A protester outside the High Court, central London, where Dame Victoria Sharp, Mr Justice Swift and Mrs Justice Steyn have ruled in favour of Palestine Action’s co-founder Huda Ammori’s challenge over the ban of the organisation as a terror group (Jonathan Brady/PA)

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Your elected representatives agreed an increase on a majority vote

Belfast Council has agreed to raise its rates by 4.48 percent for the coming tax year, above the rate of inflation.

At the February full monthly meeting of Belfast City Council, held on Monday (February 3), elected representatives on a majority vote agreed an increase in the district rate of 4.48 per cent for 2026/27. As of December 2025, the UK annual inflation rate, measured by the Consumer Prices Index, was 3.4 percent.

It means there will be a non-domestic rate of 34.2388 percent and a domestic rate of 0.4492 percent, and that the amount raised through the tax rise in 2026/27 will result in an extra £220,388,739 going to the council. Last year the council agreed to an increase in the district rate of 5.99 per cent.

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Domestic rates are made up of a regional rate, set by Stormont or the Northern Ireland Office, and a district rate, set by Northern Ireland’s councils, with both parts of the rate funding the respective responsibilities of Stormont and local government.

The district rate is for home and business owners, and pays for multiple public services, including waste management leisure/community centres, parks, building control, environmental health, events and recreation, arts and tourism.

A proposal at the special City Hall meeting by the Alliance Party to raise the rates by the lower amount of 4.25 percent failed, with 13 elected representatives in support, 37 against, and 4 abstaining. A People Before Profit proposal not to raise the rates at all did not receive a seconder, and could not therefore go to the floor for a vote.

Belfast is one of only four out of Northern Ireland’s 11 councils to have raised rates above the UK level of inflation this year. Ards and North Down had the highest rate of 4.74 percent, while Fermanagh and Omagh saw the lowest increase at 1.96 percent.

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It was only a generation ago that Nintendo was faced with abject failure, but a reader is adamant that the Wii U had a good selection of quality game exclusives.

I’ve said this loads, so I apologise again if you’ve heard it before, but I’m a massive Nintendo fan since the NES days.

Back in 2013 I came into a bit of money.

I could afford the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the Wii U all at the same time and still have change.

Fortunately for me I have no fear of missing out, so I bought a Wii U and went with the quality of their games to carry me through my game-playing years to come, I wasn’t disappointed.

For context, I’ve just been given a PlayStation 4 a couple of months ago from my brother-in-law and I’m catching up on all the games I missed. What a console that was, I love it, but I digress, this is about the Wii U.

If truth be told, the quality of a console can only be judged by the quality of its games.

The Wii U had a plethora of games to choose from.

I remember going into work one morning and a colleague told me that ‘all the talk was about Nintendo giving up on the Wii U and bringing out another console to compete’… my previous paragraph contradicting this of course.

If I was completely honest, I had been playing Splatoon the night before online for free and I was still buzzing, so his words meant nothing to me.

It’s hard to know where to start?

Then we had Nintendo Land. Anyone who’s played the ghost level on that will agree that no one on any other console can play that. Even if you had a Switch, it ain’t possible.

For me personally, Splatoon was better on the Wii U due to the map on your screen held in your hands. You could transport to anywhere on the map. I think they perfected that right from the off and everything was slightly downhill from there on in.

Super Mario Maker was also perfect for Wii U, using the stylus to generate levels. Apparently someone from the head office from Nintendo checked my level out. I’m not quite what they are looking for but I will take them looking at me as a complement.

Us Wii U owners where really not starving for games, we had enough to chew on despite outside interference saying we were missing out.

Then there were remakes of Zelda: The Wind Waker (that game does not get enough credit) and Zelda: Twilight Princess to keep us Wii U owners buying money for old rope.

Let’s not forget about Zelda: Breath Of The Wild that runs perfectly on a Wii U.

Talking about money for old rope?

Half of the Nintendo Switch sales are money for old rope.

A lot of Nintendo Switch’s games where regurgitated Wii U titles and I have no problem with that, but it is money for old rope. I’m not clever enough to point out the marketing side of things but they did a great job.

The Wii U may not have sold a lot of consoles but if you judge it by its games catalogue It could definitely punch above it’s supposed weight.

By reader freeway 77

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

You can submit your own 500 to 600-word reader feature at any time, which if used will be published in the next appropriate weekend slot.

Just contact us at gamecentral@metro.co.uk or use our Submit Stuff page and you won’t need to send an email.

