collapses

AN iconic UK pier could be forced to close after its owner collapsed into liquidation.

The future of historic landmark, which dates back to 1866, remains uncertain.

Lions Pier Limited, which operates Eastbourne Pier, was issued a compulsory winding-up order last month.

Local hotelier Abid Gulzar, who is listed as the firm’s sole director on Companies House, was handed the order on May 12, 2026 following a petition filed on March 25, 2026.

As a result, Lions Pier Limited and the future of the pier is now in the hands of the Official Receiver.

Compulsory liquidation is typically triggered by an unpaid creditor, with the court appointing the Official Receiver to take complete control of the process.

PIER OUT

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PIER IN

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The Official Receiver is responsible for investigating the reasons behind the company’s failure and assessing the director’s conduct, which could lead to a director disqualification order and further sanctions.

Gulzar purchased Eastbourne Pier in October 2015, before going on to acquire nearby Hastings Pier, which he entered into voluntary liquidation in 2023.

Two of the businessman’s hotel firms, Chatsworth Hotels Ltd and Lion Hotels Ltd, were also put into voluntary liquidation in 2017.

The hotelier carried out extensive renovation works at Eastbourne Pier, including the construction of four new replacement buildings.

Now, the collapse of Lions Pier Limited has resurfaced questions over the ownershop of the pier’s physical structure.

If Lions Pier Limited is deemed the owner, the Official Receiver could move to sell the pier as part of the liquidation process.

However, if Gulzar holds the freehold separately, as was the case with Hastings, he may retain control of the asset despite the company’s collapse.

A spokesperson for Eastbourne Borough Council told The Argus: “We are monitoring the situation at Eastbourne Pier very closely.

“It is an iconic and much-loved seafront attraction, and we hope the Official Receiver can secure an outcome that ensures it remains open and restored for residents, visitors and businesses based on the pier.

“While the pier has always been in private ownership, council officers routinely check its general condition and these checks will continue.”

Eastbourne Pier was transformed into a defensive stronghold during World War II in the event of invasion, with part of the decking removed to deter enemy landings and machine guns installed in the theatre.

Nowadays, the pier proves a popular tourist attraction for those visiting the UK’s sunniest town, offering cafes, gift shops, arcades, and a live music venue.

The Sun has reached out to Abid Gulzar via the Official Receiver for comment.

The troubled pan-European Future Combat Air System (FCAS) appears to have lurched to an undignified — but predictable — end, at least in its current form. A flurry of media reports today indicate that France and Germany, the two major partners in the program, have abandoned their program to develop a crewed New Generation Fighter (NGF) aircraft together, a conclusion supported by a French diplomat who spoke to TWZ today.

According to sources including the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has urged French President Emmanuel Macron to pull the plug on the NGF. The German newspaper cited unnamed government sources in Berlin. Reportedly, the French and German leaders concluded that the companies involved — Dassault and Airbus — have been unable to reach agreement on key aspects of the project, specifically relating to the jointly developed fighter jet.

At this stage, it is reported that Merz and Macron cannot see a future for the NGF, although it is apparently still unclear whether the French government fully shares this assessment and is prepared to accept its consequences.

At this point, it should be recalled that there are at least three separate FCAS initiatives in Europe.

As well as the pan-European version headed up by France and Germany, with Spain and Belgium as junior partners, there is a rival British-led FCAS. This has the Tempest crewed fighter as its centerpiece, involves Italy and Japan, and is now more commonly referred to as the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP). Finally, the Swedish next-generation combat aircraft program, led by Saab, is also known as FCAS.

Returning to today’s developments, French officials are reportedly surprised by what they viewed as uncoordinated messaging from Berlin. From Paris’s perspective, it is the responsibility of political leaders to provide industry with clear direction.

The French government is also said to be frustrated over what it sees as Germany’s increasing preference for national solutions, which threatens to sideline its own industrial input.

A French diplomat told TWZ: “The President of the Republic and the Federal Chancellor have held extensive and frequent discussions on ways to move forward with this important project for European defense. Both leaders expressed regret that the industrial partners have been unable to reach an agreement on the continuation of the project. The German authorities considered that it was not possible to exert further pressure on the companies involved. France remains convinced that Franco-German cooperation is essential both for our two countries and for our European partners in the fields of defence and security.”

The diplomat added: “The French authorities will continue to encourage our industries and armed forces to explore avenues for ambitious European projects that are consistent with our national security interests.”

According to reports, Macron and Merz discussed the future of FCAS last week, in the latest of several recent efforts to keep the program on track. At the same time, however, Merz had become increasingly vocal about his skepticism regarding the project’s prospects.

The FCAS program was launched back in 2017, with the primary aim of replacing France’s Rafale fleet and Germany’s Eurofighters.

FCAS was envisioned as a next-generation European combat air system entering service around 2040, spearheaded by the NGF crewed fighter. As of 2022, it was envisaged that “in-flight demonstrations” would be achieved by 2028 or 2029. 

Before long, however, the project was overshadowed by arguments over workshare agreements, and it is unclear how far the partners had got in terms of agreeing on NGF requirements and starting its design.

For a while now, there have been reports that Germany is exploring alternative paths, including the possibility of separating itself from France within the program entirely.

By February of this year, Merz was publicly raising doubts about the program’s viability, arguing that key issues had never been fully resolved during the planning phase. According to the German leader, Germany and France have fundamentally different operational requirements for a future combat aircraft.

Merz pointed to the specific French requirements that call for aircraft to be capable of carrying nuclear weapons and operating from aircraft carriers. Merz argued that Paris is seeking to shape the aircraft around French military requirements, which do not necessarily align with Germany’s needs.

