Work to replace ageing metal gas pipes in East Yorkshire will begin in the new year.
Northern Gas Networks (NGN) described the installation of new plastic pipes in Bridlington as “essential”.
Roads will be closed during the upgrade, which starts on 5 January and is scheduled to run until the start of February.
Marton Road will be shut between the junctions of Watsons Avenue and Marton Avenue.
Wacky homemade rafts will drift down the River Derwent during the Matlock Raft Event which is set to be held on Boxing Day.
The event, which is due to start at 11:00 GMT on Friday and raises funds for the RNLI, first took place in 1961 has included Elvis Presley, the Blues Brothers and Madness impersonators in previous years.
Organiser Terry Radford says the winners are decided not by who finishes first, but by who entertains the thousands of spectators the most.
“There is nothing like it. It’s been going for over sixty years now and we want to keep that tradition going. It’s unique,” he added.
The end result was a system with two James Watt-style steam engines, powered by six coal-fired boilers, Mr Saint said.
With each stroke of an engine, 96 gallons (363 litres) of water would have been lifted to the surface as a 13-tonne beam got pushed in-and-out of the ground.
There were also two huge flywheels, one for each beam engine, which kept everything running “nice and smoothly” by storing excess energy, Mr Saint said.
However, despite the ingenuity, the technology was actually old for the time.
James Watt-style steam engines were an improvement on earlier designs because they ran far more efficiently, but they were already more than 100 years old by the time Papplewick Pumping Station was built in 1884.
“But being a water pumping station, Nottingham City Water Company wanted engines that they knew would be reliable,” Mr Saint said.
“They knew it would work, and work it did, from1884 right the way through until 1969, when it was superseded by electrical pumps.”
Bradley GerrardLocal Democracy Reporting Service
Jason Gillman/PixabayPeople have been urged to take the right approach when it comes to getting rid of waste and recycling after Christmas.
Advice has been issued by Devon County Council and Cornwall Council about what households should do with items such as cards, batteries, wrapping paper and Christmas trees.
Council bosses have said people should make sure items destined for the bin can be recycled or even find a creative idea to reuse them – including leftover food or old electrical gadgets.
Waste collection dates are also changing across both counties, with households advised to check with their local authority when their bins will be picked up.
Liz Jarvis, a senior waste manager at Devon County Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service wrapping paper and Christmas cards could usually be recycled if they were not covered in plastic or glitter.
Ms Jarvis added food was a “number one nemesis” in terms of waste, with a 2022 analysis showing roughly a third of black bin waste as food.
“If you think you’ve bought something you don’t really need, then don’t forget that it can most likely be frozen and used another day,” she said.
A reminder has been issued by both councils about not putting old batteries in rubbish bins as they can cause fires.
“Take them to a supermarket or your local household waste and recycling centre for recycling,” Cornwall Council said.
Ms Jarvis added some electrical items could be taken to repair cafes – where people can take items to be fixed – to get a new lease of life.
Cornwall CouncilMs Jarvis said Christmas trees could also be recycled, with some councils offering special collections.
She said certain size restrictions applied for the collections, and those with trees that were more than 6ft (1.82m) tall should consider taking them to their local recycling centre.
Ms Jarvis added people could consider keeping a tree in their garden to get further enjoyment out of it.
“We keep our tree in the garden for as long as possible,” Ms Jarvis said.
“The longest time we’ve had it there is until May, and we usually put bird food in it and they love it.”
Liz Jarvis, a senior waste manager at Devon County Council, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service wrapping paper and Christmas cards could usually be recycled if they were not covered in plastic or glitter.
Ms Jarvis added food was a “number one nemesis” in terms of waste, with a 2022 analysis showing roughly a third of black bin waste as food.
“If you think you’ve bought something you don’t really need, then don’t forget that it can most likely be frozen and used another day,” she said.
A reminder has been issued by both councils about not putting old batteries in rubbish bins as they can cause fires.
“Take them to a supermarket or your local household waste and recycling centre for recycling,” Cornwall Council said.
Ms Jarvis added some electrical items could be taken to repair cafes – where people can take items to be fixed – to get a new lease of life.
