Three people arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit arson, say police investigating Golders Green incidentCounter-terrorism police have arrested two men and a boy in connection with a suspected arson attack last week on ambulances run by a Jewish charity in Golders Green, north London.The three people - a 19 year-old man, a 20-year-old man and a 17-year-old boy - were all arrested early on Wednesday, the Metropolitan police said. Continue reading...
Sandhu Ponnachan appears in court on charges of dangerous driving and causing grievous bodily harmA 36-year-old man has been remanded into custody after appearing in court accused of dangerous driving after seven people were injured when a car hit pedestrians in Derby on Saturday night.Sandhu Ponnachan, from the Alvaston area of the city, appeared at Southern Derbyshire magistrates court on Wednesday having also been charged with six counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of attempted grievous bodily harm, and one count of possession of a bladed article. Continue reading...
by Aamna Mohdin Community affairs correspondent on (#74MXR)
Judge says in verdict against Ben Jamal and Chris Nineham that conditions imposed were lawful and necessaryTwo prominent leaders in the Palestine solidarity movement in Britain have been found guilty of breaching protest conditions.Ben Jamal, 62, the director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), and Chris Nineham, 63, vice-chair of the Stop the War Coalition, were accused of failing to comply with conditions imposed on a protest on 18 January 2025. They were subsequently charged with public order offences. Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: As conflict engulfs Iran, shifting global alliances and soaring energy prices are reshaping the existing power balances that could redefine the next stage of international securityGood morning. So far, there is only one clear winner from the war in Iran: Russia. Before the US and Israel attacked Tehran in late February, Moscow was preparing deep budget cuts to education and healthcare funding to pay for its invasion of Ukraine, which has now entered its fifth year.In just over a month of the fighting in Iran, Vladimir Putin's Russia has experienced a dramatic reversal in fortunes. The global oil price has shot up from a prewar average of $72 to well over $100 per barrel, providing a financial boost of multi-billions for Moscow that shows little sign of ending.Middle East | Donald Trump has launched a tirade against European countries that refused to join his war against Iran, calling out the UK and France.Military | The UK is sending more military support to the Gulf, taking the total deployment to 1,000 troops.NHS England | Some medicines could run out in weeks or even days, NHS England head warns, after supply line shocks.UK politics | Nigel Farage to steer well clear' of UK CPAC event in July being led by the short-lived former prime minister Liz Truss.UK news | King Charles's state visit to US to go ahead in late April despite Iran war concerns. Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe, south-east Asia correspondent on (#74MS2)
South Korea will delay the shutdown of coal-fired plants, while the Philippines also plans to boost the output of its coal-burning plantsGovernments across Asia are ramping up their use of coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, as they try to cover huge energy shortfalls triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran.The move has triggered warnings from climate experts who point to coal's devastating environmental impact, and say the energy crisis should be a wake up call for governments to invest in renewables, which can offer a more stable supply that is not exposed to price shocks. Continue reading...
From medieval church wall paintings to Liam Gallagher's viral X post, charity has catalogued more than 6,600 piecesSome of the UK's smallest public murals are on bollards in Shrewsbury while one of the biggest is on a 1960s 16-storey block of flats in Gosport.Perhaps the funniest though is in Cardiff. Ahead of last summer's Oasis concerts it was a straightforward copy of Liam Gallagher's viral post on X declaring: Because Cardiff is the bollox." Continue reading...
