NewsBeat
How do you take care of an elderly polar bear?
RZSSVictoria is the oldest of four polar bears kept at the Highland Wildlife Park in the Cairngorms National Park.
At the grand old age of 28 her keepers say she has reached the stage in her life when she needs geriatric care.
Rebecca Amos, one of the park’s vets, says a special diet and some exercise will be key to looking after Victoria in her dotage.
RZSSVictoria, born in 1996 at Rostock Zoo in Germany, arrived at the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland’s (RZSS) Highland Wildlife Park in March 2015.
Three years later she was a media star after giving birth to Hamish – the first polar bear cub to be born in the UK in 25 years.
Visitor numbers to the park soared and its gift shop was stuffed with Hamish cuddly toys and postcards and cards featuring him and his mum.
Hamish was moved to Doncaster’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park in 2020 and shares a 10-acre enclosure with five other male bears – Nobby, Luka, Indiana, Yuma and Sisu.
Victoria gave birth to another male cub – Brodie – in December 2021.
They continue to share an enclosure, but recently keepers noticed she was struggling to keep up with Brodie, who is now three.
He is Victoria’s last cub and she is no longer part of RZSS breeding programme.
The park’s two other bears are males Arktos, 17, and 16-year-old Walker.
They are middle aged in bear terms.
Polar bears can live into their early 30s, but an average of 15 to 18 years in the wild.
Rebecca says there is an effort at RZSS to prioritise later life care of its animals.
She says the bears already benefited from being kept in grassy enclosures, which have ponds for swimming in.
“The bears are on a pretty good substrate (surface),” she says.
“They don’t spend any time on concrete or tiled surfaces.
“Ultimately, if you were to spend 30 years on that – particularly for the boys who weigh 700 to 800 kilos – it takes a toll on even the best designed joints.
“Joint care is something we are looking at for the bears.”
RZSS
RZSSDiet is another way the park is trying to keep Victoria, Arktos and Walker’s joints supple.
Rebecca says: “In the wild they eat seals.
“We cannot feed them seals, but we do try to emulate that the best we can so it’s a very high fat diet.
“They get huge volumes of cod liver oil, lard, salmon oil and get oily fish like sardines, mackerel and salmon.”
To help keep Victoria mobile, food is often scattered around her enclosure to encourage her to forage.
Rebecca says: “We are very fortunate we have such a huge amount of space and the enclosures are very large and they (the bears) tend to use all the space.”
RZSSRZSS has drawn on the experiences of other zoos and studies of polar bear skeletal remains to help understand wear and tear on the animals’ bodies.
Healthcare provided to domestic cats and dogs has also helped guide the care of Victoria.
And the Highland Wildlife Park has had an elderly polar bear before.
Mercedes died at the park in April 2011 at the age of 30.
Police officers hunting the killer of a senior banking executive who was found dead in her south-east London home are investigating whether the suspect may have fled abroad.
Marianne Kilonzi was found fatally beaten in her flat in Woolwich on Friday evening, the Met Police said.
A post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as blunt-force trauma and a head injury.
The 43-year-old, who was a vice president at the major financial institution Citibank, is believed to have known her attacker, the force said, adding that whether the suspect had fled abroad was one line of inquiry.
Officers had been called to Ms Kilonzi’s flat following reports of concerns for her welfare.
On Tuesday, Det Ch Insp Soren, who is leading the murder investigation, said: “We believe the suspect was known to Marianne and there is no wider risk to the public.
“This is a tragic crime and our thoughts at this incredibly difficult time are with Marianne’s loved ones and colleagues.”
In a statement, a Citibank spokesperson said: “We are deeply saddened by the tragic loss of our colleague.
“Our thoughts are with Marianne’s family and friends during this difficult time.”
NewsBeat
Plans for two types of ID to buy knives online after Southport attacker bought weapon from Amazon | Politics News
People buying knives online will be asked for two types of identification as the government plans to prevent underage sales following the murder of three girls in Southport.
Axel Rudakubana, who admitted this week to killing the young girls last summer, bought the knife he killed them with from Amazon when he was 17, despite it being illegal to sell knives to under-18s.
Rudakubana, who also admitted 10 counts of attempted murder, had been referred to the anti-terror programme Prevent three times.
