News 19/03/26

Iran’s attacks on Qatar have damaged facilities producing seventeen percent of the country’s liquefied natural gas export capacity, according to QatarEnergy.

Chief executive Saad al Kaabi said repairs to the site, which cost twenty six billion dollars to build, could take between three and five years. Iran struck a facility linked to the North Field, the Qatari side of the world’s largest natural gas field, pushing oil and gas prices higher. Al Kaabi said he never expected Qatar to face such an attack from what he called a brotherly Muslim country during Ramadan.

The sale of crossbows and hunting arrows will be banned under government plans following a series of violent attacks.

The Home Office says current owners will also need a licence. The move follows the killing of BBC racing commentator John Hunt’s wife and two daughters in July twenty twenty four. Kyle Clifford, aged twenty six, is serving a whole life order after murdering Louise Hunt, Hannah Hunt and their mother Carol at the family home in Bushey in Hertfordshire.

Essex Police has paused the use of live facial recognition cameras after a study found they identified more black people than other ethnic groups.

The cameras are mounted on vans and used to spot people on watchlists. Thirteen forces were using the technology by the end of last year and plans had been announced to increase the number of vans. Essex Police says use was stopped after concerns about possible bias, but believes the problem has been corrected with an updated algorithm.

Kemi Badenoch says a Ramadan event in central London criticised by one of her shadow ministers should not have gone ahead.

The comments follow criticism of public prayers held in Trafalgar Square. Labour has called the remarks abhorrent and urged the Conservative leader to remove Nick Timothy from his frontbench role. Badenoch has backed her colleague, saying she did not like what she saw in footage from the event.

Donald Trump faced questions on the war in Iran, saying he believes Japan will be “stepping up to the plate” unlike NATO.

The US president added he is “not putting troops anywhere – and if I was, I wouldn’t tell you.” He described the conflict as “an excursion” and said it is “going to be over with pretty soon.”

A man has died in a collision that closed part of the M80 motorway in Scotland for more than fifteen hours.

Police Scotland said they were called to a report of a crash involving a pedestrian at Denny just after twelve twenty am on Thursday. Emergency crews attended, and the forty-four-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. No other injuries were reported.

A number of vape shops are under active investigation over concerns about illegal activity, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead council says.

Trading Standards regularly inspects businesses for the sale of illegal products and age-restricted items to underage customers. The council said it would take “robust action” against any business found to be breaking the law. A new Tobacco and Vapes Bill in parliament would introduce licences for retailers.

Facebook is offering larger influencers three thousand dollars, around two thousand two hundred and sixty pounds, a month to post on the platform as part of its Content Fast Track programme.

The scheme targets creators with over a million followers on other video-sharing sites such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. Parent company Meta said it paid nearly three billion dollars to creators in 2025 through monetisation programmes. Jordan Schwarzenberger of the Sidemen described the move as “a bit of a desperate move” despite liking the platform.

A teenage boy has died after a flat fire in south London which broke out next to a fire station.

The London Fire Brigade says four engines and around twenty five firefighters were called to a blaze on the first floor of a six storey building in Cooper’s Road in Southwark on Wednesday. One teenage boy left the property before crews arrived and was taken to hospital, while another was found dead at the scene. The fire happened close to Old Kent Road Fire Station.

Fossil fuel prices have continued to rise, with oil reaching a new high since the war in Iran began.

A barrel of Brent crude briefly hit one hundred and eighteen dollars seventy four cents after half past nine this morning, the highest level since June twenty twenty two. The increase follows attacks on energy production sites and growing concern over supply, as tankers struggle to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a route used for about a fifth of global oil and gas shipments.

The online safety regulator Ofcom has fined the US messaging platform Four Chan a total of five hundred and twenty thousand pounds for breaches of the Online Safety Act.

The penalty includes four hundred and fifty thousand pounds for failing to introduce age checks to stop children seeing pornography. A lawyer representing the company responded with an AI generated cartoon image of a hamster. In a post on X he said the platform operates in the United States where its conduct is protected by the First Amendment.

