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Blazes in US south-east have blown smoke over a wide area, and contributed to at least one death in FloridaTwo wildfires in south-eastern Georgia that have destroyed more than 120 homes continued to threaten property and lives on Saturday as officials warned that strong winds could spread the flames.The Brantley county manager, Joey Cason, called it a “dynamic situation” in a Saturday-morning video posted to social media and begged residents to “please evacuate” if they are ordered to do so. Continue reading...

Smoke drifts into Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia, as air quality declines and 50 homes destroyedSign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxWildfires burning across the south-eastern US intensified on Wednesday across parts of south-east Georgia, where 50 homes were destroyed, and across north-east Florida, forcing evacuations and school closures in some communities.The Georgia forestry commission issued its first mandatory burn ban in the state’s history, effective across 91 counties in the lower half of the state, due to worsening drought conditions and rising wildfire activity. Continue reading...

Social workers in England say they often have no choice but to place children in unregistered settings because no one else will take themThe sinking feeling is familiar now, says Anna*. It’s Friday, the clock is ticking, and there is a vulnerable child in her care for whom – despite hitting the phones for days – she cannot find a place. Once the foster carers have been exhausted, and the registered private children’s homes begged, there is nothing for it but to look elsewhere.“It always seems to be on a Friday that you are struggling to place a child,” says the social worker. “They need somewhere safe tonight. You’re calling everywhere, already knowing the answer will be, ‘we haven’t got any spaces’. And then you’re left with what’s left of a hotel, a caravan … somewhere you know isn’t right, but you don’t have a choice.” Continue reading...

Blaze struck a ‘water village’ that is home to some of Malaysia’s poorest residentsA huge fire destroyed about 1,000 makeshift homes, many of them built on stilts over water, and displaced thousands of people in a coastal village in Malaysia’s Sabah state on Sunday, authorities said.The blaze broke out early on Sunday morning in a “water village” in Sandakan district in Sabah’s northeast, where some of Malaysia’s poorest residents, including indigenous and stateless communities, live in closely packed, wooden stilt houses. Continue reading...

No deaths reported after latest round of severe weather in the region as officials brace residents for long recovery A trail of damaged homes and buildings dotted a wide swath of the US on Saturday after a burst of destructive winds and reported tornadoes tore off roofs, uprooted trees and rendered rural roads impassable with debris.No deaths were reported after Friday’s storms, which barreled through the upper midwest and delivered the latest round of severe weather to batter the region. Officials braced residents for a long recovery in some rural communities. Continue reading...

US defense secretary said Iran’s energy infrastructure is ‘not destroyed yet’ at presser where he also lambasted the mediaIran’s energy infrastructure is “not destroyed yet” and the US is “locked and loaded” to finish the job, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, said on Thursday as he called many of the press corps gathered the moral equivalent of the Pharisees who conspired to destroy Jesus Christ.Hegseth’s comments from the Pentagon podium came as a naval blockade of Iranian ports began this week and he called on Tehran to accept a nuclear deal or face consequences for its remaining infrastructure, power generation and energy industry. Continue reading...

Paul Solway ignited explosion that damaged total of six terrace houses in Derby after his partner had kicked him out A man who blew up a terrace house by causing gas to leak from a pipe and setting fire to a chair after his partner kicked him out has been jailed for 11 years.Paul Solway was having a “meltdown” when he caused the explosion at his partner Joanne Waterfall’s home in Alvaston in Derby on the evening of 10 June last year. Continue reading...

• President Trump threatened to destroy Iran's power plants and bridges if Tehran refuses a deal to end the war by Tuesday evening, amid a Pakistani ceasefire push. • Trump detailed a complex U.S. military operation that rescued the two-man crew of an F-15 shot down Friday in Iran, calling it one of the largest and most harrowing missions ever. • The threat looms over diplomatic efforts, including a 45-day ceasefire proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and avert major escalation.

Two people reported killed in attack on newly completed suspension bridge after strike splits structure in halfMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump claimed responsibility for destroying Iran’s largest bridge, a day after he threatened to bomb the country “back to the stone ages” if a deal to end the five-week-long war he started was not reached.The US president shared footage of part of the newly built 136 metre-high $400m B1 suspension bridge between Tehran and Karaj collapsing dramatically on to the causeway below amid a rising plume of black smoke. Continue reading...