Politics latest: New powers needed to tackle knife crime, says minister
The government is proposing buyers will be asked to record a live video and submit an identity document, such as a passport, to prove their age.
Currently, when someone orders knives on Amazon they have to enter their date of birth and are told: “Valid photographic ID with a date of birth may also be required upon delivery.
“The driver will input your year of birth into their device and may then require an ID check to complete the age verification process.”
Amazon said it takes its “responsibility around the sale of all age-restricted items – including bladed products – extremely seriously” and has launched an investigation following the Southport attack.
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‘Southport must be a line in the sand,’ the PM says
A review of online knife sales by Commander Stephen Clayman, the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s lead for knife crime, has suggested stronger ID checks.
Commander Clayman was due to report at the end of this month, but the plans are now being brought forward after questions were raised about how easy it was for Rudakubana to buy a knife.
Read more:
Starmer says terrorism has changed and UK faces new threat
Family of Southport attacker ‘moved to secret location’
How Southport is trying to make sense of horror
Elsie Dot Stancombe, Alice da Silva Aguiar and Bebe King were killed by Rudakubana. Pic: Merseyside Police
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced an inquiry into the Southport attack on Monday, hours after Rudakubana’s unexpected guilty plea.
Minister Alison McGovern told Sky News’ Breakfast with Kay Burley: “I hope the inquiry can be as quick as possible.
“I don’t want to prejudge what the person, independently of government doing the inquiry might say, but I want it to be as quick as humanly possible.”
The home secretary said it was a “total disgrace” Rudakubana had been “easily able to order a knife on Amazon”.
Labour won the summer’s election, just before the Southport attack, with a manifesto pledge to halve serious violence, including knife crime, over the next decade.
In September, zombie-style knives and machetes were added to the list of banned weapons and the government launched the Coalition to Tackle Knife Crime to bring together campaign groups, families of victims, young people impacted and community leaders.
New sanctions have also been announced for executives at tech companies that fail to halt illegal knife sales on their platforms.
Knife crime in areas of England has soared over the past five years, with the City of London seeing a 72.73% rise up to June 2024, Northumbria having a 46.2% increase and Avon and Somerset having a 25.56% rise, according to government statistics.
Between 2022 and 2024 knife crime surged by 307% in London.
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Sir Keir Starmer promised urgent action to prevent under-18s buying knives online, saying it was “shockingly easy” for killers such as Southport murderer Axel Rudakubana to get their hands on weapons.
Rudakubana used a knife bought from Amazon to kill three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in Southport, Merseyside, in July.
The Government has promised new laws, which could see retailers forced to ask anyone buying a knife for two types of identification.
At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “It is unacceptable that these murder weapons could be bought with two clicks. Technology is there to stop it, and we’re going to take action.”
He told MPs: “The senseless, barbaric murder of three young girls in Southport was devastating.
“A measure of justice has been done, but for the victims, the injured and the affected, we must see a fundamental change in how Britain protects its citizens and its children.”
He promised that the public inquiry announced by the Government “will not let any institution deflect from their failings” in the case.
Under the shake-up of online knife sale laws, buyers could be asked to submit an official identity document, such as a passport or driving licence, and also record a live video to prove their age.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper told MPs it is “a total disgrace” that Rudakubana, then 17 and with a history of violence, was able to buy a weapon online, and promised new measures in the Crime and Policing Bill this spring.
Writing in The Sun, Sir Keir said: “It remains shockingly easy for our children to get their hands on deadly knives. The lessons of this case could not be clearer.
“Time and again, as a child, the Southport murderer carried knives. Time and again, he showed clear intent to use them.
“And yet, tragically, he was still able to order the murder weapon off of the internet without any checks or barriers.”
The need for action on knife crime has been further illustrated after a 12-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Birmingham on Tuesday.
A 14-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of murder after the youngster was found with serious injuries near Scribers Lane in Hall Green shortly after 3pm on Tuesday.
Commander Stephen Clayman, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, is leading a review of online knife sales and had been due to report at the end of this month, but the plans are now being brought forward.
The forthcoming Crime and Policing Bill is also set to introduce new sanctions for senior tech executives whose companies fail to operate within the law on knife sales.
