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Fraud arrest after ‘ridiculous’ 68% council tax precept rise

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Cambridgeshire Live

A town council has increased its portion of the council tax bill by nearly 70%

A man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud believed to be linked to a nearly 70% council tax precept rise. In February, Cambourne Town Council agreed to increase its council tax precept to £1,493,098, which was a 68% increase from the previous financial year.

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The rise left a number of Cambourne residents angry, with one resident branding it as “ridiculous”. The town council admitted that “restricted funds, including S106 monies, were previously used for revenue expenditure when they should not have been”, a spokesperson previously told CambridgeshireLive.

A 63-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of fraud in connection with the precept rise. A Cambridgeshire Police spokesperson said: “On Wednesday (April 15), a 63-year-old man from St Ives was arrested on suspicion of fraud by abuse of position. He has been bailed until July 15.”

A Cambourne Town Council spokesperson said: “As there is an active criminal investigation, the Council is not able to comment on specific matters. We are complying fully with all legal obligations and will provide further information when it is lawful and appropriate to do so.”

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Defence of UK – ‘we may need to look at conscription’

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Defence of UK - 'we may need to look at conscription'

LORD Robertson’s recent Strategic Defence Review recommendations must be acted upon with regards to defence spending and the development of our defence capability.

The obvious ways to fund defence is by reducing current welfare spending where we spend 10.3 per cent of GDP in comparison to 2.3per cent of GDP on defence.

The Government also needs to increase taxation to fund defence spending.

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We also need to look at how we can resource recruitment in our reservist and cadet forces which may include conscription. We cannot afford to not deliver quickly on these recommendations.

It’s viewed that Russia will be as powerful as NATO militarily by the end of the decade.

The time to act and deliver is now. The country has been failed for the past 20 years in our defence spending.

Let’s hope this Government changes that – it’s had plenty of warnings what we need to do to improve our nation’s protection.

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Failure to do so will lead to potential catastrophic consequences.

We can’t say we haven’t been warned.

John Jones,

Birch Close,

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York

York’s got talent!

THE talented and well synchronised Northern Lights A Cappella group of Durham University appeared on BBC1 Breakfast TV on Monday morning, April 13 and in the evening on Look North.

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They recently won the UK championship in this distinctive style of music with movement, earning them a spot in the world finals (International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella) in New York later this month.

One of the students’ strong points, a speciality of theirs, is choreography. ‘Syncopation’ could be their middle name!

Last year they came third in the world championships against stiff competition from American universities. Fingers crossed (in unison) for this year!

Two of the 16-strong ensemble are Durham students from York; Alex – ‘beatboxer’ and Will – bass.

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Google the group and find out more. It’s fun; it’s clever; it’s catchy!

Derek Reed,

Middlethorpe Drive,

York

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Shane Williams coaches son’s team to stunning Welsh Cup win at Principality

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Wales Online

Amman United Youth overcame Pontypool United 30-13 in the WRU U-18s Cup final at the Principality Stadium to spark wonderful celebrations

Wales legend Shane Williams is celebrating one of his greatest Principality Stadium triumphs after guiding Amman United Youth to WRU U18s Cup glory on Friday night.

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The former winger is one of the coaches at the side where it all began for him, with his son Carter starting on the wing against Pontypool United. Amman, who only re-started their youth team two years ago, beat Pontypool United 30-13 at the iconic venue.

It was a second heartbreaking final defeat in a row for Pontypool United, who were beaten in the last moments by Llandeilo last year.

Amman United were deserved winners, scoring three tries to one in a ferocious encounter that was a credit to both sides. There were wonderful scenes after the final whistle as the young Amman players celebrated the greatest win of their lives at the Principality in front of family and friends.

Williams had said: “We’ve come through some tough games this season and this Amman team has grown up together. I first met most of these lads when they were eight and I’ve come through with them, and my son Carter, since then.”

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Captain Ceian Lewis led from the front, setting the tone with a bruising early hit, while Lewis Appleby and Charlie Gregory impressed in defence for Pontypool United.

