Seven pedestrians were seriously hurt when they were struck by a car in Friar Gate in Derby
A man who was charged after a car hit a group of pedestrians in Derby city centre has appeared in court.
Seven people were seriously injured when they were hit by a black Suzuki Swift in Friar Gate at about 21:30 GMT on Saturday.
Sandhu Ponnachan, 36, from Alvaston, who only spoke to confirm his name and address, has been charged with six counts of grievous bodily harm (GBH) with intent and one count of attempted GBH with intent, one count of dangerous driving, and one count of possession of a bladed article.
Ponnachan, who police said was originally from India, appeared at Southern Derbyshire Magistrates' Court on Wednesday, where he was remanded to appear at Derby Crown Court on 29 April.
Derbyshire Police said four men and three women, aged between 36 and 52, suffered serious but non life-threatening injuries during the incident.
Four have since been released from hospital, the force added.
Lurgan town centre was closed on Tuesday after a security alert at the police station
Dissident republican groups still have the capacity, ability and desire to carry out attacks on police despite their small numbers, Northern Ireland's justice minister has said.
It comes after a delivery driver was hijacked and told he would be killed if he did not drive a bomb, which was placed into the boot of his car, to the police station in Lurgan.
The device was found to be a "crude, but viable improvised explosive device", and police believe it is "highly likely" that dissident republicans are behind the attack.
Naomi Long said while there have been no concerns about an uptick in activity, those involved are "wedded" to destruction and violence.
"From our perspective, we take it seriously. I know the PSNI [Police Service of Northern Ireland] work very hard to keep people safe, to suppress the activities of these organisations and where they can do so, bring the people involved to justice.
"But we can't be complacent about the risks."
PA Media
Justice Minister Naomi Long was speaking to Good Morning Ulster
Long said there were "not large numbers" of people still involved in these groups, but the attack in Lurgan is a "demonstration for anyone who has any doubt that these are people who are completely wedded to destruction, to disruption".
"We are talking about people who have been fairly committed to what they're doing over many years, and I think we can see that they remain wedded to violence and they're not in any sense trying to depart from that," she said.
"I think it's more likely that this is some kind of rallying the troops sort of issue ahead of Easter, but no consideration for an innocent person going to deliver pizza and end up being hijacked at gunpoint and forced to drive a bomb through the town."
She continued: "No regard whatsoever for the people who could have been killed had it exploded prematurely and no regard for the delivery driver and the PSNI who then had to deal with the aftermath of this."
The justice minister said while those responsible may try and "dress it up" as an attack on police, the incident is a "reckless attack on the people of Lurgan".
Lurgan attack 'shocking'
Sinn Féin assembly member John O'Dowd said it was a "shocking" incident, particularly for the delivery driver.
He said thousands of people had gathered in Lurgan weeks ago to celebrate St Patrick's Day, and that the "starkness of this event" casts a shadow on the town.
PA Media
John O'Dowd said there is no support for dissident republican groups
When asked about the potential of dissident republicans being involved in the attack, O'Dowd, who represents Upper Bann, said he did not see support for the groups.
"What they class themselves or what they call themselves is a matter for themselves, but I do think and I know that the vast majority of people in Lurgan want to move on and we have seen huge progress over this last 20, 25 years," he told Good Morning Ulster.
"I would appeal to anyone who believes there's going to be a return to the past to think again and to follow the course that has been set out by the people."
Tánaiste (Irish Deputy Prime Minister) Simon Harris said the attempted bomb attack was "deeply chilling".
Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Wednesday morning, Harris said: "The dark history needs to be left just there, and it is a reminder of the fact that we can never ever let our guard down in relation to that.
"We have a peace process on the island of Ireland, an enduring one, an ongoing one, and this chilling event is deeply concerning."
What happened in Lurgan?
At about 22:30 BST on Monday, a delivery driver in a white Audi was stopped by two masked men - one of whom was armed with a pistol - on Deramore Drive in the Kilwilkie estate.
He was threatened at gunpoint and ordered to drive his car to the police station on Church Place in the town.
When he arrived he told security staff there was a bomb in the car, which later triggered a security operation. About 100 homes were evacuated overnight, with residents taking refuge in Lurgan town hall and a number of roads in town centre were closed.
Pacemaker
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson (left) and District Commander Superintendent Brendan Green spoke to the media on Tuesday
A controlled explosion was also carried out.
At a press conference on Tuesday, police confirmed that the device, while crude, was viable.
Assistant Chief Constable Ryan Henderson said: "As unsophisticated as it was, it posed a significant risk to the terrified delivery driver, our security staff and the local community."
Who are dissident republicans?
The term "dissident republicans" describes a range of individuals who do not accept the Good Friday Agreement - the 1998 peace deal which ended the worst of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
The Provisional IRA - the main armed republican paramilitary group for most of the Troubles - declared a ceasefire in the run up to the agreement and officially ended its violent campaign in 2005.
