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Protests by the environmental group, which wants the government to halt new licences for the exploration of oil and other fossil fuels in the UK, include blocking roads and disrupting sporting events. What is Just Stop Oil and what does it want? Peers defeat plans to curb protest disruption Shadow international trade secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds said Labour had been "extremely clear on our views on Just Stop Oil". "What they are doing is entirely counterproductive and the only debate it's provoking is about our public order laws," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. However, he said Mr Vince, who founded green energy company Ecotricity and chairs League Two football club Forest Green Rovers, is a "successful businessman here in the UK" and "a perfectly legitimate person to take money from". "If he wishes to give money to other causes that's up to him but it can hardly be said that this affects our views as a Labour Party on Just Stop Oil," he added. Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has previously described Just Stop Oil protesters as "arrogant" and "wrong" and said his party would introduce strict sentences for those who block roads. Mr Vince's company Ecotricity has made several large donations to the Labour party, as well as to leader Sir Keir, deputy leader Angela Rayner and Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. The company also donated £70,000 to the Liberal Democrats in 2015/16 and £30,000 to the Green Party in 2013. Mr Vince said alleged links between Labour and Just Stop Oil were "a lot of fuss" and being concocted by ring-wing media, who he called "desperate". He told the BBC: "I don't want to harm the cause - Labour's cause. I don't think I am either." The entrepreneur confirmed he had a telephone call with Sir Keir last week, which was their second conversation. He said Just Stop Oil had not come up in the conversation but that he would not stop funding the campaign group even if Labour asked him to. Conservative Party chairman Greg Hands has called for Labour to return the donations, claiming they could have influenced the party's decision to vote against tougher measures to deal with disruption caused by protesters. Mr Hands suggested Labour had already "caved into demands" from Just Stop Oil by promising to halt new North Sea oil and gas developments. According to the Sunday Times, which first reported the proposals, Sir Keir is set to announce the plans next month. A Labour source told the BBC: "We are against the granting of new licences for oil and gas in the North Sea. They will do nothing to cut bills as the Tories have acknowledged, they undermine our energy security, and would drive a coach and horse through our climate targets. "But Labour would continue to use existing oil and gas wells over the coming decades and manage them sustainably as we transform the UK into a clean energy superpower." The reports prompted concerns from unions about the impact on jobs. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, Labour's biggest union backer, said Sir Keir had to develop a "serious plan for renewable energy" that protects jobs and communities. "It is reckless in the extreme to talk about halting this industry without offering a coherent, fully funded plan for jobs," she added. "Labour must now be very clear that they will not let workers pay the price for the transition to renewable energy. When it comes to jobs we can't have jam tomorrow." The head of the GMB union, Gary Smith, told the Financial Times that "strangling" the North Sea oil industry would be "bad for jobs" and called on Labour to scrap the plans. Industry group Offshore Energies UK said domestic production of oil and gas avoided more expensive and less secure foreign imports and that ending new North Sea developments would threaten jobs and increase bills. link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65764041

