World Leaks

A "one-two" weather punch tied to rising temperatures sets the stage for intense blazes, one expert says.

Harry's great-grandmother Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, reportedly put approximately $25 million into a trust fund for her great-grandchildren in 1994.

AULANDER, N.C. (WNCT) -- A propane truck was involved in a collision on HWY 11 in Aulander. First responders arrived at the incident around 1 p.m. on Monday near Brick Mill Road. Drivers are advised to stay away from the area. Around 1:30 p.m. Bertie County Emergency Services posted on Facebook that HWY 11 was [...]

NEWPORT, N.C. (WNCT) -- Law enforcement officers with the Carteret County Sheriff's Office have arrested a Newport man on sexual exploitation of a minor charges. Detectives with the Crimes Against Children Unit at the Carteret County Sheriff's Office arrested 57 year old Eugene Matthiews on September 16. Matthiews arrest was the result of an undercover [...]

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) -- Monday marks 25 years since one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in North Carolina history made landfall. On this day in 1999, Hurricane Floyd made landfall near Wilmington as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of 105 miles per hour. But inland flooding became the biggest issue after another [...]

A MAJOR British retailer has brought back a “beautiful” £10 Christmas homeware favourite and shoppers are over the moon.

The M&S Light Up Candles have returned to shelves, just in time for the festive season.

But be warned, each year these candles prove very popular.

Fortunately for us, one shopper took to social media in good time to share the news.

Posting on the Extreme Couponing and Bargains Facebook group, the savvy shopper said: “Beautiful M&S candles £10 each lovely present ideas for Christmas.”

The savvy shopper included four pictures in their post, three of the candles depict finely detailed historic views, while the fourth resembles a bowl of twinkling stars.

If your home needs a little sparkle, these candles might just light up the room.

One of the detailed candles features a Christmas townhouse and is fragranced with mandarin, cinnamon and clove.

A collection of scents which belong to the Citrus family.

Another features a historic view of Edinburgh, with notes of neroli, lime and bergamot.

The bowl of twinkling lights, also known as the Neroli, Lime & Bergamot Light Up Candle features a combination of silver or gold glitter and LED lights, which work together to create a gentle twinkling glow.

All you have to do is light the candle as usual and let the magic happen.

There may also be notes of lavender, cedar wood, vetiver or eucalyptus.

This collection of fragrances belongs to the Herbal family.

The Facebook post has received a lot of attention, with over 400 likes and hundreds of comments from stunned shoppers.

One person commented: “Oh wow they’re stunning.”

While another said: “Wow £10 pounds definitely going to get a few.”

“They’re back!!”, said a relived shopper.

“Got these last year, they are so pretty lit up”, explained a fourth.

A fifth person joked: “Need them all.”

The Google reviews for these candles are also shining: “Just a great candle to go with my light-up collection, lovely smell at a reasonable price!!!”

“Very pretty and love that it’s Edinburgh, smells good too”, a second review stated.

While a third said: “These are great for winter evenings and last a fair while.

“Something a bit different. Hope they do different ones this winter.”

Of course, it’s easy to jump into the car and head to stores to find these items, but it’s always best to check product availability before making the trip.

On the M&S website, you can find the product page for each of these items.

To check their availability in stores, just click the Find a store option and enter your postcode, town or street name.

A list of local stores should pop up with the product’s availability.

Alternatively, you can head to the website and click Find a store on the top right.

We also recommend shopping around to ensure you are getting a good deal.

You can also use websites like Trolley and Price Spy which compare prices on thousands of items across online retailers.

Or, the Google Shopping/Product tab lets you scan the internet to see how many different online retailers are selling a particular item.

A WOMAN made a horrific discovery after seeing a giant rat staring up at her from the toilet – while she was using it.

Gruesome images show the giant rodent with its claws and the tip of its nose sticking out the toilet water.

SWNS

SWNS

Rat catcher Kieran Sampler[/caption]

An exterminator said the woman was left “screaming” after the beast climbed up her drains and was hiding in her loo – but soon drowned upside-down in the water and was lodged into the bowl.

Professional rat catcher Kieran Sampler, 30, got the call to get rid of the toilet rodent.

He said: “The rat has gone up another line of the drain and has come up into the toilet – while a woman was on the toilet.

“So we had to get it out, it was pretty bad – I’ve never had it where it’s come up the toilet.

“She was screaming – imagine being on the toilet and something brushes against you.”

Kieran, who claims to have killed over 65,000 of the animals, also spoke of the other horrifying discoveries people have made in their homes.

He continued: “I had a client that had a rat that was living in the wooden lats of a bed – it’s crazy what I’ve seen.

