News 13/11/26

More than thirty people have been taken to hospital after a tanker lost control and crashed into a cruise ship on the Mississippi River.

American Cruise Lines confirmed its river boat, American Heritage, was partially submerged following the collision while docked in New Orleans on Friday with one hundred and twenty-nine passengers aboard. Emergency services launched a major rescue operation at the scene.

The Federal Aviation Administration has confirmed that a temporary telecommunications outage caused the nationwide airport ground stop across the United States.

Officials stated the measure was taken out of an abundance of caution and confirmed that every flight has been accounted for.

The Federal Aviation Administration has grounded all departing flights across the United States due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.

In an emergency alert issued to all aircraft operators, the aviation command centre ordered every airport ground stopped until further notice, while confirming that inbound international flights will be managed on a case-by-case basis.

In a major case involving online exploitation, a 27-year-old Indian student has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

Bilal Kazi, who was studying in the UK, posed as a white British teenage boy named “Reece” while using apps such as Roblox, Snapchat, Wizz, and Wink. He deceived his victims, aged between 10 and 17, into believing they were in a genuine relationship, before luring them into sending explicit images and videos. The victims subsequently sent more material, fearing he would share the pictures with others.

The Metropolitan Police have launched a criminal investigation into David Walliams after receiving a number of allegations of non-recent serious sexual offences involving a man now in his fifties.

The force stated that the complaints received in recent days are separate from reports by ITN and The Guardian, though detectives are also proactively reviewing that media reporting for evidence of offences.

Microsoft says it is seeing sustained improvements in service availability as recovery progresses across affected Microsoft 365 services.

However, the tech giant warns some users may still struggle to connect or experience email delays. Key UK services including the NHS, GPs, schools, pharmacies, and businesses have been disrupted following the global outage.

Conservative home affairs spokesman Chris Philp and Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf descended into a shouting match while sharing a platform in Piddington to oppose local asylum accommodation plans.

Mr Yusuf demanded an apology from the Tories for allowing hundreds of thousands of people into the country illegally, while Mr Philp insisted those housed at the military base would be recent arrivals.

Eleanor Donaldson, the wife of disgraced former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson, has been placed on the sex offenders’ register for five years and handed a three-year supervision and treatment order.

Following a trial of the facts after being ruled unfit to stand trial on mental health grounds, she was found to have aided and abetted her husband’s historical abuse of two women when they were children.

A former bodyguard to the leader of Hamas who was granted British citizenship before allegedly plotting a terrorist attack in Europe has been identified as forty-year-old Mohammed Alfatih.

Born in Germany, he grew up in Gaza where he protected Ismail Haniyeh, and is now accused of playing a prominent role in an alleged plot to assassinate Israeli and Jewish targets across Germany and Austria.

More women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct and predatory behaviour against disgraced entertainer Russell Brand.

Jailed earlier this week for rape and sexual assault following a trial in London, Brand faces fresh accusations from six women published by The Times, which could not be reported until criminal proceedings concluded. He has denied any non-consensual sexual activity.

The NHS is reporting technical problems affecting Rapid Health, the online consultation system used by GP practices, urging patients to call surgery reception directly for urgent medical issues.

Meanwhile, union leaders warn the Microsoft outage is having a serious impact across ambulance and NHS trusts, leaving 111 staff unable to refer patient details and creating a massive backlog.

Manchester United and Mauricio Pochettino have agreed a deal for him to take over as head coach with the team in the Premier League’s relegation zone.

The Argentine is poised to sign a two-and-a-half-year contract at Old Trafford after the club sacked Michael Carrick on Thursday. Pochettino, who holds a seven-million-pound release clause in his USA contract, is expected to be formally announced on Friday as United’s eighth permanent appointment since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

Microsoft services have been disrupted since last night after users reported that its 365 suite and Outlook were down.

The software giant has struggled to engineer a fix, confirming in a service update that changes applied to improve serviceability are not taking as expected.

A BBC investigation has found companies are offering to help migrants pose as talented artists and tech experts to submit fraudulent UK visa applications under the fast-track Global Talent scheme.

Launched in 2020 to attract leading scientists, researchers, and creative artists without interviews, the visa offers a quick path to permanent residency. Following the report, the Home Office is revoking visas issued to two Nigerian men who claimed to be fine art photographers, believing they were obtained by deception.

Former Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang has been summoned to testify before a Senate committee next month regarding his alleged affair with a suspected Chinese spy.

Huang abruptly quit on Thursday following revelations of extramarital affairs, wiping four hundred and fifteen billion pounds off Nvidia’s market value in five days. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has also been summoned to appear before the Senate Banking Committee in December over chip exports to China.