russian roulette line
SHAMED ex-minister Louise Haigh was moved from an earlier frontbench role after growing close to a nationalist politician. The ex-Transport Secretary, who quit last month over a fraud conviction , struck up a friendship with Colum Eastwood when she was Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary from 2020-21. At the time, Mr Eastwood, 41, led the Social Democratic and Labour Party which backs a united Ireland. The politics of Northern Ireland are sensitive given the history of sectarian violence during The Troubles. And Labour insiders were worried by the friendship’s potential impact, The Sun on Sunday has been told. Sir Keir Starmer moved Ms Haigh, 37, to Shadow Transport Secretary in his 2021 reshuffle. READ MORE ON LOUISE HAIGH The source said: “Northern Ireland is a sensitive brief. “You have got to tread the path between the nationalists and the Democratic Unionist Party .” Ms Haigh and Mr Eastwood did not respond to requests to comment, while Labour declined to comment. Ms Haigh quit as Transport Secretary nine days ago after it emerged she had committed a fraud offence in 2014. Most read in The Sun The year before she had told police that she had lost her work phone in a mugging , and later found it had not been taken but failed to inform officers. She was given a conditional discharge following the incident which happened before she became MP for Sheffield Heeley. Haigh described the incident as a genuine mistake from which she did not make any gain. She said Sir Keir knew of her conviction . He has said she was only asked to resign after “further information came to light” but has declined to say what.Beirut: Syrian rebels announced they had gained full control over the key city of Homs early on Sunday after only a day of fighting, leaving President Bashar al-Assad’s 24-year rule dangling by a thread as insurgents marched on the capital, Damascus. Thousands of Homs residents poured onto the streets after the army withdrew from the central city, dancing and chanting “Assad is gone, Homs is free” and “Long live Syria and down with Bashar al-Assad”. A giant portrait of Bashar al-Assad sits on a building in Damascus. Credit: AP Rebels fired guns into the air in celebration, and youths tore down posters of the Syrian president, whose territorial control has collapsed in a dizzying week-long retreat by the military. The fall of Homs gives the insurgents control over Syria’s strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from the coastal region that is the stronghold of Assad’s Alawite sect and where his Russian allies have a naval base and air base. Homs’ capture is also a powerful symbol of the rebel movement’s dramatic comeback in the 13-year-old conflict. Swaths of Homs were destroyed by gruelling siege warfare between the rebels and the army years ago. The fighting ground down the insurgents, who were forced out. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham commander Abu Mohammed al-Golani, the main rebel leader, called the capture of Homs a historic moment and urged fighters not to harm “those who drop their arms”. Syrian opposition fighters on a seized Syrian air force fighter plane at the Hama military airport on Friday. Credit: AP Rebels freed thousands of detainees from the city prison. Security forces left quickly after burning their documents. Syrian rebel commander Hassan Abdul Ghani said in a statement early on Sunday that operations continued to “completely liberate” the countryside around Damascus and rebel forces were looking towards the capital. In one suburb, a statue of Assad’s father, the late former president Hafez al-Assad, was toppled and torn apart. The Syrian army said it was reinforcing around Damascus, and state television reported on Saturday that Assad remained in the city. People arrive at the Jordanian side of the border as others wait in their cars on Saturday, after a ban on crossings into Syria. Credit: Getty Images The lightning rebel advance suggests Assad’s government could fall within the next week, US and other Western officials said. Since the rebels’ sweep into Aleppo a week ago , government defences have crumbled at a dizzying speed as insurgents seized a string of major cities and rose in places where the rebellion had long seemed over. The twin threats to Damascus and the strategically vital city of Homs now pose an existential danger to the Assad dynasty’s five-decade reign over Syria and the continued influence in the country of its main regional backer, Iran. The rebels’ moves around Damascus, reported by an opposition war monitor and a rebel commander, came after the Syrian army withdrew from much of the southern part of the country, leaving more areas, including several provincial capitals, under the control of opposition fighters. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is backed by Russia and Iran, but both are bogged down in separate conflicts. Credit: Saudi Press Agency/AP The advances in the past week were among the largest in recent years by opposition factions led by a group that has its origins in al-Qaeda and is considered a terrorist organisation by the US and the United Nations. In their push to overthrow Assad’s government, the insurgents, led by the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group, or HTS, have met little resistance from the Syrian Army. The UN’s special envoy for Syria, Geir Pedersen, on Saturday called for urgent talks in Geneva to ensure an “orderly political transition”. Speaking to reporters at the annual Doha Forum in Qatar, Pedersen said the situation in Syria was changing by the minute. