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Remarkable skies are expected across the UK from tomorrow as a vast plume of Saharan dust drifts over the country. The north African sand will transform sunrises and sunsets into striking displays of deep gold, amber and burnt orange.

The UK is invoking its 1st ever “emergency brake” on issuing visas to nationals from 4 countries, after ministers concluded that the system was being exploited by asylum seekers. Study visa applications from Afghanistan, Cameroon, Myanmar and Sudan will be halted, & skilled worker visas for Afghans.

After the Baftas 2026 coverage, Alan Cumming has joined the chorus of disapproval at the BBC’s failure to edit out a racial slur from their Baftas telecast, saying it turned the event “into a trauma-triggering shitshow”.

More than half of Reform UK members believe non-white British citizens born abroad should be deported or encouraged to leave, according to polling.

The US justice department has dropped legal proceedings against four law firms that stood up to retaliatory executive actions by Donald Trump for representing clients or causes the president did not like.

A doctor who gave crucial expert evidence for the prosecution of the nurse Lucy Letby was under investigation at the time due to serious concerns about his fitness to practice.

Israel and the US intensified their attacks on Iran as Donald Trump said he had rejected what he claimed was an attempt by Tehran to restart negotiations.

A Kenyan school like no other may be an African education blueprint Rare Gem Talent School in Kenya uses hands-on lessons for students with dyslexia. Despite increased access to public education, students with learning disabilities often struggle.

apnews.com/article/keny...

Left-handed people are more likely than right-handers to be “hyper-competitive”, according to a new Italian study of more than 1,100 people. This supposed competitive edge may help explain why lefties, who make up just 10% of the population, are over-represented in sports such as tennis and boxing.

Interesting.

UK programmes to protect nature and the climate in developing countries are suffering budget cuts despite ministers’ promises, the Guardian has learned.

Scotland has become the first part of the UK to legalise hydrolysis, an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial, reflecting increasing demand for more sustainable funeral arrangements.

Scotland has become the first part of the UK to legalise hydrolysis, an environmentally friendly alternative to cremation or burial, reflecting increasing demand for more sustainable funeral arrangements.

Nigel Farage has been accused of Donald Trump-style election denial by the Green party’s new MP for Gorton and Denton, after he claimed her Reform rival “came first” among British-born voters in last week’s byelection.

More than 100,000 Britons were stranded in the Gulf on Monday, with airspace in the region still closed to most flights and overland evacuation regarded as risky.

Israel’s determination to attack Iran and the certainty US troops would be targeted in response forced the Trump administration to take pre-emptive strikes, Marco Rubio said, in a new explanation for Washington’s surprise entry into the conflict.

Datacentre developers are facing pressure to reveal whether their projects will increase the UK’s net greenhouse gas emissions, amid concerns the sites could double national electricity demand.

The Green party said its membership had passed 200,000 in the wake of its victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection, in which it overturned a huge Labour majority.

Shabana Mahmood has ripped up the government’s asylum rules so that from Monday every refugee will be told that their status is temporary and will last just 30 months.

The UK’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus was hit by a suspected drone strike, causing limited damage and no casualties, Cypriot authorities and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.

Donald Trump said on Sunday he was prepared to talk to what was left of the Iranian leadership in the wake of the killing of the country’s supreme leader by US-Israeli air strikes aimed at overthrowing the regime.

We found out we'd bought fake flights at check-in An elderly couple turned up at Heathrow Airport ready to fly - only to learn they had lost more than £2,500.

BBC News - We found out we'd bought fake flights at check-in - BBC News
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

US and Israel launch attack on Iran, as Trump says 'major combat operations' under way - follow live Explosions have been reported in Tehran and in five other cities, according to Iranian media.

BBC News - www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cn...
US and Israel launch attack on Iran, as Trump says 'major combat operations' under way - follow live - BBC News

Hannah Spencer is the new MP for Gorton and Denton after the Green party’s first ever parliamentary byelection victory. In a bitter blow to Keir Starmer, Labour were pushed into third place in a constituency the party has represented for nearly a century. Reform’s Matt Goodwin came second.

Peter Mandelson is facing an inquiry by the EU’s anti-fraud agency after the European Commission requested the body look into his activities during his time as trade commissioner in Brussels.

US “bullying” over a proposed carbon levy on shipping appears to be paying off, experts have said, after Panama reversed its support for the measure.

Jeremy Corbyn is to become the parliamentary leader of Your Party, after an election in which his rival Zarah Sultana was also voted on to the party’s leadership committee.

Hospitals and care homes in the UK face “an impending car crash”, experts have warned, as research shows the number of overseas nurses and carers has collapsed.

High-stakes talks between the US and Iran over the future of Tehran’s nuclear programme ended on Thursday without a deal, as the threat of war grows.

Voting has opened in the Gorton and Denton by-election. With the polls predicting a near-perfect tie between Labour, Reform UK and the Greens, says Politico, for the next 24 hours, the Manchester suburb will be a “full-scale political circus”.