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Katie Price shows off huge new sofa as she gives tour of new 4.5k a month rental property

By in Entertainment News, News

Katie Price has given a glimpse at her huge new sofa newly-positioned in her posh rental pad. The mum of five is busy kitting out her three-bed barn conversion, which is seeing her shell out £4,500 per month in rent for the privilege

Katie Price shows off huge new sofa in her rented barn conversion

Katie Price is settling into life as a renter as she aims to get her finances back on track after a rocky few years.

The former glamour model, 47, once owned her own properties – including the infamous Mucky Mansion – but, due to bankruptcies, has been forced to return to renting and swap mortgage contracts for leases with landlords.

But the mum-of-five is making the most of her new situation. The reality TV star has been busy turning her upmarket rental property into a home and given fans a sneak peek at her interior design choices.

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Katie on a red chair
Katie Price is busy designing her new home (Image: Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)

Katie, who was made bankrupt last year before being discharged in March, is currently forking out an eye-watering £4,500 a month in rent for the luxurious three-bedroom barn conversion she now calls home.

The two-time I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! star previously had to cough up £5,192 for the deposit on her new long-term let due to her past financial problems.

Now those pesky issues are behind her, Katie is free to get on with the more enjoyable task of decking out her new abode. Last month, the 47-year-old gave fans a glimpse of the kitchen area in her new property.

And now Katie is showing off a brand new sofa. Katie filmed the striking cream furniture, arranged in a u-shape around a table, as it commanded attention in the lounge.

A sofa in a large room
Katie has a lovely new couch(Image: Instagram/BACKGRID)

The cream boucle material perfectly matches the dark timber flooring while the TV personality ensured comfort with plenty of cushions, throws and covers.

It created the ideal contrast to her lip-shaped mini sofa which also occupied the room, and clear acrylic dining chairs positioned around a table.

As it looks like Katie got a good price on the settee – if she even paid at all. Her new sofa has been made exclusively for her. In her Instagram post caption she penned: “Love my custom made sofa.”

She then credited the UK-based firm, Comfort & co sofas and beds, in her post. Katie didn’t tag the post as sponsored content or an advert, suggesting she paid for the piece.

Katie’s countryside hideaway also boasts floor to ceiling windows and doors, vaulted ceilings, a spacious kitchen and lounge with a snug wood-burning stove set within a brick fireplace. A mezzanine sitting room overlooks the bright and spacious living area, offering a closer view of the exposed wooden beams in the ceiling.

The mum-of-five was declared bankrupt in November 2019 and again in March last year, and the bankruptcies have since been discharged.

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In March this year, Katie said that the second bankruptcy had been discharged. “I’m so happy. I can finally move on and put these bankruptcies behind me and now only focus on the positive,” she said at the time. “Thank you to everyone that has supported me through this process.”

Trump’s second state visit to the UK will be met by royal pomp, protests

By in News, World News

The United Kingdom is set to roll out the royal red carpet for United States President Donald Trump’s second state visit to the country, with an extraordinary show of pomp and pageantry unfolding entirely behind closed doors, far from planned protests in London.

King Charles III will host Trump at Windsor Castle on Wednesday before trade talks the next day with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at Chequers, the British leader’s rural retreat.

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Trump’s visit to London coincides with critical trade negotiations between the US and many of its key trading partners, including the UK. During his stay, both countries plan to announce several deals on technology and civil nuclear energy, and British leaders hope to finalise an agreement on metal tariffs.

If the UK authorities’ goal was to make Trump feel most welcome, it appeared to be working, as he arrived by helicopter at the US ambassador’s official residence in London on Tuesday night with First Lady Melania Trump.

“A lot of things here warm my heart,” said Trump, whose mother hailed from Scotland and who has two golf courses in the UK. He described Charles, 76, who is undergoing treatment for cancer, as “my friend”.

This state visit is “certainly unprecedented”, said Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, reporting from Windsor Castle, about 40km (25 miles) west of central London.

“The UK government hopes that all the glitter and glamour of a state visit and all that entails, mixing with the royals, the pomp and the pageantry, will put Donald Trump in a good mood and make him more malleable to perhaps negotiate on trade” and more willing to heed Starmer on certain foreign policy matters, said Veselinovic.

The US president’s day will begin with heir to the throne Prince William and his wife Catherine welcoming the Trumps to Windsor Castle, the home of the British royals for nearly a millennium.

King Charles and Queen Camilla are then due to join them for a carriage procession through the grounds of Windsor estate towards the castle – again behind closed doors.

The Trumps will lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II, who died in 2022.

Trump will also witness a military band ceremony, ending with a flypast by US and British F-35 military jets and the Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows display team. This is the first joint flypast by US and UK fighter jets at an event of its kind, and the largest guard of honour at a state visit, featuring 120 horses and 1,300 troops.

