Author: Lucas Bennett

A teenage girl has died following a three-vehicle collision on a Buckinghamshire road on Friday night, with three young people now in custody over her death. Thames Valley Police said the crash took place on the A355 at approximately 9.20pm, involving a white Toyota Yaris, a grey Toyota Hilux, and a motorbike. The 15-year-old girl was a passenger on the motorbike at the time of the collision. Three arrests have since been made. The 16-year-old boy who was riding the motorbike carrying the girl has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. A further two teenagers —…

A Jewish school in Amsterdam has been struck by an explosion in what the city’s mayor has described as a deliberate and targeted attack on the Jewish community.The blast struck a religious school in an upscale residential neighbourhood on the city’s south side. Dutch media reported the incident as a purposeful act, and Amsterdam mayor Femke Halsema confirmed she believed it to be a targeted attack. It remains unclear whether anyone was injured.Ms Halsema condemned the incident, describing it as a cowardly act of aggression and stating that Jewish residents of Amsterdam face a growing pattern of antisemitic incidents that…

The United States is sending thousands of marines and a naval warship to the Middle East as Washington moves to forcibly reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply passes. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has approved a deployment request from US Central Command, authorising the dispatch of part of a Marine Amphibious Ready Group alongside the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit and the USS Tripoli, according to the Wall Street Journal. The USS Tripoli, previously stationed in Japan, was tracked moving through the Bashi Channel — the waterway between Taiwan and the Philippines — on…

A police helicopter helped officers corner three teenage boys hiding in a field in South Ockendon after a stolen motorbike was traced to the area. Thurrock neighbourhood and local policing teams responded after a theft was reported, moving to surround land north of the A13 while the National Police Air Service provided aerial support overhead. When officers closed in, the teenagers were found alongside three vehicles — a motorbike matching the reported stolen one, a moped believed to have been taken the previous day, and a Surron e-bike. Realising they were being watched from above, the group attempted to move…

Two young men who had just finished their A-level exams never made it home after a late-night snack run turned fatal when the driver of their car raced a friend’s vehicle at speeds exceeding 100mph before losing control on a rural Lincolnshire road. Harrison Carter, 18, and George Stephenson, 17, died at the scene when the Kia Niro carrying them struck a tree on Toll Bar Road in the village of Marston on 20 June last year. The unlit road carried a 60mph speed limit and featured a warning sign for the approaching bend that the driver failed to negotiate.…

A photograph showing Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Lord Peter Mandelson seated alongside convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein has emerged from a vast archive of documents published by the United States Department of Justice — marking the first time all three men have been pictured together. The image, believed to date from between 1999 and 2000, shows the trio at an outdoor wooden deck table, with American flag-patterned mugs visible in front of them. ITV News reported the photograph was taken at Martha’s Vineyard. No formal location or timestamp is included in the DOJ files themselves. The presence of individuals in the documents…

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has put fuel retailers on notice that the government will not allow companies to exploit rising oil prices for profit, as the Competition and Markets Authority is placed on high alert ahead of a crunch meeting with the industry on Friday.Miliband and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are set to sit down with petrol retailers later today, with officials preparing to warn the sector that unjustifiable price rises will face scrutiny from the competition watchdog. The move comes after the Chancellor this week highlighted a stark variation in forecourt prices, with petrol ranging from £1.27 to £1.80 per…

Four members of a US military KC-135 refuelling aircraft have been killed after the plane crashed in western Iraq, bringing the total American death toll in the ongoing war with Iran to 11, US Central Command has confirmed.The crash occurred at around 14:00 ET on Thursday during active US operations against Iran. A second aircraft involved in the same incident landed safely. Centcom said neither hostile nor friendly fire had caused the crash, though the circumstances remain under investigation. Iran’s military claimed on state television that an allied group had brought the plane down with a missile.The KC-135 Stratotanker, built…

A large-scale police operation across parts of Liverpool has resulted in 237 arrests and the seizure of weapons, drugs and tens of thousands of pounds in cash following a week of raids involving around 300 officers.Operation Vanguard, led by Merseyside Police, targeted Anfield and surrounding areas with teams drawn from specialist units including Matrix, County Lines, dog handlers, mounted police and underwater search teams. Officers executed 36 warrants during the first wave of activity, working from a list of 46 named suspects.Among those arrested, offences included possession and supply of Class A and B drugs, drug driving and carrying offensive…

Sir Keir Starmer has publicly admitted that appointing Lord Mandelson as Britain’s ambassador to the United States was a mistake, offering a direct apology to victims of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a political row over the handling of related documents intensified. Speaking on Thursday during a visit to Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister said: “It was me that made a mistake, and it’s me that makes the apology to the victims of Epstein, and I do that.” The admission came after the government released due diligence files on Wednesday showing Starmer was warned before confirming the appointment in December…