MORE: Why did Sony and Valve fall out of love with making video games? – Reader’s Feature

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The luxury homeware company has stores across the country and is known for selling quality bedding, towels, clothing, candles and more.

Fans of the brand don’t have long to wait until the third store in Manchester opens – here’s what we know.

The White Company to open new store at The Trafford Centre in March 2026

The new store is set to open this spring, and it’s one of two coming to the north in this expansion.

Shoppers can look forward to the new store opening in The Trafford Centre on Friday, March 20.

The White Company to open 4 new UK stores in 2026

These are all the confirmed stores opening in the UK soon:

• Northallerton – Monday, February 23
• Trafford Centre – Friday, March 20
• Lakeside – Wednesday, March 25
• Horsham – April (exact date to be confirmed)

The news of the opening at The Trafford Centre comes following an announcement from luxury fashion brand LK Bennett, which confirmed it would be entering administration.

The company currently operates a concession at John Lewis in the Trafford Centre, alongside nine standalone stores and 13 concessions across the UK and Ireland.

Recommended reading:

Shoppers in Trafford and across Greater Manchester will still be able to visit the John Lewis concession in the short term, but it is expected to close permanently once the administration trading period ends.

Back in August 2025, The Trafford Centre opened the first standalone Primark Home store at Trafford Palazzo.

What’s your favourite shop in The Trafford Centre? Let us know in the comments below.

The government’s ability to deal with drones that pose a threat on American soil has been questioned this week after the use of a laser designed to shoot down drones near the border in Texas led to the abrupt closure of the airspace over El Paso, sources familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The details of exactly what happened before the Federal Aviation Administration shut down the busy airport in the Mexican border city on Wednesday aren’t entirely clear, but a source familiar with the situation told AP that the laser was deployed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection without coordinating with the FAA.

Two months ago, Congress agreed to give more law enforcement agencies the authority to take down rogue drones as long as they are properly trained. That could make situations like the one in El Paso more likely. Previously, only a select few federal agencies had that power.

Here’s a look at what happened and the issues that raised:

Communication issues acknowledged

The government would say only that the airspace was shut down when an incursion by Mexican drug cartel drones was neutralized.

But the two people who discussed sensitive details on condition of anonymity said the FAA grounded every aircraft in the El Paso area over concerns about the safety of the laser system being used near commercial planes. The restrictions were initially expected to last 10 days, but then they were lifted a few hours later.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday that the government agencies involved in El Paso are working to address the concerns that led to the cancellation of more than a dozen flights and sent travelers scrambling.

“This was a joint agency task force mission that was undertaken and we’re continuing to work on the communication through that,” Noem said in Arizona.

But drone warfare expert Brett Velicovich said the dysfunction in Texas raises questions about whether the U.S. will be prepared to deal with a significant drone threat.

“We need to simplify the authorities for who is really in charge and get these egos out of the way from these different agencies before an American gets hurt,” said Velicovich, who founded drone maker Power.us and consults on ways to mitigate their threats.

Drones can be a threat

Armed drones carry out devastating attacks daily in Ukraine. The unmanned vehicles have also allowed Ukraine to strike deep within Russia.

Velicovich, who used to use Predator drones in the military to bomb targets, said it wouldn’t be hard for someone with malicious intent to buy a drone for a few hundred bucks and do great harm at a major public event like a World Cup match or the celebrations of America’s 250th birthday that are planned this summer.

Cartels routinely use drones to deliver drugs across the Mexican border and surveil Border Patrol officers. Officials told Congress last summer that more than 27,000 drones were detected within 1,600 feet (500 meters) of the southern border in the last six months of 2024.

The government recently handed out $250 million in grants to the 11 states that are set to host World Cup matches this summer to help them prepare for the threat of drones. Another $250 million in grants will be awarded later this year to strengthen the nation’s drone defenses.

More near misses involving drones

The threat to planes from drones continues to increase along with the number of near misses around airports. Homeland Security estimates there are more than 1.7 million registered drones flying in the United States, and that number has been growing.

Larger drones are required to carry a radio transponder that identifies the drone’s owner and broadcasts its position to help avert collisions. Cities can also invest in additional sensors around stadiums to help quickly detect drones.

Airspace Link, a Detroit company, created a low altitude air traffic control system to track drones and can alert authorities who might soon be able to take action. Cities can buy additional sensors to upgrade that system around stadiums or other high-profile locations.

“We don’t want something to happen,” said CEO Michael Healander. “But we also want to be prepared to have the tools in place to take action, because these are such big global events.”

Acting against rogue drones

Common anti-drone systems use radio signals to jam or force drones to land. But the government has also developed high-powered microwaves or laser beams like the one sources say was used in Texas this week that are capable of disabling the machines.

