1983 smash hit Chuckie Egg is being remade for mobile phones, and we’ve spoken to the bedroom programming teen protégé that originally made it.
It’s always sobering to realise that what counts as retro gaming is constantly changing. Although there’s no official definition, it was recently suggested that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 are now definitely retro, being over 20 years old and two generations ago. Some might insist they still don’t count but there’s no arguing about the 8-bit era of the ZX Spectrum and Commodore 64, which is now well over 40 years ago.
Although there are some games from that period that are still active today (Donkey Kong launched a year before the Spectrum itself) most are not, especially anything that was developed in the UK – as a majority of Spectrum games were. 1983 was the start of the video game crash in the US but that didn’t affect Japan or Europe. At that point though the NES was still three years from release in Europe, so at that time the video games industry consisted almost solely of coin-op games and 8-bit home computers.
That year, the best-selling games on the Spectrum included text adventure The Hobbit, Jetpac from Ultimate Play the Game (later to be renamed Rare), seminal platformer Manic Miner and… Chuckie Egg by Nigel Alderton. Back in the days when a game being made by a single person was the norm, he developed the game as a teenager, in his bedroom, and saw it hog the number one spot for much of the year.
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Nowadays you have to be of a certain age to even remember the name Chuckie Egg, especially as it only had one sequel – that was not made by Alderton and was a very different style of game, more similar to Manic Miner sequel Jet Set Willy. The original, though, unlike so many games from the period, is still very playable today.
It’s a single screen platformer where you have to collect eggs before a timer runs out. You’re pursued by chickens, with all of you attempting to pick up piles of seeds along the way – which if you get to them first will slow the timer. After the first eight levels the giant bird in the top left of the screen escapes and also pursues you, as the levels get harder and harder.
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It sounds simple, and it is, but what made it such a hit is the smoothness of the controls, which were much more akin to a coin-op than most computer games. Initially released on the Spectrum, BBC Micro, and Dragon 32/64, it was later ported to the Commodore 64, Acorn Electron, MSX, Amstrad CPC, and a variety of other now forgotten computer formats. It subsequently appeared on the 16-bit Amiga and Atari ST, as well as MS-DOS, but never on any console.
Like so many games of the era that means it’s largely been lost to time, increasingly forgotten by British fans and completely unknown to most American and Japanese gamers. However, Chuckie Egg has now been recreated for mobile and is available to pre-order now on iPhone and iPad, and Apple TV, for a one-time, ad-free fee of £2.99. It includes both a version of the original and a modernised edition that twists the camera angle to give it a 2.5D look.
The launch this week also gave us a chance to interview Nigel Alderton, as we discussed his memories of the 8-bit days, how he came to make the game, and what he thinks of the video games industry today.
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GC: Even though Chuckie Egg ended up on so many different formats, I still think of it as a Spectrum game. I think probably because it was a few years before I got a computer, a Commodore 64, and the port still looked a lot like a Spectrum game.
NA: I think that was Mike Webb, the Commodore one. Mike Webb wrote about 11 different versions of it, because I wrote the original one and then other people did the conversions. But Mike ended up writing some ridiculous number, I think it might have been 11.
The Commodore had hardware sprites, and you could move a lot around the screen, taking up very little CPU, but if you wanted to scroll the whole screen on the Spectrum that was quite an exotic thing to do. So, people stayed away from those if you’re designing a game for the Spectrum; quite hard to do.
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GC: As I understand it you were influenced by Donkey Kong and Space Panic, and I think Space Panic in particular can be regarded as the first ever platformer. So you’re talking the very early days of gaming and yet there was already an established scene with influential titles.
NA: I walked to school every day and there was a newsagent on the way, that had an arcade game. And so the first first one that I remember was Space Panic. And then at some point they had Scramble. They might have had Donkey Kong, but the very, very early arcade platform games. So if you look at Space Panic and Chucky Egg, side by side, the colours are embarrassingly similar. [laughs] I basically pinched them, but they work really well on the Spectrum, the high contrast purple and the green. But yeah, it was very early days, wasn’t it?
GC: So were you a keen gamer at that time? What were your first experiences of computing?
NA: We were lucky enough to have two or three computers at school. There was a teacher called Mr Bishop, who was very forward-looking, ’cause computers were just barely a thing at that time. And he managed to get the funds to get some Tandy TRS-80s. He commandeered a sort of broom cupboard and put these computers in there and I’d seen people wandering in out of the place with these glowing screens and wondered what the heck it was.
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So I used to just hang around and try and get onto them to try and type BASIC. And then I peed my parents for a ZX81. But I was always more interested in the writing. I never really played computer games very much at all. Played loads of arcade games. I used to put all my pocket money into the arcades, there’s an arcade in Stockport, which unfortunately was directly on my bus route home from my Saturday job.
So I’d earn my £7 working on the Saturday, get off and change buses at Stockport with the arcade right there. And many times all my money that I earned that day went into those damn machines. [laughs] But I never really played Commodore games or Spectrum games; I never played those sorts of games very much. Just arcade games.
Nigel Alderton back in his school days
GC: I’ve been playing the game and it’s… I wouldn’t call it easy but it’s not as vindictively unfair as a lot of games from that period and it doesn’t involve rote learning. From what you’ve just said I can totally see the arcade influence, where it’s not easy but it is a lot more fluid and accessible than a lot of computer games of the times, things like Manic Miner – which I know you’re not a fan of.
NA: Yeah, I’m not a fan of puzzle games. I much more enjoy games where it’s more about the dexterity rather than figuring out a puzzle. So, I was just writing a game that I would like to play. I can’t remember if that was a conscious thing or a subconscious thing. And also, I didn’t like games that I played where if one pixel of your character touches one pixel of a deadly thing, an enemy character, then you die. So I didn’t like the feel of that. I thought it was too unforgiving. So that was a deliberate choice.
But I think I could have made it easier, is that when you come to a ladder, you’re running on platforms, when you first start playing, it takes people a while to figure out that you have to hold the ‘up’ button as you get to the ladder to be able to run up. Watching people struggling with, they go to the left of the ladder and then press ‘up’ and then to the right and press ‘up’. It’s frustrating, but once you’ve got that knack I think it was quite easy to get into.
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GC: There’s a lot of games from that period where climbing that ladder would be a lot fiddlier than even that, but Chuckie Egg seems pretty smooth to me. Were you thinking of things like difficulty and accessibility when you were making it?