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose country is Assad’s chief international backer, said he felt “sorry for the Syrian people”. In Damascus, people rushed to stock up on supplies. Thousands went to Syria’s border with Lebanon, trying to leave the country. Many shops in the city were shuttered, a resident told the Associated Press, and those still open had run out of staples such as sugar. Some were selling items at three times the normal price. “The situation is very strange. We are not used to that,” the resident said, insisting on anonymity, fearing retributions. “People are worried whether there will be a battle [in Damascus] or not.” It was the first time that opposition forces reached the outskirts of Damascus since 2018 when Syrian troops recaptured the area following a years-long siege. The UN said it was moving non-critical staff outside the country as a precaution. Assad rumours Syria’s state media denied social media rumours that Assad had left the country, saying the president was performing his duties in Damascus. Assad has had little, if any, help from his allies. Russia is busy with its war in Ukraine, and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which at one point sent thousands of fighters to shore up Assad’s forces, has been weakened by a year-long conflict with Israel. Iran has had its proxies across the region degraded by regular Israeli airstrikes. US President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday posted on social media that the US should avoid engaging militarily in Syria. A Syrian opposition fighter holds a rocket launcher in front of the provincial government office. Credit: AP Pedersen said a date for talks in Geneva on implementing a 2015 UN resolution calling for a Syrian-led political process would be announced later. The resolution calls for the establishment of a transitional governing body, followed by the drafting of a new constitution and ending with UN-supervised elections. Foreign ministers and senior diplomats from eight key countries, including Saudi Arabia, Russia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran, along with Pedersen, gathered on the sidelines of the Doha summit on Saturday to discuss the situation. No details were immediately available. The insurgents’ march Rami Abdurrahman, who heads the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, said insurgents were in the Damascus suburbs of Maadamiyah, Jaramana and Daraya. Opposition fighters were also marching toward the Damascus suburb of Harasta, he said. An insurgent commander, Hassan Abdul Ghani, posted on the Telegram messaging app that opposition forces had begun the “final stage” of their offensive by encircling Damascus. Syrian rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani. Credit: Al Jazeera HTS controls much of north-west Syria and, in 2017, set up a “salvation government” to run daily affairs in the region. In recent years, HTS leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani has sought to remake the group’s image, cutting ties with al-Qaeda, ditching hardline officials and vowing to embrace pluralism and religious tolerance. Syria’s military, meanwhile, sent large numbers of reinforcements to defend the key central city of Homs, Syria’s third-largest, as insurgents approached its outskirts. The shock offensive began on November 27, during which rebel fighters captured the northern city of Aleppo, Syria’s largest, and the central city of Hama, the country’s fourth-largest city. Opposition activists on Friday said insurgents entered Palmyra, which is home to invaluable archaeological sites that had been in government hands since being taken from the Islamic State group in 2017. To the south, Syrian troops left much of the province of Quneitra, including the main Baath City, activists said. The Syrian Observatory said government troops had withdrawn from much of the two southern provinces and were sending reinforcements to Homs, where a battle loomed. If the insurgents were to capture Homs, they would cut the link between Damascus, Assad’s seat of power, and the coastal region where the president enjoys wide support. The army said in a statement that it had carried out redeployment and repositioning in Sweida and Daraa after its checkpoints came under attack by “terrorists”. The army said it was setting up a “strong and coherent defensive and security belt in the area”, apparently to defend Damascus from the south. The Syrian government has referred to opposition gunmen as terrorists since the conflict broke out in March 2011. Diplomacy in Doha The foreign ministers of Iran, Russia and Turkey, meeting in Qatar, called for an end to the hostilities. Turkey is the main backer of the rebels. Qatar’s top diplomat, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, criticised Assad for failing to take advantage of the lull in fighting in recent years to address the country’s underlying problems. “Assad didn’t seize this opportunity to start engaging and restoring his relationship with his people,” he said. Sheikh Mohammed said he was surprised by how quickly the rebels have advanced and said there was a real threat to Syria’s “territorial integrity”. He said the war could “damage and destroy what is left if there is no sense of urgency” to start a political process. AP, Reuters Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter .
Arsenal up to second after Kai Havertz goal sees off struggling Ipswich
Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘wonderful’ brother dies aged 60 after suffering from cancer
Lana Del Rey Revealed The Release Date For Her Tenth Album, ‘The Right Person Will Stay’
Tonight, Dean McCullough had the prospect of a sixth trial of the series so far, much to a few people's annoyance, but it was Jane Moore who got people talking. Last night, Barry and Danny decided on the new chores each campmate would be doing from now on, Loose Women's Jane Moore accused Barry of being "sexist" and "ageist". Barry explained: "We were looking at you for possible water duty and I thought 'well, you're 62 years old, you're a year younger than me'." As Jane shook her head, she exclaimed: "Ageist and sexist!" Tonight, Jane Moore was slammed on social media. On X, one fan posted: "Jane comes across a bit of a martyr. She isn't the only one on dishes duty. Why is she acting like it is her sole responsibility #imaceleb". Another simply said: "We need to vote for Jane to do a trial next". Someone else commented: "GK said it, vote Jane (more important because she had a strop at Danny and Barry and ruined their night!)". Last night on I’m a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here On Sunday (24 November), Coleen Rooney and Dean McCullough faced a gruesome Bushtucker Trial, winning nine stars for the camp. However, McCullough was again voted to face Monday’s trial “Jack the Screamstalk,” much to the frustrations of Ant and Dec (and the public). Elsewhere, Jane Moore and Barry McGuigan argued over chores. McGuigan and Danny Jones were voted by the public to become the new camp leaders. Recommended reading: I'm a Celeb 2024: Viewers can't believe Maura Higgins' age I’m A Celebrity fans praise McFly’s Danny Jones Dean McCullough faces scrutiny for I’m A Celeb act The pair set about upsetting the jungle apple cart by selecting Moore and Tulisa to wash up, and Coleen Rooney and Maura Higgins to act out the duties of camp maintenance. Despite Jones’s initial worry that women were being asked to do less physical tasks and that it could be taken negatively, McGuigan brushed it off. Moore accused McGuigan of “misogyny” and later “ageism” when he used her age as a justification for his and Jones’s decisions.By ERIC TUCKER WASHINGTON (AP) — A ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans, a top White House official said Friday. Biden administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies , as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, the deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies, told reporters Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. The update from Neuberger is the latest development in a massive hacking operation that has alarmed national security officials, exposed cybersecurity vulnerabilities in the private sector and laid bare China’s hacking sophistication. The hackers compromised the networks of telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals.” Though the FBI has not publicly identified any of the victims, officials believe senior U.S. government officials and prominent political figures are among those whose whose communications were accessed. Neuberger said officials did not yet have a precise sense how many Americans overall were affected by Salt Typhoon, in part because the Chinese were careful about their techniques, but a “large number” were in the Washington-Virginia area. Officials believe the goal of the hackers was to identify who owned the phones and, if they were “government targets of interest,” spy on their texts and phone calls, she said. The FBI said most of the people targeted by the hackers are “primarily involved in government or political activity.” Neuberger said the episode highlighted the need for required cybersecurity practices in the telecommunications industry, something the Federal Communications Commission is to take up at a meeting next month. “We know that voluntary cyber security practices are inadequate to protect against China, Russia and Iran hacking of our critical infrastructure,” she said. The Chinese government has denied responsibility for the hacking.
Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team supports 800+ agencies during 2024 emergency responses
Black Friday may be done and dusted for another year, but the discounts are still flowing at Debenhams. The online retailer has continued it's Cyber Week and there's some unmissable bargains still to be had ahead of Christmas. The digital department store is offering up to 75% off a countless range of items, with an additional discount of up to 20% on over 10,000 products. With fashion and beauty enthusiasts in mind, Debenhams' latest sale is a potential treasure trove for festive gift-shopping. Among the numerous bargains on offer, there's one particular deal that's catching the eyes of shoppers. Right now, Debenhams fans are rushing to buy a a luxury watch that's been slashed in price by a whopping 86% . READ MORE: 'I'm a fashion writer - this £199 designer Coach bag reduced from £500 is too good to miss' READ MORE: Debenhams £100 'on trend' coat reduced to £30 that's 'insulated and water repellent' The Stührling Original Lineage Ladies Quartz 31mm Watch With Crystal Markers , previously listed at £475 on Debenhams’, is now at a heavily reduced price of £67.99 in the huge sale event, which equates to around £407 in savings, reports the Mirror. The product description from Debenhams reads: "Live your legacy with the sleek polish and ultra-thin profile of the Lineage. Case Size 31mm A jeweled bezel perfectly frames the obelisk-style hands and crystal markers. The Miyota 2115 Japanese quartz movement keeps the Lineage ticking on time while keeping the ultra-slim 9mm profile. Finished with a 16mm stainless steel link bracelet for sharp looks and supreme comfort." The watch is available in a variety of colours, including black, copper, gold, silver, blue and rose gold. The product has an overall rating of 4.4 stars out out five, having racked up a number of rave reviews. The Stührling Original Lineage Ladies Quartz 31mm Watch has been slashed by 86% (Image: Debenhams) Among them, one person said: "I've purchased this watch as a Christmas present for my wife. The order arrived in the time specified, the watch looks amazing, I know my wife will love it." A second wrote: "Definitely a watch to purchase. I am really pleased with this luxury watch. Beautifully made." A third excited customer added: "Stunning watch. This watches looks so expensive comes in a beautiful box. It is ideal for a lovely Christmas gift." Other shoppers, while still impressed with the watch, claimed it was quite large and took longer than expected to be delivered. One said: "Stunning watch, needed a few links off, but is so comfortable to wear and is beautiful, can’t get over the price." The Lineage Ladies Quartz 31mm Watch With Crystal Markers is available in six stunning colourways (Image: Debenhams) A second wrote: "I am the proud owner of a beautiful watch which (eventually) arrived in a lovely presentation box. It also came with its authentication card. It has a look of luxury. "I gave four stars, purely because it took longer than I expected to arrive but Customer Service kept me well updated. Thank you." Another added: "Beautiful watch, it was exactly what I had wanted, good quality, took a bit longer to get here but wasn't disappointed in the result." Alternatively, Debenhams also has a number of other deals on watches including the Stührling Original Lady Casatorra Elite 4005 Quartz 29mm Fashion on sale for £50.39, down from £395, and the Stührling Original Women's Watch for £83.99, down from £890. Fossil also has the Karli Three-Hand Rose Gold-Tone Stainless Steel Watch for £71, down from £119. While H. Samuel stocks the Radley London Ladies' Pink Leather Strap Watch for £49.99, down from £99.99.
Watching movies is a favorite Thanksgiving tradition in our family.Worker at US department giant Macy’s intentionally hid $US154 million worth of expensesNone