Five young hotel workers have died after a steel lift cable snapped at a Bali resort and plunged them 100 metres down a steep embankment.

The two men and three women were working in the housekeeping department at Ayuterra Resort in the Ubud district when they got into an Instagram-famous glass lift, which runs on a track up a 35-degree slope, at 1pm on Friday. 

The workers were identified as Ni Luh Superningsih, 20, Kadek Hardiyanti, 24, Kadek Yanti Pradewi, 19, Sang Putu Bayu Adi Krisna, 19, and Wayan Aries Setiawan, 23. 

Outrage has erupted, with the families paid just over $4,000 in compensation from their employers, on the condition they will not launch legal action against the resort. 

According to local media, families have been given between IDR158.2m ($16,308) and IDR166.1m ($17,122) from social security program BPJS Ketenagakerjaan, and about IDR 40m ($4112) from the resort owners to cover cremation rituals and on compassionate grounds.

However, the added support from Ayuterra Resort means families would not be able to launch legal action against the company. 

The uncle of Mr Hardiyanti, Nyoman Suarila told local publication Kumparan, that he accepted the terms.

‘Even if we sue, our children will not return,’ he said.

‘But we believe in karma. If the company is wrong, then it will get it. That’s our principle.

‘If the incident that caused my nephew’s death was the fault of a technician or something, it must be processed according to applicable law.’

Two of the staff died at the scene while the remaining three were alive and transported to hospital, but died shortly after. 

A cook at the hotel, Ketut Suwiarta, told local media he heard screams shortly after the group entered the lift and then crashing sounds.

He rushed outside to help the victims and alerted authorities. 

The elevator runs on a track and transports both tourists and workers between the upper sections of the hotel high up on the ridge and the resort facilities at ground level.

It is understood the elevator was a popular Instagram attraction at the resort, offering views over the surrounding landscape.

Police are investigating why the cable broke, whether adequate safety maintenance had been done, and why there were no backup measures in case the cable broke.

The families met with Bali’s deputy governor, Cok Ace, over the weekend as Balinese Hindu ceremonies were held to cleanse the site and wish the victims well.

‘I was at the resort earlier; the Bali Police were there, the police chief too, as well as several witnesses who knew of the incident,’ he said.

‘Earlier, when I was being interviewed there, I saw for myself the scene where the rope had broken.’

All guests at the resort have been relocated to other accommodation while the investigation is underway.

Resort owner Linggawati Utomo expressed her sympathies to the victims’ families.

Ubud Police Chief, Police Commissioner Made Uder said on Monday the tragedy would serve as a wake up call to all hotels and businesses on the holiday island. 

‘The steel swing rope was not strong enough to pull the weight upwards, which was quite heavy, and the safety wedge or brake did not function, so the elevator slid downwards at high speed so this accident could not be avoided,’ he said.

The lift was reportedly inspected by an independent consultant as recently as November 2022 who said it was in operating condition.

England stars shared heartwarming photographs of their beloved families and friends as they celebrated their triumphant 2-1 win against their Colombian rivals.

The Lionesses are now one step closer to World Cup glory after a tense 90-minute clash over who would enter the semi-finals.

Goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck shared a touching family photo on Instagram. 

She posed with her mother and father on her right and her believed-to-be nephew on her left.

The 23-year-old, from Sheffield, captured the picture with ‘WIN’ as her clearly proud mother, who was wearing a lime green rain coat, beamed from cheek to cheek.

Her father, who wore shorts and a hoodie, grinned intensely after he was spotted roaring down the stadium as his daughter helped bring her country’s team to victory.

The Manchester City star posed in a light blue tracksuit as she wrapped her arm around a man, who her Instagram followers believe to be her younger nephew.

The two appear to have a close bond as she frequently posts the younger man on her social media. 

Right-back Lucy Bronze tried to contain her nephew’s excitement as the little boy swung his arms in the air, struggling to control his cheer.

The Barcelona player, judging by her social media, spends a lot of time the toddler, as many dub the Lioness a ‘No1 auntie’.

The 31-year-old sticks her tongue out while laughing at the delighted toddler as he raved about the Lionesses’ intense win. 

Lucy was pictured in the club’s light blue tracksuit, a tight pony tail and a black cross-body bag. 

Box-to-box midfielder, Jordon Nobbs poses with her friend and head of Women’s Football at Caabase, Georgie Hodge.

The Aston Villa star, sporting her iconic blue and pink puffer jacket, wrapped her arm around Georgie, who was wearing a brown jacket and cream trousers, while she posed with sports agent Suzie Lamburn in the Australian stands.

