Kate Whannel Political reporter PA Media The government is seeking the right to appeal against a High Court ruling which blocks asylum seekers being housed in an Essex hotel. Earlier this week, Epping Forest District Council was granted a temporary injunction to stop people being placed at the Bell Hotel in Epping. The court refused…

Wang Tianyu, with people perched in his dozer scoop – credit, handout via SCMP A freak rain event dumped 40% of Beijing’s average yearly precipitation down in a single week, triggering floods. From out of the chaos, Chinese social media rose to salute the “Bulldozer Hero,” Wang Tianyu, a business owner turned rescuer. On July…

At least five people have been killed and dozens injured after a car bomb exploded on a busy street in the western city of Cali in Colombia, according to authorities. The blast targeted the Marco Fidel Suarez Military Aviation School in the city’s north and initial reports indicate 36 people were injured, police said. Alejandro…

Courtesy of the researchers, MIT An advance in prosthetics 7 years in the making has jumped into life with a lower-leg device that feels more like a part of the body than any other commercially-available product. Considered something like a prosthesis in three layers, tests have shown it to grant greater agility, comfort, and sense…

There will be rolling strike action across the London Underground (LU) beginning on Friday 5 September for seven days, the RMT union has announced. The strikes come after management refused to engage with union demands on pay, fatigue management, extreme shift patterns and a reduction in the working week, as well as failing to honour…

A pearl-bordered fritillary – credit, Devon Wildlife Trust Two years ago, the UK government gave roughly $15 million to its own conservation organ called Natural England for the purpose of preventing species decline. Now, its report card has arrived, and its A+ work has seen the recovery of 150 struggling or declining species. Natural England…

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is encouraging Tory-controlled councils to consider launching legal challenges against the use of hotels to house asylum seekers in their areas. Badenoch said Epping Forest District Council had achieved “a victory for local people”, after a High Court ruling blocked a hotel from housing asylum seekers. In a letter to Conservative…

– credit CARP, supplied In a provincial English city, a man has taken it upon himself to address what he referred to as a “fun deficit” in town. By placing humorous signs in the style of public notices and road signs around town, he hopes they will disarm people into seeing issues in a new…

A record crowd for a Women’s Rugby World Cup opening match is expected with more than 40,000 tickets sold for the game at Stadium of Light. England, who are favourites to win the tournament, are on a 27-game winning run, with their last defeat coming against New Zealand in the 2022 World Cup final. “We…

Orangutans by Getty Images for Unsplash+ On the island of Borneo, forest-dwelling communities have become key to ensuring that orangutans have enough intact forest to survive and thrive down the centuries. Documented by the Nature Conservancy, which is assisting in establishing and equipping these forest communities for conservation, these communities maintain millions of acres of…