P&O Ferries owner, DP World, will now attend the UK’s investment summit on Monday, despite a row over a minister’s criticism of the firm.

It had been feared they might pull out from the summit – where they were expected to announce a £1bn investment – after Transport Secretary Louise Haigh criticised the ferry firm and urged consumers to boycott the company.

An expansion of the firm’s London Gateway port, in Essex, is likely to go ahead, with an announcement expected by some in the coming days.

Whitehall sources said on Saturday that there had been “warm engagement” between senior figures in the firm and the government since Sir Keir Starmer distanced himself from his minister’s remarks.

The government is hosting the International Investment Summit, where it hopes to attract billions of pounds of investment.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the summit would “show Britain is open for business” as it looks to enable economic growth.

Speaking to the BBC’s Newcast on Friday, Sir Keir said Haigh’s comments were “not the view of the government”.

The prime minister is understood not to have been directly involved in talks with DP World, nor has he personally spoken to Haigh about her remarks.

DP World has said the expansion of the London Gateway port would bring Thurrock hundreds of jobs.

The row started after Haigh described P&O as a “rogue operator” in an interview with ITV on Wednesday, after it sacked nearly 800 seafarers in 2022 and replaced them with cheaper workers.

Asked whether she used the ferry service, she said: “I’ve been boycotting P&O Ferries for two-and-a-half years and I would encourage consumers to do the same.”

DP World insisted the move was needed for the survival of the ferry operator and to secure thousands of jobs.

Haigh’s comments in the interview coincided with the Department for Transport announcing new legislation aimed at protecting seafarers from what it described as “rogue employers”.

In that announcement, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was quoted calling P&O Ferries’ prior actions “outrageous”.

But senior government figures previously told the BBC that they were incensed by the suggestion that consumers boycott the ferry firm.

Haigh’s comments also attracted criticism from the Conservatives, with shadow business secretary Kevin Hollinrake arguing Labour “don’t understand business”.

However, the Labour chair of the House of Commons Business and Trade Committee, Liam Byrne, defended Haigh.

She had been “absolutely right to say that the behaviour of P&O, owned by DP World, in the past has been completely unacceptable”, he said.

The row has exposed a tension between the new government’s desire to attract business and strengthen workers’ rights.

SITTING at an altitude of 26,000ft is a multi-coloured valley littered with the frozen remains of the victims of Mount Everest.

Dubbed the “Rainbow Valley”, the area under the northern ridge of the world’s tallest peak is lined with the colourful jackets of trekkers who have died attempting to summit the mountain.

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Other than the chilling bodies, there is a colourful array of tents, cans, and oxygen tanks dumped in the area.

The rainbow-coloured graveyard – also known as the “death zone” – is a grim reminder to eager mountain climbers striving to reach the peak.

While some climbers achieve the remarkable feat, others give up and return.

And sadly others perish on the mountainside, many of them never to be seen again.

More than 5,000 have scaled it since it was first climbed by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Recently, the foot thought to belong to a British mountaineer who vanished on Mount Everest 100 years ago has been found by documentary makers.

Andrew Comyn “Sandy” Irvine was last seen with George Mallory 800ft from the peak.

Mallory’s body was found in 1999.

The foot, in a boot and a sock embroidered “AC Irvine” was discovered lower down in melting ice on a glacier below the North Face.

National Geographic Explorer Jimmy Chin, who was a member of the climb team, said: “Sometimes in life, the greatest discoveries occur when you aren’t even looking.

“This was a monumental and emotional moment for us and our entire team on the ground, and we just hope this can finally bring peace of mind to his relatives and the climbing world at large.”

While the brave mountaineer wasn’t found in the stretch dubbed Rainbow Valley, hundreds of other bodies lie there – some still undiscovered beneath the snows.

The freezing conditions have meant that themany bodies of the would-be explorers are forever entombed and preserved on the mountainside.

The cost of recovering the body is more than £53,500 and can often lead to further deaths.

According to some estimates, more than 327 people have died on the mountain between 1922 and 1923.

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The brutal conditions make the trek near impossible, as thin oxygen levels, harsh weather and strong gusts of wind compound the cramped and narrow trail.

The high altitude is also a problem for even the most experienced climbers, with many taking extra oxygen tanks to combat altitude sickness.

