United Kingdom holidays

United Kingdom holidays

What’s new on the UK coast this summer

Tree tents in Cornwall, beach cabins in Dorest and a thrilling cliff-side pathway in County Antrim are among the new highlights on the UK coast

New National Trust campsite, Pembrokeshire

Gupton Farm is a sandy stroll away from the beach at Freshwater West, near Castlemartin, and tucked into a sheltered hollow. It offers a wet-weather barn alongside shower block facilities. If camping doesn’t appeal, visitors can stay in the farmhouse.

Saltdean lido reopens, Sussex

This art deco beauty was snatched from the hands of property developers five years ago, given a Grade II* listing and returned to the council. Following a campaign by concerned locals, it has been restored and from 17 June, outdoor swimmers will once more be able to revel in its heated 40-metre-long, crescent-shaped pool.

Tiny homes to stay in, Isle of Wight

These cabins are part of a movement to downsize living spaces, and are built to minimise environmental impact. The brainchild of Helen and Frazer Cunningham (of Airstream campsite Vintage Vacations), they have solar power, composting toilets, woodburning stoves, water recycling and share a mandala garden (a circular garden divided by paths)

.New beach houses in Cornwall

Two glamorous, coastal high-end properties: Pentire, a penthouse apartment overlooking Fistral beach, Newquay; and Barford, a holiday home in Widemouth Bay. Each has many high-spec touches, including wood-fired hot tubs with sea views. .

Northern Ireland’s white-knuckle coastal walk reopens

The Gobbins Path runs along the cliffs of Islandmagee in County Antrim, a giddy mixture of crashing waves and suspended steel walkways. Opened in 1872, it was restored and reopened in 2015, then closed last year following a rock fall. At the end of June, visitors can again teeter along the roller-coaster cliff path just above the sea. 

Dreamland rebooted, Margate 

Catch bands including Toots and the Maytals (20 July, £29.50) at the new indoor music venue at the vintage amusement park. Reopened in May, the park is now free to enter – visitors pay for individual rides or buy an unlimited rides wristband – so it costs nothing to marvel at the Grade-II listed Scenic Railway, although it would be hard to resist a ride. 

Beach huts you can sleep in, Bournemouth

Several notches up from the usual day-use-only beach huts, these 15 lodges on the seafront near Boscombe pier are raised on a deck above the promenade and can accommodate four adults and two children overnight. They also have wifi, showers and cooking facilities. 

Hide-out, Cornwall

Kudhva means hideout in Cornish and is the name given by Louise Middleton to her innovative project in 18 hectares near Tintagel, which opens on 1 July. Curious wooden capsules on legs, designed by Ben Huggins, and Tentsile tree tents suspended over a disused quarry and a waterfall will provide accommodation. There are also solar showers, chilled-out music, a bar, cinema club, food, yoga and a truck to take surfers and boards to nearby beaches. 

Gothic castle opens its doors, Isle of Lewis

Following extensive renovation (and being featured in Channel 4’s Great British Buildings: Restoration of the Year), the upper floors of Lews Castle in Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, are now open to visitors who can stay in one of several smart, lofty apartments overlooking the harbour. 

Sleep in a beach hut, Dorset

Cunningly constructed with a mezzanine floor to accommodate two adults and two children and to provide a shower room and kitchen, 34 Monmouth Beach in Lyme Regis is a beach hut but not as you know it – and is excellent value given the seashore location. 

Celebrate the Cornish pasty, St Austell 

Cornucopia, a new food and drink attraction opening in St Austell this summer promises to give Cornwall’s favourite hot snack the deference it deserves. Visitors can make one of their own at the “UK’s very first pasty heritage centre”, then sample food and drink from 19 Cornish food and drink producers. There will also be an adventure area with soft play zone, sky wires and trampolines, keeping younger children entertained while older family members tuck in.

Modern Yorkshire cooking, Whitby

Local Michelin-star chef Andrew Pern opens a new Star Inn, a brasserie version of his other three Star Inns, by the harbour at Whitby in July. With its position three metres from the harbour, the menu is seafood-oriented: expect shellfish from the North Sea, potted shrimps, oysters and a Whitby crab stick and, of course, fish and chips. 