Inostrancevia, a creature with tough skin like a rhino's, migrated 7,000 miles across the ancient supercontinent Pangaea and briefly dominated what is now South Africa before going extinct. At the dawn of the most devastating mass extinction in Earth's history 252 million years ago, species fought tooth and nail to survive in the changing environment. Ancient predators in particular, struggled ruthlessly to stay at the top of the food chain. Now, scientists have discovered that a tiger-size, saber-toothed beast called Inostrancevia briefly dominated southern ecosystems after migrating across the supercontinent Pangaea from what is now Russia to South Africa. Inostrancevia belonged to an ancient group of mammals called the gorgonopsians that went extinct during the “Great Dying,” also known as the Permian-Triassic or late-Permian mass extinction. The fearsome carnivore had tough skin like an elephant or rhinoceros and looked somewhat reptilian. Sponsored Links If you own a mouse, you will never turn off your computer again. Combat Siege "All the big top predators in the late Permian in South Africa went extinct well before the end-Permian mass extinction," Pia Viglietti, a research scientist at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago who participated in the discovery, said in a statement. "We learned that this vacancy in the niche was occupied, for a brief period, by Inostrancevia." Based on previous fossil discoveries, researchers thought that this saber-toothed giant was endemic to Laurasia — the northern continental mass of Pangaea. Today this encompasses North America, Greenland, Europe and northern Asia. But in 2010 and 2011, paleontologists unearthed two gigantic skulls and a skeleton in South Africa's Karoo Basin that looked different to those normally found in the region. "The fossils themselves were quite unexpected," Viglietti said. In a study published Monday (May 22) in the journal Current Biology, the researchers found that the remains discovered in South Africa belong to Inostrancevia and that the creature traveled around 7,000 miles (11,300 kilometers) south during the late Permian. Once there, it replaced a group of endemic predators called the rubidgeines — a subset of gorgonopsians that had a large snout and blade-like canines. The local carnivores of Karoo went extinct "quite a bit" before the Great Dying truly set in, Viglietti said. It's unclear how and over what timescales Inostrancevia crossed Pangaea, but it appears that the carnivore filled a gap in ecosystems that had lost their top predators. Its reign was short-lived, however: The team found no evidence that Inostrancevia survived into the Triassic (252 million to 201 million years ago). Massive volcanic eruptions towards the end of the Permian triggered catastrophic climate change, wiping out nine out of 10 species on the planet. Some gorgonopsians persisted, but they didn't survive for long and have been referred to as a "dead clade walking." Due to their large body sizes, slow maturation rates and low po[CENSORED]tion densities, top predators are often some of the first species to disappear during mass extinction events. "Apex predators in modern environments tend to show high extinction risk," study lead author Christian Kammerer, a paleontologist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, said in the statement. "We should expect that ancient apex predators would have had similar vulnerabilities." When it went extinct at the end of the Permian, Inostrancevia left a gap at the top of the food chain that other predators, called therocephalians, rapidly filled before themselves going extinct. Therocephalians are thought to have originated in what is now southern Africa and spread to Russia, China and Antarctica, where fossils have also been found. “We have shown that the shift in which groups of animals occupied apex predator roles occurred four times over less than two million years around the Permian-Triassic mass extinction," Kammerer said. "This underlines how extreme this crisis was.” The discovery suggests that top predators were "canaries in the coal mine" for the mass extinction and sheds light on the great die-out that’s unfolding today. "The Permo-Triassic mass extinction event represents one of the best examples of what we could experience with our climate crisis and extinctions," Viglietti said. link: https://www.livescience.com/animals/extinct-species/fearsome-saber-toothed-giant-dominated-at-dawn-of-great-dying-but-its-reign-was-short-lived

The compact electric SUV will include a full-width sound bar on the dashboard, a single 12.3-inch screen, and sustainable interior materials. Volvo has shown more images of the EX30 before its reveal next week, revealing that the cabin will feature just a single 12.3-inch center screen. The cabin will also include a sound bar spanning the entire dashboard, freeing up space on the doors for extra storage. The interior will be decked out in renewable materials, from flax to wool to recycled denim. The Volvo EX30, first teased earlier this month, is set to be unveiled next week and will occupy the smaller end of Volvo's increasingly electrified lineup. Ahead of the full reveal, Volvo has offered a few more tastes of what to expect from the new electric crossover, showing glimpses of the exterior and interior design. The new images show sharply creased bodywork and distinctive LED lights, with the headlights adopting Volvo's established "Thor's hammer" look as seen on the EX90. The taillights also echo the larger electric SUV, with a C-shaped section beneath a vertical element. The interior looks minimalist, with a mostly empty dashboard centered around a single screen, measuring 12.3 inches. A "calm" mode will see the screen display only the most important information, and the infotainment system will include built-in voice commands via Google Assistant and navigation from Google Maps. However, the EX30 will also become the first Volvo with wireless Apple CarPlay, and the system will be capable of 5G connectivity. The interior will feature a sound bar inspired by the type you might find in your living room, stretching across the width of the dashboard. The sound bar can be paired with an upgraded Harmon Kardon system and Volvo says that by putting multiple speakers within one housing, they've cut back on the amount of wiring and other materials used. The sound bar also means there aren't speakers in the doors, allowing for extra storage space, while the window switches also migrate from the doors to the center console. The glovebox has moved, now slotting in below the center screen, and the cupholders will also retract to free up space. The rear passengers get access to a sliding storage bin as well, while Volvo says a guide integrated into the tailgate shows what sizes of cargo will fit in the trunk. Volvo is touting the use of recycled and renewable materials, and calls the different interior themes "rooms." One cabin theme will center around denim, using waste from the denim recycling process, and other materials will include flax and a wool blend that features 70 percent recycled polyester. Recycled plastic will also be used throughout, including Nordico, a material that comes from PET water bottles. The EX30 will debut on June 7, with U.S. reservations opening up the same day. Sales should kick off next year. link: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a44043610/volvo-ex30-interior-details-teaser/