Besides altitude illnesses, other factors, such as extreme cold, avalanches, falling, and exhaustion, also result in deaths in Rainbow Valley.

Everest once claimed nine lives in 11 days, including Brit climber Robin Haynes Fisher.

Fisher was just 150m from the summit when he became ill in the mountain’s notorious “death zone”, known for its low levels of oxygen.

And three climbers died after waiting 12 hours to visit the summit due to overcrowding.

All of them died of exhaustion on the way back down the mountain, bringing the death toll up to seven in just one week.

‘Green Boots’

Arguably the most famous of the bodies on Everest was dubbed “Green Boots” by other climbers, after his distinctive footwear.

Surrounded by oxygen bottles, the huddled man’s frozen body lay for years where he died trying to shelter, in a rock crevice now known as “Green Boots’ Cave”.

Climbers actually had to step over the unfortunate adventurer’s legs on their way to and from the peak – and often stopped to rest and have a snack in the cave, alongside the body.

The corpse is widely believed to belong to Tsewang Paljor, from India, who died during a blizzard in 1996.

The body was recently moved, although the circumstances around what happened to it remain unclear, with some reports claiming the body was finally buried on the mountain by other climbers.

Who is Andrew Irvine?

By Vera Demertzis, Foreign News Reporter

THE REMAINS of British mountaineer Andrew ‘Sandy’ Irvine were recently found on Mt Everest, 100 years after he attempted to climb Mt Everest alongside Geroge Mallory.

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Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, Andrew was one of six children of historian Willam Fergusson Irvine and Lilian Davies-Colley.

At the age of 22, he and George Mallory attempted to climb Mount Everest.

During the expedition, he made major and crucial innovations to the expedition’s professionally designed oxygen sets, radically improving their functionality, lightness, and strength.

Mallory and Irvine began their ascent on 6 June, and by the end of the next day, the pair had established a final two-man camp at 26,800ft.

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It is not known what happened, however the duo perished and laid undiscovered for several decades.

Mallory’s body was discovered in 1999. The remains of Irvine were recently discovered in 2024 by a documentary crew.

Irvine’s great-niece Julie Summers, said she’d been “moved to tears” on being told of the discovery.

“I have lived with this story since I was a seven-year-old when my father told us about the mystery of Uncle Sandy on Everest,” she said.

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“The story became more real when climbers found the body of George Mallory in 1999, and I wondered if Sandy’s body would be discovered next.

“A quarter-of-a-century after that discovery, it seemed extremely unlikely that anything new would be found.

“When Jimmy told me that he saw the name AC Irvine on the label on the sock inside the boot, I found myself moved to tears. It was and will remain an extraordinary and poignant moment.”

Relatives have agreed to DNA tests.

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‘Sleeping Beauty’

The body known as “Sleeping Beauty” is that of American Francys Arsentiev, who died with her husband Sergei as they tried to scale the mountain together.

Francys made it to the top in 1998, becoming the first American woman to do so without oxygen, but ran into trouble on the way down.

The couple became stranded and separated overnight, and Sergei suffered a fatal fall trying to rescue his wife, who had collapsed.

Climbers Ian Woodall and Cathy O’Dowd came across her and gave up their summit bid to stay with her before they were forced to descend for their own safety.

Woodall eventually returned in 2007 to find the body, wrap it in an American flag and lower it from the mountain’s edge out of view – likely to the same resting place as her husband.

David Sharp

David Sharp, 34, From Teesside, was one of those to stop and rest in Green Boots’ Cave – but tragically died there.

He was found huddled in the cave on the brink of death in 2006, with reports claiming more than 40 others passed him on their way to the summit without helping.

The Brit climber had been attempting to climb the mountain alone – with no guide, no radio and just two bottles of oxygen, rather than the standard five, according to reports.

He is believed to have achieved his goal but ran into trouble on the way down.

His body was eventually removed from the trail at the request of his parents.

George Mallory

The body of Brit climber George Mallory was only discovered in 1999 – 75 years after he disappeared on the mountain.

Mallory was part of an ill-fated 1924 expedition to become the first team to reach the summit.

The intrepid explorer once declared Everest to be a symbol of “man’s desire to conquer the Universe” – telling reporters he wanted to climb it “because it’s there”.