A tight first half saw Amman’s Toby Slater and United’s Tom Howard exchange penalties before Wales U18 back rower Cole Lacey crossed for the first try after sustained pressure just before the break. It meant Williams’ side lead 10-6 at half-time with still all to play for.

The second-half could not have started any better for the Amman as James Bentley intercepted a pass on on his own 22 and sprinted 70 metres to score at the other end. This time it was coach Williams’ son, Carter, who added the conversion to put daylight between the teams

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Pontypool United refused to go away, though, as co-captain Reuben Malsom barged over from a five metre penalty to cut the deficit to just four points once more.

But Amman found another gear, with Aled Davies racing over following a clinical move from a scrum. Williams converted and put the final nail in the coffin with two penalties.

Scorers:

Pontypool United: Try: Reuben Malson; Con: Tom Howard; Pens: Tom Howard 2.

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Amman United: Tries: Cole Lacey, James Bentley, Aled Davies; Cons: Carter Williams 2, Toby Slater 2; Pens: Carter Williams 2,

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Pontypool United: Jack McDonagh; Luca Grocott-Mason, Lewis Appleby, Charlie Gregory, Alfie Prosser; Thomas Howard, Daniel Parker; Logan Leonard, Cae Jones (co-captain), Scott Crewe, Ralph Evans, Reuben Malson (co-captain), Rudi Creel, Bailey Stride, Jake Sheppard

Reps: Ieuan Hockaday, George Jones, Max Jacob, Dewi Bainton, Coel Adams, Lewis Jenkins, Charlie Burrows, Danny Hutchinson

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Amman United: Cian Evans; Carter Williams, James Bentley, Kennedy Richards (co-captain), Aled Davies; Toby Slater, Iwan Bull; Ceian Lewis (co-captain), Griff Rees, David Thomas, Tom James, Dyfan Llewelyn, Cole Lacey, Jac Cloke, Hefin Davies

Reps: Reagan Griffiths, Flynn Ahearne, Harvey Duncan, Josh Doorbar, Evan Whiles, Iwan Griffiths, Tomos Bull, Ioan Booth

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Mandelson’s vetting process was supposed to be intrusive and embarrassing

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Mandelson’s vetting process was supposed to be intrusive and embarrassing

The process that should take months, but was telescoped into weeks, resulted in the failure of Peter Mandelson to pass Developed Vetting for one of the most sensitive jobs for Britain in the world.

Its main focus is to exposure liars and anyone vulnerable to blackmail.

The vetting system is intentionally intrusive. It is believed to cost at least £80,000 per person, and involves cross-checking every detail of the subject’s personal lives.

Those who have been through it know that the key is candour when faced with the searching questions in interviews about the use of porn, your sex life, drug and drinking experiences and habits, affairs, kinks, family contacts, travel history.

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Agents for the United Kingdom Security Vetting service will use every possible resource, overt and covert, to scrutinise candidates.

Peter Mandelson walks outside his residence in London on Friday
Peter Mandelson walks outside his residence in London on Friday (Reuters)

Open source information on friendships abroad, foreign contacts, financial relationships, associations with known convicted criminals would emerge. So would gaps in financial reporting, unexplained loans and gifts would be highlighted.

“These are all the necessary parts of making sure that whatever is in someone’s background that makes them vulnerable – we know about it – so that they are less likely to be pressed into betraying their country for financial gain or through blackmail,” said a UK-based former civil servant who has gone through the vetting process.

“You can admit to some quite dodgy stuff and still pass, but lying is a red flag fail.”

Mandelson, who was known anyway to have been friends with Jeffrey Epstein prior to the latter’s convictions for sex crimes, was announced as the British ambassador to Washington on 20 December 2025.

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He was in post by 25 February the following year, which meant that his clearance was pushed up the queue ahead of others in less exalted positions.

Typically, security sources have explained to The Independent, that involves the urgent interviewing of close friends and associates of Mandelson by officials from the vetting agency.