The president and Charles will wrap up the day with a white-tie state banquet, where they are due to give speeches.

The visit comes at an awkward time for US, UK leaders

Starmer faces political troubles at home, after sacking his UK ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, over the ongoing furore involving the diplomat’s connection to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail cell in 2019.

Trump has also been dragged into its quadmire, riling his MAGA base, while insisting it is a “hoax”.

The lavish state and royal welcome, however, stands in contrast to public opinion in the UK, where polls show Trump remains a deeply unpopular figure.

On Tuesday, dozens of protesters from the Stop Trump Coalition gathered outside Windsor Castle to demonstrate against Trump’s visit. Four people were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after they projected images of Trump and Epstein onto the nearly 1,000-year-old castle, according to Thames Valley police.

Large protests are also planned in London on Wednesday.

In an opinion piece written for the UK daily The Guardian before Trump’s visit, London’s Muslim mayor Sadiq Khan, who Trump has repeatedly insulted and denigrated, accused Trump of doing more than anyone else to “fan the flames of divisive, far-right politics around the world in recent years”.

Khan said that while he recognised the practical reasons for maintaining strong ties with the US, the UK should not be afraid to criticise Trump.

The so-called special relationship between the UK and US, Khan said, “includes being open and honest with each other”, adding: “At times, this means being a critical friend and speaking truth to power.”

Khan also publicly clashed with the US president during his first state visit in 2019.

Trump has “publicly endorsed” and called Nigel Farage, head of the far-right anti-immigration Reform party, a friend, said Veselinovic.

Farage has said the party’s policies regarding immigration were “partly inspired or at least echo Donald Trump’s own deportation programmes in the US”, said Veselinovic.

The UK’s primary goal with the state visit “is to try to get more favourable terms with the US in the existing UK-US trade deal… It is looking like that may perhaps not happen for Keir Starmer during this visit,” said Veselinovic. “Critics have said that perhaps he [Starmer] was too fast to extend this unprecedented second invitation for a state visit, that he should’ve dangled it as an award for more favourable treatment.”

During Thursday’s visit, Starmer is also expected to discuss foreign affairs with Trump.

Starmer has tried to use his influence to maintain US support for Ukraine, with limited results. Trump has expressed frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom he hosted in Alaska last month, but has not made good on threats to impose new sanctions on Russia for shunning peace negotiations.

Dr Michael Mosley’s wife U-turns on emotional family decision and admits ‘I’m relieved’

By in Entertainment News, News

Dr Michael Mosley’s wife has opened up on the prospect of having to make a major decision about her living situation following the tragic death of her husband last year

Clare Mosley has revealed how she is ‘relieved’ after making a major u-turn recently (Image: PA)

TV star Dr Michael Mosley’s wife has revealed how going back on a huge family decision more than a year after her husband’s tragic death made her feel “relieved”.

The TV doctor’s death, which happened while he was walking on holiday in Greece last year, left his wife Clare Bailey Mosley devastated.

The widow had initially made plans to put their home on the market and had even cleared out the property in preparation for a potential sale. After a late change of heart she revealed that she’s “relieved” that she eventually went back on her decision.

Clare told the I: “It’s been helpful to do it. I got rid of junk that should have gone years ago. It wasn’t until I said that I wasn’t doing it that everybody expressed a certain amount of relief.”

Dr Michael Mosley, who died aged 67, became a household name, first working for the BBC in 1985. His career in front of the camera began in 2007 when he pitched a series for the Beeb titled Medical Mavericks. Unable to find a suitable host, he offered to present it himself.

Dr Michael Mosley
Dr Michael Mosley tragically died while holidaying on a Greek island last year with his wife and friends(Image: Getty Images)

He had become one of the nation’s most recognisable doctors at the time of his death, appearing on The One Show and a series of health-related programmes for the BBC and Channel 4.

Dr Mosley died while holidaying on the idyllic Greek island of Symi. He was reported missing by his wife after he had failed to return from a walk.

The weather had been incredibly hot, even for Greece, and his likely cause of death was cited as heatstroke.

Clare and Michael Mosley
Clare has been eager to keep Dr Mosley’s hard work going following his death last year(Image: PA)

His body was eventually discovered approximately 30 mins from where he had left his wife and friends on the day he went missing.

Clare admitted she initially found it difficult to eat in the days and weeks following her husband’s death.

She said: “In the first few days, when we didn’t know what had happened with Michael, everyone was eating feta and salad and other meals. I couldn’t eat.

“Whatever food I was given, I had to slather it with mayonnaise. That was the only way I could eat.”

