Global Trade

A historic Lake District cinema is set to reopen as a multi-event venue.

The Royalty in Bowness closed in August, ending an association with the town going back to the 1920s.

Redevelopment means that as well as screening films, it will be able to host live music, comedy and theatre.

It will reopen on 14 June with a concert by a Beatles tribute band, and the next day there will be a tea dance, attended by dignitaries including the local mayor.

The project is the work of Mark Naunton and his business partner Bryn Tyson, both of whom have a keen interest in music and films and were seeking a venue.

Dating from 1926 when it was built by public description, it also chimed with their love of old buildings and "quirky things".

The former-three screen cinema has now been stripped back to one screen to take it "back to its roots".

However, the seats will also be removeable to allow standing at concerts.

To return it to its original art deco theme, the foyer has been redecorated with wallpaper in that style.

And the former hair salon incorporated into one side of the building has become an ice cream parlour, also in art deco style.

An investigation has been launched following a disorder that involved machetes in Wolverhampton.

West Midlands Police said they were called to a pub on Moseley Road in Bilston at about 14:45 BST on Monday.

When officers arrived, those involved were no longer at the scene, they added.

A 38-year-old woman was later taken into custody on suspicion of assisting an offender, and officers were sent to two nearby schools to provide reassurance.

Anyone with information is urged to contact the force.

A team from a council agency will be visiting homes to raise awareness of the risk of flash flooding.

Cheltenham Borough Council, the Environment Agency and Charlton Kings Parish Council will share information with residents on what to do during flash floods.

Some of the properties in Charlton Kings are in a rapid response catchment which means rivers and tributaries near their homes are prone to flooding after heavy rain, even before flood warnings are issued.

Louis Krog, head of public protection for the borough council, said: "Within these areas, the advanced notice doesn't often happen, so these wardens will help give them an action plan so they can do what they can to prepare."

A newly elected councillor said it was an "honour and a privilege" to be chosen to lead a local authority.

Reform UK members on North Northamptonshire Council selected Martin Griffiths for the top job after the party seized control from the Conservatives in the local elections.

Griffiths, who once led the now defunct Wellingborough Borough Council as a Conservative, will have his position confirmed on 22 May.

"The people of this county have given us a clear mandate for serious change and we fully intend to deliver that," he said.

Reform UK made history during the elections, winning 39 of the 66 seats up for grabs at North Northamptonshire Council.

The unitary authority had previously been run by the Tories, who saw their 50 councillors slashed to 13.

Griffiths left the Conservative Party in 2021 to sit as an independent in North Northamptonshire, before joining Reform in December.

He now represents the Croyland and Swanspool ward, and was selected to lead his new party after a group meeting.

Edward McDonald, councillor for Gretton and Weldon, was chosen as his deputy.

Reform UK won 677 of about 1,600 seats contested at last week's local elections.

Griffiths said: "We have an incredible team of councillors with professional experience from all walks of life.

"It's the most experienced team I've ever worked with in my time in local government, and I am excited by what we can deliver for local people."

Griffiths said what his party achieved was "incredible", after it also won West Northamptonshire Council.

"From a standing start we now have full control of both Northamptonshire councils," he added.

Curators are putting together an exhibition that aims to show people how William Shakespeare came to write his plays.

The exhibition, called Becoming Shakespeare, opens in Stratford-upon-Avon later this month.

It has been described as a look at the influences that helped to shape the dramatist when he was young, and what inspired him to create his work.

Rachael North, chief executive of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, said it would focus on the playwright's "formative years".

She said visitors would be able to "feel a personal connection to the beginnings of his extraordinary journey".

Bradley Wynne, creative director at Sarner International, which has been working on designs for the exhibition, said Shakespeare's Birthplace, in the Warwickshire town, was "one of the most literary heritage sites in the world".

The exhibition opens on 24 May and organisers said prebooking was recommended.

The Shakespeare's Birthplace website describes how the bard was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564.

His father was a glove-maker, holding civic positions in the town, which meant he was likely to have sent his children to the local grammar school.

The young writer would have lived with his family at their Henley Street house, until he turned 18.

He then married Anne Hathaway, who was eight years older than him and already pregnant when they tied the knot.

Experts have said it is a mystery how he got to London, but by 1592 his reputation in the capital was established.