The photograph was captioned with two bright red love hearts as the trio grinned with excitement. 

England now sail forward into the semi-finals Down Under, following their tense quarter-final, with goals from Hemp and Alessia Russo seeing them through after the Colombians had taken the lead.

As the ecstatic team went on to celebrate on the pitch, pundit and former player Wright, a champion of women’s football, embraced a joyful Hemp after her first-half equaliser.

Russo then grabbed the winner in the second half, smashing her shot past goalkeeper Catalina Perez, securing a brilliant comeback from the initial 1-0 score.

England were booed by the South American team’s support in the first half, before they looked to upset the odds by opening the scoring.

But England fought on to claim the lead in the second half and will now face home nation Australia in the semis as they aim to get to the World Cup final for the first time.

The Lionesses were roared on by fans across the world to keep their dream alive as Wiegman pushed her side to take the win in 90 minutes.

After the victory, England players could be seen consoling some of the devastated young Colombians and swapping shirts with them.

A message posted on the Twitter account of the Prince and Princess of Wales congratulated the Lionesses for their epic win, as they said: ‘Bring on the semi-finals! A hard-fought win, well done @Lionesses’.

Speaking after the match, Lauren Hemp told ITV she was ‘so proud’ of the team and said they were all feeling ‘really confident’.

‘I’m absolutely knackered right now,’ Hemp smiled, adding: ‘I’m so proud of the team.

‘Whenever we got the ball we looked like we were going to create something.’

Hemp paid tribute to the ‘special connection’ she has with striker Alessia Russo, and was optimistic about their chances against home nation Australia after the crowd’s hostile atmosphere.

She said: ‘The atmosphere was incredible, I couldn’t even hear the person next to me.’

Coach Wiegman described the match as a ‘very tough challenge’. She said the second half was ‘hard’ against such a tough team, but continued: ‘I am so proud of the team… if we had [been better] we could have finished up the game a little earlier.’

Excited England fans arrived at Stadium Australia in Sydney waving flags and wearing red and white face paint ahead of the Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses’ World Cup quarter-final clash.

The Colombian team had a quick start to the match with an early dash towards England’s goal, as the Lionesses faced boos and jeers from Colombian fans – a factor German players previously said contributed to their last-16 loss against the side.

Families of the service men and women killed in Kabul two years ago gave the most damning verdict yet of President Joe Biden‘s response to the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.

During a congressional hearing into what went wrong, they were asked whether the Biden administration had taken ownership of the botched exit.

They shook their heads in unison.

‘Neither do the American people,’ said Rep. Eli Crane, a former Navy S.E.A.L, who asked the question.

It is almost two years since a suicide bomber detonated his deadly payload amid the chaos of Kabul’s international airport.

He killed 13 Americans and at least 170 Afghans.

It brought a bloody conclusion to Biden’s decision to bring home the troops remaining in the country after 20 years of conflict. 

It followed weeks of turmoil as Taliban gunmen advanced on the capital Kabul while Afghanistan’s armed forces, built with billions of dollars in foreign aid, melted away.

The result was that thousands of desperate Afghans besieged Hamid Karzai International Airport as they sought safe passage from the country’s extremist overlords.

It marked Biden’s first major test as president and his administration is accused of failing to properly plan the withdrawal or predict a Taliban takeover, despite the fact the insurgents had been gaining territory for months.

With the House now in Republican hands, lawmakers are intent on probing what went wrong.

Thursday’s session of the House subcommittee on oversight and accountability began with Rep. Brian Mast, the chairman, recognizing the mother of Sgt. Nicole Gee, the mother of Cpl. Hunter Lopez, and the parents of Cpl. Humberto Sanchez, who all died in the blast at the airport’s Abbey Gate in August 2021.

‘Thank you for raising patriots and I’m sorry for your loss,’ he said.

In his opening remarks he said Biden was the ultimate decision maker in the process to withdraw.

‘The president’s withdraw was a complete and utter catastrophe,’ he said. 

‘The images of people hanging off of planes and desperate parents handing their babies over the airport walls to soldiers are seared into our country’s collective conscience.’

Colonel (Ret.) Seth Krummrich, former chief of staff at Special Operations Command Central, and Command Sergeant Major Jacob Smith, of the 10th Mountain Division, were the session’s witnesses.

But the most telling moment came when Rep. Mast addressed the families in the gallery.

‘To the families sitting behind you, that are still clearly morning, by nodding your head, yes or no,’ he asked: ‘Do you feel like this administration has taken ownership and accountability?’

They shook their heads.

‘I didn’t think so,’ he said.

Rep. Mike McCaul, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said true leaders own their mistakes.