Many adults across the country opened smartphones, tablets or laptops this Christmas—but for some, the excitement is mixed with uncertainty about how to use them confidently.
Today, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless TD and Minister of State for Further Education, Apprenticeship, Construction and Climate Skills Marian Harkin TD are encouraging adults to take the next step and build their digital, literacy, financial and numeracy skills through courses available nationwide.
The Adult Literacy for Life (ALL) strategy provides people who may have left school early—or simply want to refresh their abilities—the chance to return to learning in a supportive, practical environment. Courses help adults strengthen reading, writing, numeracy and digital skills, offering pathways into further education, training, employment, and increased confidence in everyday life.
Minister Lawless said:
Noting the growing importance of digital skills in work, community and family life, Minister Harkin said:
Director of the Adult Literacy for Life Programme Office at SOLAS, Yvonne McKenna, emphasised the impact of these supports:
Gold, silver, and platinum hit record highs on Friday, as speculative momentum and thinning year-end liquidity powered the precious metals, along with markets pricing in more US rate cuts, and rising geopolitical tension.
Spot gold rose 0.6% to $4,504.79 per ounce, as of 0423 GMT, after touching a record $4,530.60 earlier, while US gold futures for February delivery climbed 0.7% to $4,535.20.
Spot silver jumped 3.6% to $74.56 per ounce, after touching an all-time high of $75.14.
“Momentum-driven and speculative players have been powering the rally in gold and silver since early December, with thin year-end liquidity, expectations of prolonged US rate cuts, a weaker dollar and a flare-up in geopolitical risks combining to push precious metals to fresh record highs,” said Kelvin Wong, senior market analyst at OANDA.
“Looking ahead into the first half of 2026, gold could move towards the $5,000 level, while silver has the potential to reach around $90.”
Gold has staged a strong rally this year, recording its biggest annual gain since 1979, fueled by Federal Reserve policy easing, geopolitical uncertainty, strong central bank demand, rising ETF holdings, and ongoing de-dollarisation. Silver soared 158% year-to-date, outpacing gold’s nearly 72% gain, on structural deficits, its listing as a US critical mineral, and robust industrial demand.
With traders pricing in two US rate cuts next year, non-yielding assets like gold are likely to remain well-supported in a low-interest-rate environment.
On the geopolitical front, the US is focusing on enforcing a “quarantine” of Venezuelan oil for the next two months. On Thursday, it struck Islamic State militants in northwest Nigeria over attacks on local Christian communities.
Spot platinum rose 7.8% to $2,393.40 per ounce, after touching an all-time high of $2,429.98 earlier, while palladium climbed 5.2% to $1,771.14, following a three-year high in the previous session. All precious metals are headed for weekly gains.
Platinum and palladium, widely used in automotive catalytic converters, have surged on tight supply, tariff uncertainty, and rotation from gold investment demand, with platinum up roughly 165% and palladium more than 90% year-to-date.
“Platinum prices are being supported by strong industrial demand, and stockists in the US have been covering positions amid sanctions-related concerns, which is helping keep prices elevated,” said Jigar Trivedi, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities based in Mumbai.
KARIYA, Japan(December 26,2025)－ DENSO CORPORATION (hereinafter “DENSO”) announced that on October 31, 2025, it signed a joint development agreement with MediaTek Inc. (hereinafter “MediaTek”), a leading semiconductor design company, to accelerate the development of next-generation automotive system-on-chips (SoCs).
As automotive systems become increasingly intelligent and spur advancements in autonomous driving and vehicle connectivity, the importance of automotive SoCs as high-performance computing platforms capable of executing complex processing tasks continues to grow.
Leveraging its decades of expertise in automotive semiconductors, electronics component and automotive systems, DENSO develops SoCs optimized for automotive systems, ensuring real-time responsiveness, functional safety, and superior power efficiency.
Under this agreement, DENSO will develop system requirements for Automotive SoCs, considering effective and robust system behavior across various driving scenarios, and will design the fundamental architecture. MediaTek will utilize its proven SoC development capabilities to handle detailed design and verification based on DENSO’s requirements and architecture.
By combining DENSO’s system-level design capabilities with MediaTek’s semiconductor design expertise, the two companies aim to create a custom SoC tailored to DENSO’s vision. The SoC under development will be designed for integrated mobility computers that control in-vehicle systems.