His success made him "considerably wealthy" and he went on to buy the largest house in the borough of Stratford.

Researchers now believe Shakespeare spent more time in Stratford than previously thought, lodging in London and dividing his time between his hometown and the capital, in what could have been a two or three-day commute.

A shoe fetishist who raped and murdered a woman in her own home will not be moved to an open prison, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed.

Christopher Farrow was jailed for life in 2000 for the murder of mother-of-two Wendy Speakes in Wakefield six years previously.

Last month the Parole Board said Farrow, who received a minimum term of 18 years, should not be freed but instead moved to a Category D facility, the least secure.

But the government has blocked the proposal, saying public protection was its "number one priority".

'Horrific crime'

A spokesperson added: "Wendy Speakes' murder was a horrific crime and our thoughts remain with her friends and family."

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood was required to make the final decision whether to accept the recommendation.

Farrow raped Ms Speakes, 51, in 1994 after breaking into her home, raiding her shoe drawer and tying her up with black tights. He then stabbed her 11 times.

It took police six years to catch him after advances were made in fingerprint technology.

The Parole Board said that, at the time of the murder, he had a sexual interest in rape, sexual violence, stockings and high-heeled shoes, along with issues in relationships and managing his emotions.

Farrow has been denied release on four occasions, following hearings in 2018, 2020 and 2023.

Ms Speakes' daughter Tracey Millington-Jones said: "It is reassuring that victims are being heard and put first.

"The fact we victims should not have to go through this every two years is another concern which needs to be heard.

"But for now, I am very grateful that women will be safe from Christopher Farrow."

Ms Millington-Jones thanked Ms Mahmood, her MP Sir John Whittingdale and the media for supporting her campaign to keep Farrow in prison, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

She added: "Justice should be served for the pre-meditated horrific murder of my innocent lovely mum."

Farrow, now aged 63, has spent almost 25 years in prison since being sentenced.

On 27 February, at his fourth parole hearing since his minimum term ended, the board heard he had completed an accredited programme last year to address "offence-related sexual thoughts".

A decision summary from the board said he had completed "extensive" work in custody including sessions with a psychologist, but only recent work had allowed professionals to say he showed insight into his offending.

Farrow, originally from Cookridge in Leeds, was moved to an open prison in 2018 but was returned to a closed jail the next year due to a number of cold case investigations taking place.

The Parole Board confirmed he was no longer a person of interest to police.

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A popular footbridge in Exmoor has been shut over safety fears.

The Hinds Pitt bridge, near the Tarr Steps circular walk, in Somerset, has been deemed unsafe after structural failures.

Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) said it was working on a plan for a long-term replacement, reinstating public access.

ENPA access and recreation manager, Dan Barnett, said: "The bridge has been there since the 1950s and some key parts of the steel structure have deteriorated to a point where they are no longer safe."

Six Bulgarians have been sentenced to lengthy prison terms for spying for the Kremlin in the UK and across Europe.

During a trial in London, the Old Bailey court heard the cell was paid handsomely for their services, which included spying on two journalists who had exposed nerve agent attacks on Russian dissidents Alexei Navalny and Sergei Skripal.

The sentencing judge said the group's activities had posed a serious risk to the UK's national security.

Ringleader Orlin Roussev, 47, was jailed for 10 years and eight months. His deputy, Biser Dzhambazov, 44, was sentenced to 10 years and two months.

Dzhambazov's former partner, Katrin Ivanova, 33, was sentenced to nine years and eight months in prison. Three others – Tihomir Ivanchev, 39, Ivan Stoyanov, 33, and Vanya Gaberova, 30 – were jailed for between six and eight years.

Roussev, Dzhambazov and Stoyanov all pleaded guilty to the spying charges, while the other three were convicted at a trial in March.

Prosecutors had told the court they had conducted operations in the UK, Austria, Spain, Germany and Montenegro.

They targeted investigative journalists Christo Grozev and Roman Dobrokhotov, as well as Russian dissidents, political figures and Ukrainian soldiers training at a military base in Germany.

The case against them was described as "one of the largest" foreign intelligence operations in the UK and focused on six of their assignments.

