Comment on Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Labour has won a landslide victory in the U. K. election, bringing a decisive end to 14 years of Conservative government marked by austerity, Brexit tumult, the COVID-19 pandemic, and political chaos with five Tory Prime Ministers in a mere six years. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Keir Starmer walked into 10 Downing Street on Friday as the new Prime Minister with the largest majority of any party since 1832.

New York — Patrick Bertoletti gobbled up 58 hot dogs to win his first men’s title Thursday at the annual Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July hot dog eating contest, taking advantage of the absence of the event’s biggest star. In the women’s competition, defending champion Miki Sudo won her 10th title and set a new world record by downing 51 links. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, the reigning men’s champion and winner of 16 out of 17 previous competitions, didn’t attend this year over a sponsorship tiff.

mdash; Hurricane Beryl made landfall on Mexico’s coast near the resort of Tulum as a Category 2 storm early Friday, whipping trees and knocking out power as it came ashore after leaving a trail of destruction across the eastern Caribbean. The U. S. National Hurricane Center said that Beryl is expected to rapidly weaken to a tropical storm as it crosses over the Yucatan Peninsula before it re-emerges into the Gulf of Mexico and likely regains hurricane strength. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Once in the warm waters of the Gulf, Beryl is forecast to head toward northern Mexico near the Texas border, an area had already been soaked by Tropical Storm Alberto just a couple of weeks ago. Once the earliest storm to develop into a Category 5 hurricane in the Atlantic, Beryl spread destruction in Jamaica, St.

Eighth time proved the charm for right-wing British politician and Brexiteer Nigel Farage, who was finally announced as a Member of the British Parliament in the early hours of July 5, following the U. K. snap election. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] The Farage-fronted populist party Reform UK—a rebrand of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) Farage was a founding member of—enjoyed an unprecedented performance at Thursday’s general election, proving to be a thorn in the incumbent Conservative Party’s side.

Tensions between neighbors Pakistan and Afghanistan are running high as the Pakistani Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said this week that his country plans to continue launching cross-border attacks as part of a new military operation to curb terrorism. The comments mark a notable shift for Pakistani officials who, until now, had only admitted to one such cross-border strike in March.

Britain’s Labour Party achieved a decisive victory in the country’s July 4 election. But there were some contests, even in some of the party’s strongholds, that ended up being too close for comfort. And in a handful of constituencies, Labour lost out to independent candidates—including the party’s former leader. The culprit wasn’t another party, but rather, an issue: Gaza.