Walter Burke, 63, of Worthington Road, Lichfield was on his way to a morning job when he ploughed into 59-year-old Jasbir Singh on Birmingham’s city centre ring road

A man who stumbled into the middle of the road while intoxicated was killed by a private hire driver, a court has heard.

Walter Burke was on his way to a morning job when he ploughed into 59-year-old Jasbir Singh on part of Birmingham’s city centre ring road, Birmingham Live reports.

He was not speeding or driving recklessly in his SEAT Toledo, the hearing was told, but visibility was good and other motorists had managed to avoid the pedestrian.

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In a dramatic courtroom moment a judge counted to five to demonstrate to the courtroom just how long he had to take evasive action.

Burke, 63, of Worthington Road, Lichfield was found guilty after trial of causing death by careless driving. However he was spared jail at Birmingham Crown Court on Thursday, March 12.

He was instead banned from driving for five years although he has already stopped driving voluntarily since the collision, which was said to have had a profound impact on him.

The incident dated back to October 21, 2023 when at just before 5.30am Mr Singh was walking on the A4540 Boulton Middleway.

Omar Majid, prosecuting, said the pedestrian was ‘intoxicated’ and that by way of comparison his alcohol blood level was twice the legal drink-drive limit, even though he was not behind the wheel himself.

He told the court the road was wet but there was ‘good visibility’ due to street lighting and the fact the road was ‘essentially straight’.

Mr Majid said two other drivers noticed Mr Singh as they approached the roundabout.

He added: “It was noticeable they had no difficulty taking evasive action, braking and moving into a different lane despite their visibility being much worse that it would have been for this defendant.”

CCTV captured what happened next as Burke, driving his SEAT, approached in lane two.

Mr Majid continued: “He drove straight ahead with Mr Singh in the same lane moving from lane three to lane two. While the defendant’s brake lights came on he didn’t slow down or take evasive action whatsoever.

“The only movements was after the collision, a flinch reaction to the collision moving into lane three. The defendant noticeably slowed down after the collision but didn’t stop.”

Burke left the ring road at the roundabout and parked on Hospital Lane nearby. Other drivers pulled up at the scene and alerted emergency services.

Burke later claimed he did not realise he had hit anyone and believed someone had thrown a brick at his windscreen. Mr Majid said he was doing 29 to 32mph at the time of the collision on the 30mph route.

Burke gave no comment in his police interview but claimed at trial he did not see Mr Singh at any point and could not explain why. Mr Majid conceded the victim ‘contributed’ to the incident by being in the road, adding he was ‘vulnerable’ due to his level of intoxication.

A key consideration for determining Burke’s length of sentence was whether his actions amounted to a ‘momentary lapse of concentration’. A collision expert calculated Burke had a 7.6 second window to see Mr Singh.

Judge Peter Cooke said: “Let’s say five seconds. Just think about being at the wheel of a car doing 30mph and not paying attention for one…. two… three… four… five. Is that momentary?”

Joey Kwong, defending, contended it was. He said: “He is deeply distressed about the incident. He expresses remorse and repeatedly states he is sorry. He maintains the collision was an accident.

“He didn’t see the victim at the time. It stops short of accepting responsibility but he does demonstrate emotional acknowledgement of the harm caused. He has stopped driving since the incident despite it being his livelihood.”

Mr Kwong said Burke no longer left his house, ‘suffers in silence’ and was on sleeping medication as well as antidepressants. Judge Cooke, passing sentence, said there was ‘absolutely no excuse’ for his failure to see Mr Singh in the road.

He concluded the victim ‘created a hazard’ which meant other drivers, including Burke, had a duty to ‘take proper care’.

He said the case was nearly so serious that he would have to send Burke to jail to ‘mark the fact of a fatality’, but he ruled he could suspend imprisonment by ‘the narrowest of margins’.

