Weather experts say Jersey had its hottest year on record in 2022,.
The average temperature in the island for the year went up by 0.2C (0.36F) to 13.56C (56.4F).
The hottest temperature record was also broken when it reached 37.9C (100.2F) in July.
Head of meteorology Paul Aked said the year saw “a number of new records” and that “every month except for December has been warmer than average, resulting in the overall warmest year on record”.
He added that the sea temperature had “also been remarkable”, staying “above average for each day throughout the year until 13 December”.
Work to build England’s biggest wind turbine will start in February.
The 150-metre structure will dwarf the other turbines already in Avonmouth, Bristol, when it is finished.
Around 100 tonnes of steel and 1,000 tonnes of concrete will be needed to build it.
Project development manager David Tudgey said the turbine would be a “real testament of hope for the future”.
It is hoped it will be up and running by spring, providing low-carbon electricity to 3,500 homes and saving 1,965 tonnes of CO2 per year.
Charles Gamble said the turbine’s size made it “quite difficult” to build on the site
The turbine is owned by community group Ambition Community Energy and planning permission was granted by North Somerset Council in 2020.
It is one of only a handful of onshore wind turbines to be approved since new planning laws came into effect in 2016 which made it much harder to build them.
The government vowed to relax these rules earlier in the month, after backbenchers threatened to rebel.
Charles Gamble, from Ambition Community Energy, said it was “quite a difficult site” because of the turbine’s size.
Sigiriya is an ancient palace located in the central Matale District near the town of Dambulla in the Central Province, Sri Lanka. The name refers to a site of historical and archaeological significance that is dominated by a massive column of rock nearly 200 metres (660 ft) high.
The story of Sigiriya is the tale of King Kasyapa who ruled between 477 and 495AD.
A troubled but visionary king; Kasyapa murdered his father by plastering him up in a wall. Rejected by his people for his crime and tormented by guilt he abandoned his magnificent capital of Anuradhapura and fled deep in the forests of central Sri Lanka.
There, in an area dominated by a menacing black column of rock he built himself a new capital resplendent with lush gardens, palaces and pavilions.
He also built a massive gatehouse in the form of a lion to guard the entrance to the inmost sanctum of his city; the Sky Palace on top of the rock. Hidden from view and surrounded by his courtiers and harem, Kasyapa lived in splendid isolation.
He was, however, deeply troubled by his responsibility for the death of his father. He carried out many good works and observed his religious duties diligently hoping, no doubt, to find some salvation for his troubled conscience.
Finally, betrayed, by those he trusted, he committed suicide. The site chosen for the capital was a foreboding place indeed; teeming with wild elephants, poisonous snakes, leopards, bears, mosquitoes, hornets and other vermin. Kasyapa was fortunate.
He was the king of a extremely prosperous kingdom. He also had a huge workforce of highly skilled laborers and artisans to do his bidding. An army of over a hundred thousand men, thousands of bullocks and many hundreds of elephants toiled for years to build a magnificent new city in the forest.
The pièce de résistance of the new city was the rock itself. It was the centerpiece of the entire city.
Kasyapa and his architects built a royal citadel with ramparts and moats and lavish gardens, ponds and fountains around this looming black rock.
Upon Kasyapa’s death the royal capital was moved back to Anuradhapura. The magnificent Sigiriya Citadel was stripped of its treasures and converted in to a Buddhist monastery.
Over the ensuring centuries it was progressively abandoned and then finally completely deserted. Slowly it was consumed by the forests and disappeared into the mists of time. In 1831 Major Jonathan Forbes of the 78th Highlanders of the British army, while returning on horseback from a trip to Pollonnuruwa, encountered the “bush covered summit of Sigiriya”.
Sigiriya came to the attention of antiquarians and, later, archaeologists. Archaeological work at Sigiriya began on a small scale in the 1890s. H.C.P. Bell was the first archaeologist to conduct extensive research on Sigiriya. The Cultural Triangle Project, launched by the Government of Sri Lanka, focused its attention on Sigiriya in 1982.
Archaeological work began on the entire city for the first time under this project. There was a sculpted lion’s head above the legs and paws flanking the entrance, but the head collapsed years ago.
Nowadays, the Sigiriya site contains the ruins of an upper palace located on the flat top of the rock, a mid-level terrace that includes the Lion Gate and the mirror wall with its frescoes, the lower palaces located behind the lavish lower gardens, and moats and ramparts which protected the citadel. Amazing piece of art, rediscovered again.
