Latest news with #LandRovers
IOL News
a day ago
- Automotive
- IOL News
The new Defender Trophy: Reviving the spirit of adventure and conservation
The Defender Trophy is back and with it a new Defender 110 Trophy Edition. Well, it's not called that anymore, obviously, but the ethos of those gruelling and epic challenges in yellow Land Rovers returns with the new Defender Trophy. Inspired by Trophy and Challenge events of the past, this Defender Trophy will create its own legacy across three demanding rounds of training and competition. Defender says only those who embrace the impossible, with a passion for global conservation, need apply, as well as individuals who embody the values of the original British adventure brand.. They are inviting entries from more than 50 countries. Local selections will begin this year, before national finals early next year determine who will make it to the global final hosted with Defender conservation partner Tusk – in Africa – in 2026. New model They have also launched a new Defender 110 Trophy Edition in a choice of two exclusive heritage-inspired colours – Deep Sandglow Yellow and Keswick Green – featuring a specially chosen adventure-ready specification. Eligibility Eligibility requirements include: entrants are resident in a participating country, over 23-years-old, can swim 50 metres, eligible to drive and travel internationally, and speak English. An unstoppable spirit is also essential, they demand. Applications are open now and the deadline for entries is 31 July 2025. For full eligibility requirements, visit Once applications close, competitors from more than 50 countries will begin their quest to reach the global final through a series of local selection events. Early next year, regional finals will identify the national winners who will head to Africa for the global final in 2026.
STV News
a day ago
- Business
- STV News
Royal Highland Show to welcome over 200,000 visitors to annual agricultural event
Scotland's largest outdoor agricultural event is set to open its gates to over 200,000 people in Edinburgh. Taking place in Ingliston, The Royal Highland Show will run over four days from Thursday until Sunday and will see the best of Scotland's rural sector, from farming to forestry to food and drink producers. Visitors will experience family entertainment as hundreds of businesses fill the grounds, selling everything from agricultural machinery, clothing and motor vehicles to Scottish food and drink products. We take a look at what to expect from this year's event. The event, which has been running for over 200 years, will welcome over 4,000 livestock, hundreds of trade exhibitors including those from Scotland's food and drink sector, and a huge variety of entertainment and music. Sheepshearing, pole-climbing, axe throwing, mini Land Rovers, pizza building, cheese tasting and sushi rolling are among the visitor attractions for this year. There are various livestock breeds from miniature Shetland ponies to donkeys, goats to Highland cows being shown in the arena on every day of the show. Scottish brewer Innis & Gunn will host a Sunday entertainment showcase from 11am at the Members' Village, while Elephant Sessions will perform at the Royal Highland Hoolie, joining The Whistlin' Donkeys, Manran, Trail West, Nati Dreddd and the Dangleberries. IAN GEORGESON via Supplied Sheep-shearing will be among the activities on show. The event is a chance for Scotland's most prominent brands to promote their goods and services on the world stage and to encourage further growth and investment. This includes exhibits from a number of UK Government-funded projects, including The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and Destination Tweed. Scottish secretary Ian Murray will host a reception with the Scotch Whisky Association to promote the national tipple. He said: 'The Royal Highland Show is a fantastic opportunity to bang the drum for our iconic produce and help turbo-charge sales of Scottish goods and services at home and abroad.' First Minister John Swinney is set to attend the Edinburgh event, and he has reaffirmed his government's commitment to sustainable food production amid 'significant change' in the farming sector, ahead of the visit. Swinney said: 'Our ambition is for Scotland to be a global leader in sustainable and regenerative agriculture. To do that we are working in partnership with the sector to transform the support we give to our farmers and crofters. 'The Royal Highland Show is our chance to showcase the absolute best of food produce, farming excellence and all of the industries that support our rural communities.' STV News John Swinney will be in attendance at the show. Meanwhile rural affairs secretary Mairi Gougeon used the first day of the event to announce a £14m scheme to provide grants to farmers will open next month. The programme – opening for applicants on July 14 – will provide capital funding for those new to agriculture, as well as young farmers, those with small operations and tenant farmers. The Future Farming Investment Scheme will provide cash for green projects and those which will increase efficiency, with up to £20,000 available – potentially as a 100% grant. The announcement comes as Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton called for more support for the sector. 