Author: Lucas Bennett

The Home Office has opened a formal call for evidence on plans to create a new independent body to handle asylum appeals, marking the next stage in the Government’s overhaul of the system. Submissions will be accepted until 11.59pm on 22 April 2026, with responses sought from individuals and organisations who have direct experience of the immigration and asylum appeals process. Legal professionals, regulators, charities, public service bodies and researchers are all being invited to contribute. The new body, which will be staffed by adjudicators rather than judges, is intended to replace the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). The…

Tens of thousands of cancer patients in England are set to benefit from a new one-minute injection that will replace gruelling intravenous infusions lasting up to two hours, in what NHS bosses say is a major leap forward in modernising cancer care. The injectable form of pembrolizumab an immunotherapy drug already widely used on the NHS — will be rolled out across the health service to treat 14 different types of cancer, including breast, cervical, lung, and head and neck cancers, according to The Telegraph. The new method cuts treatment time by up to 90 per cent. Patients will now…

US President Donald Trump has announced that American forces will move to “free up” ships trapped in the Strait of Hormuz from Monday, in a direct challenge to Iran’s blockade of the strategically vital waterway. In a statement issued on his social media platform on Sunday, Trump described the operation — which has been named Project Freedom — as a “humanitarian gesture”, and warned Tehran against any attempt to disrupt it. The president said the intervention had been prompted by deteriorating conditions aboard the stranded vessels. “Many of these Ships are running low on food, and everything else necessary for…

Three passengers have died and a Briton is fighting for his life in intensive care after a suspected Hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean, the World Health Organization has confirmed to the BBC. One case of the virus has been formally confirmed on board the MV Hondius, with five further suspected cases now under investigation. The WHO has classified the outbreak as a “public health event” and is co-ordinating an international response. The vessel, operated by Dutch tour firm Oceanwide Expeditions, had been making its way from Argentina to Cape Verde when passengers began falling ill.…

A Mexican illegal immigrant has been jailed for 25 years in the United States for orchestrating a vast drug and gun trafficking operation from inside a Georgia prison cell, as the Trump administration escalates its crackdown on foreign nationals running criminal enterprises on American soil. The US Department of Justice announced this week that Servando Corona Penaloza, 38, used a contraband mobile phone smuggled into a Georgia state prison to direct the sale of more than 1,000 kilograms of methamphetamine and fentanyl, while also coordinating the purchase of more than 200 military-style firearms that were trafficked to Mexico for use…

Iran says it has received Washington’s reply to its latest peace proposal, with Donald Trump reportedly dismissing the 14-point plan as unacceptable. The response, which was delivered through Pakistan acting as intermediary, is now being studied in Tehran, according to Tasnim news agency, which cited Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson. The United States has yet to formally confirm that it has replied. However, President Trump is understood to have told Israel’s Kan News on Sunday that the proposal was not one he could accept. Writing on his Truth Social platform late on Saturday, Trump said of the Iranians: “They have not…

Police have launched an urgent appeal to help trace a missing 18-year-old woman who was last seen in the early hours of Saturday morning during a night out with friends in Romford. Ashley Calder was last spotted at around 3.30am on Saturday 2 May, and officers say they are growing increasingly concerned for her welfare. According to the appeal issued by police, Ashley was wearing grey jeans, a white vest top and beige trainers when she was last seen. She also has a distinctive flower tattoo on her right wrist, which officers hope may help members of the public to…

The maker of the leading brand of mifepristone has turned to the US Supreme Court in an urgent bid to overturn a ruling that has temporarily blocked mail-order access to the abortion pill. Danco Laboratories lodged its application on Saturday, asking the justices to stay a decision handed down a day earlier by a conservative three-judge panel of a federal appeals court. According to Reuters, the unanimous ruling significantly curtails access to the drug nationwide, with the sharpest consequences expected to fall on states that have already outlawed abortion. In its filing, the company painted a picture of an industry…

The era of the bottomless McDonald’s drink appears to be quietly drawing to a close, with apologetic notices warning diners that free refills are no longer on the menu beginning to surface in branches across the United States. Photographs circulating online show signs in restaurants reading, “We’re sorry. No refills. Thank you for your understanding,” while another, shared on the McDonald’s subreddit, takes a curter tone: “No refills. Thank you for your cooperation.” The reaction from regulars has been anything but cooperative. Furious customers have accused the chain of “nickel and diming” them, with one retort summing up the mood:…

Last week, in a German town most people couldn’t find on a map, Chancellor Friedrich Merz visited a high school. He spent some of his time with the students talking about the war in Iran. He said the Americans had no exit plan. He said the Iranians were running circles around them. He said an entire country was being humiliated.Four days later, the Pentagon announced it was pulling 5,000 American soldiers out of Germany.If that sequence sounds too direct to be coincidence, that’s because it is.Most of the news coverage you’ll read calls this a “Trump-Merz feud over the Iran…