Latest news with #JamieBaker
The Sun
5 days ago
- Science
- The Sun
Baby lizard hatched at British zoo after extremely rare ‘virgin birth'
A BABY lizard was hatched at a British zoo following an extremely rare 'virgin birth'. Izzy the eastern casquehead iguana was conceived with no male involvement. She hatched from one of two marble-sized eggs laid by five-year-old female Alma, which went through parthenogenesis — a form of reproduction when an embryo develops from an unfertilised egg. The process, which happens in fewer than one in 1,000 vertebrate births, sees the body find a way of filling in for genes usually provided by sperm. Izzy, whose species is native to Central and South America, was born on Sunday at Battersea Park Children's Zoo in South West London. Manager Jamie Baker, 30, said: 'We were amazed. "We've no male eastern casquehead iguanas so when we discovered one of our females had laid eggs, it was exciting. 'We didn't think they'd hatch but decided to incubate them anyway as we were aware that the species have been known to reproduce via parthenogenesis.' He said Izzy, a genetic clone of her mum, was about the size of an adult little finger. He said: 'She's growing well. "She's in her nursery enclosure feeding on fruit flies and tiny crickets. 'We're keeping her on her own because if we left her in with the adults they'd eat her. Moment iguana casually crawls onto tennis court before worker is forced to shoo it away "They're not an animal that gives parental care. 'Our priority is to get Izzy to a good enough size so that she can move in with the adults.' 1
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Wimbledon defends prize pot as players push for bigger share of profits
The winners of the men's and women's singles titles at the All England Club will each receive £3 million (GLYN KIRK) Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker has defended the tournament's prize money pot, pointing to inflation-busting increases as players demand a bigger slice of Grand Slam profits. The winners of the men's and women's singles titles at the All England Club will each receive £3 million ($4 million), an increase of more than 11 per cent on 2024, while a main draw spot is worth a minimum of £66,000, up 10 percent. Advertisement There have been growing calls from players for a bigger share of revenue from the four majors -- the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. In April, leading players from the men's and women's tours reportedly sent a letter to the heads of the Grand Slams asking for a greater share of revenues. A meeting was held on the issue during the French Open. Baker, a former professional player, said Friday that decisions on prize money over the past 20 years showed that Wimbledon has the players' best interests at heart. "It's meant that over a long period of time, players are earning more, this organisation is doing better, demand to come and experience Wimbledon here in person or watch it around the world has grown as a result of this partnership," he said. Advertisement "So our position on that is never going to change in that the decisions we make are always looking to help the players to make more money. "That's why if you look at the increases over that period they're always significantly higher than what you would look (with) regular inflation." Baker said he was relaxed over player demands for more money. "I'd be worried if people weren't asking to be paid more," he added. "Who around this table doesn't want to be paid more? It's kind of part of life." jw/smg
The Sun
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Wimbledon Expansion Faces Legal Battle in London Court
WIMBLEDON fans will have eyes only for the tennis this week but for those who run the world's oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam, the real high-stakes contest will unfold not on their grass, but in London's Royal Courts of Justice. On one side of the legal net is the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, while facing them in a judicial review of their ambitious expansion plan on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC). It is the latest stage of a long-running fight that has split the south-west London 'village', which has been home to the Championships since 1877. Last September the AELTC secured planning permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to treble the size of the main site to include 39 new courts including an 8,000-seat show court by redeveloping a former golf course on parkland land it already owns. The 200-million-pound ($272.92-million) expansion aims to increase daily capacity to 50,000 people from the current 42,000, upgrade facilities and move the qualifying rounds on site to mirror the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens. The plans have the backing of several leading players, including Novak Djokovic, and 62% of 10,000 residents in Merton and Wandsworth, the London boroughs that share the new site, also support the scheme, according to the AELTC. 'Our confidence in the development and the proposals that we've been working on for many years is as strong as it ever has been,' Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told Reuters. 'For the championships to continue to be in the position that it is and to deliver all the benefits to stakeholders including the local community it is vital that we are able to stage the tournament on one site and bring all the grounds together.' However, this week's judicial review will decide whether the GLA's decision to grant planning permission was unlawful. Opponents of the development, including Thelma Ruby, a 100-year-old former actress who lives in a flat overlooking the park, and West Hill Ward Councillor Malcolm Grimston, say the club's plans will cause environmental damage and major disruption to the area. 