“I had one where a cat brought the rat in during the night, so the family trapped it inside the bedroom.

“I brought my dog in, he identified it straight away but the rat ran into the draws of the bedside table.”

Kieran set up a Facebook page called Yorkshire Rat Pack in 2018, where he shares jobs and supports other rat catchers.

The dad-of-one then founded his own business called Vermicure Pest Control – covering South and West Yorkshire.

He avoids using traps, which would keep the rodents in a cage, because he says this traumatises them.

The rodent-catcher has instead trained his two Lakeland Terriers Poppy and Penny to locate and kill the rats in the most humane way possible.

He said: “They kill the rats in seconds.

“It’s more humane than using poison in my opinion, which is why it’s never been made illegal.

“It also works quicker than poison – in a good way.”

Kieran, who helps around ten customers a day, says there has been an increase of people finding rats over the last few months.

He recommends that people cut back their garden foliage, “rat-proof” their decking and pick up their dog poo regularly to prevent them from infiltrating homes and gardens.

Kieran said: “This winter is going to be bad, I’m already getting farmers ringing me up two months in advance.

“Winter time is a vital time for rats – they love foliage so if you’ve got heavy foliage in your garden, then I would recommended cutting it back.

“I would try and reduce bird feeders, you can’t force people to get rid of them because everyone likes them, but I would try and rat-proof them as best you can.

“Decking is a nightmare because rats love decking – try and proof it up because they will go under it.

“A lot of people don’t pick up their dog poo up straight away, but that attracts them.

“If they go inside the property, then it’s more than likely a problem with your drains.

“When they go into the drains, they eat the human waste and human faeces.”

SWNS

THE new-look Champions League begins with Liverpool meeting AC Milan in the San Siro and Aston Villa at Switzerland’s Young Boys.

Sun Sport explains how it now works:

Getty

Every team will play eight games in the first stage of the expanded Champions League[/caption]

AP

Newcomers Aston Villa get their campaign underway on Tuesday[/caption]

Uefa agreed to expand the Champions League from 32 teams to 36 and scrap the long-standing group stage.

Instead, all teams will play eight matches in the initial stage as part of a single 36-team league competition.

Unlike in previous seasons, where the group games were completed before Christmas, the league stage will now run through to the end of January.

This week’s games will be split over three nights before the next six match days are played on just Tuesdays and Wednesdays, with two matches on each day starting at 5.45pm and the rest at 8pm.

But the final set of 18 matches will be played simultaneously with an 8pm kick-off on January 29.

After eight matches, the top eight sides in the table will automatically go through to the last 16.

The teams ranked from ninth to 24th will play off over two legs to join them. The bottom eight clubs are out of Europe and teams no longer drop into the Europa League.

Uefa had previously drawn the knock-out games at each stage but now a Wimbledon-style seeded draw will be conducted after the league stage meaning the top two sides in the initial table cannot meet until the final.

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Prem clubs can meet each other at any point in the knock-out stage of the competition.

Champions League newcomers Aston Villa get their campaign underway against Young Boys on Tuesday.

While Manchester City meet Inter Milan on Wednesday and Arsenal face a trip to Atalanta on Thursday.

A MAJOR motorway used by 130,000 vehicles daily will begin a series of closures tonight – with drivers braced for six months of chaos.

National Highways is repairing a stretch of the M5 running through Devon this autumn.

Alamy

The M5 will begin a series of closures tonight[/caption]

Motorists have been urged to plan their journeys and allow extra time while engineers patch up the road surface.

You can read a full list of the exact dates each junctions will close in the box below.

A National Highways spokesperson said: “We understand that road closures are frustrating.

“By closing the road and installing a contraflow, we can get this essential repair work done safely and quickly.

“This will cause less disruption overall. We’ll be starting this work after the main summer holiday time.

“We’ll make sure three lanes are open in each direction for October half term, to minimise disruption.”

“Our work will finish before Easter 2025. We’ll provide more information as our work progresses.

“Early next year we’ll move traffic to the northside side to allow us to work on the southbound carriageway.

“This work is subject to favourable weather conditions, for example heavy rain may affect the progress.”

The spokesperson added: “Please remember that closures can change at short notice.

“You can check the latest information on our daily closures page or find live travel information on our Traffic England site.

“Our travel alerts give details of live incidents on our network.”

This video featured two brilliant Nigerian graduates who achieved the prestigious honor of graduating with a First-Class CGPA. They share their inspiring stories, challenges, and the strategies that led them to academic success. Tune in to discover the secrets behind their remarkable achievements!