Organisers of the 2023 Fifa Women's World Cup, which starts in 50 days, say they are closing in on one million ticket sales. More than 850,000 have been sold for the event in Australia and New Zealand. "2023 is going to be a landmark moment for women's football," said Fifa secretary general Fatma Samoura. The World Cup, which features 32 nations, including England and the Republic of Ireland, starts on 20 July with the final on 20 August. A Fifa spokesperson told BBC Sport that the one million tickets sold milestone was expected to be reached "over the next few weeks". 2023 is the ninth edition of the Women's World Cup and organisers are targeting a record 1.5 million ticket sales as well as a global television audience of two billion viewers. 2023 Women's World Cup: 650,000 tickets sold with 100 days to go All the best Fifa Women's World Cup content in one place The opening ceremony will take place before the first of the tournament's 64 matches between co-hosts New Zealand and former world champions Norway at Eden Park, Auckland, on 20 July (08:00 BST). The final takes place on 20 August at Stadium Australia in Sydney (11:00 BST). Defending world champions the United States will be based in New Zealand for their three group games, while England and the Republic of Ireland are both in Australia. ADVERTISEMENT England launch their campaign against World Cup debutants Haiti in Brisbane on 22 July (10:30), with Sarina Wiegman's European champions facing Denmark in Sydney six days later (09:30). They round off Group D against China in Adelaide on 1 August (12:00). The Republic of Ireland are among eight debutants at the World Cup. They open against co-hosts Australia at Stadium Australia on 20 July (11:00) and then play Canada in Perth on 26 July (13:00). They round off Group B against Nigeria on 31 July in Brisbane (11:00). The United States, who are looking to win it for the third successive time, play Vietnam in Auckland on 22 July (02:00), the Netherlands in Wellington on 27 July (02:00) before returning to Auckland to face Portugal on 1 August (08:00). link: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65612691

It’s hard for me to pinpoint the moment during the pandemic where I felt as if something in me had changed, maybe for good. But I think it was on my birthday, so that would have been in July 2020. This particular birthday fell at a time when you couldn’t really see people, but the shops were open. This was the time of banana bread recipes, the 2-metre rule and Thank You Baked Potato. Anyway, I went especially to a balloon shop, all masked-up and ready for battle, and bought a load of massive helium balloons shaped like drinks, thinking: “I will not be defeated by this joyless apocalypse.” And yet, on this birthday, the inflated margaritas brought no joy whatsoever. They just hung in the air, accusingly. Party balloons for a nonexistent party. I felt stupid and desperate. I knew this wasn’t depression, anxiety or long Covid. It was my confidence. It had deserted me. Initially, this was anathema to me. I thrive on being around other people and, as much as I love my immediate family, I crave the interactions and unpredictability of being out and about in the world. The pandemic felt to me like being in prison, only you were not allowed to talk to or stand near any prisoners you were not related to. I started swimming outdoors just to meet people. In the early days, fellow swimmers – quite rightly – wanted to make sure we swam 2 metres apart at all times. I complied, and felt more parts of me die. I couldn’t wait for it to be over, whatever “over” meant. Even as we have emerged from all this, I am still amazed to find myself hesitating over accepting invitations, making travel plans, sometimes even leaving the house. The “old me” forces me to overcome the doubt and be my pre‑Covid, outgoing self. But the Covid-era me is still hanging around, biting her fingernails, glancing nervously and resentfully at the deflating helium balloons. link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/31/my-covid-confidence-crisis-how-to-regain-your-sense-of-self-health-and-happiness

When 15-year-old Sasha Kraynyuk studied the photograph handed to him by Ukrainian investigators, he recognised the boy dressed in Russian military uniform immediately. The teenager sitting at a school desk has the Z-mark of Russia's war emblazoned on his right sleeve, coloured in the red, white and blue of the Russian flag. But the boy's name is Artem, and he's Ukrainian. Sasha and Artem were among 13 children taken from their own school in Kupyansk, north-eastern Ukraine last September by armed Russian soldiers in balaclavas. Ushered onto a bus with shouts of "Quickly!", they then disappeared for weeks without trace. When the children, who all have special educational needs, were finally allowed to call home, it was from much deeper inside Russian-occupied territory. To get them back, their relatives were forced to make gruelling journeys across thousands of miles into the country that has declared war on them. Only eight of the children have been returned from Perevalsk so far and Artem was one of the last, collected by his mother just this spring. When I reached the school's director by phone, she saw no problem with dressing Ukrainian children in the uniform of an invading army. "So what?" Tatyana Semyonova retorted. "What can I do? What's it to do with me?" I countered that the Z symbolised the war against the children's own country. "So what?" the director demanded again. "What kind of a question is that? No-one is forcing them." link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-65641304

