Author: Henry

Senior ministers, Bank of England officials and other key figures gathered in Whitehall on Monday for an emergency Cobra meeting focused on the potential economic consequences of the ongoing conflict in Iran as the Prime Minister sought to reassure the public that the government was taking action on household finances.Cobra, formally known as the Cabinet Office Briefing Room A, is the government’s principal crisis coordination mechanism, convening senior officials in response to major national or international emergencies. Monday’s session was called specifically to examine how the situation in Iran could affect British families and the wider economy.Keir Starmer, speaking to…

An Air Canada regional jet struck a firefighting vehicle on a runway at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late on Sunday night, killing both pilots and sending dozens of passengers and crew to hospital in one of the most serious incidents at the airport in recent memory.The collision occurred at approximately 11.40pm local time on Runway 4, when a Jazz Aviation aircraft — operating on behalf of Air Canada and travelling at around 24mph after arriving from Montreal — struck a Port Authority rescue and firefighting vehicle that had been responding to a separate incident elsewhere on the airfield. The aircraft,…

Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish volunteer emergency service were destroyed in a suspected antisemitic arson attack in north London in the early hours of Monday morning, with police now appealing for the public’s help in identifying those responsible.The vehicles, operated by Hatzolah — a non-profit organisation that has provided free emergency medical care to the Jewish community in north London since 1979 — were found burning on Highfield Road in Golders Green at approximately 1.45am. The London Fire Brigade confirmed that gas canisters stored aboard the ambulances exploded during the blaze, causing windows to shatter in a neighbouring residential…

Wiltshire police are calling on the public to assist in locating a missing teenager from Swindon who has not been seen since Friday morning. Ashleigh, 17, was last seen at around 7am on 20 March in the Liden area of Swindon. Officers say they have growing concerns for her wellbeing. Investigators believe she may have made her way to the Stroud area, and are asking residents there to remain alert. She is described as approximately 5ft tall with blonde hair. Swindon Police have issued a formal appeal for information. “Anyone with information about her whereabouts should call 101 or 999…

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…