by Rebecca Ratcliffe (now); Jonathan Yerushalmy, Lucy on (#74KWS)
This blog is closed. Follow our new liveblog here.Saudi Arabia's defence ministry has said it has intercepted and destroyed ten drones over the past hours, and eight missiles launched towards the Riyadh area and the country's eastern region.Early this morning Kuwait said its air defences were responding to hostile missile and drone attacks. Neither Saudi Arabia nor Kuwait said where the drones or missiles came from.Iran attacked and set ablaze a fully loaded crude oil tanker off Dubai. Local authorities later said response teams contained the incident with no oil leakage and that no injuries had been reportedDonald Trump warned that the US would obliterate Iran's energy plants and oil wells if it did not open the strait of Hormuz.The Israeli military said four soldiers had been killed in combat in southern Lebanon, where its forces are clashing with Iran-backed Hezbollah.Two giant Chinese container ships have sailed through the strait of Hormuz on their second attempt to leave the Gulf after turning back on Friday, ship-tracking data shows. The transit signals a diplomatic breakthrough between Beijing and Tehran as Iran widens its list of approved nations for transiting the vital route, Lloyd's List reported.Indonesia's foreign minister called for an emergency UN security council meeting and a thorough investigation" into a heinous attack" after three UN peacekeepers from Indonesia were killed in southern Lebanon.Blasts were heard in Tehran and power cuts hit some areas of the capital, Iranian media reported on Tuesday. Israel earlier carried out missile strikes on what it called military infrastructure in Tehran and infrastructure used by Hezbollah in Beirut.Japan and Indonesia agreed to step up coordination on energy security, Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi said on Tuesday.Two Iranian missile launches targeted central Israel, Israeli media reported, with the emergency service saying it had not received reports of any injuries.Turkey reported a ballistic missile launched from Iran had entered Turkish airspace before being shot down by Nato air and missile defences.An earlier summary of key developments is here. Continue reading...
A rescue mission involving volunteer helicopter crew and public donations ended in joy after Molly was located and brought homeA spot of furry black and white appears among the jagged rocks of New Zealand's alpine backcountry. It is Molly the border collie, sitting near the foot of a waterfall where she had been separated from her owner one week earlier.Molly was rescued on Tuesday after an avalanche of donations from the public funded a volunteer team made up of former helicopter pilots and crew to mount a search in the wilderness. Continue reading...
Critics say election integrity' plan to compile national voter list is unconstitutional and will be blocked by the courtsDonald Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order seeking to restrict mail-in voting and compile a national voter list in a move that is unprecedented and likely unconstitutional.The order directs the administration to establish a federal list of confirmed citizens that can legally vote in each state, and orders the postal service to send mail-in ballots only to those on the list. During a press conference at the White House, Trump said the administration would like to require voter ID and proof of citizenship, and repeated falsehoods about mail-in voting. Continue reading...
Lewis was the father of Avi Lewis, who was elected leader of the progressive New Democratic party one day before his father diedStephen Lewis, the Canadian diplomat, politician and human rights advocate, who spent decades tirelessly working to focus global attention on the HIV/Aids epidemic, has died of cancer.Lewis, who served as the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations, as well as the head of Ontario's New Democratic party (NDP), was 88. Continue reading...
Announcement part of controversial shakeup described by critics as administration attack on science and scientists'The Trump administration will move the US Forest Service headquarters from Washington DC to Salt Lake City and shut down its regional offices, the agriculture department has announced. The announcement sets in motion a controversial reorganization for the country's second-largest federal land management agency that Trump officials have planned since last year.The move, which the USDA touted as a commonsense approach", recalls the first Trump administration's chaotic attempt to relocate the Bureau of Land Management from Washington DC to Colorado, first announced in 2019. The agency lost nearly 90% of its Washington-based staff, who declined to move - only for the BLM to return toWashington after Joe Biden took office. Continue reading...
Pentagon chief's remarks come after US army said crews suspended amid investigation into incident in TennesseeDefense secretary Pete Hegseth said the crews of two US army AH-64 Apache helicopters that hovered next to the singer Kid Rock's swimming pool while he clapped and saluted on Saturday are no longer suspended.No punishment. No investigation," Hegseth wrote on social media. Carry on, patriots." Continue reading...
by Sally Weale Education correspondent on (#74MCC)
Poll of 10,000 teachers also finds overwhelming' exam anxiety and rising absenteeism linked to poor mental healthAlmost half of primary school teachers are seeing pupils with eating disorders at least occasionally", rising to four in five at secondary level, according to a survey by the UK's largest education union.The findings emerged in a poll of 10,000 teachers in English state schools about pupils' mental health, which also revealed overwhelming" exam anxiety in secondaries and dwindling numbers of counsellors to support students. Continue reading...
UK researcher uses maths to explain seeming inevitability of phenomenon experienced by many motoristsIt is a situation experienced by many motorists: one driver overtakes another only to find the slower car is right behind them when they reach a red light. Now a researcher has used mathematics to reveal why the situation feels inevitable.Dr Conor Boland from Dublin City University has called his work The Voorhees law of traffic". Continue reading...