Dolphin watching from a new restaurant, Scottish Highlands

The Sun Dancer restaurant’s name is a nod to the site’s previous occupant – the Sandancer arcade. The beeps and crashes of arcade games have been replaced with calming views across the Moray Firth, and hopefully diners will spot the occasional dolphin pod from the restaurant in Nairn’s harbour. 

Rich People In India

Rich People In India-Mukesh Ambani

APPLE PARK Mid May 2017 Sunset Flight

APPLE PARK: Mid-May 2017 - Sunset Flight

US warns Beijing on South China Sea islands

US warns Beijing on South China Sea islands

The US will not accept China's militarisation of man-made islands in the South China Sea, Defence Secretary James Mattis has warned.

Speaking at a security conference in Singapore, he said such moves undermined regional stability.

China's territorial claims in the resource-rich South China Sea are contested by several nations.

At the same time, Gen Mattis praised Beijing's efforts to restrain North Korea's missile and nuclear activity.

His comments came shortly after the UN Security Council expanded targeted sanctions against North Korea in response to a series of missile tests conducted this year.

The council voted unanimously to back the sanctions after weeks of negotiations between the US and China.

In his speech at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue forum, Gen Mattis said: "We oppose countries militarising artificial islands and enforcing excessive maritime claims.

"We cannot and will not accept unilateral, coercive changes to the status quo."

President Donald Trump and other senior US officials have repeatedly stated that they would protect its interests in the South China Sea, a key shipping route.

During his nomination hearing earlier this year, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson warned that the US was "going to have to send China a clear signal that first the island-building stops, and second your access to those islands also is not going to be allowed."

In response, the Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing would "remain firm to defend its rights in the region".

But in Singapore Gen Mattis also struck a positive note on US-China relations, saying that while competition between the two countries "is bound to occur, conflict is not inevitable".

The biggest question amongst Asian delegates attending the forum has been how much of a role the US will continue to play in this increasingly tense region, the BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Singapore reports.

She adds that Gen Mattis sought to reassure his peers that the US was not turning its back on Asia.

What is the South China Sea dispute?

Rival countries have wrangled over territory in the South China Sea for centuries, but tension has steadily increased in recent years.

Its islets and waters are claimed in part or in whole by Taiwan, China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei.

Beijing has been building artificial islands on reefs and carrying out naval patrols in waters also claimed by these other nations.

Although the previous US administration of Barack Obama insisted it was neutral, it spoke out strongly against the island-building and sought to build ties with, and among, the South East Asian nations whose claims overlap those of China.

In July 2016, an international tribunal ruled against Chinese claims, backing a case brought by the Philippines, but Beijing said it would not respect the verdict.

The frictions have sparked concern that the area is becoming a flashpoint with global consequences.

Sri Lankan arrested for pretending to blow up plane Video

Sri Lankan arrested for pretending to blow up plane [Video]

A Sri Lankan national living in the Melbourne suburb of Dandenong was charged with allegedly threatening to blow up a plane.

The man allegedly tried to enter the cockpit while claiming to have a bomb shortly after takeoff on a Malaysian Airlines flight from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur late last night.

The 25-year-old is facing two charges against the Crimes Aviation Act, but Victoria's Police Commissioner Graham Ashton said they are not treating it as a terrorism incident.

Ashton revealed the man is believed to have checked out of a psychiatric facility in Melbourne earlier yesterday.

Because he was in the facility voluntarily, there was nothing to stop him leaving.

He is expected to face Melbourne Magistrates Court this afternoon.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed the incident on flight MH128, which left Melbourne at 11.11pm before performing a small loop and landing again at 11.47pm.

The passenger was overpowered by the plane's crew and later arrested at Melbourne's airport, Malaysia's Deputy Transport Minister Abdul Aziz Kaprawi told AFP.

"It is not a hijack. One disruptive passenger tried to enter the plane's cockpit," he said.

"The passenger... claimed to have a bomb. But it was not a bomb but a powerbank (battery charger)."

Ashton also defended the long wait passengers endured on the tarmac before police came on board to arrest the man.

"In some of those circumstances, if we had an incident where there were further explosives that were triggered, we could have had a mass casualty incident," he said.

"There were 337 passengers on that plane, plus crew, and we could have had a very serious incident.

"That was avoided through having a proper approach to getting the passengers off."

Police said the suspected bomb was just a speaker wrapped in plastic.

Victoria Premier Daniel Andrews said his staff had reached out to Malaysia Airlines to offer counselling support.

"I want to take this opportunity to thank the crew and those very brave passengers who actually subdued this person, and indeed thank every single passenger for their patience, and you can imagine how traumatic that would have been to go through that experience," Andrews said.

Andrews said the arrested man had been Australia on a student visa studying to be a chef.

"His history would appear to have mental illness, we do not believe this is terrorist related at the moment," Superintendent Tony Langdon told reporters on the tarmac.

"It's quite heroic for the passengers and crew to restrain this person," Superintendent Langdon added.

Malaysian Airlines said in a statement this afternoon that technical and cabin crew on the flight will not operate until further notice.

Among the passengers who subdued the man was Arif Chaudery, who sprung to action after a female crewmember raised the alarm.

"Families, kids, they were very scared, and some screaming…so three or four guys, we jumped as quickly as possible," Chaudery told Today.

"We just put him on the floor and finally staff brought the belt, so we handcuffed him and tied his legs and put his face on the floor.

"We thought he was drunk or on some drug…if he's a bum, how did the person get on the flight?

"This could be worse, I can tell you that now, but that's 300 people who are safe."

Former Melbourne footballer Andrew Leoncelli told 3AW the man was threatening to "blow the plane up" after being told by flight attendants to return to his seat.

"I was sitting in business class and I could hear this idiot saying he wanted to go in an see the pilot and staff were saying sit back down," Leoncelli said.

"He said 'I'm not going to sit down, I'm going to blow the plane up' (and) an air hostess yelled out for help.

"I approached him, he ran down the side and two lads grabbed him and bashed him … took a giant black thing out of his hand.

"I've never seen anything like it."

Leoncelli said the object seized from the man was the size of a watermelon and had "two wire things coming out of it".

"I think the guy was just an idiot," he said.

"He ran literally down the other end of the plane and got restrained.

"We sat for an hour and 20 minutes waiting for the police to come.

The man has been arrested by Australian authorities, who stormed the plane after it landed at Tullamarine.

Malaysia Airlines said the captain turned the plane back to Melbourne after being alerted by a cabin crew "of a passenger attempting to enter the cockpit".

In air traffic control audio, a male voice can be heard saying: "We have a passenger trying to enter the cockpit."

About three minutes later the same male voice can be heard saying the passenger was "claiming to have an explosive device, tried to enter the cockpit, has been overpowered by passengers".

Passengers started leaving the plane about 1.30am.

All other flights were diverted to Avalon, near Geelong, with Melbourne Airport in lockdown at the time.

Melbourne Airport has now re-opened and is accepting arriving and departing flights on the east-west runway. The north-south runway remains closed

Airport workers are being allowed to return inside.

The incident came just months after Canberra called off the search for missing flight MH370 carrying 239 passengers and crew, after a vast underwater hunt off Australia's west coast failed to find the plane.

MH370 disappeared in March 2014, while another passenger jet, MH17, was shot down in July of the same year while flying over Ukraine in twin tragedies to hit Malaysia's national carrier.

Chines Russian Presidents condole loss of life

Chinese, Russian Presidents condole loss of life

Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday sent messages of condolences to President Maithripala Sirisena over the devastating floods and landslides in the country in which 151 people have been killed.

In the message, Xi expressed deep condolences over the victims and showed sincere sympathy to those stricken by the disasters and the families of the victims.

China and Sri Lanka are traditional friendly neighbors, and the Chinese people feel the same as the Sri Lankan people when they suffer in the disasters, Xi said.

The Chinese government is willing to exert all efforts to support the Sri Lankan government in its disaster relief work, and offer support and assistance to the Sri Lankan side, Xi said.

He believes the Sri Lankan government and people will definitely be able to overcome the disasters and rebuilding their homeland.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has expressed his condolences to President Maithripala Sirisena regarding the loss of life and large-scale destruction caused by flooding, the Kremlin press service reported.

Vladimir Putin sent a message of condolences to President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka in connection with considerable loss of life and large-scale destruction caused by flooding in different parts of the country.

“The Russian President stressed that Russia shares the grief of those who lost their loved ones due to this natural disaster and hopes for speedy recovery of the injured,”

the Kremlin press service in statement said.