The 2026 Academy Awards revealed a striking contradiction. Many of the winning films grapple with urgent contemporary issues, or difficult questions of historical memory. Yet their makers avoided following up on that political character in their acceptance speeches.

This paradox is revealing of the current political mood in Hollywood: filmmakers are willing to engage with politics in their work, but reluctant to raise their own voices.

It makes for a puzzling irony that contrasts with the attitude of, for instance, the music industry in the Grammy Awards. In a year of tariffs, Epstein files, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) shootings and military interventions in Venezuela and Iran, the show’s host, comedian Conan O’Brien, kept the political references contained to harmless jokes.

For instance, O’Brien mentioned the tighter security for the gala, appearing to reference the FBI’s warning of possible drone attacks against the US west coast. But the nod quickly revealed itself as a pun about actor Timothée Chalamet’s recent declaration that “no one cares” about ballet and opera.

Even some of the more political speeches, such as Michael B. Jordan’s mention of the Black actors that preceded him when accepting the best actor Oscar, kept to industry boundaries.

Only comedian Jimmy Kimmel, whose show Jimmy Kimmel Live! has become strongly critical of President Donald Trump, obliquely mentioned his looming presence when presenting the best feature documentary award.

Politics of the nominated films

This attitude is glaringly detached from what this year’s nominees communicate in their films.

Bugonia, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, poked at conspiracy theories through its kidnapping plot. The constant ping-pong hustle of Marty Supreme returned to the foundational moment of US capitalism in the 1950s and pointed out that it was already rotten way before Reaganomics and Trump. The Secret Agent, meanwhile, set its thriller story against the historical memory of the dictatorship in Brazil.

The two main winners of the night were also the most political films. Joyfully disguised behind the vampire film conventions and musical performances of Sinners lies a condemnation of ongoing racism in the US. But the film also proposes blues music as an alternative way to experience the world and create loving and protective connections between its inhabitants.

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In this sense, Delroy Lindo’s performance as ageing blues singer Delta Slim centres the political core of the film. His retelling of a friend’s murder by lynching is first a lament, then rhythm and finally blues.

Lindo competed for best supporting actor against Sean Penn, whose winning work in One Battle After Another became relevant when it started to overlap with the media presence of Greg Bovino, commander-at-large of the US Border Patrol. Under Bovino’s command two US citizens were shot by Ice in Minneapolis in January.

One Battle After Another recaptures the political spirit of 1970s US films such as The Three Days of the Condor (1975), Network (1976) and All the President’s Men (1976). These films reacted against the consequences of the Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon’s resignation in the 1970s. One Battle After Another brings to the present their activist attitude to oppose our contemporary political challenges.

The film’s chilling depiction of state violence against its own citizens connected with the events in Minneapolis and showed how relevant cinema can be when aimed at those in power. But the film had to speak for itself: its director, writer and producer, Paul Thomas Anderson, carefully avoided any direct mention of Trump, Ice or Minneapolis in his three acceptance speeches (for best adapted screenplay, director and film). And Sean Penn, whose political activism as a friend of Hugo Chávez or in favour of Ukraine has often made Hollywood uncomfortable, chose not to attend the ceremony.

Why nominees stayed silent

The reasons for the lack of politics at the awards may be found in the current industrial climate in the US. In September 2025, the Federal Communications Commission took Jimmy Kimmel Live! off the air for a few days, and continues to threaten to do it again. The industry chatter also believes Trump to be responsible for CBS’ decision to not renew The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, another critical outlet.

The possible acquisition, meanwhile, of Warner Bros. by Paramount, presided over by Trump’s ally David Ellison, follows Amazon’s purchase of MGM and Disney buying Twentieth Century Fox. The industrial landscape is concentrating in a handful of technological tycoons. They may may not take kindly to political activism when funding future projects.

The only political voice that was pointedly raised in the Oscars this year belonged to Spanish actor Javier Bardem.