Handout document issued by the US Department of Justice which shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Peter Mandelson with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
Handout document issued by the US Department of Justice which shows Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Peter Mandelson with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein (US Department of Justice)

They ask probing and, for ordinary civilians, often highly intrusive questions about candidates. These answers are then used to check the honesty of what the candidate says in their own interviews.

Mandelson would, it should be assumed, have been asked to explain the receipt of several payments from Jeffrey Epstein, as well as payments from the alleged people trafficker to his now husband – after Epstein’s conviction.

Mandelson has said publicly that he cannot recall these payments. It is not clear that such an answer would have satisfied UKSV.

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He has further denied an impropriety amid allegations, revealed in the Epstein files published in the US, that allegedly suggest he lobbied the UK government on banking and other financial issues that Epstein had an interest in, and that he forwarded market sensitive government material to Epstein while he was business secretary in 2009.

Mandelsom’s flights at Epstein’s expense, his stays on Epstein’s property, would have, or should have, been known about and explained in DV interviews with the UKSV as they were recorded in flight logs.

Emails between the two men, and these other details, led to Mandelson being fired as ambassador to Washington.

Sir Olly Robbins, who was the civil service head of the foreign office when Mandelson took over, has resigned over his department’s decision to overrule the UKSV and give Mandelson access to the most secret of secrets and most secret relationships that any British official could encounter.

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Donald Trump shakes hands with British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson after making a trade announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2025
Donald Trump shakes hands with British ambassador to the United States Peter Mandelson after making a trade announcement in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on May 8, 2025 (AFP/Getty)

Mandelson’s day to day job involved being privy to bilateral intelligence of the kind even hidden from the Five Eyes shared system of the Anglosphere involving the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

He would have been present for, or hosted, informal chats with top American intelligence officials and the heads of British intelligence agencies.

Tories have, inevitably, called for the head of the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer. Tom Tugendhat, Conservative MP for Tonbridge is a former security minister and as an officer in military intelligence and as military assistant to the then Chief of the General Staff, general David Richards, he went through the DV process.

“Our government, rightly, spends millions on vetting. It’s not perfect but it’s the only rational response to the very real threat of espionage, corruption and blackmail,” he said on X.

“It’s intrusive and not pleasant, and it takes months; but it’s necessary. Holding a clearance is limiting but losing one is career-ending, as it should be.

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“I’ve been vetted and responsible for vetting as a soldier and minister. I’ve never heard of anyone who failed vetting getting a senior position, or any position of sensitivity.

Peter Mandelson, speaks during a welcome reception for British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, at the ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025
Peter Mandelson, speaks during a welcome reception for British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, at the ambassador’s residence on February 26, 2025 (AFP/Getty)

“Given the essential oversight of the intelligence sharing and commercial relationship between the US and UK, it’s hard to think of a more sensitive position.”

He went on to explain that the kind of waiver that was given Lord Mandelson would, usually, have involved a ministerial sign off.

They are necessarily issued when there is an urgent need to include an unvetted agent into a secret process or include someone in the secret realm when his clearance was in the pipeline.

“It is extraordinary to suggest that our ambassador to the US not only held no ministerial waiver for the temporary absence of his vetting clearance but, worse, had actually been vetted and found to be personally a risk to the security of the UK and appointed anyway,” Tughendat said.

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Full list of trains cancelled at Manchester Piccadilly today – Saturday April 18

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Manchester Evening News

Further disruption is expected this weekend

More than 200 trains were cancelled in two days after overhead lines became damaged at Manchester Piccadilly. It’s understood the wire became ‘tangled’ with a pantograph when an Avanti West Coast service pulled into the station at 11.20am on Thursday (April 16).

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Complex repair works have since been taking place, with railway lines due to close for 12 hours from 11pm tonight (Saturday) to complete them. Passengers are being warned to expect continuing disruption at the station this weekend.

Although most services are running as normal today, several have been cancelled, with further cancellations expected. Avanti West Coast is running only one train per hour between Manchester and London, while Northern is running a revised timetable.

