Latest news with #Alessia
Scottish Sun
15-05-2025
- Business
- Scottish Sun
Shoppers are running to B&Q to buy ‘classy' looking £100 garden furniture set that has five star reviews
Many households will be looking to upgrade their garden as summer arrives GO GREEN Shoppers are running to B&Q to buy 'classy' looking £100 garden furniture set that has five star reviews Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SHOPPERS are rushing to B&Q to pick up a "classy" £100 garden furniture set that has been given glowing five-star reviews. After a week of sunny weather many households will be thinking of upgrading their garden furniture. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 This B&Q garden furniture set is impressing shoppers this summer Credit: B&Q And, B&Q has the answer with a three-piece wicker furniture set scanning for less than £100. The DIY expert is offering two chairs and a table, perfect for relaxing in the sun, for just £98.99. The Yaheetech set includes two rattan chairs with 6cm deep removable cushions and a rattan table with a tempered glass top. And it comes in a choice of brown/khaki or black/khaki. B&Q says the wicker furniture set will bring "a touch of timeless charm to your outdoor space, blending effortlessly with any style". And, it seems customers agree. Five-star reviews for the furniture set include: "The set came carefully packaged, was easy to assemble, looks really nice and the seats are comfortable." And: "Very nice table and chairs for the garden they were good value and easy to build." It is also said to be lightweight, easy to move and suitable for a garden, patio or balcony. The price compares favourably to others on the market. Wayfair is selling a selling an Alessia two-seater bistro set for more than double the price at £207.99. SAVE HUNDREDS ON DIY And Homebase has a two-seater bistro set priced at £220, while Costway's three-piece rattan set is priced at £184.95. Its always worth researching prices across different retailers to make sure you're getting the best value for money. Websites like PriceSpy and even a quick scroll on Google Shopping can help you make sure you're getting the best bang for your buck. And don't forgot to factor in delivery costs when considering which is the best. As summer continues many retailers will launch deals on garden furniture. Just this week Home Bargains revealed a £5 buy that can turn your patio into an expensive 'outdoor living room'. And shoppers rushed to Asda after it brought back its sell-out garden lounge chair, which retails for only £39. B&M has also unveiled a deluxe Victorian garden arch for only £12. How to find gardening bargains Doing up your garden to enjoy on warm and sunny days needn't cost the earth. Sun Savers Editor Lana Clements explains how to get a top deal on items for the garden… You can bag big savings on plants, shrubs and flowers, as well as gardening tools and furniture. Many retailers have flash sales across entire seasonal ranges – often these promotions tie into payday at the end of the month or Bank Holiday weekends, so keep a lookout. Sign up to mailing lists of your favourite brands and you'll be first to know of special offers. It can be worth following retailers on social media too. Use a price comparison site to search out the best value items. And keep a close eye on the specialbuys at Aldi and middle of Lidl drops which drop a couple of times a week and usually mean great value seasonal items for your outdoor areas. If you are not in a hurry to buy an item, try adding it to the shopping cart online and leaving it for a couple of days. Sometimes big brands will try to tempt you into the sale by offering you a discount. And always check if you can get cashback before paying. It's especially worth using sites such as Topcashback, Quidco and app Jamdoughnut when buying bigger ticket items such as garden furniture as you'll get a nice kickback. Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Smoke-free Piazza? Milan's outdoor smoking ban faces mixed reaction
A stroll through Milan's iconic Piazza del Duomo looks very different today than it did two decades ago. Back then, street cafés bustled with locals clutching cigarettes and newspapers. Smokers hurried across the square, and even tourists puffed away as they admired the cathedral. Fast forward to present day: the ashtrays are gone, smartphones have taken over and only a pair of elderly men quietly smoke near a street lamp hiding their cigarettes in case police approach. Fines of up to €240 Milan has enforced Italy's strictest smoking ban - one of the toughest in Europe. Smoking is now prohibited both indoors and outdoors unless you're at least 10 metres away from others. Fines can reach up to €240. The ban is part of an effort to combat Milan's chronic air pollution, among the worst in Italy. Authorities say cigarettes contribute around 7% of the region's particulate emissions. Other cities, including Rome, are considering similar measures. Turin already enforces a "courtesy distance" rule, requiring smokers to get permission from nearby children or pregnant women. Public divided, critics push back The new rules have sparked a mix of support and criticism. In Milan, many are happy that they no longer have to inhale other people's smoke in playgrounds, at bus stops or outside restaurants. But there are also many dissenting voices - from smokers, of course but also of a more fundamental nature. Milan's conservative daily newspaper Il Giornale wrote: "The real problem is not the cigarette, but the loss of freedom." "In a world that tries to control every aspect of our lives, where we are afraid of everything and everyone, smoking outdoors is not only a gesture of the social power of tobacco, but also an act of rebellion against conformity," it said. In protest of the new law, some people placed a giant cigarette in the mouth of a statue of a former mayor, while leaflets mocking the current mayor, Giuseppe Sala, read: "You're not our dad. Let us smoke." Smoking habits shift - but enforcement lags Since Italy introduced its indoor smoking ban in 2005, the number of smokers has steadily declined. Today, only about 19% of Italians smoke, according to official data. Yet in Milan, enforcement of the outdoor ban is still patchy. Cigarette butts are scattered across pavements, including in the upscale Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II near the cathedral. Initially, nobody believed that Italians would abide by it. Cigarettes used to be as much a part of the end of a meal as an espresso. It is now completely normal that cigarettes are no longer permitted in cafés, restaurants, schools and universities. However, it would be quite wrong to assume that everyone in Milan is now adhering to the outdoor ban. Restaurant staff have positioned themselves at the entrance of a café for a cigarette break. "The more they forbid it, the more we do it," says Alessia, one of the two waitresses puffing outside. Grace period for tourists So far, only a handful of fines have been issued, and tourists unfamiliar with the rules are generally let off with a warning. At lunchtime and in the evening, groups of smokers can be spotted outside many restaurants. Hardly anyone bothers to hide it - especially as electronic cigarettes are still permitted under the city ordinance. But with warmer weather approaching, city officials plan to crack down. Deputy Mayor Anna Scavuzzo warned: "Italians aren't Scandinavians who obey laws just because they exist." Police officer prefers to chase pickpockets However, the city council should not necessarily rely heavily on the police to crack down on rule breakers as not every officer is keen to enforce the ban. One uniformed officer standing in front of the cathedral square watches two smokers quietly without doing anything. "We've got enough to deal with - like pickpockets," he shrugs.