Bardem appeared on stage to present the best international picture award sporting a lapel that said: “No a la Guerra” – no to war. He had worn the same lapel over 20 years ago when the Spanish Film Academy Awards in 2003 became a loud and clear indictment to Spain’s involvement in the Iraq war.

Bardem left a clear message as he introduced the award: “No to war and Free Palestine.” While films such as this year’s extraordinary intake can and do speak for themselves, the gravity of the moment requires that those who make them join with their own voices.

Bardem’s dissonant appeal reveals where Hollywood’s politics currently lie. They are caught between making committed films and a fear of what the country’s politics will bring.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security will soon be under new management, an opportunity to reset President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda or to double down on his signature campaign promise to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history.

The White House’s political director recently encouraged party lawmakers during a retreat at the Republican president’s golf club in Florida to focus on immigration enforcement against criminals, a pivot from the mass deportation agenda he ran on. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the aggressive operations have created a “hiccup” for the party, which is now embarking on a “course correction.”

Yet all indications are that Trump’s mass deportation operation is not stalling out but intensifying, with billions of dollars being spent to hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, build warehouse detention sites and meet the administration’s goal of rounding up and removing some 1 million immigrants from the U.S. this year.

“We are at an interesting moment where it has been an inflection point — the public has finally seen what mass detention and mass deportation mean,” said Sarah Mehta, who tracks the issue at the American Civil Liberties Union.

“This is not an agency that’s slowing down,” she said. “They’re really going forward with some of the cruelest policies.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the president’s policies have sent immigrants out of the U.S., either through forced deportations or on their own, and sealed up the U.S.-Mexico border.

“Nobody is changing the administration’s immigration enforcement agenda,” she said.

Senators ready to grill Trump’s DHS nominee over deportations

The questions put Homeland Security at a crossroads. Secretary Kristi Noem is on her way out, and Trump’s nominee to replace her, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, appears this week for Senate confirmation hearings.

After the intense deportation sweeps in Minneapolis and other cities — and the deaths of at least three U.S. citizens at the hands of officers — Democratic lawmakers are refusing to provide routine funding unless the department changes its policies.

At the same time, those who believe Trump won the White House with his mass deportation agenda are disappointed the administration did not achieve its goals last year and insist he must do better.

“There has been a lot of talk in Congress and now in the White House about kind of backing away from President Trump’s, candidate Trump’s, mass deportation promise,” said Rosemary Jenks, co-founder of the Immigration Accountability Project, which argues for deportations.

“We believe that now is an opportunity,” she said. “We’ve got to get the deportation numbers up.”

A nation of immigrants no longer?

The debate is playing out as the United States, celebrating its 250th year, squares its founding as a nation of immigrants with images of masked federal agents breaking car windows and detaining people suspected of being in the U.S. without proper legal standing.

The Congress, controlled by Republicans, provided some $170 billion in last year’s tax cuts bill to fuel the effort, more than tripling the budget of ICE.

GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, in a fiery speech, fought back against the Democrats’ proposed restraints. “This question about deporting illegal immigrants was on the ballot. President Trump was not bashful,” he said. “And the American people supported the idea that we are going to deport people.”

Yet there are signs of cracks in the Trump coalition. Some Republicans prefer what one called a more humane approach and are sharing their views with Mullin.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., considered a stalwart against illegal immigration, said in his state it’s immigrants who milk most of the dairy cows, and he’s heard from restaurant groups that rely on immigrants to fill jobs.

“Can we just turn back the clock and have these all these people who came in here illegally, just be back home?” he asked.

“In terms of actually implementing that, it’s a lot tougher — particularly, in fact, when you realize a lot of these people, most of them, came here to seek opportunity, wanting freedom,” he said. “They’re working, supporting their family, contributing to organizations and community.”

Mass deportation group wants more

The Mass Deportation Coalition, a group of conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation and Erik Prince, founder of the security firm Blackwater, was formed recently to keep the administration on track.

It calls last year’s focus on removing violent criminal immigrants “phase one” and says “phase two” should focus this year on deporting immigrants beyond those with violent criminal histories.