'It's terribly important that it does not go ahead not just for myself but for the whole planet and future generations,' Ruby told Reuters. 'I overlook this beautiful landscape and there are all sorts of covenants that say you mustn't build on it, and yet the tennis people have this unnecessary plan they admit will cut down all these glorious trees, which will harm wildlife. 'They're using concrete, building roads, they're going to have lorries polluting and passing my window every 10 minutes. The whole area will be in chaos as they're closing off roads,' she said. Save Wimbledon Park says the GLA failed to consider covenants that were agreed by the AELTC, including restrictions on redeveloping the land, when it bought the Wimbledon Park golf course freehold from Merton council in 1993 for 5.2 million pounds. The AELTC paid a reported 63.5 million pounds to buy the Golf Club's lease, which was due to run until 2041. The campaign group also believes the GLA failed to consider the land's statutory Public Recreation Trust status which means it should be held as 'public walks or pleasure grounds'. 'It is not antipathy towards the AELTC that's driving this, as some of the benefits are real, such as the extension of lake,' councillor Grimston told Reuters. 'The problem is that it will treble the footprint of the current Championship and turn what currently has very much a feel of being rural England and a gentle pace of life into an industrial complex that would dominate the views of the lake. 'That's why it's classified as Metropolitan Open Land, which is the urban equivalent of the green belt that has been protected for many decades in planning law in the UK and rightly so,' he said. The AELTC say the plans will improve the biodiversity of the park, as well as bringing parts of it back into public use. 'The London Wildlife trust have endorsed the plans, they've spent many hours scrutinising our analysis and our expert views,' the AELTC's head of corporate affairs Dominic Foster said. 'We know that this expansion will deliver a very significant benefit to biodiversity, whereas golf courses are not good for biodiversity.' ($1 = 0.7328 pounds)
The Sun
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Sun
Wimbledon expansion plan goes into legal tie-break
WIMBLEDON fans will have eyes only for the tennis this week but for those who run the world's oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam, the real high-stakes contest will unfold not on their grass, but in London's Royal Courts of Justice. On one side of the legal net is the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, while facing them in a judicial review of their ambitious expansion plan on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC). It is the latest stage of a long-running fight that has split the south-west London 'village', which has been home to the Championships since 1877. Last September the AELTC secured planning permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to treble the size of the main site to include 39 new courts including an 8,000-seat show court by redeveloping a former golf course on parkland land it already owns. The 200-million-pound ($272.92-million) expansion aims to increase daily capacity to 50,000 people from the current 42,000, upgrade facilities and move the qualifying rounds on site to mirror the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens. The plans have the backing of several leading players, including Novak Djokovic, and 62% of 10,000 residents in Merton and Wandsworth, the London boroughs that share the new site, also support the scheme, according to the AELTC. 'Our confidence in the development and the proposals that we've been working on for many years is as strong as it ever has been,' Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told Reuters. 'For the championships to continue to be in the position that it is and to deliver all the benefits to stakeholders including the local community it is vital that we are able to stage the tournament on one site and bring all the grounds together.' However, this week's judicial review will decide whether the GLA's decision to grant planning permission was unlawful. Opponents of the development, including Thelma Ruby, a 100-year-old former actress who lives in a flat overlooking the park, and West Hill Ward Councillor Malcolm Grimston, say the club's plans will cause environmental damage and major disruption to the area. 'It's terribly important that it does not go ahead not just for myself but for the whole planet and future generations,' Ruby told Reuters. 'I overlook this beautiful landscape and there are all sorts of covenants that say you mustn't build on it, and yet the tennis people have this unnecessary plan they admit will cut down all these glorious trees, which will harm wildlife. 'They're using concrete, building roads, they're going to have lorries polluting and passing my window every 10 minutes. The whole area will be in chaos as they're closing off roads,' she said. Save Wimbledon Park says the GLA failed to consider covenants that were agreed by the AELTC, including restrictions on redeveloping the land, when it bought the Wimbledon Park golf course freehold from Merton council in 1993 for 5.2 million pounds. The AELTC paid a reported 63.5 million pounds to buy the Golf Club's lease, which was due to run until 2041. The campaign group also believes the GLA failed to consider the land's statutory Public Recreation Trust status which means it should be held as 'public walks or pleasure grounds'. 