Burrowing owls, who boarded cruise ship in Miami, to be returned to US next month after long spell in quarantine Two burrowing owls stowed away on a cruise ship out of Miami, and are now living the high life at a Spanish resort before returning to the US next month. Biologists from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) said the mating pair boarded Royal Caribbean’s Allure of the Seas before the vessel’s transatlantic crossing to Cartagena in southern Spain in February. The tiny owls, a threatened species in Florida, usually prefer more rural landscapes, and may have been spooked by all the concrete around the Port of Miami, they say. Continue reading...

There had been calls for Israel to be excluded over the conduct of the war in Gaza.

Hampden Park has hosted seismic, spine-tingling occasions in a storied history dating back to 1903. Add this one to the list. Scotland’s long, long wait is over. Steve Clarke, Andy Robertson, Scott McTominay, John McGinn; you shall go to the ball. So too Kieran Tierney, whose curler from 22 yards seemed to have sealed victory by the odd goal in five before Kenny McLean produced an even more spectacular fourth. Almost three decades of frustration, during which Scotland have peered towards men’s World Cups from afar, were obliterated as Denmark fell to defeat in stoppage time. Grown men in kilts shed tears. Denmark’s participation in next summer’s jamboree depends on March playoffs. Clarke and a suddenly giddy football nation can start making concrete plans. Continue reading...