A general view of the Old Trafford Football Stadium - home of Manchester United in Manchester. (TimesofIndia.com)TimesofIndia.com in Manchester:A plaque outside the Old Trafford Football Stadium remembering those who died in the Munich Air Disaster. (TimesofIndia.com)With the football season yet to get underway, The Trafford pub in Manchester wore a deserted look. (TimesofIndia.com)Over the next 10-odd days, focus will be on the Old Trafford Cricket Ground as England host India in the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. "Oh you wanted to go to the other Old Trafford?," chuckled Phil, who is a security guard at the Old Trafford football ground.

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer suspended several lawmakers on Wednesday as he tried to reassert his authority over his ruling Labour party following a rebellion over welfare reforms. All four voted against the welfare reforms on July 1 after Starmer made his authority-sapping climbdown to avoid a humiliating defeat in parliament. Starmer has endured a difficult first year in power and has made several damaging U-turns in recent weeks. Political scientist Steven Fielding said the purge was a bid by Starmer to reinforce party discipline. Labour now trails Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party in many national polls, although the next election is likely four years away.

England now know their path to the Euro 2025 final in Basel, and the Lionesses have actually landed on the opposite side of the draw as world champions Spain and cannot play the tournament favourites until the final. Who do England play next? After going through as Group D runners-up, England will play the winners of Group C, Sweden. There is a score to settle for Sweden, too, after England thrashed them 4-0 in the semi-finals of Euro 2022. Should England win their quarter-final they will play Italy in what appears to be a far more winnable semi-final.

Judge Lambert said that after being convicted, both men admitted to probation officers that they had been “present and involved” in the episode but still tried to minimize their culpability. Mr. Carruthers said that he was the person who chopped down the tree but that he had “no idea why” and “could offer no explanation” after drinking a bottle of whiskey on the night, the judge said. Mr. Graham admitted that he had driven to the site and filmed the felling but “tried to heap as much blame as possible” on his friend and claimed that he thought the plan was a “fantasy” that Mr. Carruthers would not go through with. Judge Lambert said that she did not accept their claims as being “wholly honest or the whole story,” adding that elements were “not plausible” in light of the events. The judge said that it was still not possible to know the full reasons for the tree’s being felled, but that carrying out the action at night and in the middle of a storm “gave some sort of thrill” to both men, as did the media coverage.

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The experts at The Times have come up with a list of the UK’s best spots for seaside fish and chips. This isn't the first time the Benllech-based chippy has been amongst the UK's best as part of the National Fish and Chip Awards. The Anglesey-based fish and chip shop has been described by visitors as "the best", "10/10" and "a must visit when in North Wales". Les and Rita’s Fish BarLes and Rita's Fish Bar first opened in Rhyl around 55 years ago, and the "modern art" on the walls "does little to change the impression that you’ve gone back to the Swinging Sixties". Where is your favourite seaside fish and chip shop in North Wales?

It benefits from some added creature comforts, including a gym, sauna, snooker room, yoga studio and tennis court, and a heated outdoor pool. Details Seven nights’ self-catering for 12 from £4,995 (premiercottages.co.uk)2. Details Seven nights’ self-catering for seven from £4,725 (nationaltrust.org.uk)4. Details Seven nights’ self-catering for eight from £4,126 (luxurycottages.com), with good availability in August and September. Details Seven nights’ self-catering for 16 from £7,050 (boltholeretreats.co.uk)11.

The New York Times is revamping its lineup of arts and entertainment critics — replacing four of the paper’s TV, music and theater critics, who are being offered “new roles,” according to an internal memo obtained by Variety. The quartet of Times critics — television critic Margaret Lyons, music critic Jon Pareles, theater critic Jesse Green and classical music critic Zach Woolfe — will “be taking on new roles, and we will be conducting a search for critics on their beats in the weeks to come,” New York Times culture editor Sia Michel wrote in a memo to staffers on Tuesday afternoon. Michel joined the Times in 2007 as pop music editor before being promoted to editor of Arts & Leisure. In 2018, she became deputy culture editor and was elevated to her current role in 2023. Green has been the Times’ theater critic since 2017 and “has championed important theater from Broadway and beyond with his incisive, witty reviews,” per the memo.

UK government was forced to act after the breach revealed the names of Afghans who had helped British forces in Afghanistan before they withdrew (Picture credit: AP)LONDON: Britain set up a secret scheme to relocate thousands of Afghans to the UK after a soldier accidentally disclosed the personal details of more than 33,000 people, putting them at risk of reprisals from the Taliban, court documents showed on Tuesday.A judge at London’s high court said in a May 2024 judgment first made public Tuesday that about 20,000 people may have to be offered relocation to Britain, a move that would likely cost “several billion pounds”.Britain’s current defence minister John Healey said that around 4,500 affected people “are in Britain or in transit ... at a cost of around 400 million pounds”.The government is also facing lawsuits from those affected by the breach. A ministry of defence-commissioned review of the breach, a summary of which was also published Tuesday, said more than 16,000 affected people had been relocated to the UK as of May this year.The government was forced to act after the breach revealed the names of Afghans who had helped British forces in Afghanistan before they withdrew from the country in chaotic circumstances in 2021. The details emerged on Tuesday after a legal ruling known as a superinjunction was lifted.The injunction had been granted in 2023 after the MoD argued a public disclosure of the breach could put people at risk of extra-judicial killing or serious violence by the Taliban.The dataset contained personal information of nearly 19,000 Afghans who had applied to be relocated to Britain and their families. It was released in error in early 2022, before the MoD spotted the breach in Aug 2023, when part of the dataset was published on Facebook.The former Conservative government obtained the injunction the following month.REUTERS