The current law states that retailers must verify the age of the customer before selling a knife and, for those bought online, at the point of collection or delivery.
An Amazon spokesman said: “We take our responsibility around the sale of all age-restricted items – including bladed products – extremely seriously and have launched an urgent investigation in relation to this tragic case.
“We use trusted ID verification services to check name, date of birth and address details whenever an order is placed for these bladed items.
“We have an age-verification-on-delivery process that requires drivers to verify the recipient’s age through an app on their devices before handing over a parcel containing an age-restricted item.”
BBC News, Manchester
GMPPolice have called off a criminal investigation into the disappearance of British teenager Alex Batty, who returned to the UK in 2024 after going missing for six years.
The boy from Oldham vanished in 2017 aged 11 after going on holiday with his mother and grandfather, before he was found in France in 2023.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said a probe into child abduction had been dropped as his family did not support it and there was “no realistic chance of prosecution”.
Det Supt Matt Walker said: “The right thing to do is bring closure to this chapter of Alex and his family’s lives, particularly as this is the outcome they wished for.”
Alex was discovered in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western France close to the city of Toulouse on 13 December 2023, after he was last seen in the port of Malaga six years earlier.
The teenager said he, his mother and grandfather, Melanie and David Batty, who were not his legal guardians, had lived a “nomadic lifestyle”, after staying in communes and caravans in the area.
Alex returned to live with his grandmother in Oldham shortly after he was discovered.
‘Safe and reintegrated’
But the probe has now been dropped by police, who found after consulting with lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service and National Crime Agency that there was no realistic chance of prosecution.
Det Supt Walker said the force felt it important to “properly and thoroughly” investigate the disappearance and had “explored all possible lines of enquiry”.
He said Alex’s safety had been “at the forefront” of the investigation.
“Alex is now an adult, safe, and reintegrated with life back in Greater Manchester surrounded by those who love him, which ultimately is the priority.”
Politics
The scandalous climate bill that will give Labour UNCHALLENGED power to pursue net zero that’s going under the radar
The shocking details of a bill giving the government unprecedented power to pursue net zero and other eco-goals have been revealed.
The ‘Climate and Nature Bill’, which will have its second reading on Friday, will legally bind the UK government and the Secretary of State for Energy to achieving net zero and a slew of other green targets described by some as ‘national self-harm’.
The legislation, which is being led by Lib Dem MP Roz Savage, will give Labour legal cover to rigorously pursue climate targets.
Critics say it has the potential to erode personal freedoms under the guise of addressing climate crises and could devastate rural economies, enforce invasive carbon tracking and strip property rights from rural folk.
The legislation states ‘the Secretary of State must achieve the following objectives’, which include reducing greenhouse gas emissions to net zero, taking responsibility for ‘offshored’ emissions via exports and imports, and preventing the world from warming by 1.5 degrees.
It also states the Secretary of State must ‘ensure the end of the exploration, extraction, export and import of fossil fuels by the United Kingdom as rapidly as possible,’ inviting concerns the UK may harm its energy security in pursuit of green credentials.
Other objectives include ‘fulfilling the Paris Climate agreement,’ ‘halting and reversing the degradation and loss of nature in the United Kingdom and overseas’ and ensuring ‘nature is visibly and measurably on the path of recovery.’
Critics have argued the government could use the bill as legal cover to seize farmers’ land for rewilding projects, harming the UK’s food security and destroying rural economies.
Roz Savage, Lib Dem MP and leader of the Climate and Nature Bill
HoC Official Portrait
It could also provide legal cover for land requisitions for vast solar panel farms, scores of wind turbines and other green energy producing infrastructure across Britain’s countryside.
Sceptics also highlight the potential skyrocketing of energy prices as the UK government is legally required to move away from fossil fuels to expensive green energy.
Hikes to energy prices, which have already happened under Labour, would tip many businesses and families struggling with the cost of living over the edge.
This could also make travel prohibitively expensive, something Labour have been accused of eyeing to encourage people into electric cars.
Critics have also warned how the legislation could weaken the UK internationally, making us dependent on foreign imports from countries like China.
It comes after Donald Trump promised to scale up the US’s fossil fuels industry, telling the world America was going to ‘drill, baby, drill’, a move that has buoyed the energy industry in the US.