Dissident republicanism is made up of various groups which broke away from the Provisional IRA in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, including the Continuity IRA and New IRA.
The groups are much smaller than the Provisional IRA, although they have access to high-calibre weapons and have used improvised explosive devices and mortars in attacks and attempted attacks.
Weather looks favourable for Artemis launch despite cloud
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Nasa's Artemis II Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft sits on Launch Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center on March 31 in anticipation of lift off
Nasa hopes to launch the first crewed mission around the Moon in more than 50 years, but weather may decide if the Artemis astronauts actually take off.
If the conditions aren't right then the space agency's meteorologists will be the ones to "scrub" or cancel the mission.
The Artemis II rocket contains nearly 750,000 gallons of propellant, so lightning is one of the biggest risks to safety.
So what are the chances of the weather delaying the launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida?
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,
Thunderstorms like this one hitting the Kennedy Space Center in March 2025 will delay rocket launches due to safety concerns
April showers
With the launch window opening up on 1 April at 18:24 EDT (23:24 BST) and lasting for two hours, a threat of convective - known as cumulus - cloud, showers, strong winds and even solar activity is being closely monitored.
In Florida the spring sunshine is now bringing more heat and warmer days. Meanwhile, high pressure in the western Atlantic is producing an easterly breeze blowing from the ocean, bringing increased moisture to the eastern coast of Florida.
This combination of heat and moisture can lead to lots of cumulus cloud developing. As these grow thicker, they bring the threat of showers and thunderstorms.
Official Nasa forecasts suggest the weather will be 80% favourable for launch within the two hour window.
It is hoped that any clouds or strong winds may stay far enough away to allow the rocket to get airborne and safely through Earth's atmosphere.
If not, 2-6 April are also potential launch days.
Image caption,
There are rules around the type of cloud, lightning and electrical field, weather and temperature around Cape Canaveral that need to be cleared before the weather officer gives a 'go for launch'
Weather forecasts for launches are provided by the 45th Weather Squadron where Mark Burger, primary launch weather officer for Artemis II has been monitoring conditions for months.
"Our job is to ensure, from a meteorological perspective, that it is safe to launch", he said.
Rocket launches can be impacted by different 'weather rules' which need to be met before the launch weather officer on duty can give the 'go' decision on weather.
Historically, almost half of all rocket launches that end up scrubbed have been a result of unsafe weather, said Burger.
The weather rules include atmospheric electricity, types of cloud, specifically cumulus and disturbed weather like rain or strong winds.
Using a percentage chance of a violation of the rules, launch weather officers use a combination of meteorological and climatological data, local knowledge, and experience to forecast this probability.
Lightning is one of the biggest risks, but it is not only the natural lightning from a thunderstorm - or cumulonimbus cloud - that forecasters will be concerned about.
Rocket-induced lightning from an enhanced atmospheric electric field is also a major risk.
"Some types of clouds, even if they're not producing lightning, carry an electrical charge where a rocket passing through them at high speeds with a trail of exhaust can act like a lightning rod and trigger a lightning strike," said Burger.
This rocket-induced lightning can be triggered much more easily than natural lightning.
Other events, external such as heavy rain, strong winds, high or low temperatures or extreme weather can also jeapordise a rocket launch.
Throughout a countdown the launch weather officer must be clear and convinced that none of the weather criteria are violated in order to give the weather 'go' call for launch.
Ahead of the Artemis launch window, the 45th Weather Squadron will not only be looking at conditions at Cape Canaveral but also in other areas such as potential recovery sites in the North Atlantic where "the weather is not particularly favourable at this time of year" in case things go wrong.
With the peak in the solar cycle, they will also be keeping an eye on solar activity and enhanced radiation which could affect the astronauts.
Image source, Department of Defense (DoW)
Image caption,
Launch weather officer for Artemis II, Mark Burger looking at weather data to provide up to date forecasts for launches
"I'm very excited... it is the culmination of a lifelong dream being able to do this and take part in this whole mission," said Burger.
Meteorological planning for the Artemis II launch started many months ago.
"Launching a rocket like Artemis II is much more complicated [compared to other launches]… there are different constraints we need to learn about and now Artemis II is at the pad, it is exposed and vulnerable to weather and so daily forecasting and monitoring has begun".
In February, cold weather disrupted the preparations for the first launch opportunity. Freezing weather meant Nasa had to postpone the first full dress rehearsal as it was too cold to fuel the SLS rocket.
As for the actual launch, the decision to announce 'weather go' can be made right up to the last moments of a countdown.
In August 2025, a Crew-11 launch was scrubbed at T-minus 1 minute due to cloud cover and a small thunderstorm near Cape Canaveral violating weather safety criteria.