Click here to get the biggest stories straight to your inbox in our Daily Newsletter

Network Rail has apologised for the disruption caused by damage to the overhead line, which carries 25,000 volts of electricity to power trains and is a critical part of the infrastructure. Passengers are being urged to check the latest situation for their service before travelling.

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Below is a list of services which have been cancelled at Piccadilly so far today, with details currently available up to 10.30am. The list will be updated throughout the day.

Cancelled departures at Manchester Piccadilly on Saturday, April 18:

  • 08:14 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 08:34 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 08:38 Alderley Edge: Cancelled
  • 08:46 Stoke-on-Trent: Cancelled
  • 08:54 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 09:14 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 09:38 Alderley Edge: Cancelled
  • 09:46 Stoke-on-Trent: Cancelled
  • 09:54 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 10:14 London Euston: Cancelled
  • 10:20 Hazel Grove: Cancelled

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100 times stronger than fentanyl, carfentanil seizures surge

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100 times stronger than fentanyl, carfentanil seizures surge

Nearly two decades after drug addiction sent him to rehab as a teenager, 36-year-old Michael Nalewaja had settled into a quiet life in Alaska where he worked as an electrician.

That all came crashing down days before Thanksgiving 2025, when he and a mutual friend unknowingly took a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and carfentanil they may have mistaken for cocaine.

“I heard the word ‘autopsy’ and I literally just collapsed to the floor,” his mother, Kelley Nalewaja said, recalling the call she received from his wife. “Even if somebody had been there prepared with Narcan — even if somebody had called 911 in time — he was not going to survive.”

Carfentanil, a weapons-grade chemical that authorities say is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl, has seen a drastic resurgence across the U.S., killing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users.

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The rise coincides with a recent crackdown by the Chinese government on the sale of precursors used to make fentanyl. Those regulations are likely prompting traffickers in Mexico to use carfentanil to boost the potency of a weakened version of fentanyl, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration intelligence bulletins reviewed by The Associated Press.

The surge of a drug so deadly that less than a poppy seed-sized amount can kill a person comes as fentanyl seizures and overall drug overdose deaths continue a multiyear decline.

“You’re talking about not even a grain of salt that could be potentially lethal,” said Frank Tarentino, the DEA’s chief of operations for its northeast region, which stretches from Maine to Virginia. “This presents an extremely frightening proposition for substance abuse dependent people who seek opioids on the street today.”

Carfentanil surge

A decade ago, carfentanil exploded into the North American drug supply, causing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users to overdose, only to see a major dip after China banned it, closing a key regulatory loophole in the U.S.

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But the situation has shifted dramatically in recent years.

In 2025, DEA labs identified carfentanil 1,400 times in U.S. drug seizures, compared with 145 in 2023 and only 54 in 2022, according to DEA records viewed by AP.

Traffickers in Mexico may be experimenting with producing carfentanil themselves, authorities say, while others could be procuring it from China-based vendors skirting the country’s regulations by spamming online forums in other countries with ads for the drug.

Complicating matters for the cartels are the extreme dangers associated with manufacturing carfentanil, Tarentino said.

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“You can’t just dabble in this,” he said. “This is not some mad scientist on Reddit you’re going to get to go out to a rudimentary laboratory in Mexico to make carfentanil.”

Dip in overdose deaths and fentanyl seizures

U.S. overdose deaths have fallen for more than two years — the longest drop in decades. Experts point to several possible explanations, including the overdose-reversing drug naloxone being more widely available and the expansion of addiction treatment. Some have also tied it to the regulatory changes the U.S. has pressed for in China.

Experts say that even multiple high doses of naloxone might not be enough to reverse an overdose when carfentanil is involved.

Fentanyl seizures, along with several other illicit drugs, have also dipped. U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported that fentanyl seizures plunged to about 12,000 pounds (5,443 kilograms) in 2025 — less than half the amount seized in 2023.

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But even as fentanyl numbers fall, it remains a major focus of the DEA. Just recently, the agency’s proposed budget included a $362 million increase centered on cartel-driven fentanyl trafficking.