The bill has split opinion, receiving widespread support from MPs, faith leaders, businesses, seventeen union leaders and eco cheerleaders Dale Vince and Chris Packham.
GB News’ Bev Turner has taken a dim view of the legislation, however.
– YouTube
The proposed legislation will also require itself to have a ‘positive impact’ on ‘local communities with a high deprivation’, ‘young people’ and ‘people with protected characteristics’ like religion, race, transgender status and age.
OBJECTIVES IN FULL
As laid out by Zero Hour, the campaign for the Climate and Nature Bill, the bill’s objectives include:
- Limit the UK’s total CO2 emissions to no more than its proportionate share of the IPCC’s remaining global carbon budget, for a 67% chance of limiting heating to 1.5°C.
- Reduce CO2 emissions caused in the manufacture of the goods we import, in line with UK territorial emissions.
- Reduce the UK’s emissions of methane and other greenhouse gases, at rates consistent with the last chance of limiting global heating to 1.5°C.
- Ensure the end of the exploration, extraction, export and import of fossil fuels by the UK as rapidly as possible.
- Ensure that steps taken to mitigate emissions minimise damage to ecosystems, food and water availability, and human health, as far as possible.
- Restore and expand natural ecosystems, and enhance the management of cultivated ecosystems, to protect and enhance biodiversity.
- Include the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy so that any development or activity that threatens nature uses this framework to prioritise the protection of nature.
- Address the UK’s entire ecological footprint at home and overseas by accounting for and monitoring the impacts on human health and the destruction of nature; through the production and consumption of goods and services and all relate
The bill was supported by some big names when it was first introduced in March 2024 such as Caroline Lucas (former Green Party leader), Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat leader) and Colum Eastwood (Leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party).
Roz Savage has been approached for comment.
A Welsh national park has insisted its second homes policy is not “discriminatory” to English people.
NewsBeat
Kyle Clifford admits murdering BBC commentator’s wife and their two daughters in Bushey crossbow attack
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A man who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and her sister with a crossbow before stabbing their mother to death has pleaded guilty to their murders – but denied raping his former partner.
Kyle Clifford, 26, tied his ex-girlfriend Louise Hunt’s arms and ankles with duct tape and shot the 25-year-old through the chest with a crossbow bolt at the family home in the quiet cul-de-sac of Ashlyn Close in Bushey, Hertfordshire, in July.
Ms Hunt’s 61-year-old mother Carol Hunt, the wife of BBC commentator John Hunt, sustained significant stab wounds to her knee, hands, back and torso following the attack by Clifford with a 10-inch butcher’s knife.
Hannah Hunt, 28, was found in the main doorway of the house with a crossbow bolt to the chest and was still alive when police arrived at the property at around 7.10pm on 9 July.
Police had been called by Hannah Hunt, who told officers she feared she was going to die as she had been shot and her sister and mother had also been attacked.
Clifford, who served in the military from 2019 for around three years, became the subject of a manhunt for a number of hours before he was found injured in Lavender Hill Cemetery in Enfield, north London, after shooting himself in the chest with the crossbow.
Appearing via video link at Cambridge Crown Court on Wednesday, Clifford pleaded guilty to three counts of murder, one of false imprisonment against Louise Hunt, and two counts of possession of offensive weapons – the crossbow and the knife.
He pleaded not guilty to a charge of raping Louise Hunt.
Following the attacks, the Home Office said home secretary Yvette Cooper was urgently considering whether tougher crossbow laws were needed. Although in the King’s Speech, which took place just days after the killings, there was no proposal to take action on crossbows. It is understood the review is ongoing and no decisions have yet been made but the findings could be published soon.
The previous government looked at bringing in firearms licensing-style rules in the wake of an attempt to kill the late Queen with a crossbow.
There is currently no registration system for owning a crossbow, no requirement for a licence and they appear to be readily available to buy online. But it is illegal for anyone under 18 to buy or own one, with anyone carrying a crossbow in public without a reasonable excuse facing up to four years behind bars.
Mr Hunt and his third daughter Amy previously issued a statement following the incident, which said: “The devastation we are experiencing cannot be put into words.”
Clifford, of Rendlesham Road, Enfield, north London, is set to face a weeklong trial for the charge of rape at the same court later this year.