NA: Very much. I wanted to try and get progression, so that you would learn skills gradually. And so try and have a screen early on… the first screen, you don’t have to learn all the skills in one lump, and then you develop them over time. So on the first screen, you don’t really have to be able to jump off of a ladder and grab another ladder, for example. Or jump on the lift, you know? So I wanted to introduce things slowly.
And also, I wanted to be able to have as many new levels, where it was not the same as any previous level, without having to come up with new platform layouts every time. So hence, you do the first eight screens and that’s got the eight platform layouts, but then you go and do them again, and you get the bird coming out instead of the tall birds, and then you do ’em again, and you get the next eight and you do them again, and you get both, and so on.
So I was trying to have a progression, so it got got harder. There were other ideas that I never got to do because they were sort of breathing down my neck to say, ‘Come on! Get it finished, get it finished!’ [laughs] Because I would’ve gone on and just kept adding things to it, I think, if they hadn’t been getting me to do that. There were other things that could have been added to make it go on even further. But I think there’s something like, maybe 48 levels where it’s different each level and then after that it just repeats.
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The original version has aged surprisingly well (Elite Systems)
GC: I don’t think a lot of developers in those days, were thinking along those lines, which would certainly explain why it was so popular.
NA: Yeah. I also wanted it to be four players [consecutively, not at the same time – GC]. That probably comes from the arcade, when you’re hanging around with a bunch of people or watching one player play. You get the group dynamic of taking the mickey or saying ‘Well done!’ or whatever. The more the merrier.
GC: So what would you have done to the game if you’d had more time?
NA: I think the next thing might have been two birds coming out at the same time, but with with different movements. So one would move with a different algorithm. And then I think another one was getting bits of the platform to disappear. So you get the same platform layout, but just with the odd brick taken out… ’cause that wouldn’t take up much memory to do that or having to design a complete new level.
GC: I guess maybe there was a story in the cassette inlay or something, but did you have any kind of plot explanation in mind while you were working on it? Because it’s pretty abstract but it’s not completely surreal or random like some other games from the time.
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NA: I dunno. Because it’s all out scale, isn’t it? You know, the tall birds… I called them tall birds, but that was kind of an ostrich type thing. But then the bird that comes out of the cage is ridiculous size, isn’t it? Compared to that. There’s a sort of narrative, but it’s a bit messed up. But it is more to do with what I would… because I’m hopeless at graphics. I can do the programming, but I can’t make a pretty picture.
So it was just what was easy to draw. And the square hat came from the fact that I didn’t want pixel collision, I wanted it to be based on a softer collision detection, the collision had to be a roughly a square shape. So the hat kind of makes him visually more square.
GC: So it becomes the hit box?
NA: Yeah, so it’s a trade off between the limits of my coding ability and the limits of my graphics ability. [laughs] And then they [publisher A&F Software] called him Hen-House Harry. They came up with the name Chuckie Egg and tried to create a bit of a narrative, I think, but they were almost random characters that I was drawing.
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Nigel tasted success early
GC: Who was the publisher? They were all northern companies back in that day, weren’t they? There were very few that were down south.
NA: Yeah, there was a lot up North and a few in Birmingham, and then there was a couple in Liverpool and then a few in London. But all the magazine publishers were down in London, but all the developers and the game creators were sort of spread all over the country.
GC: So you lived in Stockport but where was A&F based?
NA: A&F were in Denton, I think it was. But I got a Saturday job with them, through a friend of mine. And so I was just making cups of tea on a Saturday and serving in the shop and that kind of thing. And I showed them a game and they weren’t interested, but they said, ‘Oh, take it up to this guy up the road. That was in Hyde, so I went and I got given a cheque for something like £700, for this game that I’d written just before I wrote Chuckie Egg.
GC: That would’ve been a lot at the time, I imagine.
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NA: It was a ridiculous amount! I went home with this cheque, thinking, ‘Well, this can’t be real. I won’t believe until I see it in my bank account. I showed it to my dad and that was the first time I’d actually heard him swear, like really swear. And he just couldn’t believe it. I was shocked somebody would pay me to do this thing that I just did for fun, you know? I wrote it because I enjoyed it. And then I wrote Chuck.
So anyway, I turned up to my Saturday job one day, and Chuckie Egg was only half finished, and I showed it to them and this crowd of people all started crowding around going, ‘Wow, look at this!’ So I was really chuffed that I had impressed them.
It was pixel movement and that wasn’t really a thing at that point, on the Spectrum. Nobody had really worked out how to do it. It was all character movement and there wasn’t really any pixel movement games published at that point.
GC: Can you briefly describe what the difference is?
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NA: So, if your character, you are controlling, moves left and right, then character movement is it has to move in jumps of eight pixels on the Spectrum, left or right, or up or down. But pixel movement, you can just move one pixel at a time. Chuckie Egg moves two pixels at a time.
Nigel as he is today (Elite Systems)
GC: So were you doing all this just by yourself?
NA: I did the whole thing. I did the whole Spectrum thing, yeah.
GC: How did you learn to program? Was that at school?
NA: I managed to get a little bit of time on these Tandy TRS-80s, occasionally. ‘Cause there’s loads of kids, all sort of fighting to get on them. And there was only three of them, I think. And then there was a sort of pecking order, but I did manage to occasionally, if I stayed late enough after school or got in early enough, to get a go. And then I got to play with that on BASIC.
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Then the main thing, where I learned the most and really started to learn how to code, was that I got a ZX81. I pestered my parents or… I think I used part my pocket money and then they chipped in a bit and I got the ZX81 and learned BASIC on that.
But then, also, I started to learn machine code on that, just the real beginnings of it. But actually got machine code to work on the ZX81. And the difference in the speed just blew my mind. When I first got a block to move left and right, on the screen, using keyboard controls… when I got the code running in machine code, I thought it’s not working because it just goes fully from the left of the screen all the way to the right of the screen, in one jump. But it wasn’t, it was just because it was so quick!
So it just blew my mind, the speed of it. And I thought, right, this is the answer. And then the Spectrum was announced and I was just drooling over magazines every week, looking at these beautiful colour pictures of the upcoming Spectrum, which was massively delayed and delayed and delayed. But yeah, I sent my cheque off and that was partly my pocket money and partly my parents. And it covered Christmas and birthday rolled into one, so I think it was over £100, which was a lot of money in those days.