'It is not antipathy towards the AELTC that's driving this, as some of the benefits are real, such as the extension of lake,' councillor Grimston told Reuters. 'The problem is that it will treble the footprint of the current Championship and turn what currently has very much a feel of being rural England and a gentle pace of life into an industrial complex that would dominate the views of the lake. 'That's why it's classified as Metropolitan Open Land, which is the urban equivalent of the green belt that has been protected for many decades in planning law in the UK and rightly so,' he said. The AELTC say the plans will improve the biodiversity of the park, as well as bringing parts of it back into public use. 'The London Wildlife trust have endorsed the plans, they've spent many hours scrutinising our analysis and our expert views,' the AELTC's head of corporate affairs Dominic Foster said. 'We know that this expansion will deliver a very significant benefit to biodiversity, whereas golf courses are not good for biodiversity.' ($1 = 0.7328 pounds)
The Hindu
07-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Wimbledon expansion plan goes into legal tie-break
Wimbledon fans will have eyes only for the tennis this week, but for those who run the world's oldest and most prestigious Grand Slam, the real high-stakes contest will unfold not on their grass but in London's Royal Courts of Justice. On one side of the legal net is the campaign group Save Wimbledon Park, while facing them in a judicial review of their ambitious expansion plan on Tuesday and Wednesday will be the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC). It is the latest stage of a long-running fight that has split the south-west London 'village', which has been home to the Championships since 1877. Last September, the AELTC secured planning permission from the Greater London Authority (GLA) to treble the size of the main site to include 39 new courts, including an 8,000-seat show court, by redeveloping a former golf course on parkland land it already owns. The 200-million-pound ($272.92-million) expansion aims to increase daily capacity to 50,000 people from the current 42,000, upgrade facilities, and move the qualifying rounds on site to mirror the Australian, French, and U.S. Opens. The plans have the backing of several leading players, including Novak Djokovic, and 62% of 10,000 residents in Merton and Wandsworth, the London boroughs that share the new site, also support the scheme, according to the AELTC. 'Our confidence in the development and the proposals that we've been working on for many years is as strong as it ever has been,' Wimbledon tournament director Jamie Baker told Reuters. 'For the championships to continue to be in the position that it is and to deliver all the benefits to stakeholders, including the local community, it is vital that we are able to stage the tournament on one site and bring all the grounds together.' ALSO READ: Alcaraz resists red-hot Rublev to reach quarterfinals However, this week's judicial review will decide whether the GLA's decision to grant planning permission was unlawful. Opponents of the development, including Thelma Ruby, a 100-year-old former actress who lives in a flat overlooking the park, and West Hill Ward Councillor Malcolm Grimston, say the club's plans will cause environmental damage and major disruption to the area. 'It's terribly important that it does not go ahead, not just for myself but for the whole planet and future generations,' Ruby told Reuters. 'I overlook this beautiful landscape, and there are all sorts of covenants that say you mustn't build on it, and yet the tennis people have this unnecessary plan they admit will cut down all these glorious trees, which will harm wildlife. 'They're using concrete, building roads, they're going to have lorries polluting and passing my window every 10 minutes. The whole area will be in chaos as they're closing off roads,' she said. Save Wimbledon Park says the GLA failed to consider covenants that were agreed by the AELTC, including restrictions on redeveloping the land, when it bought the Wimbledon Park golf course freehold from Merton council in 1993 for 5.2 million pounds. The AELTC paid a reported 63.5 million pounds to buy the Golf Club's lease, which was due to run until 2041. The campaign group also believes the GLA failed to consider the land's statutory Public Recreation Trust status, which means it should be held as 'public walks or pleasure grounds'. 'It is not antipathy towards the AELTC that's driving this, as some of the benefits are real, such as the extension of the lake,' councillor Grimston told Reuters. 'The problem is that it will treble the footprint of the current Championship and turn what currently has very much a feel of being rural England and a gentle pace of life into an industrial complex that would dominate the views of the lake. 'That's why it's classified as Metropolitan Open Land, which is the urban equivalent of the green belt that has been protected for many decades in planning law in the UK and rightly so,' he said. The AELTC say the plans will improve the biodiversity of the park, as well as bring parts of it back into public use. 'The London Wildlife trust has endorsed the plans, they've spent many hours scrutinising our analysis and our expert views,' the AELTC's head of corporate affairs, Dominic Foster, said. 'We know that this expansion will deliver a very significant benefit to biodiversity, whereas golf courses are not good for biodiversity.' Related Topics Wimbledon / Wimbledon 2025
