Campaigners call for Keir Starmer to say if US nuclear weapons are back in UK

CND and experts cite US air force transport flight thought to be carrying tactical bombs that landed at RAF base

Campaigners have called for Keir Starmer to tell parliament whether US nuclear weapons have returned to British soil after a distinctive US air force transport flight was spotted landing at RAF Lakenheath on Friday morning.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and several experts believe that it is highly likely that a number of US B61-12 gravity bombs were delivered to a US air force squadron last week, the first US nuclear deployment in the UK since 2008.

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Continue ReadingCampaigners call for Keir Starmer to say if US nuclear weapons are back in UK

Telegraph sale poised to go ahead after Lords foreign ownership vote

Consortium led by RedBird Capital in line to buy group for £500m, in deal that would result in UAE retaining 15% stake

The sale of the Telegraph looks set to finally go through after government legislation to allow foreign states to own up to 15% in British newspapers survived a potentially fatal vote in the House of Lords.

Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital is leading a consortium looking to buy the Telegraph for £500m, in a deal that would result in the United Arab Emirates retaining a stake of 15%.

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Continue ReadingTelegraph sale poised to go ahead after Lords foreign ownership vote

UK’s aid cuts ‘will hit children’s education and raise risk of death’

Cutting aid budget to 0.3% of national income will hurt many African countries, says FCDO impact assessment

Labour’s deep aid cuts will hit children’s education and increase the risk of disease and death in some African countries, according to the government’s own impact assessment.

Keir Starmer announced earlier this year that he would reduce the aid budget to 0.3% of national income, from 0.5%, to fund increased spending on defence.

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Continue ReadingUK’s aid cuts ‘will hit children’s education and raise risk of death’

Ozzy Osbourne, the people’s Prince of Darkness, took heavy metal into the light

Having escaped a life of drudgery in Birmingham, Ozzy became the rare rock frontman you could relate to – and then, against the odds, a national treasure

News: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76
Ozzy Osbourne: a life in pictures

As he would doubtless have admitted, the teenage John Michael “Ozzy” Osbourne did not seem much like someone with a glittering future ahead of them. His childhood had been troubled – he struggled at school, partly as a result of dyslexia, and suffered sexual abuse at the hands of two older bullies – and his prospects after leaving school aged 15 seemed non-existent. Even his attempts to become a criminal ended in farce. He was, he later noted, “fucking useless” as a burglar: a television he was attempting to steal fell on top of him; operating in the dark, he inadvertently stole a selection of baby clothes rather than the adult garments he had intended to sell around the pubs of his native Aston in Birmingham. Finally, he was caught and sent to prison for six weeks.

“OZZY ZIG NEEDS A GIG” read the card he left in the window of a local music shop, and “need” seems to have been the operative word: by the time he joined a heavy blues rock band called Earth as vocalist, he was out of other options. It wasn’t even as if Earth, or Black Sabbath as they became, offered an obvious ticket to fame and fortune: their big idea to advance their career involved loading their van up with equipment, then driving it to other artists’ gigs uninvited, sitting outside on the off-chance that one of the bands performing pulled out and they could fill in.

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Continue ReadingOzzy Osbourne, the people’s Prince of Darkness, took heavy metal into the light

Ozzy Osbourne – a life in pictures, from Black Sabbath to solo success

The heavy metal star, who fronted Black Sabbath before a long solo career, has died aged 76. We look back at his career, from family life to codpiece-sporting live shows

• News: Ozzy Osbourne, Black Sabbath frontman and icon of British heavy metal, dies aged 76
Alexis Petridis on Ozzy Osbourne, the people’s Prince of Darkness who took heavy metal into the light

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Continue ReadingOzzy Osbourne – a life in pictures, from Black Sabbath to solo success