So I sent my cheque off, or postal order or whatever, and then just waited and waited and waited. And I think it took three months to come, ’cause they were just so massively swamped by orders. And the day it came through I couldn’t believe it, like this magical thing. It was awesome!
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GC: [laughs] What age were you when this was happening?
NA: I got the Spectrum when it first came out… would that have been ’82? So I was born in ’66. So what’s that? Maybe 15 or 16? I was 16 when I first started writing Chuckie Egg, I think, and then it came out when I was 17. So I was writing Chucky when I should have been studying for my mock A-levels.
GC: Well, the world benefitted from your choice. Well, I say the world, but I doubt anyone outside of Europe even knows the game. Did it ever get ported to anything that wasn’t a home computer?
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NA: No, I don’t think so. It is being now, but back in the day. But it did go to Europe. It’s known in Portugal, apparently, and Spain. Which I’ve only just found out recently, because I got an email from a sort of retro computer enthusiast in Portugal.
GC: [laughs] Playing it again now it really should have been turned into an arcade game, but as big as the British development scene was at the time that sort of thing never happened.
NA: There was plenty of games for the Spectrum or the Commodore that could have gone the other way and gone to arcades. I think you’re right. But they all came the opposite way, didn’t they? You’d have conversions from the arcade games, but the arcade industry could have done the same thing and licensed home computer games and just pick the most popular and successful ones.
GC: So Chuckie Egg is a big success and you’ve got another massive cheque from the publisher. What happened after that? Did you work on Chuckie Egg 2?
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NA: No, I didn’t. And I wasn’t a fan, actually. I didn’t like their design for it.
GC: I thought as much, because if you don’t like Manic Miner you’re not going to like Chuckie Egg 2.
NA: [laughs] Yeah, I don’t like that Manic Miner style of game, with the collision detection and it being puzzle-orientated. It’s just not my thing. I’ve nothing against, hat’s his name that wrote it?
GC: Matthew Smith, I think.
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NA: That rings a bell, yeah. So then I finished school and I didn’t want to go to university, The parents were quite keen for me to do that but I didn’t really like school, so I didn’t really want to go to university. And I felt that I had a skill and somebody told me that, well, you’ve written Chuckie Egg. You could walk into any company, any games publisher, and just say, ‘Gimme a job!’ And they’d hire me. So I did. So I went and I applied to Ocean and they said, ‘Yeah, come and work for us. So I went to work for them for about 18 months, I think. A year and a half.
Nigel even made it into the papers
GC: What did you do there?
NA: I worked on Street Hawk with Mike Webb and Joffers [probably Jonathan M. Smith], what did we do? We did this game… you had like a car and it was a rollercoaster thing on the screen, and I can’t remember what the actual game was [Kong Strikes Back – GC]. I can’t remember what you were trying to do, but I think those were the only two. I don’t remember working on any others.
GC: So what happened after that 18 months? Did you go to another company or had you had enough of games by then?
NA: Well, I thought I’d go and be a freelance programmer. So I started touting around for freelance work. I think, mainly, so I had more freedom and you get more money as well. That’s how I met Steve Wilcox [who currently runs Elite Systems, publishers of this new version of Chuckie Egg – GC].
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I can’t remember how I got in contact with him – maybe I phoned up or wrote or something, or did I reply to an advert? So he was looking for programmers to do Commando on the Spectrum and the Commodore, and one other. So I said I’ve written Chuck Egg and Street Hawk, so he hired me and a guy called Keith Burkhill to do Commando on the Spectrum. And that was on a very, very tight schedule, ’cause it had to be out for Christmas.
So I went and worked for them. And then I sort of got burnt out as a programmer and then went and worked for Steve full-time as an employee, just managing all the other programmers. Just coordinating them and making note of how far along they were, ’cause he was running so many projects at the same time and Steve was sort of overwhelmed. So I helped him to just basically schedule things. So I did that for a while, maybe a year or two, and then moved to Audiogenic down in London. And I was software development manager there and I was sort of slightly involved in that football game [Emlyn Hughes International Soccer – GC].
So I think I spent a couple of years there and then after that… I’d always viewed the games industry as a bit of a not proper job, if you know what I mean. And I thought PCs were grown-up computers and the Spectrum and the Commodore were games computers, there were sort of toys really. It’s a bit of snobbery there maybe.
So I thought, right, I’ll try and get a proper job now. And so I went to work for a company in the city. So I was back to programming again, but I was programming on a PC. So that was my entry into the PC world, which is where I spent the rest of my career, if you can call it that, my life. [laughs]
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GC: What were you doing there? Nothing to do with games, by the sound of it?
NA: No. So, I started off doing PC support and computer installation and maintenance. So I moved to a company in south London and so they sold computers and installed ’em for people and installed ethernet networks, early ethernet networks. So, I was installing the computers, installing the networks, and we also did tech support as well. So we’d go around and fix computer problems. That was for all sorts of different companies and then I went to work for Engelhard in Surrey and spent seven years there. And they’re a precious metal manufacturer, and I was looking after all the PC equipment in that company.
GC: Steve said you were in property now?
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NA: [laughs] I’m semi-retired but I moved house and it was a bit of a doer-upper, but then I decided that I didn’t like the location in the end. So I moved again, very quickly, and bought another doer-upper, so now I’m doing this one. So that keeps me busy.
GC: So while all this was going on the games industry was expanding and evolving in the background. Did you retain an interest in it, have you kept abreast of how things have changed?
NA: Not really, no. Because I’ve kind of grown out of going to arcades.
GC: Well, you don’t get a chance nowadays…
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NA: [laughs] I don’t think any of my friends were particularly still into playing computer games and I was never really into playing computer games. It was a bit of a bubble really, wasn’t it? ‘Cause all these home computers came out, the VIC-20 and the Dragon and god knows what, and there was gazillions of them at one point, and then it seemed a bit of a bubble that burst maybe, I don’t know if that’s true, but it was mainly a console thing.
GC: Yeah, the whole home computer market faded away in the 16-bit era and much of the British games industry with it. It’s a shame because if Chuckie Egg had been Japanese or American you’d be on your 20th sequel by now!
NA: [laughs] I mean, the hardware moved on, didn’t it? And then you get these first person shoot ’em ups and also the idea of being able to write a game completely yourself… I mean, maybe not the graphics, but all the design, all the programming, and do it in a reasonable amount of time… one person could write a game. There’s no chance one person can do that now, or very rarely, isn’t it? Games are massive beasts now that you might need hundreds of people. Yeah, it’s very different.