DENSO will continue to innovate automotive semiconductor technologies, leveraging various solutions, to support the evolution of mobility and contribute to the development of a smarter mobility society.
BEIJING, Dec. 26 — China’s total installed power-generating capacity reached 3.79 billion kilowatts (kW) by the end of November, marking a 17.1 percent year-on-year increase, official data showed on Friday.
Solar power capacity led the growth with a 41.9-percent year-on-year surge to 1.16 billion kW, while wind power capacity expanded by 22.4 percent to 600 million kW, according to the National Energy Administration (NEA).
The country has established the world’s largest clean power system and carbon trading market. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025), green power accounted for one-third of China’s total electricity consumption.
China has pledged to accelerate its green transition across the board and build a Beautiful China over the next five years.
The country’s electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, rose 6.2 percent year on year in November, according to earlier NEA data.
The take-up of sustainable aviation fuels is on course to fall short of the UK government’s first annual mandate, official figures suggest.
Production data published by the Department for Transport (DfT) covering most of 2025 shows that sustainable fuels (SAF) only accounted for 1.6% of fuel supplied for UK flights – 20% less fuel in volume than the 2% needed to fulfil the requirement.
The government introduced the mandate in January, which requires suppliers to hit targets for SAF – which the industry has argued is important for cutting its carbon emissions – within the overall UK aviation fuel mix.
Themandatory target rises sharply from 2% in 2025 to 10% in 2030 and then to 22% in 2040, including the use of second-generation fuels that are seen as more sustainable in the long term.
So far, the supply of SAF has been exclusively produced from recycled cooking oil from Asia, predominantly China, the DfT figures showed.
The data shows that a little more than 160m litres (35m gallons) of SAF was used, out of 10bn litres of jet fuel burned in UK flying until early October.
The DfT said the time needed for verification meant that the figures were provisional, and final figures for the year were not expected to be published until November 2026. A spokesperson for the department said: “These figures do not present the full picture. SAF volumes are continuously rising and not all suppliers have reported on the fuel they’ve supplied.”
Planes burning SAF still emit equal amounts of CO2 in flight, but the net carbon footprint is calculated as far lower because of how SAF is produced, compared with normal jet fuel. Although many scientists and environmental groups remain deeply sceptical that it can be delivered, production and uptake of SAF is seen as the only way for commercial, and particularly long-haul, aviation to reduce its emissions.
While the government has backed aviation as a driver of economic growth and granted permission for airports including Gatwick and Luton to rapidly expand, ministers have promised to consult the Climate Change Committee over plans to build a third runway at Heathrow.
The aviation minister, Keir Mather, told an industry conference in London earlier this month that Heathrow expansion would still have to meet Labour’s four tests, including reducing its climate impact, but that decarbonisation would be “a licence for growth”.
He said that SAF represented the biggest opportunity, and the government’s SAF bill, which is passing through the House of Lords, “will deliver the revenue-certainty mechanism that you called for – a guaranteed price for SAF that reduces risks for investors and raises confidence for producers”.
Heathrow airport has pushed the uptake of SAF with an incentive scheme that cuts landing charges for airlines using cleaner fuel. It expects to meet its own target of 3% SAF use over the course of 2025.
However, airlines have fewer available supplies outside larger hub airports, and have questioned whether future mandates can be met – especially when costlier second-generation and power-to-liquid SAF, yet to be produced at scale, are mandated.
The UK has progressed further than most in global aviation. The international airlines body Iata recently warned that growth in production worldwide was stalling, with SAF supplying only 0.6% of total jet fuel consumption in 2025, and forecast to increase to 0.8% in 2026.
Iata’s director general, Willie Walsh, criticised the mandates, adding: “If the objective is to increase SAF production to further the decarbonisation of aviation, then they need to learn from failure and work with the airline industry to design incentives that will work.”
Duncan McCourt, chief executive of the air industry body Sustainable Aviation, said: “These provisional figures show the UK is using significant quantities of SAF and we remain confident that the mandate will be met and UK aviation will use increasing quantities of SAF in the years to come.”