Sector cites billions of pounds in additional costs' from new business rates and increase in minimum wage thresholdsTwo-thirds of hospitality businesses are planning to cut jobs as a result of suffocating" costs imposed by government, as new business rates and higher wage bills come into force.Many pubs, restaurants and hotel companies will see their costs increase significantly from 1 April after Rachel Reeves's changes to business rates and an increase in minimum wage thresholds announced at the chancellor's November budget. Continue reading...
President has falsely claimed legendary' fraud for limiting mail-in ballots and himself voted by mail last weekDonald Trump signed an executive order directing his administration to compile a national voter file and to restrict the use of mail-in ballots, an unprecedented move that is probably unconstitutional.The executive order directs the Department of Homeland Security to work with the Social Security Administration to compile a list of verified US citizens who can vote in every state. It also directs the United States Postal Service (USPS) to begin rule-making on a process that would require states to notify the agency of voters who intend to receive a mail-in ballot and prohibit them from receiving one unless they are on a USPS-approved list of eligible voters. Continue reading...
Trump administration claims list is part of an EEOC investigation into antisemitic discrimination at universityA federal judge on Tuesday ordered the University of Pennsylvania to hand over records about Jewish employees on campus to a federal agency as part of an investigation into antisemitic discrimination but said it did not have to reveal any employee's affiliation with a specific group.US district judge Gerald Pappert said employees can refuse to take part in the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) investigation but the agency needs the opportunity to talk to them directly to learn if they have evidence of discrimination". Continue reading...
Sandhu Ponnachan, 36, charged with grievous bodily harm, dangerous driving and possession of a bladed articleA 36-year-old man has been charged after seven people sustained injuries when a car hit pedestrians on one of Derby's busiest streets, police have said.Sandhu Ponnachan was charged on Tuesday with six counts of causing grievous bodily harm with intent, one count of attempted grievous bodily harm, one count of dangerous driving and one count of possession of a bladed article, Derbyshire police said. Continue reading...
Though the US is almost certainly not going to have a draft, media commentary and online anxiety have surfacedThe United States is almost certainly not going to have a military draft to fight Iran. That hasn't stopped the chatter, and anxiety, across the country.In recent weeks, Donald Trump has ordered a number of marines and army paratroopers to head to the Middle East, gesturing toward a possible ground war to reopen the strait of Hormuz or secure nuclear weapons material. The provocative military activity has led to speculative conversation about what it would take to invade a country twice the population and three times the territory of Iraq. Continue reading...
Case involves a former prosecutor removing nearly all Black jurors in a 2006 capital murder trial, raising legal questionsThe US supreme court appeared skeptical on Tuesday of whether jury selection in a trial was conducted appropriately when they heard oral arguments in a death penalty case about racial bias in jury selection stemming from Mississippi.Doug Evans, a now-retired prosecutor, removed all but one Black person from a jury that convicted Terry Pitchford of capital murder in 2006. The judge, Joseph Loper, allowed the juror strikes, despite objections from the defense counsel, and Mississippi's supreme court upheld the conviction. Continue reading...
by Peter Beaumont Senior international correspondent on (#74MCD)
Volker Turk says bill, which applies to Palestinians convicted of terror charges but not Jewish extremists, must be promptly repealed'A new Israeli law which would sanction the execution of Palestinians convicted on terror charges for deadly attacks, but not Jewish extremists accused of similar crimes, would constitute a war crime if enacted, according to one of the UN's most senior human rights officials.Speaking amid mounting international condemnation of the bill, the UN's high commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, described the law as patently inconsistent with Israel's international law obligations, including in relation to the right to life," adding it raises serious concerns about due process violations, is deeply discriminatory, and must be promptly repealed". Continue reading...
Donald Tusk and Micheal Martin say reported phone call with Moscow on sanctions confirms Hungary doing the bidding for Russia' within EUBack to Iran and the perceived lack of support from European Nato allies, US president Donald Trump has now turned to criticising France in his latest outburst on social media.In a post on Truth Social, he said:The Country of France wouldn't let planes headed to Israel, loaded up with military supplies, fly over French territory. France has been VERY UNHELPFUL with respect to the Butcher of Iran," who has been successfully eliminated! The U.S.A. will REMEMBER!!! President DJT" Continue reading...