Some other systems station small drones to take flight quickly and ram into drones that are considered a threat. And there are systems that use bullets to shoot down drones.

Michael Robbins, president and CEO of the Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International trade group, said these counter drone systems are more common in warzones than across the United States. But the government is working to get them into the hands of more officers nationwide.

“It’s our belief that this is important technology that when responsibly used with proper oversight and intensive training will help to mitigate unsafe or malicious drones in the very rare instances where that needs to occur,” Robbins said.

Pilots worry about drones

Allied Pilots Association union spokesman Capt. Dennis Tajer said he’s not sure how big of a threat the counter drone technology is to the American Airlines jets he flies because so few details have been released about what happened in Texas. And officials with Homeland Security and the FAA didn’t respond to questions about it again on Friday.

Tajer said he’s more concerned about the possibility of a passenger jet running into a drone because that could bring the plane down. A year ago, 67 people were killed when an American Airlines jet collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C.

“You don’t have to be a pilot, an engineer or a defense expert to understand that two pieces of metal in the sky that one doesn’t know the other is there and is uncontrolled is dangerous,” Tajer said. “We’ve got to keep those two pieces of metal away from each other.”

____

Associated Press writer Josh Kelety contributed from Scottsdale, Arizona.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Caribbean Sea.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” It said the strike killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames.

Friday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to 133 people in at least 38 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth declared last week that “some top cartel drug-traffickers” in the region “have decided to cease all narcotics operations INDEFINITELY due to recent (highly effective) kinetic strikes in the Caribbean.” However, Hegseth did not provide any details or information to back up this claim, made in a post on his personal account on social media.

President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”

Richard Caulkin, 44, and Wendy Caulkin, 46, have both had their lives saved by organ transplants. Wendy received a new heart in 2011 while Richard had a double lung transplant in 2009. The couple are urging people to join the organ donor register. Wendy needs a new kidney as her have failed as a side-effect of the drugs needed to protect her new heart (NHSBT/PA)

Sir Keir Starmer will accuse parties like Reform UK and the Greens of being “soft on Russia”, “weak on NATO” and more likely to leave the nation divided and defeated.

The prime minister will further risk the wrath of Nigel Farage and his Brexiteers by saying that the UK is no longer the “Britain of the Brexit years” in a call for European unity to defend the continent from Russian aggression as the US steps back.

The comments will be delivered in a speech to global leaders at a security summit in Munich on Saturday.

However, despite the strong language, he is not expected to announce any plans to speed up a pledge to increase core defence spending from just over 2.3% to 3.5% of GDP by 2035.

Military officers privately concede this near-decade-long timeline, despite being agreed by all NATO allies, is far too slow and unambitious, given the scale of the threat posed by Russia and the need for the European side of the transatlantic alliance to do much more to defend itself as Donald Trump moves US assets away from the continent to focus on other priorities.

In an extraordinary attack on Reform UK and the Green Party, Sir Keir underlined the need to explain to the public why it is important to invest in rebuilding Britain’s defences.

“Because, if we don’t, the peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right are ready. They will offer their solutions instead,” he will say, according to excerpts from the speech released in advance.

“It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia and weak on NATO – if not outright opposed.

“And determined to sacrifice the longstanding relationships that we want and need to build, on the altar of their ideology.

“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen.”

A spokesperson for Reform UK fought back in a statement: “This is a speech from a weak prime minister on the verge of being hounded out of office by his own party. This is a man that refuses to find the money to increase defence spending and is making our country weaker and less secure.

“Reform UK believes our priority should be rebuilding our armed forces, properly funding defence to at least 3.5% of GDP, standing up to China and Russia and strengthening our bilateral relationships.”

Read more from Sky News:
Doctors speaking out against Iran
The schism between Trump and Israel
Mandelson asked to testify in US

The Starmer government is looking to forge closer relations with European Union allies in procuring military equipment, such as missiles, warplanes and drones – a strengthening of ties that were badly strained after the UK voted to leave the bloc a decade ago.

“We are not the Britain of the Brexit years anymore,” the prime minister is expected to say.

“Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward – we would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen.

“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too.”

The comments triggered an instant backlash from the Conservatives.

Dame Priti Patel, the shadow foreign secretary, said: “Keir Starmer has a habit of handing away sovereignty and now he is once again rolling the pitch for greater EU integration and less control for the UK.