One of the people who served jail time for taking part in the US Capitol riot four years ago has refused a pardon from President Donald Trump, saying: “We were wrong that day.”
Pamela Hemphill, who pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 60 days in prison, told the BBC that there should be no pardons for the riot on 6 January 2021.
“Accepting a pardon would only insult the Capitol police officers, rule of law and, of course, our nation,” she said.
“I pleaded guilty because I was guilty, and accepting a pardon also would serve to contribute to their gaslighting and false narrative.”
Hemphill, who was nicknamed the “Maga granny” by social media users – in reference to Trump’s “make America great again” slogan – said she saw the Trump government as trying to “rewrite history and I don’t want to be part of that”.
“We were wrong that day, we broke the law – there should be no pardons,” she told the BBC World Service’s Newsday programme.
Trump’s decision to pardon or commute the sentences of nearly 1,600 people involved in the attempt to violently overturn the 2020 election came just hours into his presidency.
In a news conference on Tuesday at the White House, he said: “These people have already served years in prison, and they’ve served them viciously.
“It’s a disgusting prison. It’s been horrible. It’s inhumane. It’s been a terrible, terrible thing.”
However, the move has drawn an uneasy reaction from some Republican politicians.
Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina, said he “just can’t agree” with the move, adding that it “raises legitimate safety issues on Capitol Hill”.
Another Republican US senator, James Lankford from Oklahoma, told CNN: “I think we need to continue to say we are a party of law and order.”
He added: “I think if you attack a police officer, that’s a very serious issue and they should pay a price for that.”
Also among those pardoned was one of the riot’s most recognisable figures, Jacob Chansley, the self-styled QAnon Shaman, who was released from jail in 2023 after serving 27 months of his 41-month jail sentence.
He told the BBC that he heard the news from his lawyer while he was at the gym.
He added: “I walked outside and I screamed ‘freedom’ at the top of my lungs and then gave a good Native American war cry.”
A court has ruled that five elephants being held in a Colorado zoo do not have the legal right to pursue their release, because they are not human.
NewsBeat
‘Danger to life’: Amber weather warning issued for parts of UK as Storm Eowyn approaches | UK News
An amber wind alert has been issued for parts of the UK on Friday, with the Met Office warning there could be “a danger to life” due to flying debris.
Parts of northern England and Scotland are expected to be affected by the storm from 6am through to 9pm on Friday.
The Met Office has issued yellow and amber warnings ahead of Storm Eowyn
An amber warning applies between 6am and 9pm on Friday
Storm Eowyn is expected to bring “very strong winds and widespread disruption on Friday,” according to the Met Office.
Forecasters predict “injuries and danger to life” from flying debris and large waves.
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Storm Eowyn set to wreak havoc across UK
Meanwhile a rare, red warning has been issued by Ireland’s weather service ahead of the arrival of Storm Eowyn, threatening to bring “severe, damaging and destructive gusts”.
The powerful storm is predicted to bring gale force southerly winds “of up to 130kmh [80mph] widely, with even higher gusts for a time”, according to Met Eireann.
Orange and red warnings issued for Storm Éowyn 24/01/2024
Source: Met Éireann
Ireland’s weather forecasters have set a wind warning to “status red” for counties in Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick between 3am and 10am on Friday.
A red warning is only issued for “rare and very dangerous weather conditions”, according to the forecaster.
An “status orange” warning, which is the same level as “amber” in the UK, applies to all of Ireland’s counties between 2am and 5pm on Friday.
Potential impacts include fallen trees, power outages, dangerous waves on the coast, structural damage and travel disruption.
Met Eireann said it will start to become “very stormy” on Thursday night, before the centre of Storm Eowyn tracks just off the northwest coast on Friday morning.
This will be followed by a “swathe of extremely strong and damaging winds extending across the country bringing disruption”.
Sky News weather producer Chris England said: “It’s looking increasingly likely that Storm Eowyn will bring potentially damaging gusts of over 80mph for Ireland and parts of northern and western Britain, mainly coasts and hills.
“Gusts of 60mph can be expected almost anywhere,” he added.
A yellow warning for fog had been issued for Wednesday morning covering Northern Ireland and large parts of England between Birmingham and Carlise.
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