内容摘要：And farmers say they need more government funding and less planning red tape to build their own reservoirs to supply their farms.

And farmers say they need more government funding and less planning red tape to build their own reservoirs to supply their farms.

A multibillion-pound plan to fix Yorkshire's "creaking Victorian-era" railways has been put forward by the former home secretary Lord Blunkett.Backed by the mayors of West, South and North Yorkshire, Lord Blunkett said the region had been held back by ageing infrastructure, poor performance and unreliable trains.

Yorkshire's Plan for Rail sets out a £14bn investment package calling for increased capacity at Leeds, Sheffield and York stations, a new through-station for Bradford and a mainline station at Rotherham.Lord Blunkett said the proposal offered "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to improve connectivity and unlock economic growth in the region.Other improvements include electrifying the line between Leeds and Sheffield and increasing the frequency of services for places such as Scarborough, the Esk Valley, Penistone Line and Wakefield district's Five Towns.

The first phase of improvements would need £2.4bn of government investment between now and 2030.This would be in addition to the £2.5bn funding needed to bring trams back to West Yorkshire and investment for tram extension and renewal in South Yorkshire.

According to Lord Blunkett's review, the targeted investment could add £20bn to the region's economy over the next decade.

It could also help generate an extra 83,000 jobs and contribute to the building of 210,000 new homes.In her Financial Times interview last week, Kouoh challenged the idea that death would bring an end to her endeavours.

"I do believe in life after death, because I come from an ancestral black education where we believe in parallel lives and realities," she said."There is no 'after death', 'before death' or 'during life'. It doesn't matter that much. I believe in energies - living or dead - and in cosmic strength."

An unregulated sperm donor, who claims to have fathered more than 180 children around the world, has been denied increased parental rights for a child he fathered as a donor through natural insemination.Robert Albon, who posted sperm samples packaged with frozen tomato puree to keep them cold, sought parental control and contact with the girl, born in 2023.