Lines closed between Luton and Bedford as emergency services attend scene
Two trains have collided in the Bedford area, authorities have said, with police and other emergency services at the scene.
The collision, which is reported to have caused injuries, has also caused major delays to the evening commute, with lines closed between Luton and Bedford, Thameslink said.
Continue reading...US-Iran meeting in Switzerland on implementation of peace deal cancelled over clashes in southern Lebanon
Israel and Hezbollah agreed to renew a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon on Friday after 24 hours of intense violence that posed an early challenge to the new agreement between the US and Iran to end their conflict.
A meeting that was scheduled to take place on Friday between Washington and Tehran in Switzerland to discuss implementation of the new deal was cancelled when Hezbollah killed four Israeli soldiers and Israel carried out a wave of retaliatory airstrikes in southern Lebanon and the Bekaa valley that killed at least 47 people.
Continue reading...Cambridgeshire police say 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder is not fit to be interviewed
A man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder after a three-year-old boy ended up in a crocodile enclosure has been released because he is not fit to be interviewed, police have said.
The 30-year-old man from Norfolk has been bailed while detectives from the major crimes unit conduct further inquiries, Cambridgeshire police said.
Continue reading...Birds have been in the park since the Russian ambassador gave King Charles II two in 1664 – but none ever bred there
They arrived in the royal park shortly before the Great Fire of London, when the Russian ambassador presented a pair to King Charles II as a gift.
But although pelicans have been living in St James’s Park since 1664, none ever learned the art of courtship – until now, when for the first time in more than 360 years, chicks have been born.
Continue reading...Social Circle announces homeland security has canceled plans to convert warehouse to detain up to 10,000 people
The small town of Social Circle in rural Georgia has announced that the Department of Homeland Security has cancelled plans to turn a warehouse into what would have been one of the largest immigration detention centers in the country.
The cancellation appears to be one of seven around the country, according to reporting elsewhere, and part of a reversal under new homeland security director Markwayne Mullin in the Trump administration’s plans to buy up warehouses and boost detention capacity – after spending $1bn on the effort in recent months.
Continue reading...‘Historian’ claims ‘overwhelming difference’ between him and rogues’ gallery of autocrats is that Trump is more powerful
Donald Trump has enthusiastically agreed with a public assessment by a man he met while golfing that the “overwhelming difference” between the current US president and historical figures who incited fear – such as Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, Stalin, Mao and Hitler – is that Trump is more powerful.
The US president reposted a short text in the early hours of Friday morning, in which the author writes:
Continue reading...Former president nevertheless said in an interview that he was happy to see a ceasefire with Iran and hopes it holds
Barack Obama has said that after 15 weeks of war with Iran, the US is now “worse off” than before the conflict started in February.
“We’ve now fought a war, spent billions and billions of dollars, you know, put enormous strain on our military. A lot of people have died. And it feels like we’re back where we were before we started the war, except maybe a little bit worse off,” the former US president told NBC News in an interview that aired on Friday.
Continue reading...US president provokes outrage as PM says he ‘totally invented’ story in interview with Italian media
Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, has said Donald Trump “totally invented” a story about her after the US president claimed she begged him to take a photo with her during the G7 summit.
The two former allies had appeared to be getting their relationship back on track by having several one-to-ones on the sidelines at the gathering in Évian after falling out in April over the US-Israeli war in Iran.
Continue reading...Tanker owner trade body says centre of strait will stay shut for ‘some time’, and vessels forced to hug Omani coast risk running aground
The centre of the strait of Hormuz is blocked with about 80 mines that will need clearing for normal shipping to resume, the independent tanker owner trade body has said.
Several vessels began to exit the Gulf through the key maritime chokepoint on Thursday after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the US and Iran.
Continue reading...JD Vance lambasts Israeli critics of proposed deal but does not travel to Europe as planned. Plus, at 82 years old, Keith Richards still gives some of the best interview quotes in town
Good morning. Talks due to take place today between the US and Iran to implement a peace deal were abruptly cancelled. The White House said the US still looked forward to “beginning technical talks as soon as possible”. Hezbollah-linked media reported Tehran was delaying sending its delegation due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon.
The talks had been set to begin in the Swiss village of Obbürgen two days after the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that opened a 60-day window to negotiate a permanent agreement over Iran’s nuclear programme, while reopening the strait of Hormuz. The centre of the strait is blocked with about 80 mines that will need clearing for normal shipping to resume, the independent tanker owner trade body has said.
What is happening in Lebanon? Hezbollah targeted Israeli forces near Nabatieh with several salvoes of rocket fire after Israeli shelling. Israel responded with a wave of airstrikes, killing at least 18 people and injuring 33. Iran has said Israel’s attacks on Lebanon must end as part of any peace deal.
What did JD Vance say to Israeli critics of the deal? In sharp words, the vice-president said: “Donald J Trump is the only head of state in the entire world who is sympathetic to the nation of Israel at this moment in time. If I was in the cabinet of the Israeli government, I might not be attacking the only powerful ally that I have anywhere left in the entire world.”
Why does Trump’s Iran entanglement echo the Jimmy Carter years? In this excellent analysis piece, Robert Tait reminds us that one of Trump’s earliest political forays was lambasting the Democratic president during the 1980 Iran hostage crisis. Tait says Trump now finds himself in a position that uncannily resembles that of his predecessor – unable to bend Iran to his will despite superior US military power.
Continue reading...