'There is so much uncertainty facing Scottish agriculture amid the family farm tax, trade barriers, falling income and the squeeze placed on farmers by multinational supermarkets,' he said after visiting the Royal Highland Show on Thursday. He added: 'Throughout the Royal Highland Show, Liberal Democrats will be listening to farmers and producers, understanding the challenges they face and working out the best way forward. 'Our farmers are the best in the world. It's time both our governments recognised their invaluable contributions and backed a thriving future for Scottish agriculture.' UPDATE❗⌚ 10:45🛣️ Royal Highland Show (RHS) – Congestion UpdateThe EAST Car Park is now CLOSED. The Event Organiser's have advised to use the WEST car park, along the west A8, heading towards Newbridge. 📷Traffic Cameras: #RHS25 — Traffic Scotland (@trafficscotland) June 19, 2025 Edinburgh drivers were warned of significant road delays on Thursday as the Royal Highland Show got under way. Traffic Scotland and Lothian have issued updates to road and public transport users with considerable tailbacks reported on the A8, M9, M8 and M90 with visitors entering the showground at Ingliston. Lothian services including the 17, 18, 70 and 71 are all experiencing delays on the A8, the main route to the Royal Highland Centre. A service alert reads: 'Due to the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston buses are being delayed on the A8 Glasgow Road.' A similar alert has also been issued for buses serving the A89 Edinburgh Road including X18 and X19. Meanwhile Traffic Scotland warned: 'Royal Highland Show – Congestion Update. Significant delays of approx. 18 minutes from the #M90 Queensferry Crossing and from the #M8 from Livingston.' Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Belfast Telegraph
2 days ago
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
‘Parents need to stand up before a child is killed': Residents speak out after second night of violence in Derry
A second night of riots took place at Nailors Row beside the city's historic walls in what the PSNI has branded 'blatant sectarian violence'. Fourteen officers were injured as petrol bombs, fireworks, heavy masonry, planks of wood and bricks were hurled at police lines. It resulted in 11 people being arrested including eight male teenagers aged between 14 and 17 and three men aged, 29, 30 and 47. Violence persisted from around 7.30pm to 1am on Tuesday night during which one rubber bullet was fired by the PSNI. The road where it occurred runs adjacent to Alexander House, sheltered accommodation for older people, and close to the Bishop Street and Fountain interface. Fountain resident, Donna Best, said tensions have been heightened for months. Her sister lives close to the 'peace wall' and she said bricks, bottles and eggs have been thrown over. Ms Best also made reference to a threatening TikTok post which has caused widespread consternation in the Fountain community. With an Irish tricolour background and burning Union Jack, the post said: 'Need as many heads in the Fountain as possible Monday, half 4, getting them out once and for all. 'There will be no changes to this, it is going ahead no matter what, please everyone send this around and information will be put up on where everyone should meet up.' The concerned resident said attacks are being 'pre-organised and arranged' and believes it could be 'fuelled by adults in the background'. 'I would say to parents,' Ms Best added, 'as someone who has been through this for years, where are they? If my child came in smelling of petrol… parents need to take responsibility, before some child is killed. 'They could risk getting a criminal record and destroying their futures. Parents need to stand up.' Ms Best was critical of all politicians, including unionist parties, who she said were in the area for interviews on Wednesday but 'didn't take the time to check on residents or assure them'. In Alexander House where there is sheltered accommodation for tenants over 60 years of age, Joe Grant spoke to the Belfast Telegraph saying that he believed the PSNI response was 'heavy handed' as Land Rovers lined the street. 'All I could hear was the police dogs and sirens blaring all night,' he recalled. 'They brought them before after one of the marches and they were barking non-stop.' Mr Grant said there are young people in both communities who goad one another. A resident whose flat faces on to Nailors Row, where trouble raged the night before, estimated that there must have been around 80 police officers. Given his proximity to the disorder he was able to witness events as they unfolded. 'It was mad,' he said, while describing how bricks and fireworks aimed at police officers almost hit his own window. Wishing to remain anonymous, he expressed fears that his window could be smashed. Recalling the scenes, the resident said PSNI officers who had hold of aggressive dogs would extend the leash to disperse the young people. He also witnessed injured officers who'd been struck with masonry or petrol bombs being helped from the scene by their colleagues and 'saw about six of them having to be pulled into the jeeps'. As a tenant of four years he said that trouble generally flares during the loyalist marching season. 'I don't want to see this at all again tonight,' he said, 'especially not for some of the older people who live here. They don't need that.' On the other side of an interface fence, a resident who has lived in the Fountain estate since 1985 also shared frustrations. His wife has a disability and the couple are 'worried' about the situation 'getting out of hand'. The sinister TikTok post was at the forefront of his mind as he demanded police and the media call it what it is. 'Sectarianism,' he said. 'This is the only Protestant enclave, people can't say this is not a sectarian attack. This was a threat to burn people out.' He pointed to baton rounds and water canon being deployed against racist rioters in Ballymena and said the same tactics should be used against youths in Derry. 'You can't have baton rounds for one crowd and not for another. Petrol bombs are extremely dangerous. It's two-tier policing,' he continued. The man was also critical of politicians and community representatives in the Bogside and Brandywell, suggesting Sinn Féin has 'lost control of it'. Sinn Féin MLA Pádraig Delargy has condemned the incidents and appealed for calm. The sentiments of the Fountain resident were shared by individuals from the nationalist community who said that most community workers in the area are members of Sinn Féin which can reduce the impact they have. There are also concerns that dissident elements are orchestrating some of the violence. The Irish Republican Socialist Party has called on young people attacking the Fountain estate to 'desist immediately' condemning the those behind the violence as 'wrong and sectarian and in essence are anti-Republican'. In a statement the group sought to distance bonfire builders from the disorder and pointed to young people in both communities carrying out attacks. It also accused the PSNI of 'provocative behaviour towards the young people'. One resident said he hoped the move would make a difference as he criticised politicians from all parties saying he only sees them at election time. But he too warned that if the disorder continues, it could lead to 'someone being injured or killed'.
Gulf Insider
6 days ago
- Gulf Insider
Sex Crimes Spark Three Nights Of Anti-Immigration Riots In N. Ireland
In the wake of yet another alleged sex crime perpetrated by non-natives, a city in Northern Ireland has been rocked by three consecutive nights of anti-immigration riots. In this case, two 14-year-olds arrested on Sunday stand accused of attempted oral rape of a teenage girl on the previous night. The ensuing wave of arson, vandalism and anti-police violence — which has left more than 32 officers injured — has spread from Ballymena to other towns, prompting authorities to deploy reinforcements from the area and to request 80 officers be dispatched from across the Irish Sea. While there's been no official announcement about the alleged perpetrators' origins, their appearance in court was facilitated by a Romanian translator, and social media chatter indicates they're Roma. 'She was taken into a house and brutally sexually assaulted on Saturday evening,' a woman identified as a relative of the latest alleged victim told a social-media interviewer. 'There was a mattress in the garage.' According to their conversation, this was the third incident in a fortnight, with at least one of the other incidents also involving a teenage girl. Following this latest sexual attack, what started as a peaceful Sunday vigil in protest of the sex crime and support of the victim rapidly turned violent, as angry residents broke away from the main event and set out for an immigrant-heavy part of the town of 31,000 residents, where they set homes ablaze, built barricades and hurled blocks and other objects at police. A pregnant woman had to be evacuated when her house was set ablaze. Authorities have condemned what they call 'hate-fueled acts and mob rule.' Police have struggled to maintain order, as they've been attacked with Molotov cocktails, fireworks and bricks. Cops in full riot gear have deployed water cannons and dogs against the crowds, and used groups of up-armored Land Rovers in a rolling phalanx formation. This video purports to show a residential arson attack from the perspective of the perpetrators: Racist ferals burning a house of a foreigner in Ballymena, NI. By doing this they're pretending to be the defenders of white women and children. — DOZA🧐 (@lil_doza) June 11, 2025 To steer rioters away from their homes, residents have started marking their doors with Union Jack signs and flags, or signs saying 'British household.' Another home's signage read 'Filipino lives here,' hoping that their particular identity isn't the target of violence. 'No one, now or ever, should feel the need to place a sticker on their door to identify their ethnicity just to avoid being targeted,' lamented Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O'Neill in a Wednesday statement. While Ballymena is the current epicenter of the mayhem — alongside more peaceful and orderly marches — the outward, active discontent has spread to other cities and towns, including Belfast, Lisburn, Coleraine and Newtownabbey. Per the latest census, 16% of Ballymena residents are now something other than native British or Irish, with the largest group being Romanians, followed by Poles, Bulgarians and Slovakians. Amid the relentless stream of sex crimes and mass murders perpetrated by immigrants across Western Europe, it's likely that native residents will increasingly take out their feelings of helplessness in violent fashion.
Sydney Morning Herald
7 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Where are the foreigners?' How tinderbox Northern Ireland exploded into riots
He added: 'In Clonavon Terrace, they stand around, there is mess everywhere, throwing bikes, there are piles of garbage and rumours of petty thefts and adults snatching kids' phones.' He showed CCTV footage of a black metal bar stool coming through the front window of the terraced property he and his girlfriend, Pavlina, 35, an agency worker from the Czech Republic, share with their 11-year-old daughter and two Jack Russells. The stool, hurled by masked youths, was followed by a heavy tree planter hours after they had been warned by police to leave or stay in the living room, making it easier to escape if the house was torched. 'It was not random, the way they operate,' he added. 'They roughly know where people are from. 'It's not racist because it's not about skin colour, but discriminatory, yes. It is very obvious they are trying to hound people out of the area, and they are being quite successful.' The violence began on Monday following a vigil in support of the girl who had been assaulted, which was followed by disorder echoing the riots in the UK seen after the Southport murders, where children were attacked at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class last year. It started in Clonavon Terrace, where the alleged assault took place, with homes torched and cars set alight as rioters clashed with police armed with protective gear and attempting to restore calm with their armoured Land Rovers. Three people had to be saved by firefighters after four houses were set alight. On Tuesday, the violence moved elsewhere in the County Antrim town, which is home to 31,205 residents, as rioters targeted houses where they believed foreigners lived. Officers were met with a hail of petrol bombs, bricks and fireworks and were forced to fire baton rounds and bring in water cannons and dogs as cars were again set on fire in scenes described by police as 'racist thuggery'. The violence continued on Wednesday night as well, and spread to other parts of Northern Ireland, despite Northern Ireland's police chief vowing to arrest and prosecute the 'bigots and racists' behind the violence. A total of 41 officers have been injured and 15 people arrested since the violence began four nights ago. Earlier this week, the Police Service of Northern Ireland requested support from colleagues in the rest of the UK as it brought in extra officers and equipment to the areas where unrest had erupted. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he 'utterly condemns' the violence, while Jon Boutcher, the PSNI's chief constable, warned the disorder risked undermining the criminal justice process. Ballymena was 95.1 per cent white at the time of the latest census, with just 4.9 per cent of the population from another ethnic background, with Roma the largest minority. Although far less diverse than the rest of the UK, Ballymena's population has changed significantly over the last decade, when previously just one in 50 residents was from a non-white background. Unemployment is above average, and there are long-standing tensions with the Roma community, which is accused by some of failing to integrate into the town. On Clonavon Terrace, people from around the town visited, curious to see the damage, while those actually living on the street feared that years of tensions between largely loyalist Protestant communities and some Roma residents would result in their homes being targeted. Andrei Boteanu, 32, a factory worker who is Romanian but not Roma, pointed at the remains of a redbrick house where the arrested teenagers are believed to have lived. 'They threw the bins inside; it took all night to burn,' he said. Boteanu feared they would do the same to his own house, but added that he was not surprised tensions had turned violent. 'Before, there were many cars coming there, there were 20 people inside. There were rats, garbage, and mattresses lying around. It was messy, they were all on benefits. 'We always complain about them, but nobody does anything. We didn't know that things would go so far.' He added: 'I'm worried because they don't know who lives in houses, it can be anyone. But I support local people, even if it was not right what local people did last night and the other night, I don't blame them for nothing. I would be the same, it's a wee girl.' About 100 metres down the road, Emma Little-Pengelly, Northern Ireland's deputy first minister, was harshly criticised as she met residents of the affected street who expressed concern their houses would not survive the night. 'I have constantly been putting in complaints, nobody wants to know,' one said. 'We are not racist.' 'I worked 30 years in medicine, my house is half the price I paid for it,' another told the DUP politician. Despite the communal fears over immigration, many feared the violence had become mindless.