Mark Morgan, who served as acting head of ICE and Customs and Border Protection during Trump’s first term and is part of the coalition, said that doesn’t mean roving patrols through Home Depot parking lots. It’s about strategic enforcement focused on immigrants at worksites, those who have overstayed visas and who a judge has already ordered removed, he said.

But they’re facing opposition from within the Republican Party, Morgan said, particularly from those who want to narrow deportation to mainly criminals and from business groups that want to ease up on worksite enforcement.

“The Republicans that are saying that their definition of targeted enforcement is only criminal, they’re wrong. They’re on the wrong side of this,” he said.

“That’s why you see some of the base that’s really becoming apoplectic because they’re like, ‘Wait a minute. You’re talking about only removing criminals now?’ That’s not what you promised,’” Morgan said.

What’s coming next

The deportation advocates as well as those working to protect the rights of immigrants see that the Trump administration’s best chance at reaching its goals is creating an environment so unwelcoming for immigrants that they just leave — what’s often called self-deportation.

Mehta, at the ACLU, expects the administration will step up efforts to end temporary permissions that allow immigrants to remain in the U.S. — particularly refugees and asylum-seekers — while their cases are making their way through the system. She called it a “deliberate attempt to make people undocumented — to take away lawful status — and then to be able to enforce against them.”

Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said he fears more nonviolent immigrants will be rounded up to fill the new warehouses being equipped as the Trump administration tries to reach its deportation goals.

That’s unacceptable, he said, and among “the key questions that Senator Mullin will have to answer at his confirmation hearing.”

NCP, one of the UK’s largest car park operators, has entered administration, placing 682 jobs in jeopardy.

The company, which manages approximately 340 sites nationwide, has struggled with declining occupancy and mounting losses since the Covid-19 pandemic.

PwC has been appointed as administrator for the business.

Despite the move, all NCP car parks will continue to operate as normal, and staff will remain employed while administrators assess the company’s options.

The firm’s financial difficulties stem from a significant post-pandemic drop in demand for parking, which has failed to rebound to pre-Covid levels.

This downturn has been particularly acute in city centre and commuter locations, attributed to shifts in commuting and consumer driving patterns, which have affected car park occupancy.

NCP also cited challenges posed by the high costs associated with long-term inflexible leases on sites that have become unprofitable.

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Some or all of NCP may be put up for sale as one of the options to secure its future.

Administrators said NCP will be assessing the viability of each location, and some sites may need to be closed as a result.

Zelf Hussain, joint administrator and partner for PwC, said: “NCP has faced a challenging trading environment over several years, with changing consumer behaviours impacting volumes, and a high fixed cost base leading to trading losses.

“Our priority on appointment is to ensure continuity of service while we undertake a detailed review of the business.

“All sites are open, staff remain in post, and trading continues as normal.

“We will be engaging with landlords, employees and other stakeholders as we explore all options, including the potential sale of all or part of the business, to secure the best possible outcome for creditors.”

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NCP was founded in London in 1931 and is owned by the Japanese firm Park24.

It operates about 340 car parks across the UK, including in major towns and city centres, airports, hospitals and train stations.

Prices differ at each site, but some central London locations can cost up to £60 for 24 hours of parking.

Latest accounts filed at Companies House show that it made a pre-tax loss of £28.2m in the year to 30 September 2023 and was £22.5m in the red the previous year.

Wales and Lions legend Graham Price gives his thoughts on the result and performance against Italy

This was a game that Wales needed to win in order to maintain our level of progress. The response to all the recent adversities mattered most.

Over the past few seasons, Welsh rugby has been through much turbulence because of coaching changes, young players being blooded earlier than expected, and a squad learning how to carry the weight of the red jersey again.

Against Italy, what we saw was a side beginning to understand exactly what that responsibility means.

