Latest news with #leak
BBC News
3 hours ago
- Business
- BBC News
Damage to Ashburton Swimming Pool sparks urgent repairs
A community swimming pool in south Devon is undergoing repairs due to significant Swimming Pool said contractors identified "lots of cracks" at the deep end of the pool, causing the wall to shift and leak. Ms Wood said the community pool has spent more than £50,000 on an "extensive rebuild of the deep end wall".Chair of trustees Lucy Wood said due to the issue, they lost between 1,200 and 1,800 litres of water a day last year which had been a "big cost". "It is quite a significant leak that has added on a huge cost," she said. "Every cubic meter we lost in water we have had to replace, heat and balance it with chemicals."That has been a really big challenge for us for the last couple of years since discovering these significant leaks."Trustees called in a national swimming pool leak team to investigate and after digging behind the cracked wall, they found the damage was more extensive than they originally anticipated. She said once the repairs were complete and there were no further leaks, they needed to heat the water and balance the chemicals which can take up to three weeks. 'Use it or lose it' She said the safety of their visitors was "paramount".The pool is run by volunteers after it was taken over by the local community in 2016. Ever since has been supported and funded by the people of Wood said the funding has been "vital", adding Ashburton Town Council also gave money to contribute towards this year's repairs."Without the community support, the pool doesn't exist, and it wouldn't be able to open," she said. "The pool has to be used, it's a use it or lose it. We love to see people swimming in there."
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Aussie traveller faces $6,000 problem after 'silent caravan killer' emerges on trip
An Aussie traveller is being forced to overhaul his entire caravan after a $6,000 problem emerged just two years after he purchased it. Chris Ferlazzo was on a trip when he noticed a 'small leak' which he quickly 'taped up'. However, when he returned home the Queenslander soon learned the incoming water was a sign of a much bigger problem. 'We had a caravan repairman out to look at the rest and advise,' he told Yahoo News. 'This is where we found the J mould issue.' Chris said 'not a single bit of silicone' was found under the van's J mould — a trim used to seal and protect the edges of the exterior panels. 'The whole J mould will have to come off, cleaned all surfaces, siliconed and reinstalled. This is both sides, roof, sides and bottom,' he explained. 'I also have to remove my door as there is no silicone behind it as well.' The keen traveller said he was quoted around $6,000 to have it repaired, so he's decided to do it himself. 'Around $600 of materials and a few days work. Haven't started yet.' Leaks in J moulds are often referred to as the 'silent caravan killer' and can cost Aussies a fortune. It's 'one of the biggest problems in the RV industry,' Victoria-based specialist Josh Brown told Yahoo earlier this year. Given their name due to the shape they create, cracks in the seals are a 'serious threat' to a caravan's longevity and often become a 'costly disaster', he said. 'We call them silent caravan killers because you don't see water coming in through that area but it slowly seeps into the wall cavity and then you see water damage, and by that stage the caravan's destroyed,' the owner of Leak Tight RV's explained. A 'nice underseal' of silicone is a vital step in the process of applying a J mould, Brown said. Chris has encountered similar issues with a previous van, 'but it had more silicone than this one'. However, the Queenslander admitted he wasn't entirely surprised by the repairer's discovery of the 'all too common' problem. 'It's expected with the lack of quality in the industry,' Chris said, adding there's 'too much focus on quantity over quality'. 'There are no legal standards in the industry. They could use no silicone anywhere and it's not illegal.' 💦 Warning over 'silent caravan killer' costing Aussie travellers $10,000 🚐 Caravan driver reveals life-saving item after outback mishap 🏕️ Caravan couple blast 'selfish' act creating major camping issue in Australia In February, an anonymous industry insider who contacted Yahoo said 'the caravan manufacturing and sales industry is extremely poorly regulated'. 'Caravans are being supplied brand new with inadequate tyres. Weights specified are often incorrectly determined. Specified minimum towball weights are often too low,' they said. 'GTM [Gross Trailer Mass] limits are sometimes incorrectly determined and sales people give very poor, uninformed advice such as only considering caravan ATM [Aggregate Trailer Mass] and vehicle towing capacity. They ignore tow ball limits, axle weights and much more. "I can only assume this is done in an effort to gain sales.' Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Traitorous intelligence worker 'offered to leaked secrets to foreign government because he hated Trump'
