All posts tagged: lifeline

Critically endangered New Zealand parakeet gets lifeline from randy pair

Critically endangered New Zealand parakeet gets lifeline from randy pair

Published by Sam Flores

One of the world’s rarest parakeets has seen its numbers surge thanks to a pair of super breeders now responsible for more than 10 percent of the total population. The New Zealand native kakariki karaka – or orange-fronted parakeet – is critically endangered and has twice been declared extinct, only to be rediscovered. There are around 450 of the birds left, mainly in sanctuaries and predator-free islands but also in wild populations. Parents Nacho and Trixie were paired up in 2024 at the Isaac Conservation and Wildlife Trust in Christchurch and have since produced 55 chicks, including 33 this year alone. Wildlife manager Leigh Percasky praised “super-mum” Trixie. “The breeding season has ended and yet she’s still producing eggs and raising chicks,” Percasky said. Read more‘It’s blue!’: Scientists discover new deep-sea octopus near Galapagos Islands “Ideally we’d prefer her to stop so she can have a rest, but she shows no signs of that with another seven chicks in her most recent clutch. “Nacho also deserves credit as he’s responsible for finding food for both Trixie and …

The Revolution’s Last Lifeline – The Atlantic

The Revolution’s Last Lifeline – The Atlantic

Published by Daniella Wilson

In 1960, Washington watched aghast as Fidel Castro’s post-Revolution government seized companies and assets it viewed as the spoils of vanquished U.S. imperialism. Among the biggest prizes were two plants that sat above some of the largest nickel and cobalt deposits in the world. The United States had acquired one of them to secure a strategic supply of nickel for armor plating and aircraft engines during World War II. But the revolutionaries lacked know-how, and soon, the operations were struggling. “Cuban Mining Industry Virtually Destroyed in First Two Years of Castro Regime,” read a January 1961 New York Times headline, “PITS ARE CLOSED, FACTORIES SILENT.” The Cuban regime turned to its Cold War patron, as it did for so much else in its early years. Soviet engineers and mining specialists retooled the Nicaro plant and the Moa Bay nickel complex into pillars of the island’s economy and icons of Cuban sovereignty, funding power plants and social programs. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Castro sought a replacement savior closer to home in a 1994 deal with …

Famous London cemetery where George Michael is buried gets £6.7m lifeline

Famous London cemetery where George Michael is buried gets £6.7m lifeline

Published by Sam Flores

Efforts to conserve world-famous Highgate Cemetery in North London in the face of climate change have been given a £6.7 million boost. The Friends of Highgate Cemetery Trust, the charity which owns and cares for the resting place of well-known people including Karl Marx, Lucian Freud and George Michael, has been awarded the grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The grant will contribute to a £19.5 million project to tackle the impacts of damage from climate change and ash dieback disease, restore neglected heritage and increase access and community engagement at the cemetery. The five-year project is phase one of a 25-year “masterplan” to care for the heritage-rich and nature-filled site. One of the most pressing issues the cemetery faces is climate change, which is bringing increasingly heavy rainfall in winters and is exacerbating years of deferred maintenance by the company that owned the site until 1975. Much of the work, such as a new drainage system, will be largely unseen to the visitors who value its romantic, overgrown look as a “place apart …

Coronation Street to reveal lifeline for Summer as new Theo witness emerges

Coronation Street to reveal lifeline for Summer as new Theo witness emerges

Published by Sam Flores

Coronation Street spoilers follow. Embattled Summer Spellman might have a crucial lifeline on Coronation Street next week, as the hunt to identify Theo Silverton’s killer continues. The character is set to be taken in for questioning over the murder, but might there be hope on the horizon? The character, played by Harriet Bibby, has emerged as something of a prime suspect in the whodunnit mystery, and this week fans have seen her find out that she’s been offered a place at an American university. ITV Related: Coronation Street’s Sarah Platt to face sad new struggle in attack aftermath Leaving the country might not be so easy, however, as she faces rising suspicion over abusive Theo’s death – not least from George Shuttleworth, who finds a journal in which she writes about wanting to put a gun to Theo’s head. But in scenes set to air next Friday, 22 May, Summer will be seen remembering a crucial witness who could back up her alibi. Will they be able to prove her innocence and exonerate her? And …

