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Post removed. Please do not use facebook links. not everyone has facebook to be able to read whatever you are referring to. Its also not good etiquette to post a link without atleast some explanation or detail as ot what it is, a stand alone link will invariably just get removed.

I think the chemistry those original 3 had will never be replaced. It struggled on but everyone new it was doomed.

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Top Gear producers 'looking for other work and considering action over loss of earnings' amid reports the show will be axed after 46 years on screen following Freddie Flintoff's horror crash - as the BBC insists final decision 'will be made in due course' Top Gear producers are said to be looking for other work and considering legal action over loss of earnings amid reports that the show will be axed after 46 years following Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff's horror crash. The former England cricket captain was 'lucky to be alive' after his open-topped three-wheel 130mph Morgan Super 3 car, which had no air bags, flipped over on December 13 last year, leaving him with severe facial injuries and several broken ribs. The Ashes hero had to wait an 'agonising' 45 minutes for an air ambulance - with the BBC later giving him an apology. The Corporation has faced huge questions since Flintoff's crash, especially when it emerged the father-of-four had raised safety concerns with the Top Gear crew on the day of the stunt. But insiders have told The Sun that nearly ten months on, production staff have now been told to look for other work, likely bringing the curtain down on the much-loved car show which first launched in 1977 with Angela Rippon as host. In response to reports of the show having already been axed, a BBC spokesman told MailOnline: 'A decision on the timing of future Top Gear shows will be made in due course with BBC Content.' FULL STORY

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Late onset hypogonadism, sometimes likened to a ‘male menopause’, occurs in 2.1% of men who are almost exclusively over the age of 65. This week brought reports that “male menopause” policies are in place at several NHS trusts, with some HR managers suggesting staff could receive up to a year of sick pay if they experience symptoms. This is despite the NHS itself saying male menopause is not a clinical condition and that it is not national NHS policy to offer leave for it. We take a look at the science behind the term. What is meant by the “male menopause”? The male menopause, also known as the andropause, is a term often used to refer to a cluster of features seen in some men in their late 40s to early 50s, such as depression, loss of sex drive, mood swings, erectile dysfunction, problems sleeping and loss of muscle mass. However the NHS notes this is not a clinical condition. Rather, it says, it is an “unhelpful term sometimes used in the media”. So this isn’t a male version of what women go through? In a word, no. FULL ARTICLE

Steve Coogan’s take on the serial sex offender is astonishingly spooky. But questions remain as to whether it should have been made – and whether the BBC has given itself too easy a ride There were no cameraphones when Margaret Thatcher spent Christmas Day at Chequers with Jimmy Savile in the 1980s. But the BBC’s controversial and much anticipated Savile drama The Reckoning serves as a sort of historical Instagram, bringing vivid and intimate pictures from the kitchen and halls of the prime ministerial retreat. With Steve Coogan’s cunningly unctuous Savile and Fenella Woolgar’s icily strategic Thatcher matching each other for full body-capture acting, these superb scenes in the third of the four hour-long episodes illustrate how the prime minister so fell for Savile that she placed a serial sex offender in charge of Broadmoor psychiatric hospital. Bookended by reality interviews with four Savile survivors (Darien, Susan, Sam and Kevin), the four episodes cover the years from 1962 to 2011, requiring the 57-year-old Coogan to age down 21 years and up 27 to portray Savile from northern dancehall DJ to corpse. FULL STORY

President Biden’s decision this week to move forward with border wall construction that Democrats have long denounced shocked allies and immigration advocates. The stunning reversal came just days after administration officials participated in an immigration roundtable at the Capitol featuring Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) members and immigration advocates. The administration’s participation in the roundtable drew praise from CHC members; administration officials did not mention plans to restart border wall construction. CHC leaders called the decision “disappointing” Thursday. “While this border wall funding was signed into law by President Trump under Republican leadership, this decision is not in line with the current Administration’s commitments to end border wall construction. Republicans remain committed to building border walls that are ineffective, a poor use of taxpayer funds, and a strain on the local environment, endangering families and children who are fleeing from dangerous conditions and that seek legal asylum in the United States,” CHC Chairwoman Nanette Díaz Barragán (D-Calif.) said in a statement. A notice posted on the Federal Register on Wednesday waived a series of environmental and historical protection laws to allow for wall construction in Starr County, Texas, using funds appropriated in 2019 for that purpose. Biden told reporters Thursday that his administration moved forward with the waivers and construction to comply with a legal obligation to use the appropriated funds. “One question on the border wall: The border wall, money was appropriated for the border wall. I tried to get them to reappropriate, to redirect that money. They didn’t. They wouldn’t,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office. FULL STORY