It presented, for the first time in a UK criminal court, the inner workings of a Russian operational spy cell – exposing their thousands of messages organising surveillance, photos and videos of their targets, and talk of plans to kidnap and kill.

Evidence presented to the court this week also revealed new details about Jan Marsalek, an overseas fugitive who directed the unit for Russian intelligence services.

Marsalek, an Austrian, is currently wanted in Germany for fraud allegations linked to the financial services company Wirecard. He is believed to be hiding in Moscow.

The court heard the spy ring referred to themselves as the "minions", inspired by the yellow sidekicks of the villain Gru in the Despicable Me children's film franchise.

The group also frequently referred to the Russian GRU agency – its military intelligence service – in Telegram messages.

Police raided the Norfolk guesthouse housing the operation in 2023 where they found a "treasure trove" of gadgets, including a Minion cuddly toy containing a camera.

In sentencing on Monday, Judge Nicholas Hilliard singled out Roussev as the boss but said all were "motivated by money". Sums of up to €1m (£840,000) were discussed by the gang, demonstrating the "value" of their covert activities to Russia.

Mr Justice Hilliard said using the UK as a base to plan spy operations was a "very serious offence" which "undermines this country's standing with allies".

"Targeting journalists… undermines freedom of the press, one of our core democratic values," he added.

Russia's embassy in London has not responded to the case. The Kremlin has previously always rejected allegations of spying.

Conspiracy to spy carries a maximum sentence of 14 years, but Roussev, Dzhambazov and Stoyanov were afforded some credit for their guilty pleas.

Roussev was ordered to pay a confiscation order of £180,768 in ill-gotten gains by August 2025.

Meanwhile, Gaberova's sentenced was reduced to six years, eight months and three weeks following mitigation.

Her barrister Anthony Metzer KC said she had been "controlled, coerced into this conspiracy by Mr Dzhambazov," who was her lover while also being involved with Ivanova.

The court was told Gaberova had been diagnosed with depression, panic disorder, claustrophobia and anxiety.

The Met Police's Counter Terrorism Command said the case was "a clear example" of the increasing threat of state espionage.

Commander Dominic Murphy said it "highlights a relatively new phenomenon whereby espionage is being 'outsourced' by certain states".

Security Minister Dan Jarvis said: "These substantial sentences should send a clear warning to anyone seeking to threaten our security, harm the UK, and compromise the safety of the public."

Dog walkers and visitors have been warned of a potential outbreak of blue-green algae at a nature reserve.

North Lincolnshire Council urged people to "take extra care" when visiting Ashby Ville lake in Scunthorpe, while it works with the Environment Agency to check the water.

Blue-green algae is a collection of microscopic organisms that are naturally present in lakes and streams which can become harmful.

The council also reminded visitors that open water swimming can be dangerous.

The blue-green algae, technically known as cyanobacteria, can become abundant in warm, shallow, undisturbed, nutrient-rich surface waters that receive a lot of sunlight, leading to floating mats or scums on the water's surface.

Some blue-green algae can produce toxins, some do not.

However, it is not possible to tell if a bloom is toxic simply by looking at it.

Exposure to high levels of any blue-green algae blooms – whether by contact with water blooms, swallowing the water or inhaling airborne droplets – can cause health effects in people and animals.

These can include diarrhoea, nausea or vomiting, skin, eye or throat irritation, allergic reactions or breathing difficulties.

However, the algae can be extremely dangerous to pets, livestock and wildlife.

The council added that swimming in open water is dangerous and could be fatal.

It said: "Ponds and lakes may contain hidden rubbish, sunken buildings or dangerous weeds that can trap bathers who also risk catching waterborne infections.

"At this time of year the shock of entering cold water can also be extremely dangerous," it added.

Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds latest episode of Look North here.

Israel's "Operation Rising Lion", as it calls its attack on Iran, is unprecedented. It is vastly more extensive and ambitious than anything that has come before, including the two missile and drone exchanges it had with Iran last year. For Iran, this is the biggest assault on its territory since the Iran-Iraq War of 1980-1988.

In the darkest hours before dawn the Israeli Air Force targeted not just sites linked to Iran's nuclear programme but also the country's air defences and ballistic missile bases, thereby reducing Iran's ability to retaliate.