The authorities in Wuhan, the site of one of the world’s largest experiments in self-driving cars, cited a “system failure” after widespread reports on Tuesday evening.
President Trump said he expected the U.S. military campaign in Iran to end in two or three weeks, and the White House said he would address the nation about the war on Wednesday.
A group of President Donald Trump’s MAGA allies released a playbook Wednesday to fulfill the largest deportation push in U.S. history. It could very well split Trump’s coalition.
The plan from the Mass Deportation Coalition — an organization led by some prominent Trumpworld veterans, immigration restrictionist groups and hawkish policy experts — rests on one crucial pillar: A major immigration enforcement crackdown on workplaces, modeling the strategy that former President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s administration used to deliver the nation’s largest deportation initiative in history.
“There is no chance for a mass deportation program if worksite enforcement is not the centerpiece,” the playbook, shared first with POLITICO, reads. “Enforcement at scale means focusing on physical areas where illegal aliens are concentrated: worksites.”
That strategy almost certainly promises to alienate some of the Trump administration’s allies in the agriculture, construction and hospitality industries, which all rely heavily on undocumented labor. Farm groups in particular hold significant sway in Trump’s Washington and have already shown prowess in steering the administration away from worksite enforcement when those efforts disrupted the industry.
Worksite raids could also prove deeply unpopular with voters, whose views have turned increasingly negative toward Trump on immigration and seemingly forced the administration to ramp down its deportation push.
The release of the group’s playbook — which also offers recommendations from digitizing the employment verification process to barring unauthorized immigrants from accessing credit — comes as the Trump administration enters a new stage of internal immigration enforcement.
In the months since an immigration surge in Minneapolis left two U.S. citizens dead, the administration pivoted its message on mass deportations while overhauling its leadership at the Department of Homeland Security. Border czar Tom Homan replaced Customs and Border Protection chief Greg Bovino in Minneapolis and drew down the immigration enforcement presence in the city; the president ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and tapped then-Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) to replace her; and a POLITICO review of official administration social media accounts found that references to “mass deportations” sharply decreased in March.
In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson denied that the White House has shifted its deportation approach.
“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda,” she said in a statement. “President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities. As the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said, approximately 70 percent of deportations to date have been illegal aliens with criminal records.”
Still, the Mass Deportation Coalition is trying to push the White House back toward a more aggressive immigration approach. Its members include Mark Morgan, the former acting commissioner of CBP under Trump; Erik Prince, a Trump ally and former Blackwater CEO who has pitched the White House on privatizing immigration detention operations; and a number of conservative organizations like the Heritage Foundation.
The group commissioned a poll last month by McLaughlin & Associates, one of Trump’s pollsters, that found a majority of likely U.S. voters support deporting all migrants who entered the country illegally. The poll also found that 70 percent of likely voters support “strengthening workplace immigration enforcement to help raise wages for American workers.”
However, those results differ drastically from other recent polling on immigration, like a January POLITICO poll amid the Minneapolis surge which found that nearly half of U.S. adults say Trump’s mass deportation campaign was too aggressive, including 1 in 5 of his 2024 voters.
“Special interests and industry have been able to operate in the shadows, and to lean on lawmakers and administration officials,” said Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project and a member of the Mass Deportation Coalition. “We're taking that fight public, and we don't think that they're well situated to win that fight, because their arguments don't sell with the American people.”
The group’s stated goal of 1 million deportations in 2026 mirrors a private goal among White House officials, the Washington Post reported last year. It would mark a significant uptick in apprehensions: The Department of Homeland Security said it deported just over 600,000 individuals in 2025, though independent analyses put the number lower.
“The president made clear where he stands on the issue, and made clear how he wants to see the policy enforced,” said John Hollay, president of the National Council of Agricultural Employers. “If [immigration raids] were to occur again on farm operations, that’s going to disrupt the food supply chain, and we’ve made that very clear. We know the president is committed to ensuring our food supply chain is not disrupted and that prices at the grocery store are not raised unnecessarily.”
【404文库】是由中国数字时代运营的一个"因审查而被屏蔽或删除（404 not found）文章"的存档项目。在相当长的一段时间内，中国数字时代通过在标题前加注【404文库】的方式，对大量需要抢救性保存的文章进行了归档、发布。自2021年起，为便于列表化呈现与系统化检索，中国数字时代设立了【404文库】专页。（在专页上，您还可以查看文章的原始链接、发布平台、话题分类、删除时间等信息。）
The justices will consider the constitutionality of President Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented people and some temporary foreign visitors.
Sandra and Norman Wong, the grandchildren of Wong Kim Ark, whose victory in the 1898 Supreme Court case affirmed automatic citizenship for nearly all children born in the United States.