But he and climbing partner Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappeared, with an ice axe found in the snow the only trace of them for the best part of a century.

Mallory’s body was found preserved in the snow by the American mountaineer Conrad Anker in 1999.

Irvine’s body was never found.

It remains a mystery whether they made it to the summit, which would have made them the first people to successfully climb the mountain – some 30 years before Norgay and Hillary.

Despite the risks, brave trekkers continue to put one foot in front of the other knowing their last step could be potentially fatal.

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Iran’s government is extremely nervous and has been engaging in urgent diplomatic efforts with countries in the Middle East to gauge whether they can reduce the scale of Israel’s response to its missile attack earlier this month and – if that fails – help protect Tehran, sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Iran’s anxiety stems from uncertainty about whether the US can convince Israel not to strike Iranian nuclear sites and oil facilities, and the fact that its most important proxy militia in the region, Hezbollah, has been significantly weakened by Israeli military operations in recent weeks, the sources said.

The US has been consulting with Israel on how it plans to respond to Iran’s October 1 attack, and US officials have made clear they do not want Israel to target Iranian nuclear sites or oil fields. US President Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, their first conversation in almost two months, telling him Israel’s retaliation should be “proportional.”

The US’ Gulf allies, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Qatar, have also expressed concern to the US about a potential attack on Iranian oil facilities, which could create negative economic and environmental impacts for the entire region, an Arab diplomat told CNN.

The Biden administration is deeply worried that the ongoing tit-for-tat attacks between Iran and Israel, which began earlier this year after Israel struck what Iran said was its consulate building in Damascus, could spiral into a major regional war that pulls the US in, too.

A major part of the fears is that the US’ influence with Israel has appeared to be steadily waning over the last year. Similarly to its operations in Gaza, Israel has increasingly disregarded the US’ calls for more restraint in Lebanon, where Israel’s intense bombing campaign and ground offensive has killed over 1,400 people since late last month.

Israel also did not consult with the US before conducting a massive attack that exploded thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies used by Hezbollah operatives last month, or before assassinating Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and upending a delicate ceasefire proposal that had been put forward by the US and France less than 48 hours earlier.

Israel’s security cabinet has not yet reached a decision on how to proceed, an Israeli official told CNN on Friday. And while the gap between the US and Israeli positions is narrowing, it may not remain that way, a US official said.

“We can’t actually know whether they voted or not,” a senior administration official said of the Israeli cabinet’s discussions, expressing skepticism over the level of transparency about what Israel is sharing with the US. The official suggested they can’t “put too much stock in the machinations” of the Israeli government.

As of last week, Israel had not given any assurances that it would not target Iran’s nuclear facilities, CNN reported.

Israel has for decades been planning attacks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, and just two years ago simulated striking them in a military exercise. Israel is also suspected of carrying out assassinations against Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years, and Iran’s nuclear facilities have come under siege from cyberattacks, likely from Israel—the most famous being the Stuxnet virus, which was able to penetrate Iran’s Natanz nuclear facility.

‘Our strike will be powerful’

Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant issued a strong warning to Iran about his country’s response on Wednesday.

“Our strike will be powerful, precise, and above all – surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened,” Gallant said.

The Gulf states, broadly, are eager to stay on the sidelines of the conflict, the Arab diplomat said. While Iran has publicly warned that any parties seen as aiding Israel will be treated as aggressors, it is also unlikely that Iran’s neighbors would explicitly come to Tehran’s defense in the event of an Israeli attack.

But Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have told both the US and Iran that they will not allow Israel to use their airspace to strike Iran, the Arab diplomat and another source familiar with the matter told CNN. Jordan also will protect its airspace from any unauthorized intrusion, regardless of the origin, a Jordanian official said.

The US does not believe that Iran wants to become entangled in a full-scale war with Israel, and Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Al Jazeera this week that Netanyahu “is the only one who wants a war and to set the region on fire to stay in power.”

But the US has still urged Tehran, through backchannels, to calibrate its response if Israel attacks, an official said.

While Qatar regularly speaks to the Iranians and relays back to the US what they say, the US official said that ultimately “we just do not know what [Iran] will do.” Key voices within Iran will have different ideas about if and how to respond to Israel, but that will depend on the scale and scope of the highly anticipated Israeli move, another US official said.