On the ground and in the shadows, the network of operatives working for Mossad, Israel's overseas intelligence agency, reportedly helped to pinpoint the exact location of key figures in both the military command and nuclear scientists.

Those killed overnight include the head of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the guardians of the Islamic Revolution that overthrew the Shah's regime in 1979, as well as the head of the mainstream armed forces and the head of the IRGC air force. Iran says at least six of its scientists have been killed.

Once again, Israel's spy agency is shown to have successfully penetrated the very heart of Iran's security establishment, proving that no one there is safe.

Iran's state TV reported that 78 people were killed and said that civilians, including children, were among the dead. (This is an unofficial figure and has not been independently verified.)

Mossad was reportedly able to launch drones from inside Iran as part of this attack. The primary targets of this whole operation have been the nuclear enrichment facility at Natanz and bases belonging to the IRGC. For Israeli military planners, this has been a long time coming.

Iran is reeling and this may be only the first wave. There will be many more potential targets on Israel's hitlist, although some may be beyond its reach, buried deep underground in reinforced bases beneath solid rock.

So what has led to this attack by Israel and why now?

Curbing Iran's nuclear programme

Israel, and several Western countries, suspect that Iran has been secretly working towards what is called "breakout capability", meaning the point of no return in developing a viable nuclear weapon.

Iran denies this and has always insisted that its civil nuclear programme – which has received help from Russia – is for entirely peaceful purposes.

For more than a decade Israel has been trying, with varying degrees of success, to slow down and set back Iran's nuclear progress. Iranian scientists have been mysteriously assassinated by unknown assailants, the military head of the nuclear programme, Brig-Gen Fakhrizadeh was killed by a remote-controlled machine-gun on a lonely road near Tehran in 2020.

Before that, US and Israeli cyber sleuths were able to insert a devastating computer virus, codenamed Stuxnet, into Iran's centrifuges, which caused them to spin out of control.

This week the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), found Iran to be in breach of its non-proliferation obligations and threatened to refer it to the UN Security Council.

Many of the concerns over Iran's nuclear programme arise from its stockpiling of highly enriched uranium (HEU) that has been enriched up to 60 per cent, far beyond the level needed to generate civil nuclear power and a relatively short hop to the level needed to start building a bomb.

There was a deal to curb Iran's nuclear programme. It was concluded in 2015 during the Obama presidency, but Donald Trump called it "the worst deal in the world" and when he got into the White House he pulled the US out of it. The following year Iran stopped complying with it.

Nobody outside Iran wants the Islamic Republic to possess the nuclear bomb. Israel, a small country with much of its 9.5 million-strong population concentrated in urban areas, views a nuclear-armed Iran as an existential threat.

It points to the numerous statements by senior Iranian figures calling for the destruction of the State of Israel. Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Gulf Arab states don't much care for Iran's revolutionary Islamic Republic regime but they have learned to live with it as a neighbour.

They will now be extremely nervous about the risks of this conflict spreading to their own shores.

For Israel, the timing was crucial. Iran has already been weakened by the effective defeat or elimination of its proxies and allies in Lebanon, Syria and Gaza. Its air defences were heavily compromised after last October's attacks by Israel.

There is a sympathetic president in the White House and lastly, Israel reportedly feared that some of Iran's key uranium enrichment equipment was about to be moved deep underground.

Where does this go from here?

It is clear what Israel wants by this operation: it is aiming to, at the very least, set back Iran's nuclear programme by years. Preferably it would like to halt it altogether.

There will also be many in Israel's military, political and intelligence circles who will be hoping that this operation could even so weaken Iran's leadership that it collapses altogether, ushering in a more benign regime that no longer poses a threat in the region. That may be wishful thinking on their part.

President Trump said on Friday that Iran had "a second chance" to agree to a deal. A sixth round of US-Iran negotiations was due to take place in Muscat on Sunday but Israel does not set much store by these talks.

Just as Russia is accused of stringing along Trump over peace talks with Ukraine, Israel believes Iran is doing the same here.

Israel believes this is its best and possibly last chance to kill off Iran's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

"Israel's unprecedented strikes across Iran overnight were designed to kill President Trump's chances of striking a deal to contain the Iranian nuclear programme," says Ellie Geranmayeh, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR).

"It is clear their [the attacks] timing and large-scale nature was intended to completely derail talks."