Global Trade

A hot air balloon has crashed into an electricity line and landed in a field.

Firefighters were called to Newhouse Road, Earls Colne, where the balloon had landed, at about 19:00 BST on Thursday, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service said.

A man was taken to Colchester General Hospital for treatment, and 10 others were assessed at the scene, but did not need any treatment, an East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) spokesman said.

Fire crews gave first aid, cooled the balloon's cylinders and worked with UK Power Networks to make the scene safe.

The EEAS spokesman added: "An ambulance, two ambulance officer vehicles and the Hazardous Area Response Team were sent to the scene."

UK Power Networks said power had been restored to the area, at about 05:00, after the overhead electricity line had been fixed.

• Five takeaways from first leaked US military chat group
• Pentagon watchdog probing Hegseth's Signal app use
• Four lingering questions about 'Signalgate'
• What is messaging app Signal and how secure is it?

The second Signal chat surfaced as controversy swirls around the head of the Pentagon, who this year is controlling a budget of $892bn (£670bn).

Hegseth last week fired three top officials for an "unauthorised disclosure" – an accusation the officials said was "baseless".

In a testy exchange outside the White House ahead of an annual Easter event, Hegseth appeared to attribute the latest story to the officials he fired.

"What a big surprise that a few leakers get fired and suddenly a bunch of hit pieces come out," he said.

Hegseth criticised the media and denounced the reports. He also said he has spoken to the president and that they were "on the same page all the way".

In an op-ed for Politico magazine published on Sunday, John Ullyot, the top Pentagon spokesperson who resigned last week, wrote that the department was in "total chaos".

He added: "The dysfunction is now a major distraction for the president – who deserves better from his senior leadership."

Ullyot said it was not true that the three fired officials were leaking information and wrote: "Unfortunately, Hegseth's team has developed a habit of spreading flat-out, easily debunked falsehoods anonymously about their colleagues on their way out the door."

However, in a statement on X, Sean Parnell, current chief spokesman for the Pentagon, said the "Trump-hating media" was "destroying anyone committed to President Trump's agenda".

He echoed the White House by saying that "there was no classified information in any Signal chat".

Washington says its strikes in Yemen are punishment for Houthi attacks on cargo vessels transiting through the Red Sea, a critical waterway for international trade.

Since November 2023, the Houthis have targeted dozens of merchant vessels with missiles, drones and small boat attacks in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, saying they are acting in support of the Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza . They have sunk two vessels, seized a third, and killed four crew members.

US air strikes on an oil terminal in north-western Yemen this week killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others, according to the Houthi-run health ministry.

Police have seized five vehicles and 14 drivers will be prosecuted after up to 400 cars were caught "setting up to race" in Nottingham.

Nottinghamshire Police said it became aware that a large number of car cruisers were set to descend on the city on Saturday 3 May.

A coordinated operation was then put in place at known hotspots for reckless driving, which the force said led to the seizure of cars and allowed officers to prevent issues at other locations.

The force has targeted car cruising since last year as part of Operation Wheelspin, which aims to put the brakes on "meets" organised on closed social media groups.

The force said the initiative, which has used number plate recognition technology to build up a database of potential problem cars, had led to a 20% reduction in related offences.

Sgt James Carrington previously told the BBC the force is "playing a game of cat and mouse" with car cruising organisers, who can often arrange multiple meets at several locations on one night.

Speaking about the operation on 3 May, he said: "We seized five cars that night alone, and 14 drivers will be prosecuted.

"We also populated our database with a huge number of vehicle registration marks for further monitoring and to develop our intelligence picture going forward, as well as dispersing them out of Nottinghamshire without issue."

Sgt Carrington added: "The operation was a real success and underlines how we will continue to work hard to keep people safe, prevent and disrupt anti-social behaviour being caused at these car cruise events, and do everything we can to bring offenders to justice."

A further two cars were stopped, leading to police enforcement action after a smaller scale pop-up meet on the A57 at Worksop on Bank Holiday Monday.

A new writing platform has been launched to promote working class writers and tackle the publishing industry's "class crisis".

The Bee will consist of a website, literary magazine, podcast and outreach programme to support the development of working class writers.

It has been produced by Newcastle-based charity New Writing North and is part of the A Writing Chance programme, which is co-founded by Northumbria University, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and actor Michael Sheen.

