Blog

A stolen portrait of Sir Winston Churchill that was swapped with a forgery during the pandemic has returned to its rightful place in a Canadian hotel.Police said The Roaring Lion portrait - which appears on the UK's £5 note - was stolen from the Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel in Ottawa at some time between Christmas Day 2021 and 6 January 2022 and replaced. The swap was only uncovered eight months later when a hotel worker noticed the frame was not hung properly and looked different from the others. Image: The portrait is depicted on the £5 note. Pic: PA The portrait had been sold through an auction house in London to a private buyer and ended up in Rome, where two Canadian police detectives retrieved it.Both seller and bu...

Illegal miners in a "dangerous" stand-off with police in South Africa are committing a crime by staying underground in a disused shaft, according to a government minister in the country.But Senzo Mchunu also insisted the government wanted to save lives and that authorities would work together to end the situation safely. The police minister's remarks seem more conciliatory than those of a cabinet minister who previously said the government would not send help because they were breaking the law.Hundreds of people are believed to be underground after entering the Stilfontein abandoned shaft, which descends vertically for over a mile, in search of leftover gold.Minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni claimed on Wednesday the South African government would "smoke them out" because they...

At least 10 people have been killed after a fire broke out at a retirement home in northern Spain in the early hours of this morning, officials have said.A further two people were seriously injured in the blaze at the residence in the town of Villafranca de Ebro in Zaragoza, according to the Spanish news website Diario Sur. Image: Two people remain in a critical condition following the blaze. Pic: AP They remain in a critical condition, while several others received treatment for smoke inhalation.Firefighters were alerted to the blaze at the residence - the Jardines de Villafranca - at 5am (4am UK time) on Friday. Image: Several residents were treated for smoke inhalation. Pi...

UN climate talks are "no longer fit for purpose" and should only be hosted by countries who are trying to give up fossil fuels, veterans of the process have said.An open letter to the United Nations, signed by former UN chief Ban Ki-moon, made a dramatic intervention in the 29th COP climate summit, under way in Baku, Azerbaijan. Frustration over petrostate hosts - following last year's summit in UAE - as well as the influence of fossil fuel lobbyists, prohibitive costs, and slow progress have been mounting in recent years.The letter acknowledges the strides COPs have made on ramping up climate policies."But it is now clear that the COP is no longer fit for purpose," the authors said. "Its current structure simply cannot deliver the change at exponential speed and scale, which is essential ...