The world is breaching a key warming threshold at a rate that has scientists concerned, a BBC analysis has found. On about a third of days in 2023, the average global temperature was at least 1.5C higher than pre-industrial levels. Staying below that marker long-term is widely considered crucial to avoid the most damaging impacts of climate change. But 2023 is "on track" to be the hottest year on record, and 2024 could be hotter. "It is a sign that we're reaching levels we haven't been before," says Dr Melissa Lazenby, from the University of Sussex. This latest finding comes after record September temperatures and a summer of extreme weather events across much of the world. Climate change played major role in Libya floods Antarctic ice at 'mind-blowing' low alarms experts UN calls for radical changes to slow warming When political leaders gathered in Paris in December 2015, they signed an agreement to keep the long-term rise in global temperatures this century "well below" 2C and to make every effort to keep it under 1.5C. The agreed limits refer to the difference between global average temperatures now and what they were in the pre-industrial period, between 1850 and 1900 - before the widespread use of fossil fuels. FULL STORY

Voters in Germany's largest state, Bavaria, choose a new parliament on Sunday, after a very nasty election campaign in which populist upstarts have rattled the status quo. The far-right AfD, tied in second place, is hoping for a big result. Its leaders say they are being physically attacked or threatened. But their opponents accuse them of twisting the truth for political gain, by playing into a narrative of victimisation. Either way the debate is unusually toxic. Days before the vote, Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader of the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), was taken to intensive care after feeling unwell during an election rally in Bavaria. The party describes it as a "physical attack" and AfD supporters on social media are convinced that Chrupalla was injected with a toxin. Police are investigating, but so far say they have no evidence he was poisoned. Mr Chrupalla is now out of hospital, but it could take another few days for the results of tests to be confirmed, during which time speculation is only growing. In September, the AfD's other co-leader, Alice Weidel, was taken by Swiss police from her home in Switzerland to a safe house because of security concerns. The party says there was a risk of an attack against her and her family. A few weeks later, she delivered a speech to a rally via video link rather than in person because, according to the AfD organisers, "she wasn't allowed out of the safe house" for her own safety. In fact she was on holiday abroad. On the same day as the rally, she was spotted in a beach restaurant in Mallorca with her partner. FULL STORY

Jockeying to be the next Speaker of the House is in full swing after Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s (R-Calif.) shocking ouster, with the two declared candidates — Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) — lobbying for support and lawmakers beginning to pick sides in what is expected to be an intense race. Endorsements are rolling in for each of the candidates, and both are making the rounds to various groups within the GOP conference to earn support. A clear front-runner has yet to emerge. And some lawmakers are wondering if any candidate will be able to garner enough support to win the gavel. “From having gone through the Speaker fight in January, I don’t think there was a path for Scalise to get the votes then and talking to colleagues I don’t think there will be a path now. And right now it’s not clear that Jim has a path either,” Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who endorsed Jordan, told The Hill Thursday. That could give way to a dark horse third option like Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), the chairman of the Republican Study Committee and a newcomer in Congress compared to the other two. Hern has not officially entered the race and is working on contacting every member of the GOP conference before announcing his decision, according to a source familiar with his strategy. “They don’t want the status quo, they don’t want somebody that’s been around 10, 15, 20 years, proceeding forward doing the same thing that we’ve seen time and time again,” Hern said on Newsmax Wednesday night. FULL STORY