“This is not primarily a political disagreement,” Merz said. “The real issue lies in the requirements profile. If we cannot reconcile those differences, the project cannot continue.”

Within France, Dassault CEO Éric Trappier recently declared the FCAS project dead if Airbus refuses to cooperate, while Macron continued to make efforts to resuscitate the program.

There are indications that Paris will still try to do its best to keep the program alive, and it remains possible that the broader FCAS architecture, or parts of it, could continue even without the NGF. FCAS has always intended to field families of drones, air-launched weapons, and potentially other aerial platforms, within an overarching ‘combat cloud.’

The German government considers that the “true essence of FCAS” should be continued as a European system of systems, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

FCAS System of Systems

Whatever happens next, the program appears to be at a crossroads, and facing its biggest existential challenge yet.

It is highly questionable whether either France or Germany (even with Spanish industrial support and finance) could develop a fighter without the other major partner.

This could open the door to a radical reshaping of European combat air programs.

There have already been suggestions at the highest military levels that the British-led and Franco-German FCAS efforts could be fused in some way. However, it seems highly unlikely that all these partners could come together with agreement. Just as questionable is whether the GCAP effort would be able to admit new major partners at this late stage.

Then there is the issue of Sweden.

Last month, we reported on Airbus having raised the possibility of teaming with Saab on the manned tactical component of FCAS. That was one of the clearest indications yet that Airbus is actively exploring post-FCAS alternatives, or, at the least, a major overhaul of the program’s structure.

Potentially, Airbus and Saab could now team up to develop a joint next-generation fighter, with their requirements likely to be more closely aligned than those of France. Germany and France also have a less urgent need for a sixth-generation combat jet, with Sweden only now introducing the Gripen E, and with Germany looking forward to receiving F-35s as well as more Eurofighters.

For France, losing its partners for NGF could be more critical, although it continues to work on advanced versions of the Rafale. In 2024, France also unveiled plans to develop a new uncrewed combat air vehicle (UCAV) that will complement the forthcoming Rafale F5 crewed fighter. The industrial side of the drone program will be headed up by Dassault, drawing upon its previous nEUROn UCAV demonstrator, which has already been used in trials with crewed combat aircraft.

The F5 standard of the Rafale is planned to keep the multirole combat aircraft in frontline service until around 2060. That will at least give France some time to consider what to do about a future crewed fighter.

Drones are also increasingly part of the combat-air picture in Germany, too. Delays in fielding a sixth-generation fighter could be mitigated, to a degree, by Airbus developing combat drones. Airbus and Kratos are already pitching the stealthy XQ-58A Valkyrie drone to Germany, and Airbus has also been working on a stealthy CCA-like concept of its own, known as Wingman.

In the background, the U.S.-made F-35 continues to expand its customer base in Europe. There is also the prospect that, in the future, the sixth-generation F-47 might also be offered for export in the region, although this might only be in a watered-down form.

Overall, though, the latest development is a poor reflection on Franco-German cooperation, which has singularly failed to come to agreement about what should be a flagship program, providing a cornerstone of efforts to strengthen Europe’s defense capabilities.

With the ILA Berlin airshow starting on Wednesday, this news could hardly be worse-timed. On the other hand, we may well learn more about Germany’s vision for its future combat aircraft program before the week is out.

Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com

Nine people have reportedly been rescued from the rubble of a collapsed five-storey building in New Delhi, India.

Some victims’ families are still awaiting news of their relatives as rescuers continue searching.

At least six people are feared dead after an under-construction bridge collapsed in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Local officials say the collapse was triggered by heavy rain, trapping workers under the rubble. The incident comes days after severe storms killed more than 100 people across the state.

Elsewhere, three-time former champion Novak Djokovic faced Frenchman Valentin Royer on Court Philippe Chatrier, which has a roof, and was on court for three hours and 44 minutes.

The 39-year-old Serb lost a tight third set on a tie-break but regrouped to win 6-3 6-2 6-7 (7-9) 6-3.

In his post-match press conference, Djokovic suggested scheduling matches at Grand Slams later in the evening could be “something to consider” as a potential alternative if extreme conditions are expected.

French Open organisers monitor the temperature through two wet bulb sensors – one on Chatrier and another on Court 14.

If the threshold is reached, a 10-minute break may be introduced after the second set of women’s matches and the third set of men’s matches.

If temperatures continue to rise, matches can be suspended until the heat drops.

No French Open match has ever been halted because of extreme heat.

Women’s 15th seed Marta Kostyuk said the conditions so far this week are not quite as bad as those she experienced when playing at the same venue for the Olympics in 2024, but added: “It’s still hot and it’s very dry. I always felt like I need to drink, I want to drink more and more. It was tough.”

On Monday, former finalist Casper Ruud said he felt he was “walking around like a zombie” and feared he had heat stroke after struggling with cramping in 33C temperatures.

One player who escaped the worst of the conditions on Wednesday was men’s second seed Alexander Zverev, who played in the night session when temperatures had dropped to about 18C.

A runner-up at Roland Garros in 2024, Zverev continued his bid for a maiden Grand Slam with a dominant display to beat Czech player Tomas Machac 6-4 6-2 6-2 in one hour and 48 minutes.

An eyewitness captured the moment a car fell into a river as a bridge collapsed in China. Local media says the vehicle had broken down and couldn’t reverse, and the occupants got out before floodwaters swept it away.

Russia attacked the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with drones and missiles early on Thursday, officials said, damaging several buildings, including one which partially collapsed with residents likely trapped under rubble.

US budget carrier Spirit Airlines shuts down after talks for a government bailout failed, leaving 17,000 workers jobless and many passengers stranded. Rising fuel prices from the US-Israel war on Iran partially blamed for Spirit’s rapid decline.