Keir Starmer thought he had a lifeline – but Nigel Farage just cut it | Personal Finance | Finance

Keir Starmer thought he had a lifeline – but Nigel Farage just cut it | Personal Finance | Finance

Published by Sam Flores

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has got Labour PM Sir Keir Starmer cornered (Image: Getty) Thursday’s elections were a bloodbath for Labour and a personal humiliation for the PM. Yet Starmer shouldn’t feel too downcast. He’s achieved something no other politician in Britain can currently manage. He’s united the country. In these bitterly divided times, everybody agrees on one thing. Keir Starmer is useless and should go. Left or right, voters agree. Even the ‘don’t knows’ are in no doubt. Bringing the nation together like this may yet prove his greatest political achievement. Possibly his only one. Naturally, Sir Keir sees things differently. Instead of weakening his resolve, Labour’s catastrophic defeat appears to have strengthened it. He still believes he’s the man for the job and that another three years in Downing Street will somehow win the country round. Labour MPs are frantically plotting to replace him, but Starmer wasn’t worried. He had his political survival plan in place. If it had worked, it might just have saved his skin. It would also have been …

For Ukrainian soldier trapped in a kill zone, wife’s voice was a lifeline

For Ukrainian soldier trapped in a kill zone, wife’s voice was a lifeline

Published by Sam Flores

Roman Mongold serves on a training ground for his fellow Ukrainian soldiers last year in his country’s Kharkiv region. (Carolyn Van Houten/The Washington Post)While Roman Mongold, a Ukrainian soldier, was pinned down surrounded by the enemy for nearly six months, he traded voice memos with his wife with a commander’s help. Yesterday at 4:00 a.m. EDT Source link

Iran: Neither war nor Peace, Ukraine’s Lifeline, Starmer: “Just a Scratch”? – The World This Week

Iran: Neither war nor Peace, Ukraine’s Lifeline, Starmer: “Just a Scratch”? – The World This Week

Published by Sam Flores

In a week where a stalemate appears to have developed after nearly two months of asymmetric conflict between the US and Iran, President Trump’s Truth Social posts have swung between belligerent maximalism and breezy deal-making—one minute suggesting a within-reach deal, and that Iranian forces would personally help their enemy confiscate what he called its “nuclear dust” and move it to America. The next moment, threats of nationwide annihilation. “No more Mr. Nice Guy,” he warned. Meanwhile, hopes for direct talks in Pakistan came and went, with a no-show on both sides. Iran’s regime-aligned media released a new propaganda video entitled Goodbye Oil, an ominous—but now familiar—Lego-style cartoon warning, threatening to devastate the Gulf States if Washington resumed its strikes. President Trump resumed the ceasefire hours before it was due to expire, and it is no longer time-stamped. Meanwhile, in the Arabian Sea, a de facto double blockade continues—no longer just a war of words—with U.S. forces firing on an Iranian-linked vessel before seizing control of it, while Iranian boats attacked three merchant ships and escorted …

“Looking For Lifeline”: Spirit Airlines Asks Trump Admin For Emergency Bailout

“Looking For Lifeline”: Spirit Airlines Asks Trump Admin For Emergency Bailout

Published by Jenni Sidey

Bankrupt Spirit Airlines appears to be flying on fumes, with a late Friday report indicating the budget carrier has become so desperate for cash that it has approached the Trump administration for an emergency bailout, even as creditors mull pulling the plug at any moment. Aviation news website The Air Current reports that Spirit has asked the Trump administration for “hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency funding” to offset the surge in jet fuel costs that have pushed the carrier even closer to “possible liquidation.” The report was based on multiple accounts from individuals familiar with the situation. In a separate report, CBS News also confirmed through its sources that “Spirit is looking for a lifeline” and that creditors are questioning whether the airline can meet future multimillion-dollar debt payments due to surging jet fuel costs. The airline had been aiming to exit its second bankruptcy since 2024 by this summer, but the U.S.-Iran conflict spiked jet fuel prices so quickly that it appears the airline had limited hedging in place to offset the …