A novel UK satellite has returned its first pictures of heat variations across the surface of the Earth. HotSat-1 carries the highest resolution commercial thermal sensor in orbit, enabling it to trace hot and cold features as small as 3.5m across. In the initial imagery, a Chicago train is observed moving through the night and the flame fronts of Canadian wildfires are precisely mapped. London operator SatVu plans to launch seven additional spacecraft. This will increase the volume of data it can acquire but also reduce the time between passes over particular locations, meaning changes in a scene can be detected more rapidly. HotSat-1, with its mid-wave infrared camera, was assembled by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) in Guildford and launched in June on a SpaceX rocket flying out of California. Morocco earthquake movement mapped from space Movies capture lightning spectacle across Earth The spacecraft manufacturer is due to complete its in-orbit testing and commissioning phase in the next week. "At that point 'we get the keys', so to speak, and we'll then be able to task the satellite ourselves and get the data down for our customers," Tobias Reinicke, the chief technology officer at SatVu, told BBC News. HotSat-1's heat maps - still imagery and short videos - should have wide application, but especially in climate-related matters. They'll permit urban planners, for example, to see roof tops and walls. This will enable them to understand the temperature profiles of individual buildings, offices and factories. It's information that can identify infrastructure that's wasting energy and is in need of better insulation. full story and videos

The BBC has witnessed Chinese vessels blocking Filipino supply boats to an outpost in the South China Sea. The incident took place as two Philippine coast guard ships - one of which the BBC was aboard - and two tiny commercial boats made their way to the Second Thomas Shoal. They were met by a ship marked as the Chinese Coast Guard that was five times bigger than the commercial boats. The encounter between the two sides lasted several hours. Tensions between Manila and Beijing remain high after the Philippines coast guard cut China's barriers in disputed waters last month. Manila resupplies its outpost in the Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands, every month to reinforce its economic rights to waters that are both rich in fish and mineral resources. Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys, which is also claimed in part by the Philippines. 'Dangerous manoeuvres' in China and Philippines cat-and-mouse sea chase What is the South China Sea dispute? The incident took place on Wednesday, the second day of a three-day mission to the Second Thomas Shoal. The journey proceeded in rough seas due to a then-oncoming typhoon and the seasonal monsoon. A little past dawn, the Filipinos were met by what appeared to be the Chinese Coast Guard, as well as two blue militia vessels with Chinese markings. FULL STORY

Ex-President Donald Trump has asked a federal court to dismiss the election interference case against him, arguing his role entitled him to "absolute immunity". Mr Trump's lawyers say his attempts to cast doubt on the 2020 election fell within his duties as president and are not subject to criminal prosecution. The claims were "at the heart of his official responsibilities", they argue. Separately, Mr Trump has asked for a delay in his classified documents case. Mr Trump's attorneys have asked for that trial, in which the former president is accused of improperly handling sensitive files, to be held after the 2024 presidential election. It is part of a flurry of legal filings in recent days related to a number of Mr Trump's ongoing cases. In a new filing in the election interference case on Thursday, his lawyers argue that Mr Trump's public statements about the 2020 contest were attempts at "ensuring the integrity of federal elections". "The acts alleged in the indictment lie firmly within the 'outer perimeter' of the President's official responsibility," the lawyers argue. "Therefore, they cannot form the basis of criminal charges against President Trump." The former president made a range of allegations about fraud in the 2020 presidential election after his loss, but no evidence has emerged of any widespread fraud that would have altered the result. FULL STORY

President Joe Biden is under fire from both sides of the political spectrum after his administration announced new border wall construction in Texas. Mr Biden has said he "can't stop" the work because the funding was signed off while Donald Trump was president. Members of Mr Biden's Democratic Party said walls did not work, while rival Republicans accused him of hypocrisy. The Department of Homeland Security has said there is an "acute" need for the barriers. US authorities have detained over 2.2 million migrants this fiscal year alone. The growing number of migrants in US cities such as New York have increasingly become a challenge for Mr Biden, who has faced intense criticism over his handling of the border. According to US officials and President Biden, funding for the new border barrier - first announced in late June - was appropriated during the 2019 fiscal year, under Mr Trump's presidency. Approximately 20 miles (32km) of new border barriers will be built in Starr County, a sparsely populated stretch of border in the Rio Grande Valley. In 2020, Mr Biden promised he would not build another foot of wall if elected. The Texas town caught in America's border battle A senior administration official on Thursday laid the blame for the new construction on the US Congress, claiming it resisted efforts to "rescind" the funds in Mr Biden's first budget request issued in May 2021. Under a 1974 law, appropriated funds must be made available for their intended purpose unless a rescission is approved by both the Senate and House of Representatives. "We have repeatedly asked Congress to rescind this money but it has not done so and we are compelled to follow the law," Homeland Security secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said in a statement. FULL STORY

