Author: Lucas Bennett

The Israeli military has killed two truck drivers working under contract for UNICEF at a water filling point in the northern Gaza Strip, forcing the UN children’s agency to suspend its operations at the site, UNICEF has said. Two other people were wounded in the attack, which took place at the Mansoura water filling point in Gaza City, the agency confirmed in a statement. UNICEF said the point is used multiple times a day to deliver clean water to hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza City, drawn from the Mekorot water supply line. The agency said onsite activities had…

Two men lost their lives after a vehicle was seen travelling against the flow of traffic on a Scottish motorway, prompting a lengthy closure and a police appeal for witnesses. A police investigation is under way after two drivers were killed in a head-on collision on the M90 in Scotland, in a crash that appears to have involved a car driving the wrong way down the motorway. What happened on the southbound carriageway The fatal smash occurred at around 10.30pm on Friday near junction seven, close to the town of Kinross in Perth and Kinross. According to Police Scotland, a…

While Westminster debates warships and waterways, a quieter crisis is unfolding in kitchens and mortgage meetings across the country. A Dispatch Times analysis finds the Iran war has already added more than £1,400 to the average British household’s annual costs — and the hardest hit is still to come. A war fought 3,000 miles away, paid for in Preston and Peckham When the first American bombers took off for Iranian airspace on 28 February 2026, the Downing Street line was reassuring: Britain was not directly involved, and the economic fallout would be “contained.” Seven weeks later, that fiction has collapsed.…

Iran reversed course on the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, warning mariners that the waterway was shut and firing on at least two vessels attempting to pass through, in a dramatic escalation that has thrown the fragile ceasefire with the United States into fresh doubt. The closure came barely 24 hours after Tehran’s foreign minister had declared the strait open to commercial shipping, and prompted a sharp response from President Trump, who said Iran could not “blackmail” the United States by sealing the world’s most critical energy chokepoint. What happened in the strait Maritime security and shipping sources said vessels…

Seven weeks into the Iran war, the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow passage through which roughly a fifth of the world’s seaborne oil and a significant share of its liquefied natural gas flows — has become the centrepiece of a high-stakes standoff whose consequences reach far beyond the Middle East. What began as a military campaign has mutated into something more corrosive: an economic weapon wielded by multiple parties, none of whom appear able to agree on whether the waterway is open, closed, or something uncertainly in between. On Friday, Iran’s foreign minister declared the strait “completely open” to…

.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ Iran’s parliament speaker has warned that the Strait of Hormuz “will not remain open” unless the United States lifts its naval blockade of Iranian ports, undermining efforts by both Washington and Tehran to present progress towards ending the conflict.The warning from Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf came hours after Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, declared the strait “completely open” to commercial shipping for the remainder of the ceasefire. The contradictory signals from Tehran, combined with President Donald Trump’s insistence that the blockade would stay in place until a comprehensive deal was struck, left the status of the world’s most critical oil…

The homelessness charity Centrepoint has moved to sever its relationship with Sharon Osbourne after the television personality publicly expressed her intention to attend a far-right rally organised by Tommy Robinson.Osbourne’s official Instagram account left a comment on a post promoting Robinson’s “unite the kingdom” march, planned for 16 May in London, saying: “See you at the march.” The charity, of which the Prince of Wales is patron, said the event “does not align with our values”.Why the charity acted quicklyCentrepoint had recently worked with Osbourne as an ambassador for an Omaze fundraising campaign, which sold entries for a sweepstakes-style draw…

The Prime Minister said on Friday it was “unforgivable” that he had not been told his former ambassador to Washington failed security vetting before taking up the post — a revelation that has handed his opponents fresh ammunition and triggered renewed calls for his resignation barely three weeks before what is expected to be a bruising set of local and regional elections. Keir Starmer, speaking to reporters in France where he was holding talks on the Iran crisis, said he would return to parliament on Monday to “set out the relevant facts”. A Downing Street spokesperson confirmed the Prime Minister…

Daniel Kinahan, the Irish national long suspected of leading one of Europe’s most prominent organised crime networks, has been arrested in Dubai following the issue of an Irish warrant and an extradition agreement between the two countries. Dubai Police confirmed that Kinahan, described as an “Irish fugitive”, was taken into custody on Wednesday 15 April over his alleged involvement in an international organised crime network. Irish police — An Garda Síochána — said on Friday that a man in his 40s had been detained under the terms of a bilateral extradition treaty between Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. What…

A man suspected of involvement in one of the deadliest terrorist attacks on French soil in the 1980s has been taken into custody in France, more than four decades after the killings took place. Mahmoud Khader Abed Adra — also known as Hicham Harb — was arrested following his transfer to a French military airbase, where Palestinian authorities had handed him over to French officials. France’s anti-terrorist prosecutor’s office confirmed the detention on Thursday. A Neighbourhood Scarred by Violence The attack he is alleged to have been connected to took place in August 1982, when gunmen opened fire on Jo…