The Alumni of the Ahmadu Bello University, ABU Zaria, has unveiled a Forum known as FCT ABU U93PS/IS Forum which would among other objectives foster social welfare needs of members, and as catalyst for contributing to good governance and development in Nigeria.
The forum is directly unveiled by the graduating class of the Department of Political Science 1998/99 Academic Session.
Also, the Forum advocates for regular awareness on health issues creating platform for checking health vitals as well as engaging in regular physical exercises.
The Abuja Forum, which comprises of the Alumni from the Political Science and International Studies branches of the Department was officially inaugurated on Tuesday, at a reunion meeting held in Abuja, with about 15 members of the class in attendance during the inauguration.
One of the Conveners of the meeting, Olayemi Salako enjoined members to embrace social networking for capacity building and self development.
However, during the inauguration of the Group’s pioneer Executives, two officials of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Fatai A. Bello, Chief Administrative Officer with the Department of Reform Coordination & Service Improvement, and Kenechukwu Ike, Assistant Director with the Health & Human Services Secretariat emerged as Chairman and Public Relations Officer.
Other members of the Exco include: Lawrence Odidi of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency as Secretary; Dr. Bala Mohammed of the ICPC as Treasurer and Toyin Sulyman-Peters of National Assembly as Welfare Secretary.
In his acceptance speech on behalf of the Executive members, Bello thanked his colleagues for the confidence reposed in the pioneer Executive and promised to work to achieve the objectives of the Forum.
He called on members to massively embark on mobilisation of other members of the class residents in Abuja to join hands with the Officials towards the overall goals of the newly inaugurated FCT ABU U93PS/IS Forum.
1496 Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine
1521 Martin Luther is Excommunicated by Pope Leo X from the Roman Catholic Church for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses which started the Protestant Reformation
1777 General George Washington’s revolutionary army defeats British forces at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey
1925 Benito Mussolini dissolves the Italian parliament and proclaims himself dictator of Italy, taking the title “Il Duce” (the Leader)
1977 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc
1985 Israel government confirms resettlement of 10,000 Ethiopian Jews
Historical Events Today Events In 2022
Today In Film & Tv
2004 After hosting the show for over 30 years, Casey Kasem gives up the hosting duties of “American Top 40” to Ryan Seacrest
Today In Music
1987 Aretha Franklin is the first female artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Today In Sport
1929 Australian cricket icon Don Bradman follows up a 1st innings of 79 to score 112 in 3rd Test v England in Melbourne; his 1st of 29 Test centuries
2018 Previously unknown ancient Beringians group of people unearthed in Alaska, earliest known Native Americans at 11,500 years old
1996 1st clamshell flip mobile phone, the Motorola StarTAC, goes on sale. Eventually 60 million are sold.
Famous Weddings
1783 Future US Chief Justice of the Supreme Court John Marshall (27) weds Mary Willis Ambler (16) at his cousin’s home in Hanover County, Virginia, until her death in 1831
1939 American future MLB catcher Roy Campanella (18) weds Bernice Ray
1986 British golfer Nick Faldo (28) weds manager’s secretary Gill Bennett
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Larry Fink agreed to focus in the near term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channelling investment into the most relevant and impactful sectors of the Ukrainian economy,” the post said.
On Wednesday it was revealed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s government is prepping to participate in January’s World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, and that the Ukrainian leader is in talks with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink regarding rebuilding efforts following the war with Russia.
According to Bloomberg, Zelensky said in an evening address to the nation, “Specialists of this company are already helping Ukraine to structure the fund for the reconstruction of our state.”
Zelensky reportedly had a video call with Fink in September. He did not reveal whether he would be attending the WEF in person or virtually.
According to a Wednesday post on the Ukrainian President’s official website, Zelensky said, “In accordance with the preliminary agreements struck earlier this year between the Head of State and Larry Fink, the BlackRock team has been working for several months on a project to advise the Ukrainian government on how to structure the country’s reconstruction funds.”
“Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Larry Fink agreed to focus in the near term on coordinating the efforts of all potential investors and participants in the reconstruction of our country, channeling investment into the most relevant and impactful sectors of the Ukrainian economy,” the post added.
“During the conversation, it was emphasized that certain BlackRock leaders plan to visit Ukraine in the new year,” the post continued. “The President thanked Larry Fink for the work of the professional team that BlackRock has allocated to advise on structuring the reconstruction projects.”