‘Rather than prioritizing U.S. national security and the safety of thousands of Americans, they forced this rapid withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan on an artificial timeline,’ he said. 

‘And the number is going to be September the 11th. What an insult to the victims of 9/11.’

Ron DeSantis hosted Gold Star and military families, veterans and victims of 9/11 for a Memorial Day BBQ on Sunday where they shared with the Florida governor frustrations with Donald Trump hosting the same weekend a Saudi Arabian-funded golf tournament.

The Navy veteran and his wife and Florida first lady Casey DeSantis had 500 people at the Governor’s Mansion in Tallahassee and made time for a more than hour-long conversation with families of those who lost loved-ones in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The 2024 candidate also delivered remarks in Jacksonville, Florida on Monday honoring the fallen.

Meanwhile, the former president was hosting at Trump National in Sterling, Virginia – just outside of Washington, D.C. – the LIV golf tournament, which is bankrolled by Saudi Arabia. 

DeSantis met on Sunday with eight families who lost loved ones in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and heard from those upset that Trump held the tournament.

Brett Eagleson, who was 15 when he lost his father in the South Tower of the World Trade Center on 9/11, said that he appreciated DeSantis hearing their concerns and was disappointed in the former president.

‘We shared with [DeSantis] our past dealings with President Trump and we just laid out what a stark contrast it was between what he was doing that day; hosting Gold Star family members, members from the 9/11 community and active members of the Military at the Florida governor’s House. Compare that to what a former president is doing that same weekend; right outside the Pentagon, he’s hosting the Saudis in a Saudi-funded golf tournament,’ Eagleson, 37, detailed to DaillyMail.com.

‘But just think that, you know, that stark contrast doesn’t need more explanation as to how DeSantis feels versus how Trump feels,’ he added. ‘So I thought it was really powerful and it sent a significant message as to where the Governor’s priorities are at least.’

Eagleson is president of the organization 9/11 Justice and has spent seven years fighting for more information about Saudi Arabia’s alleged role in the attacks.

He confirmed to DailyMail.com that the families in the meeting Sunday shared with DeSantis how they felt about Trump’s golf tournament – and said that DeSantis seemed willing to meet with the group in the future.

‘I brought that up personally,’ Eagleson said. ‘I wanted him to be aware of that.’

‘Kudos to you, Mr. Governor for hosting us and Goldstar families on Memorial Day, honoring the lives of the people that give their lives for this country while President Trump is hosting a Saudi funded golf tournament.’

DeSantis lamented that the families are still scouring for answers more than two decades after the terrorist attack.

‘They’ve had a lot of frustration about getting justice based on the 9/11 attacks,’ DeSantis told Fox and Friends on Monday morning. ‘They’re suing Saudi Arabia, they’re trying to get more documents.’

‘They’ve been made promises in the past about getting help, and then, basically, some of our elected leaders have reneged on those promises,’ the governor added. ‘And so, I think that they’ve been punched in the gut a number of times. And I think it’s been difficult to now be two decades later and still trying to get full justice.’

Ron, Casey and their three children – Madison, five, Mason, four, and Mamie, two – appeared for a BBQ celebration honoring fallen service members in Tallahassee, Florida on Sunday.

The family mingled with the 500 guests before the Florida first couple leaves for Iowa this week to start the governor’s first campaign swing to early primary states after announcing his 2024 Republican presidential primary run last week.

DeSantis’ campaign kick-off will start in Des Moines, Iowa on Tuesday and continue in four more cities in the first-in-the-nation primary contest state on Wednesday.

He and Casey will then head to New Hampshire for a four-city swing on Thursday, followed by the final stop in South Carolina on Friday.

Before taking off for the midwest, Gov. DeSantis delivered three-minute remarks at the Veterans Memorial Ceremony in Jacksonville.

Analysts predict average household energy bills could fall to below £2,000 a year this summer after a slump in gas prices

By Luke Barr, Financial Mail On Sunday

Published: 16:52 EDT, 6 May 2023 | Updated: 16:52 EDT, 6 May 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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Ukrainian engineers have designed a DIY rocket that families can build in their own back gardens from everyday materials to rain terror on the Russian invaders.

Dubbed the ‘people’s missile’, the Trembita uses the same technology as the German V1 flying bombs, or Doodlebugs, used in the Second World War.

The anti-Russian Vidsich protest group designed the ‘garage-made’ rocket which, while not as accurate as laser-guided missiles, should be able to travel around 87 miles.

A barrage of 20 of the missiles could ‘overcome enemy air defences and hit targets at a sufficient depth’, the group has claimed. 