The agreement aims to enhance training experiences, share knowledge, and exchange best practices in areas of mutual interest. Rabat - The Royal Police Institute and the Higher Institute of Magistracy have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aiming to strengthen cooperation and foster expertise exchange. Inked on Tuesday, the agreement aims to enhance training experiences, share knowledge, and exchange best practices in areas of mutual interest. The signing ceremony took place during a meeting organized by the Institut Royal de Police in partnership with the Higher Institute of Magistracy. The meeting revolved around the theme of “Police and Magistracy training, an essential element of a fair trial.” Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Ahmed Zaari, Director of the Royal Police Institute, expressed his enthusiasm for the partnership, highlighting the memorandum’s importance in paving the way for a new era of collaboration between the two institutions. The objective is to develop joint training programs and promote excellence in the fields of security and justice. Read also: Morocco Opens New Police Academy in Tangier Zaari emphasized the MoU message, stating that “cooperation, coordination, and openness are the main mechanisms for ensuring a fair trial and genuine criminal justice.” “Today's meeting aligns with our tireless efforts to achieve this goal and demonstrates the shared desire of both institutes to strengthen cooperation to fulfill it,” he added. On his part, Abdelhanine Touzani, Director of the Higher Institute of Magistracy, emphasized the significance of the MoU as the prelude to an ambitious partnership. Touzani stressed the importance of consolidating cooperation between the institutes, which are renowned for their exceptional training, not only regionally but also on an international scale. “While the law serves as a common trait between graduates of both institutes in their work to maintain order and preserve the rights of citizens, individuals, and the community, notably in the framework of the judicial police, it is now time to consolidate cooperation and coordination,” Touzani said. “The new approach will allow trainees and professionals in the fields of police and judiciary to come together in common spaces, supporting a new vision, clear orientations, and precise work programs,” he added. The partnership between the Royal Police Institute and the Higher Institute of Magistracy marks a significant milestone in fostering collaboration, sharing expertise and advancing training in the domains of security and justice. link: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/05/355716/moroccos-police-institute-higher-institute-of-magistracy-partners-to-enhance-training

Nick Movie: HIDDEN STRIKE Time: May 30, 2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: ? Duration of the movie: 102 minuten Trailer:

Live Performance Title: Charlie Puth - That's Not How This Works, Live Mexico City (May 21st, 2023) Signer Name: Charlie Puth Live Performance Location: Mexico City Official YouTube Link: Your Opinion About the Track (Music Video): 10/7

Music Title: Best Music Mix 2023 🎧 Remixes of Po[CENSORED]r Songs 🎧 EDM Best Music Mix6 Signer: - Release Date: 05/31/2023 Official Youtube Link: Informations About The Signer: - Your Opinion About The Track (Music Video): 10/7

Four MPs are being asked to repay hundreds of pounds in driving fines which they claimed on expenses. Government minister Amanda Solloway claimed an £80 fixed penalty notice issued by Transport for London in 2020. Tory MPs Simon Hoare and Bim Afolami, and SNP MP Dave Doogan, also put through similar claims. MPs are not allowed to claim for fines and some were wrongfully paid out, but at least one MP is understood to have already paid back the money. Ms Solloway, Derby North MP and energy minister, claimed back a fixed penalty notice which was issued on 2 July 2020, according to the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority's (IPSA) expenses register. Mr Doogan, SNP MP for Angus, claimed for a £160 fine in January 2022. The register also shows Mr Hoare, the MP for North Dorset who also chairs the Commons Northern Ireland Committee, claimed four times for £80 fines issued in November 2019, while Mr Afolami, MP for Hitchin and Harpenden, claimed for two £80 fines in December 2021. The four cases were initially uncovered in an investigation by the Independent. In a statement, Mr Afolami said: "[It was] completely inadvertent. All money repaid the moment that I knew about it." Ms Solloway, Mr Hoare and Mr Doogan have been approached by the BBC for comment. Rishi Sunak decides not to order inquiry into Suella Braverman speeding row IPSA rules state that claims for penalty charges will not be paid to MPs. The watchdog, which is also responsible for setting MPs' pay independent of parliament, said that it has changed its expenses process to ensure any future claims will not be paid out. "IPSA's checks failed in some cases to identify these claims and some of them were paid. We will contact MPs and ask them to repay, where appropriate," a spokesman said. "We have changed our process to ensure any future such claims are not paid, and will reiterate the scheme rules to MPs." The spokesman added that the congestion charge can be claimed by MPs from outside London who drive into central London for work. But that would not extend to an approval for expenses claims for fines that are incurred if the congestion charge is not paid on time. It comes days after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak decided not to launch an inquiry into Home Secretary Suella Braverman's handling of a speeding offence. Ms Braverman was caught speeding last year, while she was attorney general, and asked officials for advice on arranging a private course to avoid penalty points on her licence. She later accepted a fine and points. IPSA was established in 2009 after the scandal over MPs' expenses. link: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-65736601