This official said that messaging from Iran has been consistent both publicly and privately since Tehran launched its barrage of missiles at Israel earlier this month and there has not been a significant change in messaging.

Iran has been particularly interested in getting help from Saudi Arabia in preventing an Israeli attack and using their influence with Washington to help find a solution to the crisis, the Arab diplomat told CNN.

Officials from each country have met three times in less than a month, and Araghchi traveled to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to “consult on regional developments” and to “try to stop the crimes of the Zionist regime in Lebanon and Gaza,” he told local media.

The world is watching Israel’s every move as it contemplates how to respond. But at least until Saturday at sundown, Israel will be at a standstill to mark Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the year in Judaism. And though it’s not impossible Israel might launch action, shops, restaurants and other services will be closed, public transport will not be operating and even the country’s main airport — the Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv — will be shut down.

CNN’s Kayla Tausche, Dania Karni and Katie Bo Lillis contributed reporting.

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Medical Properties Trust (NYSE: MPW) is my largest investment in a single real estate investment trust (REIT). I built that position up over a decade and a half by steadily buying more shares of the healthcare REIT. The main draw was its high-yielding dividend.

That investment paid off for a long time. However, the healthcare REIT has come under tremendous pressure in recent years due to an issue I completely overlooked: tenant concentration. Medical Properties Trust leased a significant percentage of its hospital portfolio to two tenants, which cost the company and its shareholders dearly when it ran into financial troubles. That taught me to pay much closer attention to customer concentration and quality when investing in any company.

Not diversified enough

Medical Properties Trust is one of the largest owners of hospital real estate in the world. It owns several hundred facilities leased to many different hospital operators. However, two tenants comprised a meaningful percentage of its total assets and revenues for many years. For example, at the end of 2022, the REIT’s rent roll consisted of:

Data source: Medical Properties Trust.

While the REIT had over 50 tenants, five supplied more than 60% of its revenue. That became an issue as Steward Health Care and Prospect Medical Holdings ran into financial troubles.

Those issues led the REIT to work with these large tenants to help them navigate their financial problems. For example, in May 2023, Medical Properties Trust reconstituted its $1.6 billion investment in properties leased to Prospect Medical Holdings in a series of transactions. It converted some leases into an equity interest in that company’s managed care business. Meanwhile, it temporarily suspended rents in California, with partial repayments resuming last September and full rent commencing this past March.

Medical Properties Trust also tried to keep Steward afloat by providing financial assistance and temporarily reducing its rent. However, those efforts weren’t enough, and Steward filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. The REIT was finally able to sever its relationship with Steward last month, which enabled it to find new tenants for many of the properties it formerly leased to that company.

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The REIT’s issues with two of its largest tenants weighed heavily on its stock price (shares are down nearly 80% from their peak a few years ago). It has had to sell properties leased to financially stronger tenants to repay maturing debt. It also cut its dividend twice.

Lessons learned

The biggest lesson I’ve learned from investing in Medical Properties Trust is to carefully consider customer concentration and quality when investing. The higher the concentration of a single customer, the greater the risk that the client’s issues will become a problem for that investment. Likewise, if a company has a high concentration of financially weaker clients, that could also impact my investment in the future.

Medical Properties Trust has learned this lesson the hard way. That’s led it to focus on diversifying its tenant base by bringing in higher-quality tenants. For example, it agreed to lease its entire Utah hospital portfolio to CommonSpirit Health last year after the healthcare company acquired Steward’s operations at those facilities. CommonSpirit has strong investment-grade credit, which enhances its ability to meet its financial obligations. Securing such a high-quality tenant for those facilities enabled the REIT to sell a majority interest in the real estate to another investor to raise additional cash. Meanwhile, it recently agreed to replace Steward at 15 other properties with four high-quality operators as part of its bankruptcy settlement with Steward.

As a result of that agreement, the REIT has achieved the objectives it laid out in its second-quarter earnings conference call. CFO Steve Hamner stated, “Looking through the calendar to 2025 and into 2026, our expectation is that we will have a stable portfolio of hospital real estate leased to key operators in their respective markets with no exposure to Steward.” With that goal achieved, the REIT can focus on rebuilding its portfolio by adding new properties leased to high-quality operators to continue diversifying its tenant base. That should also enable it to rebuild its dividend.

