of forgettable TV and film performances. However, the legendary mob film The Godfather, released in 1972, is what made him well-known.

When he initially auditioned for the role of Michael Corleone, it appeared that studio executives favoured him.

At Coppola’s insistence, Al Pacino was finally chosen for that role, nonetheless.

Michael’s older brother, Sonny, was strapped with more than 140 bursting blood pellets to simulate bullet wounds for the character’s death scene.

For this performance, he received his lone Academy Award nomination for best-supporting actor.

Early in the 1980s, Caan went through what he has described as “an awful period,” which was made worse by drug usage and the passing of his sister. Caan briefly vanished from view during this period.

Despite this, he was able to make a comeback by playing enduring roles in blockbusters like Elf and Misery.

His participation in comedic movies, such as the 2009 animated feature Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, would help lighten his image as a strong guy.

In addition to his employment in Hollywood, Caan spent over three decades perfecting his karate techniques.

Later in life, he would develop a significant following on Twitter and become very active there. He frequently ended his tweets with the phrase “End of the tweet.”

Boris Johnson appoints new cabinet new Tory leader takes over

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Boris Johnson appoints new cabinet new Tory leader takes over

Following a wave of resignations over the previous two days, Boris Johnson has filled open positions in his cabinet.

These ministers will continue serving until a new Conservative leader and prime minister are elected, even if Mr. Johnson has resigned as the party’s leader.

James Cleverly has been named education secretary, while Greg Clark has been named the new levelling up secretary.

Robert Buckland also rejoins the cabinet as secretary for Wales.

Kit Malthouse has been named the Duchy of Lancaster’s chancellor; Shailesh Vara has been named the new secretary for Northern Ireland; and Andrew Stephenson has been designated as a minister without a portfolio.

In his speech of resignation, Mr. Johnson stated that he had nominated a new cabinet to serve until a replacement for him as Tory leader was elected.

To prevent a government shutdown, several Tory MPs have urged Mr. Johnson to leave immediately.

Following his resignation, Mr. Johnson must not be allowed to “cling on” in No. 10, according to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who also vowed to remove him via a confidence vote in Parliament.

Greg Clark, the new Levelling Up Secretary, has stated that he will work hard to “bring stability.”

We have a responsibility to make sure that the nation has a working government in the weeks ahead, “tweeted the newly appointed minister,” who took Michael Gove’s place after the latter was fired.

Following a turbulent 48 hours that saw scores of ministers quit, including former chancellor Rishi Sunak, the appointments helped to stabilise Mr. Johnson’s leadership.

One of the ministers pressing the PM to resign was Nadhim Zahawi, the chancellor who would take over for Mr. Sunak.

Up until Thursday morning, when it became obvious that he had lost the trust of his MPs and that the government could no longer function, Mr. Johnson rejected the calls.

Mr. Johnson won a record landslide win in a general election less than three years ago, but in recent months, he has been hounded by controversy, including a punishment for breaking his own lockdown regulations.

This week’s uprising was brought on by information about how the prime minister handled accusations of sexual misconduct against former Deputy Chief Whip Chris Pincher.

Norway ends gas strikes that endangered the UK supply

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Norway ends gas strikes that endangered the UK supply

Strikes that might have halted the majority of the UK’s gas imports from Norway have been suspended.

The industrial action that was scheduled to take place later this week has been halted, according to the Norwegian Labour Ministry.

According to ONS data, the UK imports around 50% of its gas, and Norway is the major provider, accounting for 77% of imports.

With several nations reducing their reliance on Russian supplies in response to the conflict in Ukraine, Norway’s oil and gas, Europe’s second-largest energy provider behind Russia, are in high demand.

The Norwegian Oil and Gas Association, the employer’s organisation, and the union Lederne, which represents oil and gas workers, had a salary dispute that led to the initiation of the industrial action on Monday.

Three of Equinor’s oil and gas fields had to be shut down as a result of the first phase. On Tuesday evening, more strikes affecting three additional Equinor sites were anticipated.

If the conflict was not settled by Saturday, the union had vowed to go on more strike action.

However, the government had used its power to intervene, according to the labour minister, Marte Mjoes Persen, who spoke to Reuters.

Two terminals Easington in Yorkshire and St. Fergus in Scotland handle the importation of Norwegian gas into the UK.

The planned strike on Saturday would have had an impact on UK supply since it would have temporarily stopped the Sleipner field, a crucial hub for gas exports to the UK.

According to the Financial Times, the gas terminal at Easington, on the coast of East Yorkshire, will receive no deliveries “in the worst-case scenario” from this Saturday, according to Norwegian state-owned Gassco.

Although the operations at Easington would have only been affected by the prospective strike, Gassco claimed that Easington was by far the more important of the two, receiving 80 to 90 per cent of the gas from Norway.

Gas is transported by Gassco to nations around Europe, including Germany and Belgium. Up to 170 million cubic litres of gas, or over 50% of the company’s total daily delivery volume, are estimated to have been lost due to strike action.

Michael Longley: Belfast poet wins €250,000 Feltrinelli Poetry Prize

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Michael Longley: Belfast poet wins €250,000 Feltrinelli Poetry Prize

Michael Longley, a poet from Belfast, has received a €250,000 (£216,000) European cultural award. At a ceremony in November, Longley will accept the Feltrinelli International Prize for Poetry. Former winners of the award include John Ashbery, Eugenio Montale, and WH Auden.

Longley was born in 1939, and at the age of 30, he released No Continuing City, his debut book of poetry. From 2007 to 2010, he served as Ireland’s professor of poetry.

Italy’s Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei bestows the prize once every five years in each discipline, on a national and international level.

The highly current nature of his ideas and the cultural implications they have, as well as the extremely high level of stylistic brilliance of his work, are why Mr. Longley won, according to the Accademia dei Lincei.

The Belfast native’s parents, both Londoners who emigrated to Northern Ireland prior to the birth of their son, were both World War One veterans from England.

He and his twin brother were born on July 27, 1939, in Lower Crescent, a neighbourhood off University Road in Belfast, only weeks before World War Two broke out.

Both the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and Trinity College in Dublin, where Longley later studied classics, had an impact on his career.

When he “fell in love very strongly” with a girl from a local school, Methodist College, he began his writing career in his early teens.

But as he aged, the critics grew kinder, and Longley rose to prominence as one of Northern Ireland’s most popular poets.

The Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry, the TS Eliot Prize, and the Whitbread Poetry Award are all displayed in his trophy case.

He was given the Queen’s Gold Medal for Poetry in 2001, as well as the Wilfred Owen Award in 2003.

In 2010, he was appointed a CBE. For his contributions to literary and cultural life in Belfast, where he and his wife, the critic Edna Longley, reside and work, he was given the freedom of the city in 2015.

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