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GC: Well, that’s true for the bigger games but I don’t know how aware you are of the indie scene, where it’s not unheard of to have just a single person – or certainly a very small team – making a game on their own. Is that something you’d ever be interested in doing, as a hobby or something?
NA: So they do exist, do they? There’s the phone games I suppose, as well, isn’t there? I dunno whether Flappy Bird was just one guy?
GC: It was and he got so upset that people were addicted to the game that he stopped it, he withdrew it from sale.
NA: [laughs] I didn’t realise that!
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GC: He was so overtaken with guilt that he was wasting people’s lives.
NA: Is that what it was?
GC: Well, that’s what he said. I think fans brought it back or something, but the original creator is not involved I don’t think.
NA: Wow. So it had a shelf life and now it’s gone.
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GC: There’s dozens of indie games released every week but a good percentage are by very small or one-man teams.
NA: On what hardware?
GC: Some are only PC, but many of them make it to consoles if they’re successful. And some to mobile as well.
NA: Right. Yeah, it’s not a world I know anything about.
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GC: And yet you created a classic video game all those years ago, which is still perfectly playable today. More so than most home computer games from that era.
NA: Thanks very much.
GC: It’s not a complicated game but it is very playable and there’s more variety than you’d expect.
NA: That was a conscious thing, that I wanted to get a complexity of play without a complexity of structures or things… concepts. So to try and get a lot of variety by doing combinations of the different ideas in there.
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The 3D effect is a neat way to update the visuals (Elite Systems)
GC: I’ve always felt learning a new skill was very important, to action games at least. But it’s something that mainstream publishers have been fighting for years; they worry that it puts people off.
NA: There was a ton of kids coming up with ideas in the early days. There was so much variety as well. It was all different, the types of games and many, many genres of games.
GC: I think you’d be interested if you looked into the indie scene. Slay The Spire 2 is one of the biggest games on Steam at the moment and the first one… I think they got more people to help with the sequel but the first one was basically just two guys.
NA: I believe you get these 3D engines, and physics engines, and things now, so you’re not having to code every line. You’ve at least got some something to start with.
GC: You can get things like Unity, which are very cheap, so you can plug all that in, yeah.
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NA: I mean, that’s the sort of thing that might get me to have a fiddle around with something and play around with something.
GC: [laughs] Give it a go, make a true Chuckie Egg 2.
NA: [laughs] Chuckie Egg 2026 or something. Chuckie Egg 2100.
GC: I suppose we should put in a quick plug for the new mobile versions. So there’s a recreation of the original and then a version with sort of isometric graphics?
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NA: Sort of pseudo 3D, yeah. But the gameplay is very close, if not identical, to the Speccy version, the original version.
GC: Did you oversee this new version?
NA: It’s taken a while to come to fruition and I have had a play every now and again, but I’m not supervising it. It’s not me writing the code but I’ve put my twopenn’orth in occasionally.
GC: Purely by coincidence we’ve had a lot of retro stories recently, and there’s been a lot of interest.
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NA: I had a plumber come round, a while ago.
GC: Mario, was it?
NA: [laughs] Some friends, for my birthday, had a T-shirt made with Chuckie Egg on the front of it and it was so well done that it’s framed, and so it happens to be leaning up against the wall and this guy came in and he said, ‘Oh, Chuckie Egg!’ And I said, ‘Yeah, I wrote it.’ And he couldn’t believe it. It’s amazing how many people of the right age group remember it and have a fond memory for it.
GC: You should be absolutely proud of what you made. For a Brit of the right age that was their Mario or Halo. You made something that will long outlive you.
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NA: Yes, It’s amazing though, isn’t it? Yeah, yeah. Nice little feather in my cap.
GC: Alright, well thanks very much for your time.
NA: Cheers, cheers.
Maybe one day there’ll be a true Chuckie Egg 2 (Elite Systems)
NEW YORK (AP) — A jury found Wednesday that entertainment giant Live Nation, which hosts tens of thousands of concerts a year, and its Ticketmaster subsidiary had a harmful monopoly over big venues.
The ruling, in a lawsuit brought by dozens of states, won’t immediately bring relief for concertgoers who have long complained about high ticket prices. But it could cost Live Nation hundreds of millions of dollars and perhaps force the company to sell some of its concert venues when the judge hands out penalties later.
Among other things, the jury found Ticketmaster’s anticompetitive practices led to people in 22 states paying an extra $1.72 per ticket, which the judge could order the companies to pay back.
A jury in New York deliberated for four days before reaching its decision. State attorneys general who sued Live Nation said the verdict could potentially lead to lower ticket prices for music fans.
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AP AUDIO: Jury finds that Ticketmaster and Live Nation had an anticompetitive monopoly over big concert venues
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AP correspondent Julie Walker reports Ticketmaster and Live Nation lose their antitrust trial in New York.
Live Nation said in a statement that the verdict “is not the last word on this matter.”
The company predicted that once a remedy phase of the litigation is completed before the judge and all appeals are resolved, the outcome likely won’t be much different from what the federal government achieved with a settlement it reached with the company just after the trial began.
That deal included a cap on service fees at some amphitheaters, plus some new ticket-selling options for promoters and venues — potentially allowing, but not requiring, them to open doors to Ticketmaster competitors such as SeatGeek or AXS.
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The trial was a backstage pass
The trial gave fans the equivalent of a backstage pass to a business that dominates live entertainment in the U.S. and beyond.
Jurors also got to see a Live Nation employee’s internal messages to another employee declaring some prices “outrageous,” calling customers “so stupid” and boasting that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” The employee, Benjamin Baker, who has since been promoted to a position as a ticketing executive, apologetically testified that the messages were “very immature and unacceptable.”
Live Nation Entertainment owns, operates, controls booking for or has an equity interest in hundreds of venues. Its subsidiary Ticketmaster is widely considered to be the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events.
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The verdict could cost Live Nation and Ticketmaster hundreds of millions of dollars, based on the jury’s estimate that customers paid an extra $1.72 per ticket. The companies could also be assessed penalties. In addition, sanctions could result in court orders that they divest themselves of some entities, including venues such as amphitheaters that they own.
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Michael Rapino, chief executive officer and president of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., arrives at Manhattan Federal court, Thursday, March 19, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
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Michael Rapino, chief executive officer and president of Live Nation Entertainment Inc., arrives at Manhattan Federal court, Thursday, March 19, 2026 in New York. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
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In its statement, Live Nation said the jury’s award of $1.72 per ticket applied to “a limited number of tickets” sold at 257 venues and representing about 20% of total tickets sold. The company estimated the aggregate single damages figure would be below $150 million, though it would be trebled.