A video that captures a shark attacking a gray seal is going viral and marks the first great white shark sighting of the season in Cape Cod. A whale watching tour group off the coast of Provincetown, Massachusetts, got the view of a lifetime when a great white shark swam up to the boat and proceeded to attack and eat a seal — and the entire grisly scene was caught on video. The predation event unfolded over the course of seven minutes on Saturday (May 20) during a tour hosted by Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch. In a video captured by a member of the group and posted on Facebook, a 12-foot-long (4 meters) great white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) can be seen prowling near the boat. Then, suddenly, a juvenile gray seal (Halichoerus grypus) pops out of the water, only for the shark to snap it in two with its razor-sharp teeth. "While we have a healthy po[CENSORED]tion of great whites and seals on Cape Cod, predation events like this are not often sighted," Dolphin Fleet Whale Watch representatives wrote in the Facebook post. "This is the first time our crew has seen a predation in all of our collective years on the water." In a statement, the New England Aquarium confirmed that this marked the first great white shark sighting of the season in Cape Cod. During the summer, it's common for great white sharks to congregate off the coast of Cape Cod due to the abundance of gray seals living there, according to the Massachusetts Shark Research Program. These marine mammals were nearly wiped out by the mid-20th century due to hunting, but the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act helped gray seals rebound. re battle with 2 serial killer orcas Once gray seal numbers increased, so did the number of great white sharks feeding on them, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries. "Though white shark bites on humans are rare, this sighting serves as a reminder to beachgoers and boaters to be mindful of the presence of these ocean animals," John Chisholm, an adjunct scientist with the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium, said in the statement. "It's important to be aware of sharks' presence in shallow waters, to avoid where seals are present or schools of fish are visible and to stay close to shore when rescuers can reach you if needed." The sighting was also documented on the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy's Sharktivity app, according to the statement. link: https://www.livescience.com/animals/sharks/watch-a-great-white-shark-devour-a-seal-off-the-coast-of-cape-cod-shocking-nearby-whale-watchers

An Italian company is breathing new life into a beloved icon, letting customers get their hands on an Italian car without breaking their wallets. Want a Fiat 500? You'll be able to buy a brand-new 2024 Fiat 500e after November. But if you want an original, a company in Italy is doing restomods of the 1957–1975 classics. Builds start under $10,000—including the car—and Real Italian Cars is willing and able to ship completed cars anywhere in the United States. City-car fans, mark your calendars for November 2023. That's when Fiat North America is unveiling the American version of the 2024 500e. But as exciting as that is for buyers of stylish EVs—as well as Fiat's current U.S. lineup—it's not the only Cinquecento resurrection. A new company in Italy is building classic 500 restomods, and unlike Singer's 911s or Cyan Racing's Volvo P1800s, buying one won't require a second mortgage. It's hard to find clearer, more apt names in the automotive business than Real Italian Cars. Firstly, the new shop is headquartered in the Tuscan city of Lucca in Italy. Secondly, the business's focus is restoring an Italian automotive legend: the original Fiat Nuova 500. And thirdly, co-founders Amedeo Provenzali, Anthony Peacock, and Mattia Vita all have ties to Italian automotive culture. Vita, for example, is an active rally driver, and Peacock has consulted for Pirelli Media and written stories for numerous car publications. "We've been friends a long time," Peacock recently told Car and Driver over the phone, and he expressed their fondness for vintage 500s. Yet while "millions and millions of these Fiats were produced, they're a little bit of a dying breed," he said. The trio wanted to keep the ones that remained around, "to preserve something for the future." It started as a hobby, with the initial clients being mutual friends asking for repairs. But "without realizing it," he said, "we were trying to set up a business, one that encourages more people, particularly future generations, to get into classic car ownership." Regarding that business, Real Italian Cars takes on any 1957–1975 Fiat 500 model, from the base 500D all the way to the wonderfully wicker-seated open-air 500 Jolly. The shop's services range from simple cosmetic corrections as well as interior and engine work all the way to a full restoration or custom overhaul. That includes sympathetic modern touches like an Apple CarPlay–equipped stereo. And before you ask, yes, the shop has already gotten requests for Abarth re-creations. If you don't want to go full scorpion, you can also have Real Italian Cars swap the original air-cooled 499cc two-cylinder engine and crash gearbox for a Fiat 126 powertrain. That brings more grunt, courtesy of the bigger powerplant (594cc or 652cc, depending on the donor's model year) and gear synchros. Peacock's personal 500 has the 126 swap, and he attests, “The extra power and synchromesh really make a difference.” Considering a stock 1957 500 can't even hit 60 mph and has a quarter-mile time longer than some YouTube ads, we're inclined to believe him. Plus, thanks to the synchros, you don't need to grind and double-clutch to drive your classic car around town. All the better and easier to enjoy your daily dose of vintage dolce vita. It might be getting even easier in the future. Peacock told us that Real Italian Cars is currently prototyping and testing an EV-swapped Nuova 500 build. "The only thing that's been a headache so far are the brakes," he said, owing to the extra weight of the batteries. But otherwise, the classic Fiats "are perfect, perfect cars to become EVs," he claims, due to their simple mechanical nature. If all goes well, the EV conversion option might be available by the end of summer 2023. If that schedule holds, come November, there'll be two electric Fiat 500 options to choose from in the U.S. You read that right: Real Italian Cars is taking orders from American clients and can even arrange shipping. Peacock said the company already has someone from Florida requesting a build, as well as a California resident who wants to take an Italian summer road trip in his new little Fiat. While the registration process for a restored 1957–1975 500 will vary from state to state, these cars are all good under the 25-year rule. So are all but the last of the 126s, while the earliest ones are exempt from California's smog inspections. Basically, if you have the money, you shouldn't have a problem driving one of these restomods in the U.S. Speaking of money, you won't need crazy amounts of it. As was the case when the business was just a hobby for friends, you're paying "mates' rates" (Real Italian Cars has a base in London, we can use U.K. slang). The shop's builds start at €9000; that's about $9800 at today's exchange rates. That includes the cost of the donor car. As with other restomod operations, the more you customize, the more you pay. And starting prices vary based on the specific 500 model. An original Jolly restoration, for example, starts at a little over $27K. But considering an original non-wicker Nuova 500 typically goes for $10,000 to $20,000 these days, these prices are surprisingly reasonable. We wonder how much re-creating Lupin III's 500 will cost? link: https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a43908286/fiat-500-real-italian-cars-accessible-classic/