Dr Michael Mosley
He had become an ever present on our screen down years(Image: Getty Images)

Since Dr Mosley’s untimely death his family have been eager to continue his good work with the launch of The Michael Mosley Fellowship in partnership with King’s College London. The clinical research fellowship will help advance research into metabolic health.

His latest series, Michael Mosley: Secrets of the Superagers, was released posthumously on Channel 4 in July this year.

Michael has also been credited with popularising a number of diet plans over the years.

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Possibly his most successful healthy eating initiative was the 5:2 diet, which in its simplest form is when people consume the same amount of calories as they usually do for five days before cutting their caloric intake to between 500-600 on the remaining two days.

FG Unveils Agric Reforms

By in News, Nigeria News

The Federal Government has announced fresh incentives to boost agricultural investment under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

The move is part of ongoing reforms to unlock Nigeria’s vast food production potential through new policies that serve as a game-changer for agriculture and infrastructure investments in the country.

Shettima, who disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday during the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) National and Sub-regional Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum, noted that while hunger poses a global security issue, Nigeria must mobilise its strengths to secure a future of abundance.

“Nothing unifies humanity as much as hunger. It is the great equaliser that reveals our vulnerabilities and the shared fragility of our existence. Food is not merely a matter of survival; it is a matter of global security,” he said.

Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Communications, Stanley Nkwocha, revealed details of Tuesday’s meeting.

Nigeria has been under pressure to cut its reliance on imports and address food insecurity, which worsened after fuel subsidy removal and currency reforms deepened inflation in 2023.

The measures include single-window platforms for land registration, strengthened agricultural credit systems, large-scale mechanisation, and strategic irrigation projects.

Shettima said Nigeria had the capacity to irrigate more than three million hectares of farmland, but currently uses less than 10 percent of that potential.

“Strategic investment in irrigation alone could triple yields, free us from seasonal dependency, and fortify our resilience against climate shocks,” he stated.

“Nothing unifies humanity as much as hunger. It is the great equaliser that reveals our vulnerabilities and the shared fragility of our existence.

“Food is not merely a matter of survival; it is a matter of global security,” Shettima added.

The Vice President noted that Nigeria’s blueprint under the 2021–2025 National Development Plan aims to lift 35 million people out of poverty, create 21 million jobs in rural communities, and secure food and nutrition sufficiency.

Shettima noted that irrigation is a game-changer, noting that Nigeria has river basins and aquifers capable of irrigating over three million hectares but currently uses less than ten per cent.

“Strategic investment in irrigation alone could triple yields, free us from seasonal dependency, and fortify our resilience against climate shocks,” he added.

He assured investors that regulatory reforms, public-private partnerships, and agri-tech innovations would make Nigeria “open for business.”

“Nigeria is open for business, and we are ready to partner with you. Let us work hand-in-hand to build Nigeria and a sub-region where no one goes to bed hungry, where rural communities are hubs of wealth creation, and where agriculture is the true foundation of our prosperity,” VP Shettima said.

Earlier, the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Abubakar Kyari, described Nigeria’s market, large arable land, and growing digital economy as unique opportunities for investors.

He said a combination of Nigeria’s domestic market, large arable land, clement weather, and fast-growing digital economy presents unique opportunities for investment across the agribusiness ecosystem.

The Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Senator Atiku Bagudu, said the economic potential of Nigeria remains largely untapped, especially in agriculture and irrigation, which hold significant promise for economic diversification and transformation.

He noted that agriculture, particularly agribusiness, remains a pivotal component of Nigeria’s national development plan in the medium and long term, as well as the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Tinubu.

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Did climate change cause 16,500 extra deaths in Europe this summer?

By in News, World News

This summer was one of the hottest on record in Europe, with temperatures soaring above 46 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit), triggering wildfires and causing the deaths of thousands of people, particularly among the elderly.

Climate change is likely to be responsible for 68 percent, or about 16,500, of additional heat-related deaths, according to new research from the Grantham Institute – Climate Change and the Environment in London, United Kingdom.

This is partly because rising temperatures triggered by human-caused climate change are the main cause of the intense wildfires that ravaged parts of the continent this year. Four times as much land area as the usual annual average was burned in Spain at 380,000 hectares (940,000 acres) – more than five times the size of Singapore. In Portugal, 280,000 hectares (690,000 acres) of land was burned – larger than the area of the country of Luxembourg and two-and-a-half times the annual average.

Intense wildfires were also reported in France, Italy, Greece, Albania and Turkiye this year. But Spain bore the brunt of the heat this year with more than 1,100 deaths blamed on a 16-day heatwave in August, according to the Madrid-based Carlos III Health Institute.

Elderly people with underlying health conditions were particularly vulnerable to overheating of indoor environments, the study found.

What did the study find?

