- 'Happy' Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- Man Utd hit Barnsley for seven in League Cup rout
- Dolphins quarterback Tagovailoa facing concussion layoff
- Stylish Liverpool strut past Milan in confident Champions league opener
- Kane scores four as Bayern put nine past Zagreb in the Champions League
- Mbappe strikes on Madrid Champions League debut win over Stuttgart
- More than 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions
- Dow edges down from record as some eye a smaller Fed rate cut
- Sommer vows Inter will 'defend with all we have' to stop Haaland
- Report links meatpacking companies to 'war on nature' in Brazil
- Bolivian ex-leader Morales, backers set out on weeklong protest march
- Smith grateful to McCullum for launching his England career
- Arizona to ask court to rule on voting rights
- Villa make perfect start on Champions League return after 41-year absence
- Israeli supply chain infiltration likely behind Hezbollah pager blasts: analysts
- Rodgers backs Celtic to be 'really competitive' in Champions League
- Spacewalk an 'emotional experience' for private astronauts
- Storm Boris toll rises to 22 in central Europe
- Nine dead, 2,800 wounded as Lebanon's Hezbollah hit by pager blasts
- Boeing, union resume talks as strike empties Seattle plants
- Over 3,600 food packaging chemicals found in human bodies
- Australia's Zampa accepts Ashes chances remote as 100th ODI looms
- UN General Assembly debates call for end to Israeli occupation
- Marseille complete signing of French international Rabiot
- Easterby to fill in as Ireland coach while Farrell is with the Lions
- Hezbollah in Lebanon hit by wave of deadly pager blasts
- Postecoglou taken aback by criticism of his second season success claim
- US, European stocks rise on retail sales, rate cut expectations
- Fendi sees Roaring 20s at Milan Fashion Week in challenging times
- Ronaldo's Al Nassr part ways with coach Castro
- Scottish government backs Glasgow to stage troubled 2026 Commonwealth Games
- Storm Boris toll rises to 21 in central Europe
- Instagram, under pressure, tightens protection for teens
- Inflation slows again in Canada to 2%
- US, European stocks rise on eve of Fed rate decision
- EU bans Algerian spread toasted on social media
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
- Trump returns to campaign trail after assassination scare
- Activist urges repatriation of Native Americans dead in Paris 'human zoo'
- US retail sales see slight rise, beating expectations
- US Fed begins two-day meeting set to end with rate cut
- Exploding Hezbollah pagers wound hundreds across Lebanon
- Runners-up Yokohama thrashed 7-3 in AFC Champions League goal fest
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs to plead not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking
- Jihadist group claims rare attack on Mali capital
- 'I am a rapist,' Frenchman tells trial over mass rape of wife
- Electric cars overtake petrol models in Norway
- 'Shouted his name': Channel tragedy survivor hopes friend made it
- Portugal battles ferocious wildfires as toll rises to seven
UK military urged to stop using bearskin hats on cost grounds
Animal rights group PETA on Thursday renewed its call for soldiers outside Buckingham Palace to stop wearing real bearskin hats after UK government figures revealed they now cost more than £2,000 ($2,600) each.
The tall black hats are worn by elite regiments, including for the Changing of the Guard ceremony outside Buckingham Palace, and are one of the best-known symbols of the UK.
The cost of the hats, made from the fur of Canadian Black Bears, rose by 30 percent in a year to £2,040 in 2023, according to figures revealed in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from animal welfare campaigners.
PETA previously took the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to court in an unsuccessful bid to prevent the use of real fur, saying that there were synthetic alternatives.
It now says there is an economic, as well as ethical, case to use fake fur instead.
"The government must heed the public's wishes and stop propping up Canada's cruel bear-hunting industry when it could be getting beautiful faux fur for free," said PETA vice president of programmes Elisa Allen.
"PETA is calling on the Ministry of Defence to stop wasting taxpayer pounds on caps made from slaughtered wildlife and switch to faux fur today."
The MoD, which bought 526 bearskin hats between 2017 and July 2024, said it was "open" to fake fur alternatives but that it was would have to satisfy "safety and durability considerations" and that "no alternative has met all those criteria to date".
Animal rights campaigners received a boost in May when Buckingham Palace resident Queen Camilla promised not to buy any more fur for her wardrobe.
Camilla -- a keen fox hunter before it was made illegal in the UK -- followed in the footsteps of late Queen Elizabeth II, who announced she would stop buying fur in 2019.
Y.Nakamura--AMWN