A government intelligence worker has been charged with leaking classified data to a foreign power in exchange for citizenship. Nathan Vilas Laatsch, 28, allegedly betrayed his country due to frustration with Donald Trump 's policies that he found 'extremely disturbing'. A civilian employee of the Defense Intelligence Agency, he had top secret clearance and access to several highly classified Special Access Programs. Laatsch was arrested on Thursday as he allegedly made a dead drop of a USB drive filled with classified documents after a months-long FBI sting operation. He was charged with attempting to transmit national defense information to an officer or agent of a foreign government and will appear in court on Friday. Laatsch joined the DIA in August 2019, soon after graduating from Florida Polytechnic University with a Bachelor of Science in cyber security in 2018. By the beginning of this year he was a data scientist and IT specialist of information security at the agency's Insider Threat Division. He allegedly emailed an agent of a friendly country on March 2 from burner a account created the same day, with the subject line 'Outreach from USA Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) Officer'. 'I am an officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) serving in a technical role in support of our internal Officer of Security (SEC),' he wrote. 'The recent actions of the current administration are extremely disturbing to me 'I do not agree or align with the values of this administration and intend to act to support the values that the United States at one time stood for. 'To this end, I am willing to share classified information that I have access to, which are completed intelligence products, some unprocessed intelligence, and other assorted classified documentation.' The email explained he had 'intimate knowledge of how DIA tracks and monitors user activity' and all further communication had to be on an encrypted messaging app. Laatsch allegedly provided photos of his security badges with personal information removed - but left enough exposed that the FBI was able to identify him. His fatal mistake was to send a test email from another account that allegedly included his full name, phone number, and date of birth, and the IP address led back to his home. Instead of taking him up on his offer, the unnamed friendly government tipped of US authorities and the FBI began a sting operation, starting on March 23 'Good afternoon, I received your message and share your concerns. We are glad you reached out. I look forward to your response and learning more about your work,' investigators wrote on an encrypted app. The leaker didn't reply so they sent him an email on April 4. He replied on April 14 saying he didn't check the email much as there was no reply to his initial one for a while, but he was still interested. 'What I originally wrote remains true. Arguably more so now,' Laatsch wrote. Conversations moved to an encrypted app on April 17 with Laatsch allegedly still believing he was talking to the foreign government. He allegedly said he had 'access to a significant amount of information and finished products' but would need to 'copy things manually', which would 'somewhat limit' what he could provide. 'I've given a lot of thought to this before any outreach, and despite the risks, the calculus has not changed,' he explained. 'I do not see the trajectory of things changing, and do not think it is appropriate or right to do nothing when I am in this position.' Laatsch allegedly planned to copy out the classified data by hand and digitize it on his home computer. The FBI asked him for a sample of the intelligence on April 27 so they could authenticate it. DIA cameras allegedly filmed him writing on a notepad while having classified material open on his computer. He then allegedly smuggled the folded pages out of the office in his socks and lunchbox over the course of three days. Laatsch allegedly told them he had extracted classified data and they set up a dead drop at a park in Arlington, Virginia. The drop was done on May 1 and agents watched him leave a USB drive with a note explaining his methods, and nine documents. 'I have to the best of my ability attempted to copy the products by hand, but I cannot guarantee that every single word is completely correct,' the note read. 'If there are any mistakes, they would only be a basic word or two, and nothing that would alter the content or meaning of the product. 'As anticipated, the process of manually copying by hand will be time-intensive. Many of the provided products took around 40-60 minutes to fully complete, and often two full pages of notebook paper per-product.' Prosecutors said the documents were all top secret and one included 'sensitive methods of intelligence collection, intelligence related to foreign military exercises, and analysis of the impact of those military exercises'. Laatsch on May 7 allegedly asked for citizenship of the friendly country in exchange for future classified information. 'With my own credibility now hopefully established, I would like to outline something pertaining to the longer term of this arrangement,' he allegedly wrote. 'I'm [sic] not mentioned compensation throughout this, as that is not my motivation for doing this... There is though something I am interested in, but can be discussed at the appropriate time.' Laatsch allegedly wrote that he was interested in 'citizenship for your country' because he did not 'expect things here to improve in the long term, even in the event there is a change in the future'. This state affairs meant he he wanted 'to pursue an alternative, despite the clear challenges that would come with it'. Although he said he was 'not opposed to other compensation', he was not in a position where he needed to seek 'material compensation'. Laatsch allegedly explained how it would be difficult for him to because as his role would give him early warning of an investigation. 'it will not be easy for them, for example, to open a case on me without my knowledge since my permissions to see that would need to be changed and I'd notice,' he wrote. He laid out the 'stupid mistakes' others made when cases were opened on them and said these mistakes 'should not be too difficult for me to avoid'. Little did he know that the investigation was launched months ago, and as it was conducted by the FBI he didn't see it coming. Laatsch allegedly said he would be ready to provide more intel on May 26, and on May 15 to 27 he copied more data and hid it in his socks to extract it. He was arrested at the second dead drop on Thursday at the same park in Arlington, near his home in Alexandria, Virginia.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Celebrity Traitors thrown into chaos as huge leak threatens to give away BBC show secrets months before it's on TV