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The civil case, initially led by the U.S. government, accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition — by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers, for example.
Live Nation denies it is a monopoly
Live Nation insisted it is not a monopoly, saying that artists, sports teams and venues decide prices and ticketing practices. A company lawyer said its size was simply a function of excellence and effort.
“Success is not against the antitrust laws in the United States,” attorney David Marriott said in his summation.
Ticketmaster was established in 1976 and merged with Live Nation in 2010. The company now controls of 86% of the market for concerts and 73% of the overall market when sports events are included, according to an attorney for the states, Jeffrey Kessler.
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Ticketmaster has long drawn ire from fans and some artists. Grunge rock titans Pearl Jam battled the business in the 1990s, even filing an anti-monopoly complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice, which declined to bring a case then.
Decades later, the Justice Department, joined by dozens of states, brought the current lawsuit during Democratic former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Days into the trial, Republican President Donald Trump’s administration announced it was settling its claims against Live Nation.
A handful of the states joined the settlement. But more than 30 pressed ahead with the trial, saying the federal government hadn’t gotten enough concessions.
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Attorneys hail verdict
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a release after the verdict that Live Nation’s “illegal, anti-competitive practices” had driven up ticket prices and made it harder for fans to see their favorite acts.
New York Attorney General Letitia James called the verdict “a landmark victory.”
After the victory, Kessler would not say specifically what the states will seek in the next phase of the litigation, which was expected to involve another lengthy legal proceeding before penalties are decided.
One expert has said you should take the fruit out of bowls for imporant reason
Katherine McPhillips and Vita Molyneux Travel reporter
03:19, 16 Apr 2026
Bananas are an incredibly versatile addition to any kitchen, whether you enjoy them sliced on toast, stirred into porridge or scattered over pancakes. Yet they rank amongst the most wasted foods in Britain, with more than a million discarded daily across the UK, largely because most households are storing them incorrectly by leaving them in a fruit bowl.
A vast number of fruits emit a substance known as ethylene gas, which is invisible to the naked eye but lingers in the air to accelerate the ripening process, softening fruit until it’s ready to eat.
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Bananas are particularly susceptible to ethylene gas despite producing considerable amounts of it themselves, and when placed alongside other fruits, they rapidly begin to deteriorate, turning into an unappetising, mushy mess within just a few days.
Fortunately, Linda Loosli, a specialist from Food Storage Moms, has revealed a straightforward method to keep bananas fresher for longer — simply remove them from the fruit bowl and wrap their stems tightly in cling film.
Linda explained: “You’re probably wondering why you’d need to go through the hassle of wrapping the banana stems with plastic wrap, but it’s pretty simple.
“When wrapped in plastic, the bananas contain more of their ethylene gas, which prevents the ripening process from happening too quickly.
“If you don’t want the bananas to end up ripening fast before you’re ready to eat them or use them to make something, this is an important trick that will extend the life of the fruit.”
Bananas emit ethylene gas via their stems, and covering them will trap the gas and assist in slowing the ripening process, reports the Express.
This technique prevents bananas from developing spots and turning brown for several additional days, though some individuals have suggested that wrapping the stems can preserve them for as long as a fortnight.
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Simply begin by positioning bananas in a distinct bowl away from your other fruit, including apples, avocados, mangoes and peaches.
Maintain a bunch of bananas connected at the stem where possible, as this also aids in reducing ethylene gas production. Subsequently, just cover the bottom of the stem with cling film.
Alternatively, you can utilise tin foil to wrap the bananas, though try to steer clear of baking paper, as it’s too porous and will allow the ethylene gas to leak into the atmosphere.
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This preservation technique is fairly straightforward, yet it remains one of the most effective methods to prolong the shelf life of bananas so you needn’t discard them.
Should you wish bananas to last considerably longer, you can also store them in the refrigerator once they’ve ripened, ensuring you never squander your fruit again.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Supreme CourtJustice Ketanji Brown Jackson has delivered a sustained attack on her conservative colleagues’ use of emergency orders to benefit the Trump administration, calling the orders “scratch-paper musings” that can “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow.”
The court’s newest justice, Jackson delivered a lengthy assessment of roughly two dozen court orders issued last year that allowed President Donald Trump to put in place controversial policies on immigration, steep federal funding cuts and other topics, after lower courts found they were likely illegal.
While designed to be short-term, those orders have largely allowed Trump to move ahead — for now — with key parts of his sweeping agenda.
Jackson spoke for nearly an hour on Monday at Yale Law School, which posted a video of the event on Wednesday.
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Last week, Justice Sonia Sotomayor similarly talked about emergency orders in an event Tuesday at the University of Alabama that also took issue with the conservatives’ approach.
Jackson has previously criticized the emergency orders both in dissenting opinions and in an unusual appearance with Justice Brett Kavanaugh last month. But her talk at Yale, addressing the public rather than the other eight justices, was notable.
She referred to orders, which often are issued with little or no explanation as “back-of-the-envelope, first-blush impressions of the merits of the legal issue.”
Worse still, she said, was that the court then insists that “those scratch-paper musings” be applied by lower courts in other cases.
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The orders suffer from an additional problem, she said, a failure to acknowledge that real people are involved, making them “seem oblivious and thus ring hollow.”
She also pushed back on the court’s assessment that preventing the president from putting his policy in place also is a harm that often outweighs what the challengers to a policy might face.
“The president of the United States, though he may be harmed in an abstract way, he certainly isn’t harmed if what he wants to do is illegal,” Jackson said during a question-and-answer session with law school dean Cristina Rodriguez.
The court used to be reluctant to step into cases early in the legal process, she said. “There is value in avoiding having the court continually touching the third rail of every divisive policy issue in American life,” Jackson said.
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While she said she couldn’t explain the change, “in recent years, the Supreme Court has taken a decidedly different approach to addressing emergency stay applications. It has been noticeably less restrained, especially with respect to pending cases that involve controversial matters.”
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Jackson, often joined by Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan, has frequently dissented.
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There have been conversations about emergency orders among the justices, Jackson said, but she decided to speak publicly with the goal of being “a catalyst for change.”
Also on Wednesday, Sotomayor issued a rare public apology to another justice, Kavanaugh, for what she termed “hurtful comments” she made last week during an appearance at the University of Kansas law school.