The Grantham Institute study, which examined 854 European cities, found that the average rise in temperature by approximately 3.6C (6.48F) was responsible for 68 percent of the 24,400 estimated heat-related deaths this summer.

The analysis of the data gathered across European cities was carried out by researchers at the Imperial College of London and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

The two institutions warned that the result is only “a snapshot” of the real death toll linked to extreme heat, as the cities studied represent only a third of Europe’s population. It stated that extreme heat is the “deadliest type of weather” and that the officially reported heat deaths in Europe remain “significantly underestimated”.

The results of the research “underscore why extreme heat is known as a silent killer”, the report’s authors said.

Which countries were worst affected?

Additional heat-related deaths as a result of climate change were reported as follows:

  • Italy – 4,597
  • Spain – 2,841
  • Germany – 1,477
  • France – 1,444
  • UK – 1,147
  • Romania – 1,064
  • Greece – 808
  • Bulgaria – 552
  • Croatia – 268

In capital cities, climate change led to an additional 835 deaths in Rome; 630 in Athens; 409 in Paris; 387 in Madrid; 360 in Bucharest; 315 in London; and 140 in Berlin.

Among the 30 European capitals covered, Rome, Athens and Bucharest had the highest estimated excess mortality per population this summer.

What caused the rising temperatures in Europe?

According to the study, cities are highly vulnerable to heatwaves because of the presence of “large amounts of concrete and asphalt surfaces”, which trap and hold heat. Transport systems and energy use in cities also tend to generate “even more, intensifying dangerous urban temperatures”.

In addition, an intense heatwave in August, caused by both a “heat dome” and a “heat plume” – the rising of hot air masses from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula – affected the entire Mediterranean region of Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula, the study found.

Who were most likely to be affected by the increasing heat?

According to the report, people aged 65 and above made up 85 percent of the excess deaths, highlighting how hotter summers “will become increasingly deadly for Europe’s ageing population”, the report stated.

This is because underlying health conditions more common among the elderly can be exacerbated by the rapid heating of indoor environments, it explained. Air pollution is also known to play an “important role” in heat-related deaths.

The study added that the majority of heat-related deaths go unreported as being linked to rising temperatures, “while official government figures can take months to appear, if they are released at all”.

What is the solution?

The study’s authors recommended that cities should expand “green” and “blue” spaces, which are known to decrease the urban heat island effect by providing “crucial cooler spaces that can be lifelines for people in heatwaves”, especially those who do not have access to air conditioning systems.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), green spaces refer to all urban areas “covered by vegetation of any kind”. That includes gardens, parks, ponds and green roofs among other spaces.

Blue spaces are defined by the National Library of Medicine as those dominated by a watery element, such as a lakeside, river or coast.

The study also recommended that early-warning systems and timely advice to the public must be put in place to limit the number of casualties.

It also recommended the adjustment of working conditions and activities during periods of extreme heat.

Corps Member Trains Students In Lifesaving Skills, SDGs

By in News, Nigeria News

Over 40 students from the Government Secondary School in Ovom, Yenegoa, Bayelsa State have been taught basic first aid and the Sustainable Development Goals by a National Youth Service Corps member, Blessing Nwokeoma.

The Nigerian Red Cross Society and the Nigeria Network of NGOs collaborated on the exercise, which was part of her Community Development Service.

The students were taught how to deal with emergencies, administer lifesaving equipment, and deal with accidents at school and in their communities.

Nwokeoma told reporters after the event that the initiative would train local teenagers to use life-saving techniques, and that her partners applauded her for creating a new generation of first aiders.

students during the instruction

According to her, “The training is in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, and 17,” which, respectively, emphasize the need for goodness and well-being, high quality education, and partnership.”

Oyebisi B. Oluseyi, the executive director of the Nigeria Network of NGOs, praised Nwokeoma for taking the course in his remarks.

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He continued, “I’m particularly thrilled that Blessing is carrying out these significant activities as my personal Community Development Service initiative, a volunteer project that promotes active citizenship.

We at the Nigeria Network of NGOs are pleased that the foremost volunteer-based organization in Nigeria, the Nigerian Red Cross Society, supports this initiative as we raise the profile of skills-based volunteering in Nigeria.

“The number of people who already possess life-saving abilities is growing as a result of extending the pool of individuals who need to keep life moving in an emergency.”

Mrs. Jessy Ovuru, the grateful vice principal (administrative), Government Secondary School in Ovom, expressed gratitude because there were other state schools that could have been chosen for the training, and prayed God’s blessing on Nwokeoma.

We feel recognized because some schools don’t do this, and I can also say that they do first aid workshops.

“So we’re delighted, happy, and fantastic,” we’re that way. Her elbow deserves more grace, please. May God give her more strength to pursue higher and greater things.”