Bayern Munich have won their 11th consecutive championship in dramatic fashion, beating FC Cologne 2-1, while rivals Borussia Dortmund gave away their lead at the top of the table with a 2-2 draw against Mainz. But only minutes after Jamal Musiala scored the deciding goal at Cologne, it was announced that chief executive Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic had been dismissed from their positions. Bayern midfielder Thomas Muller was surprised by the timing, saying: "That happens now? One minute after the final whistle?" While manager Thomas Tuchel, who chairman Herbert Hainer insisted would remain at the club, said: "Instead of celebrating, we now have another issue. My two main contacts are no longer here. We have to align our ideas." It was not the first time Bayern's timing seemed off this season. In late March, the German record champions sacked manager Julian Nagelsmann despite having lost only three games across all competitions and replaced him with Tuchel. The former Chelsea boss did not manage to change things for the better immediately, suffering elimination from the Champions League and the German Cup. The weekend before the final matchday, Tuchel's side dropped to second in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 loss to RB Leipzig. Thanks to Dortmund not being able to hold their nerve on Saturday, Bayern came away with yet another title. But the club's board had already decided to let Kahn and Salihamidzic go before the game against Cologne was played. The feeling in Bayern's headquarters was that both former players had recently made too many mistakes, including repeated managerial changes and costly misfires on the transfer market, most notably the signing of Sadio Mane from Liverpool. Rummenigge and Hoeness will be back As so often with organisations in turmoil, Bayern return to what worked in the past. Jan-Christian Dreesen, the club's long-time chief finance officer, has taken over as chief executive, while Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness are set to serve in advisory roles, with Rummenigge becoming part of Bayern's supervisory board. What's known is that Rummenigge and Hoeness, who led Bayern for decades, will return to try to stabilise the club and use their large network in European football to ensure the next high-profile transfers have the desired effect. A few weeks ago, Hoeness arrived at Bayern's training ground unannounced, indicating that the former chairman, who served a prison sentence between 2014 and 2016 for tax fraud, may take over one more time. During his visit, Hoeness talked to manager Tuchel for about 15 minutes. Rummenigge and Hoeness hope the 49-year-old boss can improve the overall performance of the team and potentially integrate new players, as Bayern look to start a squad rebuild this summer. Mane is one of the players Bayern are willing to sell if an appropriate offer comes in. The former Liverpool star earns about £325,000 per week and has been a disappointment, particularly in the second half of the season. Tuchel did not consider bringing Mane on during the two final games, which says a lot about his standing in the team. What Bayern desperately need is a striker who can serve as a real target player, like Robert Lewandowski before his departure in summer 2022. Bayern signed Mane instead of a traditional number nine, and suffered. They are reportedly interested in Frankfurt's Randal Kolo Muani and Juventus' Dusan Vlahovic. Tottenham's Harry Kane is also on the list of potential transfer targets, but Bayern are aware of the stiff competition they would face for the England captain. link: https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/65745005

