News 21/09/26

The UK will provide defensive military support to Saudi Arabia against attacks from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has confirmed.

Speaking on his way to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Burnham said he agreed to the request following advice from the Defence and Foreign Secretaries. The support will be limited to air-to-air refuelling for Saudi planes on defensive missions, utilizing one RAF Voyager aircraft.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino has written to global football chiefs stating he is open to talks on reforming the organisation, while affirming his commitment to remain in post.

Mr Infantino faced widespread criticism over a proposal to sell a twenty per cent stake in FIFA’s commercial rights to private investors. The plan was abandoned in July following opposition and boycott threats from UEFA, the Asian Football Confederation, and CONCACAF.

Passengers affected by today’s air traffic control disruption are unlikely to be entitled to compensation, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.

The regulator confirmed the technical problem is classified as an extraordinary circumstance outside airline control. However, the CAA stressed that airlines remain legally responsible for passenger welfare, requiring them to provide food and drink after delays of two to four hours and hotel accommodation for overnight stays.

A Rwandan man living in north London has become the first person charged in the UK with offences relating to the 1994 Rwandan genocide.

Sixty-five-year-old Dr Vincent Brown, formerly known as Dr Vincent Bajinya, faces seven charges including conduct ancillary to genocide and murder. The Crown Prosecution Service alleges he directed and incited acts of murder and genocide. He will appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.

Seventeen people have been arrested in dawn raids across South Bank, Grangetown and Eston, near Middlesbrough, targeting organised crime.

Cleveland Police said about one hundred and thirty officers and National Crime Agency personnel took part in the operation on Monday. The raids follow a fatal crash on the A66 last month after a police pursuit, which killed two police officers and five men travelling in a Volkswagen Passat.

Three major American media outlets have sued the Trump administration after being barred from the White House.

CNN, Politico and MS NOW filed joint legal action on Monday to defend press freedom, following President Donald Trump’s decision on Friday to ban them over allegations of writing fiction. In response to the ban, major US television networks have announced they will suspend their White House pooled coverage of the President.

A vinyl forger made two point seven million pounds selling thousands of counterfeit records of artists including the Beatles, Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift.

Police uncovered the UK’s largest ever fake vinyl haul at an industrial factory in Acton, west London, seizing eighteen tonnes of evidence. Officers found nearly two thousand eight hundred records spanning over one hundred acts, alongside four seventy-year-old presses, three thousand metal stampers, sleeves and centre labels.

Ryanair has renewed its call for the chief executive of National Air Traffic Services, Martin Rolfe, to resign or be fired by Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander.

The airline says more than one hundred and forty of its flights are delayed today because of an air traffic control issue, leaving over twenty-five thousand passengers facing delays of up to three hours. Ryanair blamed system failures, inadequate back-up procedures and failed management for the repeated disruption to UK travellers.

The British Museum has banned visitors from taking photographs of the Bayeux Tapestry after photography caused long queues for the sold-out exhibition.

The sixty-eight-metre medieval embroidery, on display in Britain for the first time, depicts the Norman conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings in ten sixty-six. Visitors enter in timed groups every forty minutes and must keep moving in one direction.

A rider of an unregistered, illegal motocross bike has suffered potentially life-changing injuries following a collision in Slough.

Thames Valley Police officers from Taplow attended the crash alongside three minor injury collisions during recent night shifts up to today, the twenty-first of September. The force also dealt with three impaired drivers, including one who hit a member of the public in Langley and failed to remain at the scene.

Accusations that the young are a snowflake generation are wrong, according to Professor Peter Fonagy, head of an independent review into mental health, ADHD and autism.

In an exclusive interview, Professor Fonagy highlighted a real rise in mental distress among young people, including anxiety, depression, self-harm and eating disorders. He said economic uncertainty and social media challenges make it harder to be young now. His review was ordered nine months ago by Wes Streeting.

Southport killer Axel Rudakubana has appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court accused of throwing boiling water mixed with sugar at a prison officer.

The twenty-year-old is charged with attempted grievous bodily harm at HMP Belmarsh on the eighth of May last year, as well as two other assaults on prison officers and possessing a weapon in prison. Rudakubana is currently serving a life sentence for murdering three children at a dance class in July twenty twenty-four.

Flights are being disrupted in Scotland and northern England because of a technical issue at an air traffic control centre in Prestwick.

National Air Traffic Services confirmed that safety regulations have been applied to manage demand while engineers investigate. NATS apologised for the travel disruption, clarifying that this problem is completely unrelated to technical issues experienced earlier this month, and advised all passengers to check directly with their airline for the latest flight information.

Normandy veteran Ken Hay, who survived capture just weeks after D-Day and dedicated years to educating children about the war, has died aged 101.

The British Normandy Memorial announced his death, saying he gave everything to support their work in sharing Remembrance. The trust praised his unwavering passion for education, noting that the countless schoolchildren whose lives he touched affectionately nicknamed him Grandad Ken.

Specialist courtrooms to deal with rape and sexual offences will be introduced across England and Wales within two years, the Prime Minister has announced.

Every crown court will have at least one dedicated courtroom. Measures include trauma-informed training for staff, a single point of contact, fixed trial dates, and private entrances and waiting rooms to shield victims from defendants.

Iran has warned that any resumed US military action will trigger sustained strikes on American bases and regional interests.

Iran’s central military command said it

received information that the US plans to resume military action with regional backing. Tehran added that any regional countries supporting aggression will be considered parties to the conflict, while insisting the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until its conditions are met.

Health leaders have warned of a sharp decline in organ donations, calling for urgent action to help eight thousand seven hundred people awaiting transplants. 

NHS Blood and Transplant said deceased donation rates have fallen nine per cent year-on-year, while family consent rates dropped to fifty-seven per cent last year. An urgent response plan is under way to address what leaders describe as one of the most challenging periods in over a decade.

England’s largest school leaders’ union has called for an immediate halt to graded Ofsted inspections, claiming they pose a risk to life for school staff.

The National Association of Head Teachers says changes introduced nationwide a year ago have severely harmed leaders’ welfare, advocating instead for short narrative reports. Ofsted stated it worked closely with unions to develop its inspection system and will continue grading schools.