Italy arrived with genuine confidence. Anyone who has watched them progress over the past couple of championships knows they are no longer the easy fixture they once were. Their attacking structure is sharp, their backs play with ambition and their forwards no longer take a backward step.

For significant periods of this match, they asked serious questions of Wales.

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But the difference, and it was a crucial one, lay in how Wales answered those questions. We have had a reputation for being slow starters, even during the times of our greatest success, but the Welsh pack set the tone early. There was a clear intent at the breakdown, where the contest was aggressive throughout. Wales targeted the Italian ball carriers, slowing possession and forcing the visitors to play from less comfortable positions.

It was not always pretty, but international rugby quite often isn’t when the stakes are high.

The scrum in particular offered encouragement. In recent years it has frequently been an area of concern, but on Saturday it provided the platform Wales needed. Stability up front allowed the half-backs to manage territory and apply pressure in the right areas of the field.

And pressure, as every forward knows, eventually produces mistakes.

What pleased Welsh supporters most was the composure when opportunities appeared. Too often in the past Wales have built pressure only to squander it through impatience or indiscipline.

The attack was not over ambitious, but it was effective. Direct carrying through the midfield created space wider out, and when the moment came Wales were ready to strike.

Yet there was also a sense throughout that Wales had another gear if they needed it.

Again, defensively, the organisation was impressive.

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One of the most encouraging aspects from a Welsh viewpoint was the contribution of the younger players. Welsh rugby has spent the last couple of years talking about transition, about building the next generation of internationals. Ellis Mee, Ben Carter, Eddie James, Dan Edwards and Alex Mann man have now arrived. Matches like this show why that process matters.

You could see the hunger in the way they chased kicks, fought for turnovers and carried into contact. International rugby is a brutal examination, and these players have had to learn what it demands quickly.

Of course, there are still areas Wales will want to sharpen up. We had difficulties in the lineout and there were phases where our attack became a little predictable. Against stronger opposition those details can become costly.

The key difference was composure. When chances appeared in the opposition 22, Wales were clinical enough to convert pressure into points.

That ability and the calmness to finish opportunities under pressure often separates winning teams from nearly teams.

But progress in Test rugby is rarely perfect.

What matters is the direction of travel. On this evidence Wales are moving in the right way. That is what we have achieved in this year’s tournament.

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Momentum in rugby is a funny thing, sometimes it begins with a single tackle or carry and suddenly the whole perspective of the match can change.

I believe that moment came when Aaron Wainwright scored his first try, or rather the manner in which he scored it so soon after the kick off. No one was going to stop him.

But, perhaps the most telling moment came late in the game when Italy mounted one final surge. The Welsh defence was stretched and momentum briefly swung towards the visitors.

In years gone by that might have been the point where doubts crept in and we started to lose our composure and discipline.

Instead, Wales held firm. The tackles were made, the ball was turned over, and the pressure released with a clearing kick that brought a roar from the stands that brought the house down.

It was the reaction that resulted from the appreciation of a team rediscovering its resilience.

Anyone who has experienced a full Principality Stadium during the Six Nations knows it becomes more than just a venue. It’s more like a force of nature.

When Wales began to string phases together and push Italy back, the noise lifted the team to another level.

This performance did not solve every challenge facing Welsh rugby. What this match demonstrated, however, is that the core values of the game in Wales – commitment, pride in wearing the national jersey, and a determination not to yield under pressure – remain intact.

Those are values that have long been associated with Welsh rugby, and it has often been highlighted how crucial they are to the national identity of the game.

Rugby in Wales has always been about more than results. It is about identity, the belief that when players pull on the red jersey they represent communities, history and expectation in equal measure.

In the long run, that foundation is what victories are built upon.

Welsh rugby has faced a period of uncertainty in recent years, and every performance has been judged against that backdrop.

Of course, there’s still work to be done. The attack, the set pieces and discipline will always be talking points. Against stronger sides later in the year, Wales will need to show even more progress.

But rugby seasons are rarely about perfection. They’re about building momentum, learning lessons and finding belief.

This victory over Italy felt like a step in that direction.

For Wales, the important thing wasn’t simply that they won it was how they grew into the contest, handled adversity and showed the kind of grit that supporters expect.

If that spirit continues through the rest of the year, Welsh fans might allow themselves a little optimism.

And in Welsh rugby, optimism can be a powerful thing indeed.

With Chelsea enjoying so much success after signing star players through secret payments, did they get off lightly?

If the club had not been so co-operative they faced a much tougher financial penalty and potentially a points deduction.

The starting point was the aggravating factors – length of time of the wrongdoing, the size of payments, that they were made with the knowledge of senior figures and the seriousness of the breaches.

The Premier League Board concluded Chelsea should be fined of £20m with a transfer ban for two complete and consecutive windows.

But there were mitigating factors to take into account.

BlueCo, which bought Chelsea out of Abramovich’s ownership, self-reported the breaches once it had looked through the club’s books.

Added to that, BlueCo made voluntary disclosures and showed “exceptional co-operation”.

This saw the fine halved to £10m and the two-window transfer ban suspended.

The suspension will be activated if they commit a similar breach in the next two years.

The Board also reserved the right to be able to trigger the suspension at any time in the future if the club makes intentionally untrue declarations.

Chelsea were, however, ordered to pay an unpaid transfer levy of £771,288 in connection to Willian and Eto’o. They were banned from signing academy players for nine months, too.

Importantly, there was no breach of profit and sustainability rules.

When the payments were added to Chelsea‘s accounts they were not in excess of the £105m, three-season spending limit.

If they had been then the prospect of a points deduction would have been real.

The Blues had already been fined 10m euros (£8.6m) by Uefa over the same offences.

And Chelsea still have to face a hearing over 74 Football Association charges, which is likely to be another hefty fine.

So this is not quite over yet.

Tickets for the upcoming Champions League final in Budapest will remain at last year’s prices, Uefa announced on Monday, as part of a more fan-centric approach that stands in stark contrast to the ticketing controversies surrounding the World Cup.

The European football governing body has outlined strict conditions for its resale platform, mandating that tickets must be sold at face value with no fees levied on the seller.

This policy directly challenges Fifa’s resale platform for World Cup tickets in the United States, which has been criticised for allowing unlimited resale prices and imposing a 15 per cent fee on both buyers and sellers, leading some to label it “official scalping.”

For supporters of the two competing clubs, thousands of the lowest-priced tickets, set at €70 (£60), will be available for the third consecutive year.

Tickets for disabled spectators are also priced at €70, with a complimentary ticket provided for a companion. Uefa confirmed that each finalist club will receive 17,200 tickets out of the 61,400 available for the 30 May match at Puskas Arena.

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An additional 4,600 tickets are being offered through a global lottery via Uefa’s website.

Successful applicants will be required to register their mobile phones, which must then be used to access the stadium on match day, as tickets will be non-transferable. Access to purchase resale tickets will be exclusively granted to fans who were unsuccessful in the initial lottery.

Higher category seats, which saw a price increase for last year’s final in Munich, will also maintain their current rates for Budapest, set at €180 (£156), €650 (£562), and €950 (£821).

Over 22,000 tickets are reserved by Uefa for broadcasters, sponsors, national football federations, and other guests.

Uefa’s ticketing policies for its club finals and major tournaments are developed in consultation with Football Supporters Europe, a recognised fans’ group, a practice not adopted by Fifa for World Cup pricing.

Fifa did respond to widespread criticism in December by making a limited number of $60 seats available for each of the 104 matches across the US, Canada and Mexico, to be distributed by national federations to loyal fans.

But the Prime Minister, who has so far resisted the US president’s demands, said: “We’re working with all of our allies, including our European partners, to bring together a viable collective plan that can restore freedom of navigation in the region as quickly as possible and ease the economic impacts.”