a broken walking stick Paula Cocozza @CocozzaPaula Mon 29 May 2023 07.00 BST One day last September, Ann Halloran made her way to her nearest bus stop in Hove, East Sussex, with a 15kg rucksack. She had done plenty of travelling but, at 65, was setting off alone on her first backpacking adventure. Somewhere between her first stop in Turkey and her final destination – a yoga retreat in Mazunte, Mexico – she found a new perspective. In Nepal, climbing the 5,400m (17,575ft) Gokyo Ri in the Himalayas, Halloran broke her walking stick. She has osteoporosis, which makes bones more likely to break, so the stick was an essential piece of trekking kit in the mountains. Losing it was a blow, but she found reserves of inner strength: “I challenged myself,” she says. The setback was surmountable, a new stick was found. “It gave me confidence that at my age I could go up to that height.” Now, she says: “Whenever I get scared, I think of myself on top of that mountain, looking out over Lake Gokyo – and beyond that, Everest. I say, if you can do that, you can do anything.” Halloran’s career in HR has enabled her to pick up tools for personal growth. “I always told my kids about the comfort zone,” she says. “You’ve got to keep stretching it all the time. As you get older, that’s even more important because you get more fearful, and I want to fight against that.” Now 66, Halloran has loved mountains since she was five or six, when her mother took her to Ireland, to visit family in County Kerry during the summer holidays. They lived overlooking Annascaul lake on the Dingle peninsula. “It’s a lovely viewpoint. I used to sit there as a child. I loved the freedom of going up the mountain alone, when I was nine or 10. I cried for days going back to London because I felt I was in a rabbit hutch.” At 23, she moved to Bellharbour, County Clare, where her uncle had a farm “on the side of the mountain”. She worked in Galway, “where the multinationals were just setting up”, and began to specialise in talent management and leadership programmes. In the evenings after work she would climb up the mountain. It was around this time that Halloran met her husband, a farmer, and they married a few years later before starting a family. Life settled into a comfortable rhythm. But then their four-year-old son died in a car accident; six years later, her husband died. The week my son died, I went back to work. I started at 5am, and worked until 8pm. Work was my stability Halloran was 42, and her children three, five and seven. Looking back, she can see that she took refuge in work. After the loss of her son, she “became a workaholic. The week he died, I went back to work. I started at 5am, and worked until eight in the evening. I’d put the kids to bed, then go into the office at 10pm and work till 2am. It was my stability.” She worked as a self-employed HR consultant so that she could take two months off every summer to travel with the children. She took them to France, Spain, Seattle, New York and Vancouver. Since the backpacking adventure, she understands more fully the role that work played in her life for so long. “Work was reliable. I knew what I was doing. I’m a workaholic to this day,” she says. “I’ve just realised on this yoga retreat that I have to let go of all that. The penny is dropping for me now.” Ann Halloran beside a cairn on Gokyo Ri. Halloran beside a cairn on Gokyo Ri. Photograph: Courtesy of Ann Halloran It was in Mazunte, where Halloran was one of 35 people on the yoga retreat, that one of her fellow participants suddenly became ill with a rare and potentially life-threatening condition. Halloran busied herself during meditation sessions by evaluating the centre’s systems. “I wanted to sort it all out,” she says. Then she realised that no one else was thinking about the practicalities – and it was a revelation. “All these people around me were so in touch with their emotions – and I was thinking about policies and procedures. They were feeling the emotions of this person. I knew I had [the capacity], but it was buried. It was interesting to watch myself,” she says. Along with the sudden insight, she felt a growing self-awareness “which I’ve never had before”. It was always: “Make enough. Bring up the children. Get enough in the pension.” Meditation presented a different sort of challenge: she has had to slow herself down. “I don’t regret it,” Halloran says of the work ethic that carried her through life for so long. But, as she has travelled and met new people, most of them under 40, and made plans to reconnect on subsequent trips, something has changed. “From now on, in the few years I’ve got left, I want to shift. Shift a bit,” she says. “I feel as if I’ve washed up on the shore and it’s a new venture.” link: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/29/a-new-start-after-60-backpacking-in-the-himalayas-i-found-the-courage-to-change-my-life