Referencing an opinion Kavanaugh wrote in an immigration case where the court granted an emergency order sought by the administration, Sotomayor said her colleague “probably doesn’t really know any person who works by the hour.” Her remarks were reported by Bloomberg Law.
Arsenal have secured their place in the Champions League semi-final where they will meet Atletico Madrid following a goalless draw at home to Sporting on Wednesday night.
But the Gunners, who had a 1-0 win from the first leg in Portugal last week, delivered another unconvincing performance as they registered just one shot on target against Sporting in the return fixture at the Emirates Stadium.
Arsenal now turn their attention to the Premier League this weekend as they play City at the Etihad Stadium in a game which will have a significant impact on the title race.
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Arteta’s side currently sit six points clear of City at the top of the Premier League but Pep Guardiola’s side have a game in hand and will cut that lead to three points with a win.
‘I want to see that fire at the Etihad,’ Henry told CBS Sports.
‘That’s what I want to see, it’s easy to talk, go there, at Man City, and deliver.
Arsenal will play Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-final (Getty)
‘I believe in what I see though, I believe in him Arteta, ‘the fire’, but when you talk like that you have to do it then. I didn’t see that tonight.
‘We are through, so happy, semi-final, I never won it, but I won the league though, go and win at Man City, I want to see that fire there, I believe Mikel, yes, but show it.’
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Asked how he would approach the game against City, Henry replied: ‘Not like tonight, or against Bournemouth, or Brighton away, or Mansfield, or everything that I’ve seen this season.’
Asked if the performance against Sporting would be enough to beat City, Henry laughed and replied: ‘The Man City I’ve seen recently? We’re talking about the team that won four in a row, Liverpool came in between that if not it would have been more.
‘I do believe, I’ve been saying since the beginning of the season, this year I do believe we can win the league, this is the biggest chance in your life just to prove to yourself, as a team, that we can.
Thierry Henry believes Declan Rice’s reaction to Arsenal’s draw with Sporting shows concern for the team’s performances (Getty)
‘And then people will not talk about the word they want to use that I do not want to use.
‘I do believe personally but I am sitting in a chair for CBS, there’s nothing I can do. Now I heard ‘fire’, I want to see that fire at the Etihad.
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‘If you have the face of Declan Rice go back to that, at the end of the game I stayed with his face, you had a lot of guys smiling but his face… I don’t know, maybe I need to speak to him to know what he had in his head. This is a guy who just went through to the semi-final of the Champions League.
‘There’s no positive or negative here. We are in a semi-final of a Champions League, well done, that didn’t happen a lot in history so obviously I’m over the moon. But City… I want the team to win there, not draw, statement.’
As warmer weather approaches, homeowners are taking their garden furniture out of storage to prepare their gardens for summer
A garden expert is urging Brits to not make this ‘common mistake’ with their outdoor furniture as it could cause damage to your lawn. As warmer weather approaches, homeowners are taking their garden furniture out of storage to prepare their gardens for summer.
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But green-thumbed individuals are being urged not to commit a common mistake with their tables and chairs that can lead to mould, rust or rotting and could damage your grass. Matthew Lock, a garden furniture specialist at Luxus Home and Garden, revealed that placing wooden furniture on the lawn can cause damage to the item and your grass.
This is because prolonged exposure to moisture from the grass can damage the wooden legs or table and chairs which can lead to damp stains, mould or rot. If you place metal outdoor furniture on grass, Matthew also warns it could cause these items to rust too.
Mathew also warns that putting your table on grass in the summertime can damage your lawn as the heavy item can prevent sunlight and air reaching it. This may eventually lead to your grass dying, leaving you with ‘dead patches’ all over your lawn. To combat these issues, Matthew says garden furniture should be placed on a decked area or patio if possible.
If you’re not able to avoid putting your table and chairs on the grass, you should use protective gliders and make sure the wooden feet don’t directly touch the damp earth below. To prevent your lawn from dying, he suggests rotating your garden furniture regularly to ensure all your grass gets exposure to the elements.
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Matthew said: “Garden furniture can be an integral part of making our outdoor spaces a comfortable and enjoyable place to be. However, it’s important to consider where you can maximise its functionality and keep it protected from the elements.
“A common mistake many homeowners make is to place wooden garden furniture on the lawn, which can damage both the item and the grass. Prolonged exposure to moisture can damage a wooden item’s legs and can lead to damp stains, mould or rot, while metal furniture can be prone to rusting.
“On top of that, leaving heavy items on the lawn can harm the grass, preventing sunlight and air from reaching it and eventually leaving behind dead patches. The best place to locate garden furniture is on a stable surface such as a decked area or patio. If this isn’t possible and it must be on the lawn, it’s best to choose items that have protective gliders or feet at the bottom to prevent wood from being directly exposed to damp turf.
“It’s also a good idea to rotate locations regularly to prevent dead patches on your lawn.” Now that spring is in full swing, attention is seeing more Brits spending more time in outdoor spaces.
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Homeowners are being advised that it now appears to be a good time to take garden furniture out of storage if it has been kept inside or under covers through the winter. Good-quality wooden items can last decades if cared for properly, including regular cleaning and maintenance.
Matthew said: “A deep clean with warm, soapy water and a soft bristle brush can make a world of difference, while an equal parts white vinegar and water solution can be used to tackle stubborn dirt or grime. When the item has dried, it may be worth applying a protective sealer, which is recommended every 12 to 18 months, depending on the type of wood.”
British-born Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, has been charged after a string of brutal attacks on Monday, April 13 left two women dead and a man fighting for his life
02:02, 16 Apr 2026Updated 02:13, 16 Apr 2026
A British-born man is at the centre of an alleged killing spree described as “pure acts of evil”.
Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, has been charged after the string of brutal attacks on Monday leaving two women dead and a man fighting for his life.
The killing of the DHS worker, Lauren Bullis, and shootings of the two other victims on Monday led the homeland security secretary Markwayne Mullin to issue a statement raising concerns that the 26-year-old suspect, British native Olaolukitan Adon Abel, was granted US citizenship in 2022.
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Mr Mullin’s statement reads: ” On Monday, a DHS employee, Lauren Bullis, was brutally shot and stabbed to death by Olaolukitan Adon Abel, a 26-year-old, born in the United Kingdom, who was naturalized by the Biden Administration in 2022. Since President Trump took office, @USCIS has implemented measures to ensure individuals with criminal histories and who otherwise lack good moral character do not attain citizenship.
