News 22/03/26

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to chair a COBRA meeting on Monday to discuss the cost of living impact of the ongoing Iran war.

Ministers and officials will look at the effect on household bills and possible support for families. COBRA meetings are the government’s regular system for dealing with national emergencies. The prime minister last chaired one on Thursday after Iranian strikes on energy infrastructure in the Gulf raised concerns about supplies and prices.

Arsenal have been beaten in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley after Manchester City’s young full back Nico O’Reilly scored twice in four minutes.

Arsenal went into the match nine points clear at the top of the Premier League but the defeat ends hopes of winning four major trophies this season. After a goalless first half O’Reilly scored in the sixtieth minute after Kepa Arrizabalaga fumbled the ball and he added another goal four minutes later to seal victory.

Great Britain won three gold medals in twenty eight minutes to record their best ever World Athletics Indoor Championships.

Georgia Hunter Bell won the fifteen hundred metres before Molly Caudery took pole vault gold in Poland. Olympic champion Keely Hodgkinson then dominated the eight hundred metres final to take her first world indoor title. With Josh Kerr winning the three thousand metres on Saturday it meant the British team secured their most successful championships, beating the previous record set in nineteen ninety nine.

One of the UK’s largest energy suppliers says rising household bills could be unavoidable if oil prices stay high because of the Iran war.

Chris O’Shea, boss of Centrica which owns British Gas, said the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz had disrupted oil supplies more than gas. Forecasts suggest bills could rise by an of £332 from July

Newcastle say they will investigate after the Tyne Wear derby with Sunderland was halted following a report of racism from the crowd towards visiting player Lutsharel Geertruida.

Referee Anthony Taylor stopped the Premier League match for three minutes under anti discrimination rules after Sunderland captain Granit Xhaka spoke to him while play was already stopped for treatment to Sven Botman

A woman has been charged with murder after a man was found unresponsive in a park in Lowestoft.

Police were called to Sparrow’s Nest Gardens at about 10.13pm on Friday where fifty four year old Gary Grant was discovered. Despite efforts by emergency services he was pronounced dead. Amber Stebbings, aged twenty eight and of no fixed address, was arrested
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A police officer has died after a crash involving a marked patrol car in Kent.

PC Bradley Corke, aged twenty seven, died on Saturday after being critically injured in a collision at Farningham on Thursday evening. He and a colleague were responding to an immediate call. The other officer remains critically ill and a member of the public was hurt

Health officials say confirmed and suspected meningitis cases linked to the outbreak in Kent have fallen to twenty nine, down from thirty four reported on Saturday.

The figure includes confirmed infections and cases still being investigated. Two people who died weekend, a twenty one year old University of Kent student and a sixth form pupil at Queen Elizabeths Grammar School in Faversham

The Slough Jets were celebrating last night after a six goal shut out win over Swindon, followed by the presentation of the league trophy after securing back to back titles.

Goals from Seb Mohr and Luke Smital helped give the Jets a three nil lead in the first period, before Jacob Minter and Timo Lindgren added two more in the second. Juha Lindgren scored the final goal in the third period. After the game the team were crowned Britton league champions and invited supporters onto the ice to join the celebrations.

Iran says the Strait of Hormuz remains open to shipping, but not for vessels linked to what it calls Iran’s enemies.

The country’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation said passage through the narrow waterway is possible by coordinating security arrangements with Tehran. The comments came after Donald Trump gave Iran forty eight hours to fully reopen the route. Iran also says it is ready to cooperate with international authorities to protect shipping in the area, according to state linked media reports.

The foreign secretary says the United Kingdom will continue to provide defensive support against what she called reckless Iranian threats, but will not be drawn into a wider conflict.

Yvette Cooper spoke after reports that Tehran had targeted the joint US and UK base on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands, with two ballistic missiles said to have been fired. She said supporting British interests includes taking defensive action against missile threats, and warned Iran’s actions were increasing tensions across the region.

Donald Trump has warned Iran must fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz within forty eight hours or the United States will strike its power plants.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said if Iran did not fully open the shipping route without threat, America would hit and obliterate Iranian power facilities, starting with the largest. The warning comes a day after he spoke about winding down the war. Iran’s threat to shipping in the strait has effectively closed the route and sent oil prices sharply higher.

A woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder after a man was found unresponsive in a park in Suffolk.

Police were called to Sparrow’s Nest Gardens in Lowestoft at thirteen minutes past ten on Friday night, where officers discovered a man in his fifties. Emergency services later pronounced him dead at the scene and his family have been informed. Suffolk Constabulary says a twenty eight year old woman was arrested at the location on suspicion of murder and remains in custody while enquiries continue.

Parts of the UK saw striking views of the Northern Lights overnight, with more displays expected.

The Met Office says the aurora borealis is one of nature’s most spectacular sights. Pictures from Friday night showed waves of green and purple light over Bamburgh in Northumberland, with similar scenes reported in Estonia and Canada. Social media users also shared images taken in other areas, including Russia, as conditions allowed the natural light show to be seen across a wide region.