“Anyone who takes a pill that is not prescribed to them by their doctor is playing a game of Russian roulette with their life,” said Sara Carter, President Donald Trump’s drug czar. “But if those terrorists think they can continue this chemical warfare without consequences, they are wrong.”

Researched as a chemical weapon

While the prevalence of carfentanil still pales in comparison to fentanyl, experts are nevertheless alarmed by the increase of a substance researched for years as a chemical weapon and deployed by Russian forces on Chechen separatists in 2002.

The DEA’s annual quota for lawfully manufactured carfentanil — veterinarians use it to tranquilize elephants and other large animals — is just 20 grams, an amount that can fit in the palm of your hand.

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“It’s like a biological weapon,” said Michael King Jr., founder of the Opioid Awareness Foundation. “If the world thinks we had a problem with fentanyl, that’s minute compared to what we’re going to be dealing with with carfentanil.”

In 2024, overdose deaths involving carfentanil nearly tripled compared to the previous year, with 413 deaths across 42 states and Washington, D.C., according to the most recent data available by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“Carfentanil definitely has that potential of spreading throughout the United States unless law enforcement really focuses in on carfentanil and they develop intelligence as to how these drug addicts are getting it,” said Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations at the DEA.

In recent months, the DEA has documented several large seizures of carfentanil. In October, the DEA Los Angeles Field Division found 628,000 pills containing carfentanil, while in September, officials seized more than 50,000 counterfeit M30 pills from a person at a gas station in Washington state that turned out to be a mixture of carfentanil and acetaminophen.

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‘All about money’

In some cases, frequent drug users have become tolerant to fentanyl and are seeking out carfentanil, despite the danger, because of the sudden euphoria it promises, explained Rob Tanguay, senior medical lead for addiction services with Recovery Alberta, a health agency in Canada. It appeals to the drug market, he said, because so little of it goes such a long way toward supply.

“The toughest part about all of this,” he said, “is that this is all about money.”

After Michael Nalewaja’s death, his mother decided against a large funeral.

Instead, she organized a town hall in her hometown of El Dorado Hills, California, bringing together local officials along with mothers who had gone through something similar.

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As she grieves her son, an adept salesman full of charisma who had recently gotten a national award by the electrical union, she’s pushing for major legislative and judicial changes so others don’t go through what she did because of a drug she said was never meant for humans.

“It’s not an OD; it’s not an overdose,” she said. “It’s a murder weapon.”

___

Associated Press writer Joshua Goodman in Miami contributed.

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Women’s Six Nations 2026: Abbie Ward and Lark-Atkin Davies on pregnancy

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Lark Atkin-Davies and Abbie Ward with children on the Allianz Stadium pitch

Previously, the RFU did not have a maternity policy specifically designed for players, with former England prop Vickii Cornborough – the second Red Rose to announce a pregnancy after the update – describing the old policy as “not fit for purpose”.

Cornborough, a Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) representative, helped create the policy through input from the RPA and players themselves.

Following the birth of twins, 74-cap Cornborough announced her retirement from international rugby at the age of 34, saying she did not feel mentally ready to return.

With their babies due this summer, Atkin-Davies and Ward are both aiming to be back playing by the start of next season.

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Ward, who played in two World Cup finals with Cornborough, warned her pregnant team-mates that returning will not be straightforward.

“It is amazing to know women have a choice and an option – great if I have played any part in that,” she added.

“There is also pressure, as I hope I have not catfished them into thinking it is easy. Everyone will find out it is not easy.”

Hooker Atkin-Davies has won 74 caps and been a regular since her England debut in 2015.

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Having played in the past two World Cup finals, the 31-year-old wants to play at the next World Cup in Australia and have a similar moment to Ward’s 2025 Allianz Stadium celebrations.

“Becoming a mum and having a baby will make me a better person and player,” Atkin-Davies added.

“I know it is going to be really hard, and I am aware of that. I do not just want to come back – I want to come back and be better.

“That is what really drives you as well. It might take time, as your body and mind go through so many changes, but the fire and desire are in me to be at that World Cup in 2029 with a three-year-old.