Mr Mullun added: “He [Olaolukitan] stands accused of murdering @DHSgov employee Lauren Bullis by shooting and stabbing her while she walked her dog. He has also been arrested for the murder of an unidentified woman whom he reportedly shot outside a Checkers, before randomly shooting a homeless man multiple times outside a Kroger in Brookhaven.
“These acts of pure evil have devastated our Department and my prayers are with the families of the victims.”
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The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement: “We are deeply saddened to confirm that Lauren Bullis, a beloved member of the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General team, has tragically passed away.
“She was a respected colleague whose contributions and presence will be greatly missed. We extend our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends, as well as to the families, friends, and communities of the additional victims.”
The Brookhaven Police Department have confirmed all three attacks were connected and issued the following statement: “The Brookhaven Police Department has arrested and charged Olaolukitan Adon Abel, 26, of Atlanta with Aggravated Assault and Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony in connection with the shooting that occurred earlier this morning at Cherokee Plaza, located at 3855 Peachtree Road.
“On April 13, 2026, at approximately 1:59 a.m., Brookhaven officers responded to the Cherokee Plaza Shopping Center in reference to a person being shot. Upon arrival, officers located a 49-year-old male suffering from gunshot wounds. The victim was transported to a local hospital for treatment, where he remains in critical condition.
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“Through the use of the Brookhaven Police Department’s Operation Plugged In Camera Network, along with coordinated law enforcement efforts, detectives were able to quickly develop leads and positively identify the shooter.
“This afternoon, Adon Abel was taken into custody without incident by the Georgia Department of Public Safety in Troup County following coordination with Brookhaven detectives. Further investigation has revealed that Adon Abel is also responsible for other shootings that occurred earlier in unincorporated DeKalb County.
“This remains an active and ongoing investigation. The Brookhaven Police Department is working closely with the DeKalb County Police Department and state partners to ensure all aspects of these incidents are thoroughly investigated.”
Forecasters predict the nation’s capital will reach 93 degrees (33.9 Celsius) late Wednesday afternoon, with similar highs expected on Thursday.
This intense heat is highly unusual for April, not only due to its early arrival but also its anticipated duration, with near-record temperatures forecast to persist into the upcoming weekend.
While inland areas saw temperatures soar into the 80s, the Jersey Shore offered a slight reprieve. Hundreds took advantage of the pleasant spring day Wednesday, strolling along boardwalks where a gentle breeze kept temperatures approximately 15 degrees cooler by the water.
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The early-season heat can be more stressful on people’s bodies since they haven’t had a chance to acclimate (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez, File)
“After all the nasty cold and snow we had to deal with this winter, this is our payback,” New Yorker Javier Estrada, 19, said while taking a break from a beach football game in Seaside Park, New Jersey.
“I’m here with my buds, we’re having a blast and God is smiling on us,” he said. “What more can you ask for?”
The potentially dangerous heat comes as pieces of the roof of Yost Ice Arena, one of the nation’s oldest college hockey arenas, were found scattered by a storm Wednesday in nearby yards in Ann Arbor, Michigan. That arena and another one in the same community — a city ice rink — were both damaged by the severe weather that struck Michigan overnight Tuesday into Wednesday morning. Severe storms earlier this week also tore through Kansas, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
While it’s not unprecedented to see high temperatures climb toward 90 degrees (32 Celsius) on an April day, the length of such an April heat wave is rarely seen, experts say.
“That’s borderline unprecedented as far as the duration of it this time of year,” said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at the forecasting firm AccuWeather.com.
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Feerick said that starting Wednesday “we’re going to have records challenged from basically Georgia all the way up through the New York City area and back toward the Ohio Valley.”
The National Weather Service is projecting a high temperature of around 86 degrees (30 Celsius) for Central Park in New York City on Wednesday. The record high for the date is 87, set in 1941.
Even hotter weather is expected in Philadelphia, where Wednesday’s high is expected to be 92 degrees (33 C). Other likely hot spots include Washington, D.C., which could see a high of 94 (34 C); and Atlanta, where the high is projected to be 88 (31 C).
“It’s really some very impressive heat for the middle of April, for sure,” Feerick said.
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“The good thing about this is that the humidity is not summertime levels,” he added. That means it won’t feel as hot as a sizzling July day.
The early-season heat can be more stressful on people’s bodies since they haven’t had a chance to acclimate.
Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer in the U.S., the weather service warns. Infants and young children; older adults, people with chronic medical conditions and pregnant women are especially vulnerable to heat-related injuries and death.
A strong ridge of high pressure fueling moisture into the southern plains was responsible for bringing the unusual heat to the eastern U.S., the weather service said.
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Though Wednesday is a day when many records could fall, the heat wave will continue through Friday in many areas, forecasters said.
“Widespread lower to even middle 90s are expected Friday across the lower elevations of the Carolinas, which could set additional daily records and perhaps come close to some monthly records,” the agency’s Weather Prediction Center wrote in a memo.
The heat wave should finally be breaking down by Sunday as a strong cold front moves toward the Eastern Seaboard, and then it should be “pleasantly cooler” by Monday with the front heading out to sea, the weather service said.
In Seaside Park, Tom Larkin, 48, of Toms River, New Jersey, and his 3-year-old Labrador retriever, Vader, were among those strolling on the boardwalk.
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“He just loves to see people and get petted, so what should be a 20-minute walk usually ends up taking about an hour and a half at least,” Larkin joked as Vader made friends with passersby.
“But on a day like this I don’t mind the extra time here,” he said. “The people are great and the scenery is gorgeous, and it’s not too crowded yet, like it will get after Memorial Day.”
The advancement in North Korean nuclear weapons comes at a time when the topic of nuclear warfare is rife amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East over nuclear capabilities
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog has said that North Korea has made “very serious” progress in its ability to produce nuclear weapons.
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This comes at a time when the topic of nuclear warfare is rife amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East over what the US says is a result of Iranian nuclear capabilities.
North Korea is believed to have assembled about 50 nuclear warheads, but some experts are sceptical of its claims that it is able to miniaturise them to be attached to long-range ballistic missiles, the Guardian reported.
Speaking during a visit to the South Korean capital, Seoul, on Wednesday, April 15, Head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi confirmed reports of a rapid rise in activity at the country’s main nuclear complex, Yongbyon.
