Author: Lucas Bennett

A young British woman has landed back in the UK after spending nearly a year detained in a Dubai prison, following drug charges against her that were eventually dropped earlier this year. Isabella Daggett, 22, from Leeds, was arrested in the Gulf state just five weeks after relocating there to begin a new career as a recruitment consultant. She had been offered the position by a businessman she worked for in the UK, who arranged for her to take on a similar recruitment role focused on British construction sites from a base in Dubai. The charges were dropped in January,…

Sir Keir Starmer is to convene an emergency Cobra meeting tomorrow as the ongoing conflict in Iran continues to put pressure on British households and national security. The Prime Minister will be joined by senior ministers and security chiefs for the session — his third Iran-related Cobra meeting this month alone. The gathering is expected to centre primarily on the domestic economic impact of the war, with disruption to shipping in the Strait of Hormuz threatening to push household energy bills up by more than £300. Around a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strategically vital waterway, which…

A 27-year-old police officer has died after the patrol car he was travelling in collided with another vehicle while responding to an emergency call in Kent, with a second officer who was in the same car remaining in a critical condition in hospital.PC Bradley Corke, who had served with Kent Police since May 2022 and was based in Tonbridge covering communities across West Kent, sustained fatal injuries when the marked Ford Focus he was travelling in crashed on the westbound carriageway of the A20 London Road at its junction with Button Street in Farningham at approximately 7.45pm on Thursday. He…

The families of two women killed by the same man are preparing to go public this week with a campaign demanding police accountability, after a series of failures they believe allowed their killer to strike twice — and left one victim’s body still missing nearly two years on. Naomi Hunte, 41, was found stabbed to death at her home in Woolwich on Valentine’s Day 2022. Her killer, Carl Cooper, was arrested four days later but released on bail. Sixteen months later, Cooper murdered his next partner, Fiona Holm, 48, from Catford in south-east London. Cooper was jailed for life in…

Iran has launched a missile strike targeting the area surrounding Israel’s most sensitive and secretive nuclear site in the Negev desert, in what Tehran described as a direct response to earlier attacks on its own nuclear facility at Natanz. The missile landed near the Negev Nuclear Research Centre outside the city of Dimona in southern Israel. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed it was aware of the attack but said it had received no indication of damage to the research centre and that no abnormal radiation levels had been detected. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi called for maximum military restraint,…

Robert Mueller, one of the most consequential figures in modern American law enforcement, has died at the age of 81. His family confirmed the news in a statement on Friday night, asking that their privacy be respected. No cause of death was immediately given. Mueller is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Ann Cabell Standish, their two daughters and three grandchildren. Before Mueller became synonymous with the investigation that dominated Washington for two years, he had already built one of the most distinguished careers in the history of American public service. Born in 1944, he studied politics at…

A ballistic missile attack on a British and American military base in the Indian Ocean has exposed a significant and alarming gap in Western intelligence assessments of Iran’s military reach, with defence analysts now warning that major European cities including London and Paris may fall within range of Tehran’s weapons. Two Iranian ballistic missiles were fired at Diego Garcia, a strategically vital base in the Chagos Islands used as a launchpad for operations across the Middle East, on Friday night. One missile failed during flight while the other was intercepted by a US warship, in what is believed to be…

Misleading social media content about ADHD and autism is contributing to a growing trend of young people incorrectly believing they have neurodevelopmental conditions, according to new research. The study, carried out by experts at the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, examined the quality of health-related information circulating across major platforms including TikTok, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and X. Researchers analysed 27 studies covering more than 5,000 social media posts and concluded there was a clear need for higher quality information online. Among the findings, more than half of ADHD-related videos on TikTok were found to…

Leeds City Council has made wellbeing support and counselling available to its employees ahead of a Reform UK rally scheduled for next Tuesday, after an internal email was circulated warning staff they may be affected by Nigel Farage’s visit to the city. The Labour-run authority’s HR department sent the communication to staff, informing them they could access wellbeing resources and take part in “safe space conversations” if the forthcoming political event caused them distress. The council’s wellbeing network was subsequently activated following the email. John Ebo, the council’s HR chief, authored the message, writing that he was mindful such events…

Chuck Norris, the Oklahoma-born martial artist who became one of Hollywood’s most recognisable action stars, has died at the age of 86, his family confirmed in a statement on Instagram. He is survived by his wife Gena O’Kelley and five children. Born Carlos Ray Norris in 1940, his path to global fame began not in Hollywood but in the US Air Force, where a posting to South Korea introduced him to martial arts. He went on to earn black belts across five disciplines — karate, taekwondo, tang soo do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo — and founded his own system,…