The rockets can carry up to 20kg of explosives or a thermobaric charge, and use a painfully loud 100-decibel engine. This, creators say, would strike fear into Russian soldiers in the same way that the distinctive whine of Hitler’s Doodlebugs terrified Londoners during WW2.

The genius of the improvised weapon also lies in its ability to deplete expensive Russian weapons, its developers say.

By releasing a thermal signal picked up by enemy air-defence systems, the Russians would then fire expensive munitions to down the cheaply made rockets.

‘Our simple missile is incomparably cheaper than the shots of enemy anti-aircraft missile systems,’ Vidsich told The Telegraph.

The new weapons have been likened to V1 rockets, used by the Nazis on London towards the end of the Second World War.

Some 5,000 V1s, the world’s first cruise missile, were launched by the Germans to bomb London, causing a massive loss of life.

The Trembita uses the same technology as the V1. It is effectively a motor-powered steel tube which is then attached to glider wings and fired from a catapult. 

Social media videos showing what appear to be prototypes of the new Trembita weapons seem to show its creators firing up a jet engine.

By using gasoline as fuel, the rockets can fly up to 87 miles, giving them almost twice the range of the US-made M31 GMLRS missiles fired by America’s M142 Himars launchers, which have proved one of Kyiv’s most crucial armaments in the war. 

Weighing in at 100kg, these new missiles are expected to be able to reach speeds of 248mph.

Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, a former Nato commander, said of the new weaponry, was optimistic about the role of the missiles. 

‘Improvised weapons can be very effective and the Ukrainians are very canny and the Russians pretty inept,’ he said, saying the new rockets can help Ukraine to save on more expensive Western weapons.

Ukrainians are no strangers to developing improvised weapons, from Molotov cocktails made by civilians when Vladimir Putin’s forces first invaded to kamikaze drones. Drone racing groups such as the formidable Angry Birds team have been praised for their clever use of racing drones as weapons, turning the small devices into bombs that could be sent straight into enemy strongholds.

Russia has also used drones in brutal attacks on Ukrainian positions and cities, with Iran reported to have sent 1,700 military drones to Putin’s forces. 

Moscow has launched hundreds of Iranian drones, including the Shahed-136 suicide drones, and others that can conduct both strikes and reconnaissance. 

But in a spectacular attack in the early hours of today, suspected to have been carried out by Ukrainian drone teams, an oil storage depot in Russia exploded in a towering inferno.

The strike – the latest in a series of apparent strikes by Ukraine on Russian territory – was only six miles from the Kerch Bridge built by Putin to link the Krasnodar region in Russia with Crimea, which he annexed in 2014.

As the war drags on, Ukrainians continue to employ ingenious tactics to repel the Russian invaders. 

Saboteurs yesterday derailed a Russian freight train and destroyed power cables with explosive devices in a double blow for Putin.

The train, carrying oil and construction materials, burst into flames following a detonation on the tracks in the Bryansk region, 37 miles from the Ukrainian border.

Video taken shortly after the attack showed several destroyed carriages ablaze and lying on their sides, with dark smoke billowing into the air.

Local governor Alexander Bogomaz said the explosive device went off ‘on the 136th kilometre’ of the railroad between Bryansk and the town of Unecha – a route used for transporting Moscow’s military supplies.

The sabotage attacks came as Kyiv prepares for a widely expected counter-offensive this spring, with Ukraine building up its mechanised brigades with armour supplied by its Western allies. 

Russian Railways, the country’s rail operator, said the attack on the freight train occurred at 10.17am Moscow time (07.17 GMT). 

It said the locomotive and seven freight wagons were derailed and the locomotive caught fire. 

Meanwhile, the White House said on Monday that Russia has suffered 100,000 casualties, with more than 20,000 killed in action, during just the past five months amid the grinding conflict in Ukraine.

It reflects how Moscow’s hopes of rapid victory have given way to a brutal war of attrition that carries a huge cost.

Coupled with previous estimates by US officials it could put the total number of Russian casualties at 200,000 since Moscow invaded last year. 

John Kirby, White House security spokesman, said Russia’s attempt at an offensive in the eastern Donbas region, through the city of Bakhmut, had largely failed.

‘For Russia this attempted effort, particularly in Bakhmut, has come at a terribly, terribly high cost,’ he told reporters.

‘Russia has exhausted its military stockpiles and its armed forces and since December alone… we estimate Russia has suffered more than 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 Killed in action, nearly half of whom were Wagner soldiers, the majority of whom were Russian convicts that were thrown into combat… [without] sufficient combat training, combat leadership, or any sense of organisational command and control.’

He said the information was based on newly declassified intelligence, but did not offer further details.