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He said work had intensified at Yongbyon’s 5MW reactor, reprocessing unit, light water reactor and other facilities. North Korea is believed to possess several dozen nuclear warheads.
Since conducting its first nuclear test two decades ago, the regime has acquired what some experts say is a workable nuclear capability that includes intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the US mainland.
Under leader Kim Jong Un, the country has ramped up its nuclear weapons programme in defiance of UN sanctions.
Observers view this as attempt to reduce the likelihood that it could one day be a target for regime change by the US.
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Grossi’s comments came as a US thinktank said North Korea appeared to have completed a building intended for uranium enrichment at the nuclear complex.
Beyond Parallel, at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said this week that satellite imagery indicated the new facility was nearing operational readiness, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
The thinktank said the suspected new enrichment facility at Yongbyon and another at a site in Kangson near the capital Pyongyang had not been declared to international nuclear authorities.
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It said production of enriched uranium “would significantly increase the number of nuclear weapons North Korea could possess”.
The report matched an assessment issued by the IAEA in June last year in which it said the regime was building an enrichment facility at Yongbyon that could be used to produce weapons-grade material.
In March, Grossi said there was no evidence of “significant change” at the North’s main nuclear testing site at Punggye-ri, but added that it was still capable of supporting nuclear tests.
He called North Korea’s nuclear programme a “clear violation” of UN security council resolutions.
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He also said that the agency “continues to maintain its enhanced readiness to play its essential role in verifying [North Korea’s] nuclear programme”.
The country has not conducted a nuclear test since 2017, but it has demonstrated advances in its missile technology and increased its stockpile of weapons. This is in line with Kim’s comments last August to pursue a “rapid expansion of nuclearisation”.
Diplomatic efforts to rein in North Korea’s nuclear ambitions have faltered after unsuccessful summits between Kim and US President Donald Trump during his first term and a deterioration in ties between the regime and neighbouring South Korea.
Arsenal are through to the Champions League semi-finals for the second successive season after beating Sporting CP.
Mikel Arteta’s side beat Bayer Leverkusen 3-1 on aggregate in the last 16, having topped the league phase table with a 100 per cent record after seeing off all of Kairat, Inter Milan, Club Brugge, Bayern Munich, Slavia Prague, Atletico Madrid, Olympiacos and Athletic Club.
Their only final appearance to date was in 2005/06, when they lost 2-1 to Barcelona in Paris.
Arteta will hope the Champions League can still form part of a memorable trophy double this season after his team lost the Carabao Cup final to Manchester City and were then ousted from the FA Cup in a quarter-final shock against Southampton to end their quadruple and treble dreams.
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Arsenal have a six-point lead at the Premier League summit with six games left to play this term after being stunned at home by Bournemouth last time out and face a crunch trip on Sunday to title rivals City – who have a game in hand.
Who will Arsenal play in Champions League semi-finals?
With the Champions League draw process for the season having been completed ahead of the last 16, Arsenal went into the second leg against Sporting already knowing who would be awaiting next if they won the tie.
That is because their next opponents were in action on Tuesday night, with the Gunners or Sporting mapped to face the winners of the high-profile all-LaLiga showdown between Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.
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Atletico came through against their domestic rivals despite a second-leg wobble that saw them lose 2-1 at home at the Metropolitano Stadium, with Ademola Lookman’s first-half goal proving crucial following an early double by Lamine Yamal and Ferran Torres. Barca’s Eric Garcia was sent off late on.
Torres saw another goal crucially disallowed for offside following a VAR check as Atleti held on, having shocked the Camp Nou with a 2-0 first-leg triumph thanks to goals from Julian Alvarez and Alexander Sorloth after Pau Cubarsi was dismissed. It was revenge after Barca had beaten them 2-1 in LaLiga.
Atletico have only beaten Arsenal once before – in the 2017/18 Europa League semi-finals
Getty Images
Diego Simeone’s men will be looking to reach a first Champions League final since 2016, when they lost their second in three years to rivals Real Madrid.
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Their only previous meetings were in the 2017/18 Europa League semi-finals, when Arsenal drew 1-1 at home before losing 1-0 away during Arsene Wenger’s final season in charge.
Arsenal will be away in the first leg against Atletico, with an 8pm BST kick-off scheduled on Wednesday, April 29. The return fixture at the Emirates will be at the same time on Tuesday, May 5. The final is at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30.
The Banks Group, first formed commercial ties with the club more than three decades ago and continues to play a key role in its growth and development.
Its sponsorship includes naming rights to the Banks Homes Riverside Stadium in Chester-le-Street and branding on the men’s, women’s and junior pathway teams’ kits.
Harry Banks OBE DL, chairman and chief executive at the Banks Group, said: “The start of a new cricket season is always a landmark time in our business year and the connection with our 50th anniversary celebrations makes this season an especially important one for us.
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“We’ve been part of the Durham Cricket story for over 35 years and are looking forward to seeing all the club’s teams and players succeeding through the summer.”
Founded in Tow Law in 1976, Banks first backed Durham Cricket before it achieved First Class county status.
The company sponsored the under-19 team in 1989 and later helped the club gain First Class status after a 70-year wait.
Banks has long supported junior cricket development, helping to create the nursery ground at the Riverside and sponsoring boys’ and girls’ age group teams for many years.
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Russ Hall, managing director at Banks Homes, said: “Our partnership with Durham Cricket has helped to increase our brand visibility as we’ve expanded our portfolio of high-quality residential developments across the North East and Yorkshire, and we’re excited to be taking our place for a new season at the iconic Banks Homes Riverside ground.”
The company’s support for cricket extends well beyond Durham.
Banks has invested in grassroots cricket throughout the North East by sponsoring league and cup competitions and providing grants to clubs.
It recently renewed its sponsorship of the North East Premier League, a partnership that dates back to the league’s formation 27 years ago.
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Banks has also sponsored Northumberland County Cricket Club for the past eight years, with the team wearing the Banks Homes brand in National Counties Cricket Championship matches.
Tim Bostock, chief executive at Durham Cricket, said: “It is great to celebrate our second year with Banks Group as Durham’s principal partner.
“Banks Group has been a long-term partner of Durham Cricket who have supported us for over 30 years, and it is fantastic to continue to work alongside the group.
“Banks Group is a progressive, community-minded partner that aligns with our Northern culture, sharing our passion for community spirit and cricket.
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“Everyone at the club is excited about the coming years, in what is an exciting time for English cricket, as we continue to move forward both on and off the field.”
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