Video posted on social media depicts a rendering of the proposed 50-storey gargantuan structure decked in goldIn a city of respected art deco buildings, ridicule is being heaped on the latest structure proposed for Miami's skyline: the Donald J Trump presidential library, unveiled in ambitious plans posted to social media on Monday night.A 1 minute 40 second video tour of the proposed gargantuan structure revealed it will be decked, almost inevitably, in Trump's trademark gold, including a giant statue of him, and will feature Air Force One, the $400m Boeing flying palace" gifted to him by Qatar, in its cavernous lobby. Continue reading...
The king will address Congress during the visit, which will commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independenceQ: What do you make of the suggestion that Donald Trump could end the Iran war without securing the strait of Hormuz? Or do you think he should finish the job?Farage replies:I don't think we should take literally anything right now that Donald Trump says ... And then the last thing he's going to do, or the last thing his colleagues in the White House are going to do, is to give the Iranians any idea of what their true intentions are.Was it to remove nuclear capability? Was it aimed at regime change? I don't think any of us quite know the absolute truth about that.The problem is any third party inquiry is a waste of space unless you can subpoena police officers, social services, civil servants who were all part of turning the collective blind eye. And I think everything this government has done on this issue is an attempt to literally kick the can down the road, to not fully open this up. Continue reading...
Homes evacuated in Lurgan as police carry out controlled explosion on crude but viable' deviceMasked men hijacked a car, placed a crude but viable" explosive device inside and forced the occupant to drive the vehicle to a police station in Northern Ireland on Monday, prompting a security alert and the evacuation of about 100 homes, police have said.Some streets in Lurgan, County Armagh, remained shut on Tuesday morning as police investigated the scene. Continue reading...
Families fear undocumented relatives could be turned away or detained at recruit celebrations in South CarolinaFederal immigration agents will be stationed at Marine Corps graduation events this week, the service has announced, raising fears that undocumented relatives celebrating their loved ones' achievements will be seized and deported.The service is presenting the unusual move as a security enhancement for family events over the next few days at the Parris Island Marine Corps recruiting depot in South Carolina. Continue reading...
Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded restitutionThe leader of a sex-focused women's wellness company that promoted orgasmic meditation" was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for a scheme that a judge said exploited vulnerable women and coerced them into performing sex acts with the company's clients and investors.Nicole Daedone, co-founder of OneTaste Inc, was also ordered to forfeit $12m, and seven victims were awarded roughly $890,000 in restitution, federal prosecutors said. Continue reading...
The attack came hours after Donald Trump threatened to obliterate' Iran's energy plants and oil wells unless it opened the strait of Hormuz. Plus, Israel to give death penalty to Palestinians convicted of lethal attacksGood morning.Iran attacked and set alight a fully loaded crude oil tanker anchored at Dubai port, causing damage to the vessel's hull, in the latest strike on merchant vessels in the Gulf and the strait of Hormuz. The fire was extinguished within hours and no injuries were reported.What has Trump said about the war's end? He has continued to give mixed messages, threatening to destroy Iran's energy facilities unless it agrees to peace terms - while simultaneously claiming diplomatic progress in ending the war the US started together with Israel. Iran has accused the US of using diplomacy as a smokescreen to prepare for more attacks.Which countries are most vulnerable to economic shocks? The Philippines, which imports almost all of its crude oil from the Middle East, is particularly exposed to surging prices, which have triggered protests and widespread anger.Why now? The government of Iran, which the US has attacked, is a prolific and sophisticated disinformation actor, while Russian and Chinese influence operations continue to target US allies globally.How would the embassies do it? They have been told to use local influencers, academics and community leaders abroad to make US-funded narratives feel more organic. Continue reading...
Exclusive: Reform UK will be steering well clear' of CPAC event in July, says a source, as will senior ToriesNigel Farage will snub a major conference of US conservatives that is being brought to the UK by Liz Truss.The short-lived former prime minister, who was accused of crashing the economy, was chosen by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) to lead a version of the event in the UK in July. Continue reading...
Bear slayer' Honey injured during confrontation to protect family and animals from ursine home invaderA half-blind, 12-year-old New Mexico dog is being called bear slayer" after she fended off an ursine intruder at her family's home, protecting dozens of chickens and other animals but only narrowly surviving the violent encounter.As told by her caretakers, the story of Honey demonstrates the extreme loyalty of dogs to their owners. Continue reading...
World news | The Guardian