“Britain is uniquely placed to help bring the US and Europe together, ensuring NATO is as strong as possible. We must not be overdependent on America, but neither should we offer Europe a blank cheque, prepared to accept any and all costs as Labour are.”

In what has become the biggest public annual gathering on European security, the three-day Munich Security Conference is also bringing together Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, as well as leaders of European allies such as Germany and France, plus delegates from across the world, including China’s foreign minister.

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian president, is also present and is due to give his speech to the conference as well on Saturday, with efforts still under way, led by the US, to secure a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow even as Russia’s full-scale war is about to enter its fifth year.

Mindful of the need to keep Washington close, Sir Keir is expected to say that the US remains an indispensable ally – but that the UK and Europe need to be able to operate militarily with more independence.

“I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full, and remakes the ties that have served us so well,” he is expected to say.

A wine lover has shared her tip for getting ‘quality’ bottles of wine for under £6 each away from supermarkets

I hold three wine qualifications, so getting the right bottle is important to me. I often find myself visiting my local supermarket ASDA to pick one up, but, sometimes, I find myself wanting more of a superior range.

There are certain wines on the supermarket shelves that are nice enough, but when I’m paying over £10 a bottle, I feel like I’d likely discover both improved value and quality elsewhere. I’d heard excellent things about Naked Wines, and was fortunate enough to test their wine advent calendar years ago, but I’d never actually tried a case before.

That is until last week. I browsed through the range of cases that were on offer and whilst I do enjoy a smooth red and crisp white, I didn’t select that box. Instead I compared the wines inside with the Adventurer’s Mixed Selection Case and decided it was worth the risk.

How Naked Wines operates is subscribers pay £25 a month in credit they can spend on their choice of wine – with options to use their experts to pick for them if desired. However, new subscribers can secure a £144.99 case for £69.99 by claiming a voucher, which reduces the price to £5.83 a bottle – significantly cheaper than the supermarket for inferior quality wine, reports the Mirror.

This is because Naked Wines eliminates the middle-person to deliver wine directly to the consumer from the winemakers. Now, it only arrived last week and turned up at my door in time for the weekend.

£75 off Naked Wines

£144.99

£69.99

Naked Wines

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New Customers can bag £75 off their first order

Three days afterwards, the wines listed as included in the box on the website have altered, with the Tempranillo rosé and Pinot Grigio I brought to my book club switched out.

I’m delighted that the wines change regularly – for those wanting to sample new wines, it appears to be a reliable wager that there will constantly be a variety available in the cases. However, Angels – the name of subscribers to Naked Wines – can rate their wines and add them to future orders as long as they’re still available, so there’s still a chance to get preferred wines back.

There is also a complimentary bottle of wine whenever they order a case of 12. As long as someone has the storage capacity for the wine I think this is a brilliant way to do it, I can see 12 bottles lasting me months.

I went through two of the bottles at the weekend with my book club and I’m eyeing up the pinotage for a lovely dinner when my best friend comes to visit.

I’m pleased that on the back of the bottles there’s a QR code that leads to a more comprehensive description of what’s in the bottle. There’s also a concise description of the wine and a guide for what food it’s best paired with.

This makes it considerably easier to grab a bottle after dinner is already served or to even plan a meal around the bottle. The bottles I’ve sampled so far were delightful.

I chose a bottle of white and a bottle of rosé that we enjoyed between mouthfuls of hummus and tortilla chips as we delved into the finer details of our latest read. The wine was such a success that my aunt even enquired where she could purchase it.

The Tempranillo rosé is a fresh and ‘ready to party’ rosé which absolutely hit the spot. It boasts typical notes of strawberries, cherries and a hint of grapefruit.

Although it can be paired with fish, vegetables and spicy food, we decided against matching it with a hot meal and instead savoured it as we chatted.

The Giano Pinot Grigio DOC was incredibly easy to drink. With hints of peach and green apple alongside a zesty lemon note, it complemented the hummus well but would pair even better with a light pasta dish. These are by no means the most complex wines I’ve ever experienced (that accolade belongs to some very old bottles of reds that I actually don’t wish to drink again) but they are so effortless to drink.

It’s crucial to always remember to drink responsibly, but I think with a good bottle of wine that can be appreciated, that’s simple to do.

I have sampled and enjoyed other wine subscription services, with Virgin Wines (which has cases beginning at £122.88) actually introducing me to some of my favourites like Gruner Veltliner and Good Pair Days notably having incredible wine accessories that are ideal for a picnic or when hosting guests. The prices are quite comparable.

One thing’s for certain, I definitely see the advantages in purchasing wine online rather than winging it in the supermarket. The quality is massively superior.