New Writing North CEO Claire Malcolm said: "Talent is classless. Opportunity, however, is class-bound. The Bee is an urgent response to that."

She said: "Our research shows that despite incredible success stories from these initiatives the class crisis continues to grow.

"There's never been so much debate about class in the creative industries but nothing has changed and things are actually getting worse and inequality more entrenched, hence the need to make our own reality."

'Ordinary working people'

Ms Malcolm said just 10% of authors and writers were from those backgrounds.

It is hoped the Bee – which has a podcast the Working Class Library – will give writers the chance to publish fiction and non-fiction work.

The magazine's editor, Richard Benson, said people from "less well-off sections of society" deserve the chance to tell their stories.

"Much of the important writing being done today and so many of the best-loved stories come from ordinary, working people," he said.

"So often, it's stories from the working classes that express what's really happening in the world."

A 40-year-old man has been arrested after a suspected burglary at an exotic zoo.

Cambridgeshire Police said it was called to Johnsons of Old Hurst in Church Street, near Huntingdon, at about 21:50 BST on Monday.

A blue Land Rover Defender and trailer were stolen by a group of men, the force added.

A spokesperson said a man followed and confronted the suspects, but when he did, they rammed his vehicle and drove off.

The confrontations happened in New Road, Humberdale Way and Ramsey Road in Warboys.

Det Con Emily South said the man "attempted to stop the suspects escaping".

The suspects were believed to have left in a Range Rover and Volkswagen Passat.

One of the vehicles thought to be involved was later found in Slacks Lane in Bury, near Ramsey.

The zoo is home to animals including lions, crocodiles and capybaras.

The suspect from Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, was held on suspicion of robbery and burglary and was released on bail.

Police appealed for anyone with more information to come forward.

When asked if she has any resentment towards the driver, Ms Lucas said: "Absolutely not, no."

"The driver had not been drinking. The driver was young. He was inexperienced," she added.

"We know that young people's brains are not mature until they're about 25.

"It wasn't his fault. There was nothing to stop him driving. It's just sadly – very sadly – one of those things."

Ms Lucas described her son as a natural entertainer and music lover who was "full of life" and who "completed the family". He was studying business at Bournemouth University and would have turned 23 this week.

Ms Lucas said she had joined other bereaved families to campaign for graduated driving licences to stop more families going through similar experiences.

"Losing a child, for anybody, is clearly hard," she said. "Losing a child where, arguably, it could be prevented by a change in the law… it's not going to save all lives, but it could save so many. That's really my focus.

"Let's make some change. Stop these deaths."

Graduated driving licences already exist in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, some US states, Finland, Norway, Sweden, France and Northern Ireland.

Ms Lucas is calling for a UK-wide version to be rolled out which would mean new drivers could not carry passengers under the age of 25 until they have been driving for six months, or have turned 20.

"It's to stop young people having a group of friends in a car when they don't have the experience to handle the distractions," Ms Lucas said.

"It's just about giving them some time to drive on their own and improve their own skills before they have the responsibility of having passengers in the car."

The restrictions explained

The overall campaign is led by Crystal Owen, from Shrewsbury, who lost her 17-year-old son Harvey when he was a passenger in a car that crashed in north Wales in November 2023. Three other teenagers were also killed.

The campaign is calling for:

• A minimum six-month learning period for learner drivers before they are eligible for a practical test.
• For the first six months after passing their test, or until they turn 20, drivers should not carry passengers aged 25 or under unless accompanied by an older adult
• All cars must be fitted with a tool that could smash open a window if a car is trapped, to allow occupants to escape to safety.
• Violating the rules would result in six penalty points, leading to immediate licence suspension.

Six mothers of road crash victims, including Ms Lucas and Ms Owen, have now delivered a petition calling for stricter driving laws to Downing Street after it was signed by more than 100,000 people.

Since the event, Ms Lucas said she heard from more parents who wanted to support it.

"The group has now got well over 100 members," she said.

MP for the South Cotswolds, Dr Roz Savage, said the work Ms Lucas has done to raise awareness was "admirable".

However, she added restrictions may "unfairly disadvantage" young people in rural areas where public transport is "often non-existent".

Ms Lucas argued the temporary restrictions are designed to save lives and not disadvantage, adding: "There is no greater disadvantage than having no life."