America's epidemic of chronic illness is killing them too soon The United States is failing at a fundamental mission - keeping people alive. After decades of progress, life expectancy - long regarded as a singular benchmark of a nation's success - peaked in 2014 at 78.9 years, then drifted downward even before the coronavirus pandemic. Among wealthy nations, the United States in recent decades went from the middle of the pack to being an outlier. And it continues to fall further and further behind. Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. A year-long Washington Post examination reveals that this erosion in life spans is deeper and broader than widely recognized, afflicting a far-reaching swath of the United States. While opioids and gun violence have rightly seized the public's attention, stealing hundreds of thousands of lives, chronic diseases are the greatest threat, killing far more people between 35 and 64 every year, The Post's analysis of mortality data found. Heart disease and cancer remained, even at the height of the pandemic, the leading causes of death for people 35 to 64. And many other conditions - private tragedies that unfold in tens of millions of U.S. households - have become more common, including diabetes and liver disease. These chronic ailments are the primary reason American life expectancy has been poor compared with other nations. Sickness and death are scarring entire communities in much of the country. The geographical footprint of early death is vast: In a quarter of the nation's counties, mostly in the South and Midwest, working-age people are dying at a higher rate than 40 years ago, The Post found. The trail of death is so prevalent that a person could go from Virginia to Louisiana, and then up to Kansas, by traveling entirely within counties where death rates are higher than they were when Jimmy Carter was president. FULL STORY

In October 2023, a video went viral on social media, purportedly proving that U.S. President Joe Biden behaved inappropriately with a minor. "She was 12, I was 30," one viral post captioned the video, citing his alleged remark at a public event. "I'm definitely not surprised ???? he is a weirdo," one X (formerly Twitter) user commented. A post from September 2022, with the same video and caption, received a comment that read, "When a pedophile TELLS you he's a pedophile BELIEVE it! #PedoHitlerbiden." FULL STORY

Former President Trump’s fraud trial ended its third day on Wednesday, which was mostly spent cross-examining the government’s first witness, an accountant who oversaw business dealings involving some of Trump’s most prime real estate properties. The trial grew testy with the judge scolding Trump’s attorneys for dragging out the matter, which at one point was interrupted in order to force another witness to take the stand. The accountant has been on the stand since Monday and is expected to be further cross-examined when the trial convenes on Thursday. Follow below for a recap from the courtroom in New York. Judge Arthur Engoron has dismissed Trump’s civil fraud trial for the day, with the first witness in the government’s case still under cross-examination by the defense. Thursday will begin with more cross-examination of Donald Bender, the ex-Trump accountant, which a defense attorney suggested could carry on through the morning. Once Bender’s cross-examination is over, Trump Organization controller Jeff McConney — a defendant in the case — is expected to testify. Defense attorneys indicated that they did not expect time for the government’s fourth witness Thursday. FULL STORY

Rudy Giuliani sued President Biden for defamation Wednesday over his comments calling the former New York City mayor a “Russian pawn” during a 2020 presidential debate. The 16-page lawsuit, filed in New Hampshire state court, names Biden, his campaign and several fundraising committees as defendants, taking aim at two statements Biden made during the final presidential debate against former President Trump on Oct. 22, 2020. In the first statement, Biden was answering a question about combating foreign election interference when, after some hesitation, he mentioned Giuliani. “Well I won’t get — I shouldn’t — well, I will,” Biden said. “His buddy, Rudy Giuliani,” Biden continued, referring to the close Trump ally. “He’s being used as a Russian pawn. He is being fed information that is Russian — that is not true.” Giuliani’s lawsuit alleges the statement “falsely claimed and depicted the Plaintiff to our nation as a liar.” Later in the debate, after Trump mentioned the “laptop from hell,” referring to the infamous Hunter Biden laptop story that had surfaced days earlier, then-candidate Biden insisted to the moderator that he needed to respond to the reference about his son. “Look, there are 50 former national intelligence folks who said that what this, he’s accusing me of is a Russian plan,” Biden said at the debate. FULL STORY