The Bank of England has held the base rate at 3.75%.

All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted to keep the rate unchanged, the first time since September twenty twenty one that there has been a unanimous decision. The move had been widely expected after conflict in the Middle East at the end of last month raised concerns that inflation could increase. Before the war in Iran, many economists had predicted the rate would be reduced to 3.5%.

Keir Starmer has discussed strikes on energy facilities in the Middle East with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte and France’s president Emmanuel Macron.

Downing Street says the leaders spoke about what was described as Iranian strikes on Qatari energy sites. They agreed attacks on critical infrastructure risk pushing the region further into crisis. The prime minister said it was vital that partners work together on a viable plan to secure the Strait of Hormuz.

The number of meningitis cases has risen again, according to new figures from the UK Health Security Agency.

Yesterday the number stood at twenty, but it has now increased to twenty seven. Officials say that as of five o’clock on Wednesday evening, fifteen cases have been confirmed by laboratory tests, while twelve more remain under investigation as health teams continue to monitor the situation.

The chair of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry says the country’s healthcare systems came close to collapse during the pandemic.

Baroness Heather Hallett says in the inquiry’s third report that the system coped, but only just. The latest module examined the impact of Covid on healthcare across the four nations, including how governments and society responded, how services adapted, and the effect on patients, families and healthcare workers.

Transport for London is trialling a new type of radar‑based speed camera at up to ten sites across the capital.

The cameras will be installed in Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Havering, Croydon, Hammersmith and Fulham, Brent, Hackney, Ealing and Sutton over the coming weeks. All locations are on 20mph or 30mph roads and were chosen for suitability and risk. Unlike current spot speed cameras, which use sensors embedded in the road to detect vehicle speeds, the new devices use radar technology to monitor traffic more efficiently.

UK unemployment has stayed at its highest level in five years, according to new official figures.

The Office for National Statistics says the jobless rate was 5.2% in the three months to January. Before last month, the UK had not seen such a high rate since the three months to January 2021. Analysts warn the figures reflect ongoing challenges in the labour market, with rising costs and economic uncertainty continuing to affect hiring and retention across sectors.

Donald Trump has responded to Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field.

In a post on Truth Social, he said Israel had violently lashed out and insisted no further attacks would be made on what is described as the largest natural gas field in the world. He said he had no prior knowledge of the strike, but warned that if Iran attacked Qatari sites, the United States would massively blow up the entire South Pars field with a level of strength and power Iran had never seen.

The mother of one of the Nottingham attack victims says it felt like validation to hear police believed the killings were murder rather than a lesser charge.

Valdo Calocane admitted manslaughter and attempted murder, but denied murder because of diminished responsibility, a plea accepted by prosecutors. Emma Webber said the senior investigating officer told the inquiry police felt the case involved planning, insight and culpability, and that officers had believed the offences amounted to murder.

Two Iranian men have been charged under the National Security Act after an investigation into alleged reconnaissance of Jewish targets on behalf of Iran.

Forty year old Nematollah Shahsavani and twenty two year old Alireza Farasati were arrested earlier this month on suspicion of assisting a foreign intelligence service. Counter Terrorism Policing said the investigation involved alleged surveillance of locations and individuals linked to London’s Jewish community. Officers described the charges as extremely serious and said they would be relentless in protecting public safety.

The Bank of England is expected to hold interest rates because of the economic impact of the war in Iran.

Analysts had predicted a cut, but market upheaval and higher oil prices have made that unlikely. The Monetary Policy Committee is expected to keep the benchmark rate at three point seven five percent. Commentators say the outlook later in the year is uncertain, with the possibility of increases if the conflict causes a prolonged economic shock.

A girl who appeared in hundreds of child sexual abuse images has been identified after years of searching by internet safety experts.

The victim, now a young adult, was traced after researchers recognised her school uniform in a picture. The Internet Watch Foundation first saw the material in twenty twenty but could not identify her at the time. The analyst who found her said locating victims in cases like this is rare.