Egyptian sarcophagus that was on display at a US museum has been returned to Egypt.
The sarcophagus was repatriated after an investigation that lasted several years and was formally handed over by US diplomats at a ceremony in Cairo on Monday. The event was attended by Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and Tourism and Antiquities Minister Ahmed Issa.
The 2.9m long “Green Coffin” dates back to the Late Dynastic Period, which spanned 664BC to 332BC, and belonged to a priest called Ankhenmaat.
It was looted from the Abu Sir necropolis in north Egypt by a global art trafficking network, which smuggled it through Germany into the US in 2008.
A collector loaned it to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in 2013.
While, Secretary-General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities Mostafa Waziri was inspecting the artifact, US chargé d’affaires in Egypt, Daniel Rubinstein said, “Today’s ceremony is emblematic of the long history of co-operation between the United States and Egypt on antiquities protection and cultural heritage preservation.
Mr Issa said the return of the sarcophagus showed Egypt’s strenuous efforts to recover smuggled artefacts.
In September, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the Green Coffin, which was valued at over $1m (£830,000), was illegally trafficked out of Egypt by a multinational network of antiquities smugglers.
The network was also responsible for trafficking the “Gold Coffin”, which was which was returned to Egypt in 2019, the Stele of Pa-di-Sena, which is also from the Late Dynastic Period and was handed over in 2020, and five pieces seized from New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last year.
The US is not the only country to have returned antiquities to Egypt recently. In 2021, Israel handed over 95 relics which had been smuggled into the country or found for sale in Jerusalem.
Last month, a university in the Republic of Ireland said it was planning to repatriate a sarcophagus, mummified human remains and canopic jars.
The EU says it will launch proceedings to remove parliamentary immunity from two MEPs implicated in an ongoing corruption scandal.
This is according to Parliamentary President Roberta Metsola who said she had taken the move after a request from Belgian police, although her statement did not name the MEPs involved.
The scandal erupted last month after one MEP and three others were arrested on charges of corruption and money-laundering. While authorities have not named the country behind the bribery network, numerous EU sources have accused Qatar of running the operation.
But the Gulf state has strenuously denied any claims of misconduct as unfair and “gravely misinformed”.
Ms Metsola – who has previously said the scandal showed that “open, free, democratic societies are under attack” – said she would now launch an “urgent procedure” to remove parliamentary immunity from the two MEPs following the police request.
The request must now be filed before the entire EU parliament on 16 January, before advancing to the body’s legal affairs committee. A report on the allegations will then be prepared, before a vote in the full chamber on removing the MEPs’ immunity.
All MEPs hold some limited immunity which means they can carry out their jobs, express their opinions and vote freely without living in fear of arrest or political persecution.
But the chamber can vote to strip them of that immunity after confidential proceedings. The process allows accused MEPs to present evidence and defend themselves.
European Parliament spokeswoman Yasmina Yakimova said last week that the purpose of immunity was to ensure “that parliament can function” but emphasised that it was “not something that allows them to break the law more easily”.
Police in Queensland, Australia say Four people have died after a mid-air collision between two helicopters near Sea World on Australia’s Gold Coast.
Initial investigations suggest the crash happened as one aircraft was taking off and the other was landing.
According to a foreign office spokesman, those who died were travelling in the same helicopter while three other passengers are in a critical condition. Two UK citizens were among those killed in the crash.
They added that officials were supporting the families of the two victims – who have not been named – and would remain “in contact with the local authorities”.
Five of the six people on the other aircraft, which made an emergency landing, suffered minor injuries.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the country had been left shocked by the “terrible and tragic incident”.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is investigating the collision, which happened at about 14:00 local time (04:00 GMT).
The two aircraft came down near a tourist strip known as Main Beach, about 75km south of Brisbane.
Gary Worrell of the Queensland Police Service said: “It’s a difficult scene, Due to the area it’s located, on the sand bank, it was difficult to gain access, to get emergency services to the scene to manage it appropriately.”
Worrell said members of the public and police had tried to remove passengers from the aircraft and performed first aid on the injured.
The other helicopter has the popular marine park’s logo on its fuselage and appears to have made an emergency landing after the collision.
According to the Sea World website the park offers sightseeing helicopter flights for tourists, as well as carrying out other charter operations.
The resort’s owner, Village Roadshow Theme Parks, offered its condolences to all those impacted and said Sea World Helicopters is an independent operator.
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