Nancy Pelosi and her long-time deputy Steny Hoyer have been ordered to leave their workspaces in the US Capitol by acting House Speaker Patrick McHenry. Both were told locks on their office doors will be "re-keyed" on Wednesday. The evictions come after Kevin McCarthy was ousted from the chamber's plum post on Tuesday and Mr McHenry, a top loyalist, was appointed in the interim. Mrs Pelosi, who is not currently in Washington, criticised the decision as "a sharp departure from tradition". Her office will be handed over to Mr McCarthy, Republican Congressman Garret Graves announced on Wednesday, saying that it is supposed to belong to the "preceding speaker". "Now that she and other Democrats have caused there to be an immediately preceding speaker, she has removed herself from that office ... that was a decision that Democrats and Speaker Pelosi made in giving that office to McCarthy," he said, according to Axios. Mrs Pelosi released a statement on Tuesday slamming the decision. "With all of the important decisions that the new Republican Leadership must address, which we are all eagerly awaiting, one of the first actions taken by the new Speaker Pro Tempore was to order me to immediately vacate my office in the Capitol," she said. "Sadly, because I am in California to mourn the loss of and pay tribute to my dear friend Dianne Feinstein, I am unable to retrieve my belongings at this time." FULL STORY

Jim Jordan and Steve Scalise have become the first two Republicans to join the race to replace Kevin McCarthy, who was voted out as Speaker in an unprecedented move on Tuesday. Other Republicans are also rumoured to be mounting a bid, and some have even floated Donald Trump as an option. The Speaker can technically be anyone in the US. Republicans plan to hold a speaker candidate forum next Tuesday, followed by a possible vote the next day. McCarthy ousted as House Speaker in historic vote McCarthy has gone. What happens now? The next US Speaker will inherit a poisoned chalice Here's a quick rundown of the candidates who could be next in line. Jim Jordan Steve Scalise Kevin Hern Donald Trump FULL STORY

Tax breaks for foreign residents in Portugal are “no longer justified”, the prime minister, Antonio Costa, has declared, promising to close the scheme for new applicants in 2024 after it stoked housing prices in one of western Europe’s poorest nations. Launched in 2009, the scheme allows people who become residents by spending more than 183 days a year in the country to benefit from a special 20% tax rate on Portuguese-sourced income derived from “high value-added activities“”, such as doctors and university teachers. It was introduced to attract investors and professionals as Portugal suffered from the financial crisis. Other benefits of the scheme – known as Non-Habitual Resident – include tax exemptions on almost all foreign income if taxed in the country of origin and a 10% flat tax rate on pensions from a foreign source. Portuguese citizens who lived abroad for five years or more could also apply. Costa told CNN Portugal late on Monday the scheme had “inflated the housing market”, calling it a “fiscal injustice that is no longer justified”. “It no longer makes sense,” Costa added, explaining that those who already benefit from it would continue to do so. The announcement came two days after thousands of people took to the streets of Lisbon and other cities across Portugal to protest against soaring rents and house prices stoked by growing gentrification and record tourism. Government data show more than 50% of workers earned less than €1,000 (£866) a month last year, and a 65% increase in Lisbon rents since the start of the tourism boom in 2015 has made flats unaffordable for many. FULL STORY

At least 21 people have died and 18 were injured after a tourist coach crashed off an overpass near Venice in northern Italy. The coach was carrying a group of tourists who were returning to a campsite in Marghera after spending the day in Venice, according to reports in the Italian media. Officials said the vehicle fell 30 metres (98ft) on to electricity lines and caught fire at about 7.45pm local time. Those on board included Ukrainian, German and French citizens, according to Venice prefect Michele Di Bari. Two of the dead were children. The Italian driver, aged 40, was also killed, Di Bari said. “The bus is totally crushed. The firefighters had difficulty getting a lot of the bodies out,” Di Bari told Sky Italia television. Four of the injured were in serious condition, said Renato Boraso, a Venice city official. The coach veered off the road in Mestre and landed close to railway lines where it caught fire, TGCom24 reported. Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Piantedosi, said the bus “flew 30 metres”. “It seems that the aggravating factor of the scenario was determined by the fact that it [the bus] was powered by methane, therefore the fire developed quickly,” he told TG1. Mestre is connected to Venice by a bridge. The cause of the incident is unclear. “It’s an apocalyptic scene. I am speechless,” Venice’s mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, posted on X, formerly Twitter. FULL STORY