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Yahoo
CPD sergeant honored for role in finding missing 8-year-old girl
The Brief A CPD Sergeant was honored with the Joseph F. Cornelius Family Foundation Outstanding Police Officer of the Year Award. Sgt. Kevin Klein was given the award for finding Alessia Muhaj. Muhaj was kidnapped before being found unharmed, according to CPD. CLEARWATER, Fla. - When Clearwater Police Department Sergeant Kevin Klein got to work on Jan. 29 last year, he had one goal: to find eight-year-old Alessia Muhaj unharmed. "I knew that our night shift was actively searching for this gentleman where he had charges pending against him in Clearwater, and he was actively involved in a crime that also occurred in Largo," Klein said. "So, I actively got involved." Police said Renato Muhaj, Alessia's father, assaulted his parents early that morning at their apartment in Clearwater. Then, police said, he brutally killed Alessia's mother, Suela Saliaj, at her Largo apartment in front of their daughter before kidnapping her. The backstory "There was a serious concern that the father would cause harm to the young girl," Clearwater Police Department Deputy Chief Michael Walek said Wednesday. PREVIOUS: Clearwater 8-year-old girl found safe, father in custody for ex-girlfriend's death: Police According to Walek, Klein started canvassing the area where the suspect's cell phone pinged and found Muhaj's vehicle. He called for backup from Clearwater, Largo and the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office while watching the car from far enough away that the suspect didn't know he was being watched. "When she was taken out of the vehicle by another member of another law enforcement agency, I was actually relieved to see that she was okay, and that was the most important thing to me," Klein said. Klein said it was personal for him because Alessia is just a little younger than his daughter. "It put me in a situation where I was like, only if that were to ever happen to anybody else, what I would think I would want the police to do, and definitely I fulfilled that for the rest of that family was getting her back safely to them," Klein said. What they're saying On Wednesday, the Rotary Club of Clearwater awarded Sergeant Klein the 48th Annual Joseph F. Cornelius Family Foundation Outstanding Police Officer of the Year Award for finding Alessia. "Sergeant Klein went to traditional police methods with modern technology to successfully apprehend this ruthless killer. Without his efforts, the outcome would have been far more tragic," Walek said. READ: Man lived with mother's decomposing body, lied about her whereabouts: SPPD "I was humbled by it. I wasn't expecting it. In my opinion, I was just doing my job that day: going out, making a difference and saving lives. That's what I signed up to do over 20 years ago," Klein said. "In my opinion, it was a team effort." Klein said law enforcement from several agencies worked together to bring the eight-year-old home to her family. "There was a happy ending to it, getting that girl back safe, especially under the traumatic situation that we were involved in, but it's definitely going to stand out and resonate through the rest of my career and probably the rest of my life that I was able to help that day," he said. Dig deeper Fire Medic Chris Collins of the Clearwater Fire and Rescue Department and Sergeant Nikole Kasparek of the Clearwater Police Department also received the 2025 Rotary Public Safety and Service Award at the luncheon. Collins volunteered his time to help the victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina last fall. He was there for four days with his wife, towing a U-Haul trailer full of donations to different depots to disperse the donations. With the help of a non-profit out of Texas, they also helped with missing persons reports. "The second day, I went and investigated a missing persons report where I found an elderly community up in one of the mountains on the north side of Asheville," Collins said. "There were about 20 different units with elderly folks in it that were cut off. They didn't have electricity. They didn't have heat." "Some of them didn't have food or water, so I gave them some of what I had and put them in contact with one of the churches down there that was a supply depot," Collins continued. CLICK HERE:>>>Follow FOX 13 on YouTube "My family and I, we go up to North Carolina. That's like our sacred area to kind of unwind, unplug, and, you know, plug into one another. So, we've been doing that for years," Collins said. "So, when we saw how bad they got hit, we looked at each other and said, 'You know, this is what we have to do.'" "Initially, we had a trip planned for our anniversary. It was just going to be my wife and I, and we switched that over to, 'all right, it's going to be an assist and rescue operation,'" Collins continued. Kasparek received the award for stepping up to the plate and volunteering her personal time to coach a girls' softball team that was suddenly without a coach. She still coaches today. The Source FOX 13's Kailey Tracy collected the information in this story. WATCH FOX 13 NEWS LIVE: STAY CONNECTED WITH FOX 13 TAMPA: Download the FOX Local app for your smart TV Download FOX Local mobile app: Apple | Android Download the FOX 13 News app for breaking news alerts, latest headlines Download the SkyTower Radar app Sign up for FOX 13's daily newsletter
