All posts tagged: scheme

What you need to know about Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers

What you need to know about Your First Home scheme for first-time buyers

Published by Sam Flores

The government will unveil a fresh scheme to help people on to the housing ladder next month but a debate is already raging over whether it is first-time buyers or housebuilders who will be the biggest winners. At the weekend, Andy Burnham announced plans for Your First Home, which aims to give a helping hand to first-time buyers who do not have the luxury of being able to call on the “bank of mum and dad”. Only a few details have emerged, but the news was enough to send the share prices of many UK housebuilders surging on Monday. Persimmon closed 14.7% higher, while Barratt Redrow added 11.7%, Taylor Wimpey 11.5%, Crest Nicholson 11% and Vistry 10.7%. What do we know so far? While it has a different name, it is not unfair to say that Your First Home appears to be an updated version of the Conservatives’ flagship help-to-buy scheme, which ran for a decade. Like that initiative, YFH applies to England only and is just for prospective first-time buyers looking to buy a …

The US Considered Nuking the Moon. Jitish Kallat Studies Cold-War Scheme

The US Considered Nuking the Moon. Jitish Kallat Studies Cold-War Scheme

Published by Jenni Sidey

In a secret 1958 project, the Air Force considered detonating a nuclear bomb on the Moon. Scientists believed then they would learn a lot from the exercise, code named Project A119, and the US might gain ground in the Cold War space race with the Soviets. What’s more, the blast would perhaps be visible on Earth, boosting morale at home and cowing our enemies abroad. The risks (including the blast affecting humankind’s home) were deemed to outweigh the benefits, though, and the US government turned its attention instead to putting a man on the Moon, which it predicted would be more popular, and which NASA would be first to accomplish, a decade later. The Air Force’s report on the potential bombing, titled “A Study of Lunar Research Flights,” remained secret until the project’s leader disclosed it in 2000. Source link

Lawsuit Alleges Warhol Forgery Scheme Spanning US and Peru

Lawsuit Alleges Warhol Forgery Scheme Spanning US and Peru

Published by Jenni Sidey

Duped into buying more than $6.7 million worth of fake Andy Warhol paintings and prints, real estate investor Richard Perlman and his family have launched a multinational lawsuit against the players they say are complicit in the alleged scam. Filed on September 9 in a Miami state court and first reported by the Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit accuses roughly half a dozen individuals and companies across Florida, Philadelphia, and Peru of acting as “suppliers, fake authenticators and distributors” within an elaborate forgery network. The lawsuit traces the alleged journey of the illicit works to Miami—from the painter employed in Peru, through their smuggling into the US, to the construction of a false provenance, including fabricated documents and a label for the canvas. Source link

Hawaii Lt. Gov. indicted in alleged bribery scheme

Hawaii Lt. Gov. indicted in alleged bribery scheme

Published by Sam Flores

Hawaii Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke (D) was indicted on bribery charges on Friday following a months-long state investigation into a campaign finance scandal. Luke was accused of accepting campaign finance contributions in 2022 while she was a state lawmaker in exchange for securing funding for COVID-19 testing sites. A Hawaii grand jury returned a 12-count… Source link

‘New chapter’ as training scheme renamed

‘New chapter’ as training scheme renamed

Published by Miika Tikkanen

A government-funded flagship teacher training programme is to be renamed after 24 years amid a “shift in strategic direction”. The scheme will still be run by the charity named Teach First, but will be delivered under the new title “Teach Lead Change”. Schools minister Georgia Gould described it as an “exciting new chapter” for the government’s high potential initial teacher training (HPITT) scheme, and a return “to its original purpose of putting the very best trainee teachers into schools in the poorest communities”. Teach First has run the Department for Education’s HPITT scheme since its launch in 2003. The scheme itself has also been named Teach First for the last 23 years. But as its most recent contract came to an end, the DfE signalled it was shifting to rebrand, as it sought a provider to deliver the next iteration of the programme. Tender documents showed the DfE wanted the scheme to have a “supplier neutral” identity. ‘Shift in scale and strategic direction’ It was confirmed earlier this month that Teach First was set to …

Brussels to exclude military-age Ukrainian men from temporary protection scheme

Brussels to exclude military-age Ukrainian men from temporary protection scheme

Published by Sam Flores

The European Commission proposed excluding military-age Ukrainian men from the EU’s temporary protection scheme while extending the program until March 2028, in a move intended to bolster Kyiv’s armed forces. The measure followed pressure from several EU member states to tighten temporary protection rules, citing integration challenges and Ukraine’s need for additional military personnel. It was also backed by Kyiv, which, under martial law, bars most men aged 23 and older from leaving the country. “Our proposal takes into account Ukraine’s evolving defence needs,” EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner said. According to the new measure, the temporary protection should not be granted to “persons who cannot legally leave Ukraine due to their military obligations”. In practice, this means the exclusion of all men aged 23 to 60. Ukrainian law exempts people with disabilities, those deemed unfit for military service, fathers of three or more children under 18, and individuals providing full-time care for sick relatives. Despite martial law, some draft-age Ukrainian men have crossed the country’s borders illegally and obtained temporary protection in EU …

USAF Says Former Qatari 747 Boeing Ready For USA Paint Scheme

USAF Says Former Qatari 747 Boeing Ready For USA Paint Scheme

Published by Jenni Sidey

The U.S. Air Force reports that the Boeing 747 donated by Qatar, now designated the VC-25B Bridge, has completed modification and flight testing and is entering the paint phase ahead of deployment as an interim Air Force One jet.  The bridge aircraft is a former Qatar head-of-state Boeing 747-8i that will serve as an interim presidential aircraft until Boeing’s delayed VC-25B replacements are ready, now expected in 2028.  “This program epitomizes what is possible when clear accountability is placed on one individual, and the entire enterprise of stakeholders aligns behind a single mission outcome … deliver a bridge capability as soon as possible to relieve pressure on the aging VC-25A fleet,” Gen. Dale White, Department of War direct reporting portfolio manager for Critical Major Weapon Systems, wrote in a press release. The VC-25B Bridge underwent flight testing in Texas and is now in a hangar being painted in a “new red, white and blue” livery, according to the U.S. Air Force. The service said the aircraft will be ready for use by summer, likely ahead …

One town’s scheme to get rid of its geese

One town’s scheme to get rid of its geese

Published by Miika Tikkanen

The need for such conflict resolution is on the rise as land development collides with changes in animal behavior. Though overpopulation of Canada geese is a national nuisance in the US, such tensions also surface with other species in this country and elsewhere, including grizzlies on the Montana prairies, coyotes on San Francisco streets, and savanna elephants in Tanzania parks.  So the people whose job it is to deal with recalcitrant critters are bringing on the gadgets. Back in Foster City, I spot a black camera mounted to a tree trunk at Gull Park by the lagoon. They’re in seven parks around town, programmed to snap photos every 15 minutes and transmit them back to Wildlife Innovations HQ. If they detect geese, a biologist immediately drives over to disperse the birds. One team member uses devices like lasers or drones; another brings along a goose-hating border collie named Rocky.  Belligerent birds must grapple with the Goosinator.ANNIKA HOM As a special measure, staff deploy the “Goosinator,” a small, remote-controlled neon-orange pontoon boat with a fearsome dog-like …

Spanberger And Dems Lie About Gerrymandering Scheme

Spanberger And Dems Lie About Gerrymandering Scheme

Published by Jenni Sidey

Authored by Ben Cline via RealClearPolitics, Once you burn your credibility, it’s hard to get back. Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger deceived voters and concealed her true leftist agenda to win the Governor’s Mansion last year. Now she and her fellow Democrats are lying to Virginians about a new gerrymandered congressional district map they placed on the ballot as a constitutional amendment on April 21. It’s a naked attempt to make it impossible for Republicans to win election to Congress in most places in Virginia, and it’s why she was rewarded with the plum assignment of responding to President Trump’s State of the Union address this week. The Virginia Supreme Court has already had one chance to stop the gerrymandering by upholding a judge’s ruling that Democrats cut legal corners to get the measure on the ballot. The justices, however, inexplicably chose to wait until the vote happens. I filed another lawsuit to bring new challenges, along with my colleague, Rep. Morgan Griffith (VA-9), and the RNC and NRCC. We won in circuit court, blocking the …

Rwanda suing UK over scrapped deportation scheme | UK News

Rwanda suing UK over scrapped deportation scheme | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Rwanda is suing the UK for failing to formally terminate the controversial agreement.  It emerged on Tuesday that the east African country is seeking £50m in compensation, The Telegraph reported. The Rwanda scheme would have involved some asylum seekers being sent to Rwanda to have their asylum claims processed there. Following news of the lawsuit, Downing Street defended its decision to end the scheme, saying it had been a “complete disaster”. Read more:Labour’s immigration reforms at a glanceAsylum hotel migrant evictions set to begin in the spring The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The Rwanda scheme was a complete disaster. It wasted £700 million of taxpayer cash to return just four volunteers. “The truth is that 84,000 people crossed the Channel from the day the Rwanda deal was signed to the day it was scrapped. It was never a deterrent. “We will robustly defend our position to protect British taxpayers, and we’re getting on with the job of focusing on effective ways to stamp out illegal migration, not costly gimmicks. “And as I’ve said, we’ve …