The experts at The Times have come up with a list of the UK’s best spots for seaside fish and chips. One person commented: "We pulled up in the car park and googled ‘Barmouth best fish and chips’ loads of info about the mermaid came up. "Literally the best chips ever, the curry sauce had a nice spice to it and my daughter had the fish and said it was amazing. RECOMMENDED READING:While another visitor added: "We visit Barmouth every year and by far the best fish and chips anywhere. Others have said The Mermaid has the "best Fish & Chips in the UK" and the food there is "heavenly".

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The United Kingdom, France and Germany have signalled they are prepared to reinstate United Nations sanctions on Iran by the end of August, in case there is no clear progress on restarting the nuclear deal, two European diplomats said on Tuesday (local time).Ambassadors from the three nations met at Germany’s UN mission in New York to discuss next steps, as concerns mount over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The issue was also discussed in a phone call on Monday between US secretary of state Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of the three countries, according to two American officials.Following the call, the US state department said that all four leaders had talked about “ensuring Iran does not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon.”The three European nations are signatories to the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran, which was aimed at curbing Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. The US pulled out of the accord during President Donald Trump’s first term, arguing the deal was not sufficient.Under the agreement, any party can trigger a “snapback” provision to reimpose UN sanctions if Iran is found to be non-compliant.French foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot, said that the three European countries would be justified in reinstating sanctions.“With regard to Iran, the minister reiterated the priority of resuming negotiations to establish a long-term framework for Iran’s nuclear program,” said a French foreign ministry statement following after EU foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels.“Without a verifiable commitment from Iran by the end of August at the latest, France, Germany and the U.K. will be justified in reapplying the UN sanctions (snapbacks) that were lifted 10 years ago,” AP quoted the ministry.The exact terms of the deal under consideration have not been disclosed. However, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran would be open to resuming nuclear talks with the US, but only with guarantees that further strikes, such as recent Israeli and American attacks on its nuclear sites, would not happen again.“The attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities has made it more difficult and complicated to achieve a solution,” Araghchi said, adding that a firm assurance against future strikes was necessary.The United States and Iran held multiple rounds of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme before Israeli strikes began in June. Last week, US President Donald Trump and his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said fresh talks were expected soon, but no date has been set yet.In a CBS interview on 2 July, Araghchi maintained that Iran remained open to diplomacy, stating, “the doors of diplomacy will never slam shut.”Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last week claimed US strikes had severely damaged key nuclear sites, making them inaccessible to Iranian authorities.In response, Tehran has halted cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).Iran’s UN mission declined to comment on Tuesday regarding the European threat to reinstate sanctions.

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Live Events(You can now subscribe to our(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channelBritain's annual rate of consumer price inflation unexpectedly rose to its highest in over a year at 3.6% in June, up from 3.4% in May, above economists' expectations in a Reuters poll for the rate to remain unchanged, official figures showed on Wednesday.British inflation has risen steadily since touching a three-year low of 1.7% last September, and in May the Bank of England forecast it would peak at 3.7% in September - almost twice the central bank's 2% target.June's reading from the Office for National Statistics took the annual CPI rate to its highest since January 2024.Higher transport costs , especially motor fuels, were the biggest contributor to the rise in the inflation rate between May and June, the ONS said.Sterling rose slightly against the dollar after the data, which may put pressure on the BoE not to cut interest rates at its next meeting in August.Previously, April brought a particularly sharp jump in inflation to 3.5% due to rises in regulated energy and water tariffs, a spike in air fares, and upward pressure on the cost of labour-intensive services from a rise in employment taxes and the minimum wage.Despite this, Governor Andrew Bailey has said interest rates are likely to remain on a gradual downward path, as a weaker labour market puts downward pressure on wage growth and the outlook for economic growth remains lacklustre.The BoE has cut interest rates by four quarter-point steps since August and economists polled by Reuters last month forecast two more quarter-point rate cuts this year.However, some BoE policymakers are concerned that skills mismatches in Britain's labour market and other supply constraints will keep wage growth running too fast for inflation to return to target any time soon.Services price inflation, a measure the BoE views as a better guide to domestically generated price pressures than the headline CPI rate, held at 4.7% in June, in contrast to economists' forecasts for it to fall to 4.6%.The BoE's forecast in May that inflation would be back on target in the first quarter of 2027.