It’s important to dig a little deeper

I didn’t pay enough attention to Medical Properties Trust’s tenant concentration as I built my position, which proved costly. However, I learned a valuable lesson: Analyze a company’s client base and quality because that could have a meaningful impact on its future results. Medical Properties Trust learned that costly lesson as well. With its tenant quality improving and its rent roll more diversified, it’s in a much better position to deliver the stable income and growth I initially expected as I built my position. That’s why I plan to continue holding, believing it can eventually make a full recovery.

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Buying Medical Properties Trust Taught Me a Costly Lesson was originally published by The Motley Fool

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The UK’s independent food safety watchdog will investigate lead levels in food produced near abandoned lead mines after the impact of the toxic metal on human health was highlighted by a Financial Times investigation.

The UK has 6,630 abandoned lead mines that continue to disperse the metal into the environment each year. Lead can accumulate in waterways and soil before being consumed by animals and entering the food chain. 

In a letter seen by the Financial Times, Professor Alan Boobis, chair of the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, told Conservative MP Julian Smith that the Food Standards Agency would conduct a risk assessment.

The FSA’s review of “dietary lead as part of its risk analysis programme” would take “into account hotspots where exposure is likely to be higher, including the specific concern regarding old lead mines”, said Boobis, whose independent group advises the FSA and the Department of Health and Social Care.

Consumed by humans, lead has a devastating impact on almost every organ in the body, with any level of exposure capable of having a harmful effect, according to the World Health Organization.

Yet the UK’s Veterinary Medicines Directorate, an agency of the environment department, tests just between 400 and 450 samples of meat, milk, fish and honey for the presence of lead and other heavy metals each year. Experts say testing such a small number of food items offers an insufficient assessment.

This year Boobis said he “agreed with the conclusion” of an FT investigation that found the scale of lead toxicity present in farm animals reared for human consumption was unknown, and said ministers should assess the scale of lead contamination “from farm to plate” in the food chain.

Scientists and farmers rearing animals for human consumption have previously said the FSA should be concerned about people living near old lead mine sites, and who might be growing their own vegetables and eating locally produced eggs. 

Last year a study funded by the Welsh government identified potentially harmful levels of lead in eggs produced on two small farms downstream from abandoned lead mines in west Wales.

A young child eating one or two of the eggs per day “could become cognitively impaired”, according to the research. Small-scale studies of vegetables grown on the farms indicated they too contained “elevated, and potentially toxic, concentrations” of lead, according to the full study.

Boobis added in his letter to Smith: “Lead is an issue that cuts across a number of government departments, so it will be important to ensure an integrated assessment.”

Smith, whose constituency of Skipton and Ripon in North Yorkshire has an estimated 412 old lead mines, said: “Lead risk needs a root-and-branch assessment and the FSA should deliver nothing less.”

Mark Willis, head of chemical contaminants at the FSA, said the agency kept “all contaminants in food under review as part of its rolling programme of risk analysis work”.

“The outcome of a future review of lead will inform any advice to ministers on whether changes to legislation are recommended,” he added.

NEIGHBOURS are fuming over an “eyesore” derelict estate – with one defiant local refusing to leave so the block can be flattened.

The block in Swanscombe, Kent has been boarded up and earmarked for demolition after the local council ruled out pricey repairs.

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Flats in the building had been dogged by damp, weak foundations and cracked windows and ceilings.

The council gave tenants a one-off payment of £7,800 as compensation for moving out.

Most of them took the money and left – but one resident is staying put.

Demolition plans were confirmed last week but have been postponed because of the last man standing.

Neighbours Miranda Richards told the Kent Messenger: “When I walk past it from my car late at night, it is scary.

“I don’t like walking past a derelict building. There used to be trees there to mask the flats but they have come down.”

Another neighbour said: “It’s an eyesore. There is always fly-tipping there.”

Ward councillor Emma Ben Moussa said: “The uncertainty for the residents around the area has been quite unfair.

“They have been left like that for a while now. Whatever decision is going to be made I would like it to be made quite quickly.

“They should know what is happening as they have been left in limbo.”

Dartford Council said: “The council is currently considering future options for the use of the site.”

A spokesperson added: “We await the final residents to vacate the block.

“Once the block is vacant, a proposal with recommendations will be made to the council’s cabinet.”