CELEBRITY Traitors has been thrown into chaos as a major leak threatened to give away show secrets. As filming for the star-studded BBC series gets underway, a pap has taken to his TikTok and posted a page of the script. 4 4 4 As a result, he claims the production company has now handed him with a cease and desist letter. In the video, celebrity photographer Ash explained: "Last week I asked you if you wanted to see a page of the Traitors script." He then proceeded to show his fans a blurry copy of the script. He continued: "I was read the riot act, I was handed what they call a cease and desist by the production company, they claimed I was breaching their data protection and privacy by being in a public place taking pictures of them filming. "Potentially they wanted me to leave so they could carry on filming in secret. "I've never dealt with a production company so angry that I was there, it was unreal "To be honest, the video that I put up was in a bitter attempt that they might see it and just leave me alone because studio Lambeth really did make me feel that I shouldn't be there." The snapper said he refused to leave and found the whole experience unpleasant. Despite some difficulty, he admitted he would be returning to shoot Traitors but has not plans to "rush back". A Studio Lambert spokesperson said 'No one wants to ruin such a popular show, loved for its surprises, by having photos released which give away storylines. The producers will always put viewers' enjoyment of the series first and guard against spoilers.' It comes after filming was disrupted this week during one of the challenge. They were filming the BBC show in the Scottish Highlands with what looked like a Trojan horse. But producers' bid to recreate Greece in 700BC was shattered by members of the public. An insider said: 'Because of Scotland's liberal right-to-roam policies there were quite a number of ramblers and cyclists whizzing past in the background. 'So while they were trying to recreate Greece of 2,700 years ago, someone would suddenly appear in a bobble hat or Lycra and they'd have to start rolling the cameras again. 'Thankfully it didn't cause too much of a headache and most people saw the funny side of it.' The 19 celebs on the show, hosted by Claudia Winkleman, include Stephen Fry, Charlotte Church, Kate Garraway, Jonathan Ross and Celia Imrie. They have all had to hand over their phones to crew to prevent them from discussing game plans on the show, expected to air in October. An insider said: 'The BBC aren't taking any chances with the contestants — even though they're household names. 'They are all holed up in a hotel together but they are being kept apart with a security guard on their floor at all times to make sure they're not swapping tactics or talking. 'In the normal series of The Traitors, the contestants' phones are removed and there have been no special measures put in place for the celebs. 'Some of them moaned about not having their phones but the BBC need to be sure they're not messaging or communicating on social media — so it's a total ban. 'Instead the BBC have a production phone for the celebs which they can use to make a phone call home, but a member of staff is never far behind. 'The BBC want this series to be as explosive as ever, so they won't allow any collusion.'
Japan Times
7 days ago
- General
- Japan Times
Hyogo governor likely behind whistleblower info leak, says panel
The personal information of a whistleblower in Hyogo Prefecture was likely leaked under the instructions of Gov. Motohiko Saito and former Vice Gov. Yasutaka Katayama, according to a report released by the prefecture's third-party investigative committee on Tuesday. The committee found that a former head of the prefectural government's general affairs department provided prefectural assembly members with information about the whistleblower, a former prefectural government official who distributed a document containing harassment allegations against Saito and died last July. According to the report, the Hyogo government found the whistleblower's personal information on an official computer during its probe into the document last March. The following month, the former department head showed three Hyogo prefectural assembly members some printed materials regarding the personal information and gave oral explanations to them. After interviewing those involved, the committee concluded that the former department head highly likely leaked the information to assembly members under the instructions of Saito and Katayama. According to the report, Saito told the third-party panel that he thinks he was informed of the whistleblower's personal information but did not issue any instructions on how to handle it. The governor said that he believes the former department head shared the information with the assembly side at the former head's own discretion. On Tuesday, the Hyogo government suspended the former department head for three months for leaking the information.