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: "Every death on our roads is a tragedy and our thoughts remain with the families of everyone who has lost a loved one in this way.

"Whilst we are not considering graduated driving licences, we absolutely recognise that young people are disproportionately victims of tragic incidents on our roads.

"We are determined to tackle this, including through our THINK! campaign, which has a focus on men aged 17-24 as they are four times more likely to be killed or seriously injured than other drivers."

Lorna Lee, campaign manager at the AA, said that while more education could form part of a graduated drivers licence system, the presence of young passengers was the factor the motoring body sees "time and time again" in serious crashes.

"We know that for every similar age passenger that is carried with a young driver, that crash risk increases," she said.

"So if you can just remove that risk for a short period of time after they have passed their test, we think you would start to see a real improvement in the death and serious injury rates amongst that demographic."

The Trump administration is looking to strip Columbia University of its accreditation over claims it violated the civil rights of its Jewish students.

Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a letter that the New York City college "acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students" in a manner that violated federal anti-discrimination laws.

US President Donald Trump has condemned Columbia and other US universities, arguing they have failed to protect Jewish students amid the war in Gaza and anti-war protests that took place on US campuses.

US accreditors play a key role in determining which universities are allowed to access billions of dollars in federal funding.

"Accreditors have an enormous public responsibility as gatekeepers of federal student aid," McMahon wrote in a letter on Wednesday, calling Columbia's actions "immoral" and "unlawful".

The letter informs the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which oversees Columbia, that Columbia "no longer appears to meet the Commissions accreditation standards" by its alleged violation of anti-discrimination laws.

It argues that the leadership of Columbia "failed to meaningfully protect Jewish students against severe and pervasive harassment on Columbia's campus and consequently denied these students' equal access to educational opportunities to which they are entitled under the law".

The Middle States organisation is one of several independent accreditors that the government uses to determine how to allocate education department funds.

Columbia University has yet to comment on the latest development.

The move comes as Trump continues his crackdown on higher education institutions. He also recently signed an order that changes the university accreditation process.

In February, the Trump administration stripped Columbia of $400m in federal funding, alleging antisemitism at the campus.

Columbia followed up by enacting campus rule changes demanded by the White House, including the re-organisation of its Middle Eastern studies department.

The move was meant to appease the White House, but the deal appears to have had little impact.

The White House also accused other universities of antisemitism, most notably Harvard University, which is locked in legal battles with the Trump administration over its government funding and the administration attempting to block its ability to accept international students.

The letter from McMahon suggests that other universities' accreditation may also be at risk.

"The Department has an obligation to promptly provide accreditors with any noncompliance findings related to member institutions," McMahon writes.

A village road was closed for some time after a serious collision involving a car and a cyclist.

The emergency services were called to Bungay Road, in Holton, Suffolk, at about 07:16 BST on Wednesday after reports of a crash.

A spokesperson for the East of England Ambulance Service said: "The cyclist, an adult male, was transported by road to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with serious injuries."

Suffolk Police said on Facebook the road was expected to remain closed for some time and motorists were advised to find alternative routes.

A man has been arrested following the death of a man who "fell from height" in the early hours of the morning, according to West Yorkshire Police.

The man was pronounced dead at about 03:10 BST on Danecourt Road in Holme Wood, Bradford, after police were called to reports he was seriously injured.

A 25-year-old man was arrested and is being held in police custody.

The force said inquiries were under way to establish the circumstances of the man's death.

West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds

Three men have been arrested in Rotherham, after the car they were driving was stopped by police and found to contain the keys to a nearby cannabis farm.

South Yorkshire Police said the force had initially been contacted by Northern Powergrid on Friday because of "suspicious electrical activity" and signs that someone was "dangerously and illegally bypassing electricity" at an address on Gerard Road in Wellgate.

Officers subsequently searched the Wellgate property and found around 1,000 cannabis plants in 10 rooms.

Later the same day, a suspicious vehicle circling in the area was stopped and searched by police, who found a key to the property inside.

"The vehicle had allegedly been stolen from London and inside the car, officers found a key to the property containing the cannabis cultivation," the force said.

"A quantity of money and equipment consistent with cannabis production was also reportedly found within the vehicle."

Two men, both 34, and a 33-year-old man, were arrested on suspicion of cultivating cannabis and the theft of a motor vehicle, police said.

They have been bailed pending further enquiries.

South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds