Thames Water plans to restart desalination plant – after drought has ended

• Five years after the Taliban seized power in Kabul, Afghans face a starkly divided reality where some report improvements while many others endure increasing hardship. • Syria continues to struggle with the aftermath of over a decade of conflict, which resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and a massive global displacement crisis.

• Pakistan has historically utilized mediation as a core pillar of its foreign policy to manage conflicts between neighboring adversaries. • Unlike global superpowers, Pakistan's drive for mediation is fueled by immediate security threats, including refugee influxes, cross-border terrorism, and narcotics smuggling.

Kobe, 18, who made discovery on site of former brewery in Sint-Gillis-Dendermonde, at first thought trove was €1 coinsFor a student with a summer job working on a Belgian building site, “money down the drain” has taken on a whole new meaning: excavating the trenches for a sewage system, he stumbled across a hidden trove of gold worth an estimated €9m (£8m).“We suddenly saw something lying there,” 18-year-old Kobe told the Belgian news network VTM. “At first I thought it was €1 coins. So we started digging them up. Then we saw a gold bar. It turned out to be a bit more than we thought.” Continue reading...

Students narrowly missing grades are being rejected, while some on oversubscribed courses are asked to deferStudents across the UK have found themselves unexpectedly squeezed out of their desired university courses as this year’s bumper crop of A-level grades ​h​as not always translated into ​​the places many were hoping for.​With close to a third of the A-levels awarded in England, Wales and Northern Ireland achieving the top A and A* grades this year, universities are taking a tougher stance by rejecting students who narrowly missed their expected grades and who in previous years would still have gained a place. Continue reading...

Biological parents given custody of child born in Texas amid dispute over surrogate mother’s claim of abortion requestA two-day-old baby with a rare heart defect at the center of a complex surrogacy dispute in Texas has been handed over to the parents’ custody and is receiving care, lawyers for the parents said on Friday.The baby has hypoplastic left heart syndrome, a defect that requires surgeries to correct. The baby was born on Wednesday to surrogate mother McKenna West of Alaska after she reportedly refused requests to get an abortion from the biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed of California – requests they deny making. Continue reading...

With questions over Farage’s finances and a new face in No 10, could Barnsley council be a bellwether for changing Labour fortunes?Labour marked its worst performance in more than 50 years when voters went to the polls in Barnsley in May, but 100 days on from those seismic local elections, the political landscape has shifted drastically.Could the South Yorkshire town, where Reform UK reaped the benefits of dissatisfaction with Labour, prove to be a test case for whether the governing party has turned the tide? Continue reading...

The administrative work required to run an effective investment scam has been drastically cut by using merging technologyGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWithin days of clicking on an online ad for a cryptocurrency trading app, a 29-year-old Queensland man watched his dashboard soar with profits.Making investment gains was as simple as downloading the slick-looking app and browser extension linked to his crypto wallet. So he invested more. Continue reading...

UK team seeking to put suitcase-sized satellite in orbit around moon in search for 21cm line radio frequency signalLittle is known about what was happening shortly after the big bang, but now researchers are hoping to shed fresh light on the matter by harnessing the dark side of the moon.Scientists are hoping to put a suitcase-sized satellite into orbit around the moon, using the data it collects as it passes the far side to search for a radio frequency signal emitted by neutral hydrogen atoms in the early universe. Continue reading...

Marine conservationist says deliberate attack would be ‘act of extreme cruelty’ against an endangered populationSpanish officials have launched an investigation after the matriarch of an orca pod known for jostling and ramming boats off the Iberian Peninsula was spotted with wounds suggesting she had been shot by a pellet gun.On Friday, Spain’s environment ministry said Toñi, the oldest living member of the pod, had been seen swimming in the Strait of Gibraltar with markings on her dorsal fin that were “consistent with shots from a pellet gun”. Continue reading...

PM urges people not to risk lives and homes by starting fires as military brought in to help deal with wildfiresUK politics live – latest updatesDowning Street has issued a temporary GB-wide ban on the sale of disposable barbecue and brought in the military to help deal with wildfires as Andy Burnham urged people not to risk lives in “tinderbox” Britain this weekend.The prime minister spoke from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, where at least 19 people have been taken to hospital during eight fires that have ripped through several homes. Continue reading...

Greater Anglia crash happens day after two passengers seriously injured in East Sussex derailmentA Greater Anglia train has derailed near Wickford, in Essex, according to reports.The incident occurred a day after two passengers were seriously injured when a Southern Rail train derailed in East Sussex. Continue reading...