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“Those big moments of running out with my baby at Ashton Gate or Allianz Stadium would be absolutely amazing, but it will be hard.”

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US extends waiver on Russian oil sanctions

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US extends waiver on Russian oil sanctions

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department on Friday extended its pause on sanctions on Russian oil shipments to ease shortages from the Iran war, days after Secretary Scott Bessent ruled out such a move.

The so-called general license means U.S. sanctions will not apply for 30 days on deliveries of Russian oil that has been loaded on tankers as of Friday. It extended a similar 30-day license issued in March for Russian oil that had been loaded by March 11. The extension underscores how the fallout from the Iran war has boosted Moscow’s ability to profit from its energy exports, which had been restrained since the invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Bessent ruled out extending the license. “We will not be renewing the general license on Russian oil, and we will not be renewing the general license on Iranian oil,” he said. The administration did not immediately explain the reversal.

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‘TV reboots are terrible – stop tarnishing the classics’

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Daily Mirror

Recent reboots of Scrubs and Malcolm in the Middle have been met with some negative responses from fans.

TV reboots are becoming a poor excuse for a creative drought.

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Fans of Malcolm in the Middle were eagerly awaiting the arrival of the revival series, Malcolm in the Middle: Life’s Still Unfair, on Hulu and Disney+.

Nearly two decades after the original series concluded, the sitcom sees Bryan Cranston and Frankie Muniz return to their roles as Malcolm enjoys a contented life with daughter Leah (Keeley Karsten) and girlfriend Tristan (Kiana Madeira), having separated himself from his biological family.

While it did shatter some streaming records, becoming Hulu’s most-watched premiere season of 2026, numerous viewers believed it disappointed devoted fans.

Some went so far as branding it “a monstrosity” and a “horror” in IMDb reviews, describing it as “forced and underwhelming”.

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Television schedules and streaming services are presently flooded with reboots of beloved programmes, serving as a flimsy substitute for genuine original content.

Within the span of mere months, two of the most legendary programmes from the Noughties made their comeback in reimagined formats, as the Scrubs reboot premiered before Malcolm in the Middle in February this year.

Devotees of the original Scrubs series were left outraged after it emerged their beloved couple, JD ( Zach Braff ) and Elliot Reid ( Sarah Chalke ), had split up.

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While they could have remained in blissful ignorance, for the purposes of drama, their cherished memories were destroyed.

Perhaps one of the most divisive reboot announcements in recent memory is HBO Max’s Harry Potter series, with the casting row making international headlines.

While some Potter fans are enthusiastic about the TV adaptation, for many it embodies the old adage: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

As painful as it is to admit, the axing of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival was likely for the best.

While it’s disappointing that supporters won’t see Gellar return to Sunnydale leading a fresh generation of slayers, the decision not to air the pilot has probably spared the original series from harm.

Devoted fans can take comfort knowing it will remain amongst the greatest cult classics of all time.

It’s not solely dramas and sitcoms facing a catastrophic fate, as game shows such as Deal or No Deal and Catchphrase have also resurfaced with no substantial alterations from the originals.

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Why squander a decent telly slot on a recycled, cheesy game show or sitcom when audiences are hungry for something original? It’s perfectly fine to draw inspiration from the best, but copying is simply lazy.

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Five Cambridgeshire roads could become one-way streets to ‘reduce conflict’

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Cambridgeshire Live

The potential changes would see five streets becoming one-way to traffic

Plans that will see five roads modified to become one-way streets are being considered by Peterborough City Council.

The council’s Highways & Transport department released a draft order this week stating six changes are proposed to take place within the Millfield area, close to Lincoln Road. They will see five roads converted to accommodate one-way only traffic.

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The five roads are:

  • Cambridge Avenue;
  • Gladstone Street;
  • Windmill Street;
  • Silverwood Road;
  • Springfield Road.

The roads will be amended to allow only the following directions of travel:

  • Cambridge Avenue: in an easterly direction between its junction with Gladstone Street and Summerfield Road;
  • Gladstone Street: in a northerly direction between its junction with Windmill Street and Serjeant Street;
  • Gladstone Street: in a southerly direction between its junction with Windmill Street and Cambridge Avenue;
  • Windmill Street: in a westerly direction between traffic calming island outside No.14 and the junction of Gladstone Street;
  • Silverwood Road: in a northerly direction between its junction with Cambridge Avenue and Springfield Road;
  • Springfield Road: in a westerly direction between its junction with Silverwood Road and Gladstone Street.

This will prohibit vehicles from entering Windmill Street from Gladstone Street, entering Gladstone Street from Serjeant Street, or entering Springfield Road from Gladstone Street.

A council spokesperson said the aim of the initiative is to improve the overall safe flow of traffic through the area.

They added: “The proposal to introduce a one-way system within Millfield has arisen from discussions between ward councillors and council officers with the aim of reducing conflicting traffic movements at locations that typically result in congestion.”

A consultation period on the proposals will begin on 16 April and run for three weeks. Residents in the area are receiving letters of consultation to ascertain their views. At the end of the consultation period, officers will review the feedback received in conjunction with the ward councillors to determine how best to proceed.

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These proposed plans follow on from a £5.8m upgrade along a stretch of nearby Lincoln Road between Windmill Street and Serjeant Street which was completed earlier this year.

One of those improvements saw a northbound one-way system established between Windmill Street and Stone Lane, something many residents and business owners in the area praised.

“We are happy with the finished work and so are many of our customers,” said Cafer Koc, owner of the Cafe Algarve on Lincoln Road. “Business is picking up and the road looks cleaner and nicer than it was previously.”

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BT will pay your broadband bill for 3 months when ditching rivals like Sky or Virgin

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Belfast Live

BT is dishing out free fibre broadband for three months when customers switch from their current provider.

BT is offering free broadband to new customers who make the switch from rivals such as Sky or Virgin Media. Those who sign up for one of BT’s fibre broadband packages this month will benefit from three months of free service.

The deal applies to BT’s full fibre plans, with download speeds ranging from 50Mbps to 900Mbps, potentially saving customers as much as £131.97. Those selecting the highest speed options will enjoy connections fast enough to download films in seconds and robust enough to support 4K streaming and online gaming at the same time.

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Once the initial three-month period ends, standard pricing will apply for the remainder of the 24-month contract. This varies from £31.99 to £43.99 based on the selected package.

BT operates under the One Touch Switch scheme, meaning new customers aren’t required to get in touch with their previous provider to arrange the broadband installation. Switchover dates are typically arranged quickly within a fortnight.

BT additionally includes Norton Security with all its broadband packages to safeguard against viruses and other online dangers. To determine which speeds are accessible in their area, customers should utilise BT’s postcode checker, reports the Daily Record.

Get BT Broadband free for three months

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BT is giving new customers free full fibre broadband for three months, with speeds from 50Mbps to 900Mbps.

One drawback is that BT customers will experience a £4 increase to their bills every April. This practice extends to numerous other broadband suppliers, including Virgin and Plusnet, the latter currently enticing customers with a £100 gift card when they register for its 900Mbps package.

Following the 2016 merger between BT and EE, subscribers now have the option to bundle their broadband with various TV packages. By adding an EE TV package to a BT broadband subscription, users gain access to NOW, featuring a variety of Sky channels.

This includes sport and cinema content, alongside Netflix or TNT Sports availability on certain packages. BT has received considerable acclaim from numerous subscribers who have posted positive feedback on Trustpilot.

One customer said: “Amazing service and never had issues.” Another said: “I’ve been with BT for five years and can honestly say they’ve been amazing.

“My bill has never been wrong. My router hasn’t once gone down.”

Some subscribers have taken issue with BT‘s post-sign-up communication, as one review pointed out: “I’ve just had a broadband upgrade and the number of repeated texts, emails, notifications, over and over and over. Was incredibly annoying and frustrating.”

Conversely, other customers have commended the support service, saying: “There was zero wait, which is amazing for any customer service these days. Straight through to the call centre. I got to speak to a knowledgeable person who dealt with my problem with expertise and speed.”

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