Russia has carried out a new massive drone attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv. Kyiv's mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said a man died when drone wreckage fell near a petrol station. A woman was injured. Overall, Russia launched a record 54 so-called kamikaze drones on Ukrainian targets, 52 of which were shot down, Ukraine's Air Force reported. Russia - which launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 - has stepped up its attacks on Kyiv, seeking to overwhelm the capital's defences. At least two high-rise buildings in different districts of the capital caught fire after being hit by falling drone fragments. Kyiv officials also reported that warehouses in the southern Holosiyivsky district had been set ablaze. More than 40 drones were downed over the capital overnight, Ukrainian officials said. This information has not been independently verified. But President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the air defence and rescue services, saying: "You look up to destroy enemy missiles, aircraft, helicopters, and drones. Every time you shoot down enemy drones and missiles, lives are saved... you are heroes!" Kyiv resident Anastasiia said that she was asleep at home when she was woken up by the sound of a drone flying "very close" to her window. "I then saw a big flash of light inside the flat. At first it was yellow, then bright orange and then blinding white. It was so bright that I could not see anything in the flat," she told the BBC, adding that it all went "very quiet" during the flashes and that the sound of the explosions came "two or three seconds after the flash. It was very loud, like thunder." "Those two or three seconds felt like a very long time," she said. "The bright light was transformed into total darkness. I wanted to check if there was any damage. I could not understand what happened. I was in shock so I did not feel scared. I could not understand if I and my flat were OK." Anastasiia said she only realised she was still alive when she heard the sound of car alarms in the street. "When people read the news about drones being intercepted, this is what it means in reality. Then I went back to sleep until my friend brought me breakfast and I realised that we have to appreciate every moment of life." Some officials accused Russia of targeting Kyiv deliberately as residents prepared to celebrate Kyiv Day - the anniversary of the city's foundation more than 1,500 years ago and a po[CENSORED]r holiday before the war. Earlier on Sunday, air raid alerts were activated in 12 regions of Ukraine, from Volyn in the north-west to Dnipropetrovsk in the south-east. There were also reports of explosions in the city of Zhytomyr, west of Kyiv. In its recent attacks, Russia has been using so-called kamikaze drones as well as a range of cruise and ballistic missiles. The frequency of the Russian attacks on Kyiv and elsewhere has been increasing as Ukraine steps up its preparations for a counter-offensive. On Saturday, one of Ukraine's most senior security officials told the BBC the country was ready to launch such an operation. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the powerful National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said an assault to retake territory from President Vladimir Putin's occupying forces could begin "tomorrow, the day after tomorrow or in a week". 'We’re ready to begin counter-offensive' - Ukraine Ukraine has been planning a counter-offensive for months. But it has wanted as much time as possible to train troops and to receive military equipment from Western allies. In the meantime, Russian forces have been preparing their defences in the seized regions of south-eastern Ukraine. Drone attacks by both sides have been rising. Russia has been targeting not just Ukraine's critical national infrastructure but also military targets. In particular, Russia seems to be trying not only to deplete Ukraine's stock of air defence missiles but also to damage the launch systems themselves. In turn, Ukraine has been targeting key locations in parts of the country occupied by Russian forces. Those include command and control sites, logistical supply lines including oil storage centres. Ahead of Ukraine's much expected counter-offensive, the tempo of military exchanges between both sides appears to be rising. In recent weeks, Russia has blamed Kyiv for heavy artillery and mortar shelling on the region of Belgorod. On Sunday, Belgorod's governor ordered all schools along the border with Ukraine and in Belgorod city to close for the summer with immediate effect. Speaking to the BBC, Andrei Kelin, Russia's ambassador to the UK, said his country had "enormous resources" and it was yet to "act very seriously". Warning that supplies of weapons to Ukraine risk escalating the war to levels not seen so far, he added: "Sooner or later, of course, this escalation may get a new dimension which we do not need and we do not want." link: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-65736730

The two countries also discussed plans to boost air frequencies between them to boost tourism. Rabat - Morocco and Israel signed on Monday three agreements to boost bilateral cooperation in the sector of transportation, including maritime transport. The accords cover different aspects of the transport sector, including maritime transport, reciprocal recognition of driving licenses, as well as road safety. Moroccan Minister of Transport Mohamed Abdeljalil signed the agreements with his Israeli counterpart Miri Regev, who was heading a large delegation during a visit to Morocco that sought to cement bilateral cooperation as part of the two countries’ determination to improve their partnership in a broad range of areas. “Today, we signed three agreements concerning the recognition of driving licenses, cooperation in maritime transport and in the field of road safety,” Regev said. She added that Morocco and Israel also agreed on setting up a joint team to tackle issues related to innovative technologies in transport, including intelligent traffic, drones, and electric or autonomous cars. Abdeljalil also committed to the signing of the agreements, stressing that the Israeli delegation’s visit to Morocco was an “opportunity” to promote cooperation between the two countries. The two parties will also work to activate the agreements, stressing that cooperation between the two countries should be further strengthened during Moroccan transport minister’s visit to Israel in September. Since re-establishing diplomatic ties in December 2020, Israel and Morocco have repeatedly stressed their shared determination to continue to boost bilateral cooperation in a wide range of sectors. In addition to road safety, Israel and Morocco today also discussed the promotion of cooperation in the field of rail transport and high speed lines, as wella s the development of airport infrastructure. The two also pledged to develop air frequencies between them, with a view to boosting tourism in both countries. link: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2023/05/355689/israel-morocco-sign-agreements-to-boost-cooperation-in-transport

Nick Movie: EVIL DEAD RISE Time: April 21, 2023 Netflix / Amazon / HBO?: ? Duration of the movie: 1h 36m Trailer: