Miss Me? :)
A group calling themselves the 'Philosoraptors' have released a video appearing to show a giant portrait of Russian President Vladimir Putin projected over the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London.
The light display features Putin, accompanied by the pop-up text "Miss Me?", in an apparent reference to the popular TV series Sherlock, where it the phrase is uttered by the show's main antagonist.
In commentary going along with the video, the group explains that it's "very convenient to blame Russians and Putin for everything."
"Putin interferes in the US presidential elections, Putin poisoned Russian ex-spy Sergei Skripal, Putin brought down the bitcoin rate," the video commentary sarcastically notes. But "Russians love their strong leader and re-elected him president. Please respect the choice of Russian people," the group adds, signing off as "Art-group Philosoraptors."
In a recent interview, Putin joked that he had long "gotten used to" being called 'the main global villain' by some Western media. This didn't bother him, he said, because his main focus was on the interests of Russia and its people. "Everything else does not interest me at all," he quipped.
Russians went to the polls on Sunday, reelecting Putin for his second consecutive six-year term in a landslide.
LONDON (AP) — The U.K. government pledged Monday to clean up Lake Windermere, a sewage-clogged beauty spot that has come to symbolize the filthy state of Britain’s waterways.
Environment Secretary Steve Reed said the aim was to stop all sewage discharges into England’s largest lake.
The lake, flanked by steep-sided hills, is part of the Lake District National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site in northwest England that draws millions of visitors a year. The region's landscape of woods, fields, stone walls and sheep inspired poet William Wordsworth and children’s writer Beatrix Potter.
But Windermere is regularly flooded with human waste when storms overwhelm the local sewage system. Last year the BBC revealed that the local water company, United Utilities, had discharged more than 140 million liters (37 million gallons) of sewage into the lake between 2021 and 2023.
U.K. water firms are under growing pressure to stop frequent sewage overflows into rivers and oceans that have literally caused a stink, sickened swimmers and polluted fishing streams.
Clean-water campaigners say creaking Victorian pipes, growing populations and more intense downpours linked to climate change are a recipe for environmental disaster, exacerbated by a lack of investment by the private companies that control Britain’s water system. Sewage spills into England’s rivers, lakes and seas more than doubled in 2023 compared to 2022, according to the Environment Agency.
The Labour government, elected last year, has vowed to clean up Britain’s waterways. Its plan involves using private investment and fines levied on polluting water firms to restore and replace crumbling infrastructure.
Reed said United Utilities will invest 200 million pounds ($258 million) to upgrade wastewater treatment works at Windermere and a new pipe will be built to take sewage away from the lake. He acknowledged it could take years before the waters are safe to swim in again.
Matt Staniek, founder of the campaign group Save Windermere, said the government's announcement was “a very, very welcome first step.”
“But we all know what politicians are like. Until something is legally binding and set in stone, it’s just a promise at this point,” he told the BBC.
FILE - A swan in the morning light of Lake Windermere in the Lake District of northern England Monday, June 28, 2010.(AP Photo/Harry Hamburg, file)
