London’s mayor will visit US prior to election ‘in case Trump wins’
London’s newly elected mayor, Sadiq Khan, said he will visit the United States prior to this year’s presidential elections “in case Trump wins,” according to a
Guardian report.
Khan, the first Muslim mayor of a major western capital, wants to make the visit prior to the elections because of presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from entering the US.
“If Donald Trump becomes the president I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith, which means I can’t engage with American mayors and swap ideas,” Khan told
Time magazine.
Khan has expressed admiration for the mayors of New York and Chicago and said he wanted to meet with them, the
Guardian reported.
On Monday, Trump assured reporters that he would make an “exception” for Khan, the BBC reported.
London garage sells for £466,000
A former garage in London has sold for £466,000 -- £182,000 more than the average house price in the UK, the
Guardian reported.
The 18ft x 25ft property, described as a vacant freehold garage, was up for auction Monday with a guide price of £250,000. The final sale price of £466,000 is £58,000 more than the average property price in London.
The garage’s location has been a big part of driving up the price; it’s located just off Fulham Palace Road in Hammersmith – a borough where house prices average more than £830,000. The site was reportedly used for storage, but has planning permission for a small two-bedroom house, according to the
Guardian.
Pension Protection Fund faces £275m liability thanks to BHS collapse
The Pension Protection Fund faces an estimated £275 million liability because of BHS’s £571 million pension deficit, according to Sky News.
Alan Rubenstein, chief executive of the PPF, told MPs that the fund would be able to cover the amount without an increase to the annual levy that solvent pension schemes pay to fund the PPF.
Rubenstein’s questioning by MPs marked the beginning of parliamentary hearings – which are running separately to an inquiry being conducted by the Insolvency Service – into BHS’s collapse last month,
Sky News reported. The retailer’s tumble into administration left 11,000 jobs at risk.
Man faces hate crime charges over dog’s ‘Nazi salute’
A man in Scotland faces hate crime charges over an online video that allegedly shows his dog making a Nazi salute, the
Guardian reported.
Police say the clip shows a pug sitting in front of a screen showing footage of Adolf Hitler. The pug is making what appear to be Nazi salutes.
Police said that sharing the video online “caused offence and hurt to many people in our community,” the
Guardian reported.
Support for EU shrinks among business leaders
A majority of UK business leaders still support staying in the EU, but that support has dipped recently, Sky News reported.
The British Chambers of Commerce said that in its final poll before the 23 June vote on Brexit, 54.1% of business leaders were backing Remain. That’s down from 60% in February.
Meanwhile, 37% of the 2,200 business leaders polled by the BCC were now supporting an exit from the EU. That’s up from 30%, according to
Sky News.
The poll also found that big business was “significantly more likely” to support remaining in the EU.
“As the EU referendum campaign enters the final straight, the race for the business vote has clearly tightened,” said Dr. Adam Marshall, acting director of the BCC.
Lorry becomes accidental rabbit cannon
A Kent lorry driver got a shock when he tried to start his vehicle after it had been sitting idle more than a week. After several attempts, the engine caught – but only after two baby rabbits shot from the exhaust with a loud bang, according to the
Mirror.
When the driver checked behind the lorry, he found the two soot-blackened rabbits lying in the road. The driver called Swale Wildlife Rescue, a local animal charity, and owner Ingrid Cole took charge of the bunnies.
Cole said she found the vehicle’s exhaust packed with straw, which seemed to indicate that a female rabbit had chosen the exhaust for a nest and given birth there while the lorry was sitting idle.
The baby rabbits are doing well, the
Mirror reported. They have been named Smoky and The Bandit, after a 1977 Burt Reynolds movie.
Not the bees! Not the bees!
As phrases go, “released millions of bees” is something you’d be only slightly gladder to hear than “that thing on your neck won’t stop growing.
But that’s what happened after a lorry carrying beehives crashed on a Wyoming highway, according to a Yahoo News report.
Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Aren Peter, who responded to the accident, said the swarm of angry bees hovered over the highway, stretching 100 yards across.
The driver had apparently fallen asleep at the wheel and swerved off the roadway, where the vehicle flipped onto its side, according to
Laramie Boomerang. Peters said the driver refused medical attention and was more concerned with recovering the bees so he could get on his way. Police did not specify how one man intended to trap millions of angry bees.