• US President Donald Trump threatened Monday to destroy Iran's Kharg Island crude oil export hub, along with oil wells and power plants, unless Tehran quickly accepts a deal to end the US-Israeli war. • The threat of potential US ground operations to seize Kharg Island is creating significant tremors through financial and energy markets, as well as raising concerns among neighbouring Gulf countries. • Trump expressed hope about talks with a "more reasonable regime" in Tehran on his Truth Social network, an apparent reference to new leadership despite the month-long war failing to dislodge the Islamic Republic.

• President Donald Trump warned Monday via Truth Social that if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz and a deal is not reached "shortly," the US will "blow up and completely obliterate" Iran's electric generating plants, oil wells, and Kharg Island. • US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington is close to achieving its objectives in Iran "in a matter of weeks" and that Trump has "a number of options available" to prevent Iran from controlling the strategic waterway. • The threat comes as 3,500 US Marines and sailors aboard the USS Tripoli arrive in the Middle East, joining over 50,000 American troops already in the region, with hundreds of Navy SEALs also deployed.

• A joint U.S.-Ecuador military strike on March 6 targeting an alleged narco-terrorist training camp actually destroyed a dairy farm in the remote Ecuadorian village of San Martín in the Amazon jungle, according to a New York Times investigation. • Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted video of the strike online claiming the U.S. was "bombing Narco Terrorists on land," but local residents reported Ecuadorian soldiers had arrived three days earlier by helicopter, interrogated and beat farmworkers, and set fire to structures before the bombing occurred. • The Alliance for Human Rights, an Ecuadorian coalition, filed a 13-page complaint with Ecuadorian authorities and the United Nations over the incident, raising serious questions about civilian casualties and military conduct in the operation.

Ship arrives three weeks after Iranian-made drone hit British base of RAF Akrotiri on CyprusMiddle East crisis – live updatesHMS Dragon has arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, three weeks after an Iranian-made drone hit the British base of RAF Akrotiri, the defence secretary has said.The Type 45 destroyer will begin “operational integration into Cyprus’s defence” from Monday night, John Healey told MPs. Continue reading...

Energy and oil sites across region would become ‘legitimate targets’, Tehran saysMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesIran has said it will “irreversibly destroy” essential infrastructure across the Middle East if the US attacks its energy sites, hours after Donald Trump threatened to “obliterate” the country’s power plants if the strait of Hormuz was not opened within two days.As Iranian missiles struck two southern Israeli cities overnight, injuring dozens and shattering apartment buildings, the developments signalled a dangerous potential escalation of the war in the Middle East, which is now in its fourth week. Continue reading...

Urgent request to dock is submitted by vessel after US submarine sank Iranian warship in same area on TuesdayMiddle East crisis – live updatesSri Lanka has evacuated 208 crew members from an Iranian navy vessel that made an emergency request to dock, a day after a US submarine strike sank another Iranian frigate, killing more than 80 people on board.Sri Lanka’s president, Anura Kumara Dissanayake, on Thursday confirmed that the country’s navy would take over Iranian military support ship IRIS Bushehr and allow it to dock at the north-eastern port of Trincomalee. Continue reading...

President says forces ‘obliterated’ military targets on Kharg Island and warned its oil infrastructure could be nextMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump said Friday that US forces have “obliterated” military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island and warned that the oil infrastructure there could be next.“For reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” Trump wrote on social media. “However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.” Continue reading...

President Donald Trump announced that US forces obliterated military targets on Iran's Kharg Island, a key oil export terminal, on March 13, 2026, with Iranian media reporting 15 explosions targeting air defenses, naval bases, and airport facilities but sparing oil infrastructure. Trump warned that Iran's oil infrastructure could be next if retaliation escalates, as the two-week war shows no signs of ending amid ongoing missile and drone attacks on Israel and Gulf states. The strikes heighten global energy risks since Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20% of world oil passes, potentially driving prices higher despite recent reserve releases. US officials are deploying 2,500 more Marines and an amphibious ship to the Middle East to bolster forces.