Cross

The UK’s largest wildlife crossing will be completed by 2027

A groundbreaking wildlife bridge is under construction in Gloucestershire, with completion expected for 2027. The Gloucestershire Way bridge, set to be the UK’s largest wildlife crossing, is part of the A417 Missing Link project, an initiative designed to build new roads while preserving the Cotswolds ‘ natural beauty and wildlife.

The wildlife bridge is a pivotal component of the A417 project, with an estimated cost of £460million. The wildlife corridor, which crosses the new A417 dual carriageway between Gloucester and Cirencester, will measure 37 metres in length, featuring a 27-metre stretch of grassland and a hedgerow.

The bridge will also accommodate walkers, cyclists and horse riders.

Hedgerows on either side will facilitate bats and barn owls in using the bridge as a commuting route, whilst grassland and additional trees will ensure deer, badgers and reptiles can cross safely.

Gavin Jones, Kier’s project director for the scheme, commented: “The green bridge is the centrepiece of the scheme, linking up habitats and the landscape on one side of the road to the other.

“The focus is the ecology, the animals that are going to use it, but not forgetting the people – it’s going to be a footpath as well. We’re on budget, ahead of programme, and [have] a good safety record. I couldn’t be prouder of the team.”

Nicola Bell, National Highways’ executive director of major projects, said: “Our work goes beyond just operating and maintaining our roads and by collaborating more closely with Natural England, we can ensure that our infrastructure projects deliver better outcomes for both people and nature.”

Marian Spain, Natural England’s chief executive, said: “Projects like the A417 showcase the positive outcomes for people and nature that can be achieved by working closely together.”

She continued: “This memorandum is an important step in embedding this open, early, constructive communications between Natural England and National Highways to deliver our shared objectives of sustainable development.”

The world’s largest wildlife bridge is located in Colorado, North America.

German Galushchenko was detained by Ukraine’s anti-corruption bureau while trying to leave the country.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) says it has arrested the country’s former energy minister, German Galushchenko, who resigned in November amid a massive corruption scandal, as he tried to cross Ukraine’s border.

“Today, while crossing the state border, NABU detectives have detained the former Minister of Energy as part of the ‘Midas’ case,” the NABU said in a statement.

It did not name Galushchenko in its statement, but he served as the country’s energy minister last year and resigned in November.

“Initial investigative proceedings are ongoing, carried out in accordance with the requirements of the law and court sanctions. Details to follow,” the NABU added.

Galushchenko was one of several ministers who resigned in 2025 as the NABU unveiled an alleged money-laundering conspiracy in the country’s energy sector that investigators believe was orchestrated by an ally of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

According to Ukraine’s Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO), the alleged $100m scheme was orchestrated by businessman Timur Mindich.

SAPO’s investigators say Galushchenko helped Mindich manage illicit financial flows in the energy sector, while contractors working with Energoatom were forced to pay bribes of 10 to 15 percent to avoid losing contracts or facing payment delays.

Ukraine’s previous two energy ministers had resigned amid the fallout from the scandal, which ⁠also claimed the job of Zelenskyy’s chief of staff.

The two ministers ⁠and the chief of staff ⁠have all denied wrongdoing.

Battling corruption is a key priority in Ukraine’s reform effort as it eyes membership in the European Union, ‌which requires the country to shake off a decades-old scourge of graft.

Authorities in recent weeks have targeted lawmakers, ‌former Prime ‌Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and a former presidential adviser over various charges.

Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale won snowboard cross mixed team gold – Team GB’s first ever Winter Olympic title on snow.

After heartbreak in their individual events, the British pair made amends with an astonishing performance to add Olympic gold to the World Championship title they won in 2023.

In an event that sees the men race first, Nightingale crossed the line in second place to set up Bankes perfectly – and she used her remarkable speed on the board to take the lead and pip Italy’s Michela Moioli to the line.

It marked a second successive silver in this event for Moioli and Lorenzo Sommariva, while France’s Loan Bozzolo and Lea Casta took bronze.

Bankes, a former individual world champion and two-time overall World Cup winner, was left crestfallen on Friday when she exited the women’s event in the quarter-finals, just as she did four years ago in Beijing, despite being widely tipped for a medal.

Similarly, Nightingale was left wanting much more from himself after exiting the men’s competition in the round of 16, but found another level to produce arguably his best racing alongside Bankes.

Charlotte Bankes hoped to “put on a better show” as her Olympic hoodoo continued with a quarter-final exit from the snowboard cross – in another missed medal chance for Team GB.

Bankes, appearing at her fourth Games, is a former world champion and has 26 World Cup golds to her name, but an Olympic medal is the one that continues to evade her grasp.

Although slower than anticipated in her seeding run, the 30-year-old had qualified fastest from her heat but looked off the pace from the start of her quarter-final, crossing the finish line last.

It was the same story four years ago in Beijing when Bankes exited at the same stage, a crash to blame on that occasion.

Asked by BBC Sport how she was feeling, Bankes replied: “Lost.

“I feel like I’ve done exactly the same as four years ago, which is very frustrating.

“We’ve worked incredibly hard to improve from that and I feel it hasn’t made any difference today.

“I’ve been struggling with the track all week, but we thought we’d found solutions.

“I really wanted this one.”

Bankes’ preparations for these Games had not been ideal.

In April last year she broke her collarbone, an injury she needed further surgery – including a bone graft from her hip – on in the summer after it was found not to be healing correctly.

But she came into the Games back to full fitness and had won a gold medal at a World Cup in China just last month.

“It’s a tough one to swallow. I was hoping to put on a better show, but it didn’t work out today,” she added.

“It can be a cruel sport. The team did all the work behind me and I didn’t pull it off.”

Australia’s Josie Baff won gold, with Czech Eva Adamczykova taking silver and Italian home favourite and former champion Michela Moioli the bronze.

Bankes has just 48 hours to brush off her disappointment before she returns to the start gate alongside team-mate Huw Nightingale in the mixed team event.

Bankes and Nightingale were crowned world champions in 2023.

The Livigno Snow Park has not been a happy hunting ground so far for Team GB at the Milan-Cortina Games, and the wait goes on for a first Olympic gold or silver medal on snow.

Two fourth-place finishes for freestyle skier Kirsty Muir and snowboarder Mia Brookes came earlier in the week, but both will return to action in the coming days, as will Zoe Atkin, the current halfpipe world champion.