Israel has issued sweeping evacuation warnings, and pressed some Christian and Druse leaders to expel Shiite Muslims from their towns, the leaders said.
The contest between Representative Steve Cohen, 76, a white incumbent, and Justin Pearson, 31, a Black state lawmaker, exemplifies a national push for a passing of the torch.
Vice President JD Vance and his wife, Usha, meeting with members of the U.S. military at Pituffik Space Base in Greenland last year. The missile defense installation is the only active American base on the island.
In 1976, 14-year-old Chris Espinosa rode a moped to his job demonstrating computers made in Steve Jobs’s childhood home. The company has changed a bit since then.
Luigi Mangione’s lawyers could be in and out of court in Manhattan through the end of the year. A judge could decide as early as Wednesday on whether to delay his federal case.
Lawyers for Luigi Mangione have argued that his two trials, one in federal court and the other in state, should be delayed so he can prepare for the cases.
Legislators are weighing tax increases on the wealthy and changes to laws meant to protect immigrants and the environment as the state budget deadline passes.
Democrats are opening a new front in their midterm offensive over Iran.
VoteVets Action Fund is rolling out a $250,000 ad campaign Wednesday targeting Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) over his support of the war with Iran, according to details shared first with POLITICO.
It’s one of the first examples of Democrats putting real money behind the issue in the midterms since President Donald Trump’s attack on the country more than a month ago. And it comes as Republicans grow increasingly worried that the war’s impact on prices could hurt the party at the ballot box this fall.
The spot sheds light on how Democrats are working to weaponize the war: by arguing that Trump is spending big abroad while further pinching voters’ pocketbooks and, in VoteVets’ case, stiffing veterans.
“Look at that gas pump. We’re paying the cost every damn day of this war in Iran. But for Congressman Van Orden, we’re not paying enough. He’s going for another $200 billion dollars to spend in Iran,” a male Marine Corps veteran narrates in the clip.
“This is the same guy who backed big cuts to VA care for vets,” the veteran says, referring to significant staffing reductions at the agency since Trump returned to office, including thousands of medical personnel. “Vets like me, we understand the cost of war. But if we don’t have the money to take care of our veterans, we damn sure can’t afford another war. Call Van Orden on it.”
VoteVets, whose PAC works to elect Democratic veterans, intends to expand its Iran ad campaign into other battleground districts, with a particular focus on GOP veterans who the group argues are blindly following Trump in abandoning his campaign-trail pledge to end endless wars.
“There’s absolutely no doubt that voters throughout the country, and particularly in Rep. Van Orden’s district, are very aware of the fact that every single day we spend billions of dollars [on] this war in Iran is yet another day that not only is the affordability crisis ignored, but it's getting even worse,” said former Rep. Max Rose, a New York Democrat who serves as a senior adviser to VoteVets. “What this first video represents is our commitment to holding every single Republican veteran in the House of Representatives accountable for their lies, hypocrisy and absence of courage.”
“Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years. When we start putting a price tag on American citizens’ lives, we’ve already lost sight of our responsibility,” Van Orden said. “Every single American murdered by these radical Muslim mullahs is priceless, and every American life we can save is beyond value.”
The 30-second spot will run during NCAA games and other live sporting events, as well as on broadcast, radio, streaming services and social media platforms. It represents an escalation in Democrats’ rhetoric and aggression as the party seizes on growing voter backlash to the now monthlong conflict that Trump is threatening to intensify.
Democrats have already been hammering Republicans over affordability as the average price of a gallon of gas soars over $4. Now they’re eyeing ways to connect other cost concerns to the ballooning spending on the war amid reporting that Republicans are considering further reductions to federal health spending to bankroll the military effort — returning to some of their signature issues of the cycle to argue that the GOP is prioritizing fealty to the president over voters’ pocketbooks.
Other Democrat-aligned groups are joining in. Battleground Alliance PAC flew a plane over a minor league baseball game in Pennsylvania over the weekend with a banner targeting Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie that read “Mackenzie: Your Iran Vote = Sky High $$$Gas.” The group is planning similar stunts in more than half a dozen other swing districts across Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska and Ohio.
“We're in a war of choice, which is spending an enormous amount of money, and we're going to get more health care cuts and oil price increases,” said Andrew Grossman, a senior adviser to the labor-backed Battleground Alliance PAC. “And so the cost of living — like the chaos and the Republican Congress just saying yes always to President Trump — is hitting Americans in our pocketbooks, and that is the single most important issue of our moment.”
Mackenzie’s campaign manager, Andres Weller, dismissed the move in a statement as “the same political stunts that people are tired of. An outside group did the same thing at the same place in 2024, and all it accomplished was annoying people who were trying to enjoy a baseball game with their family and friends.”
Democrats’ ramp-up comes as Republicans are increasingly fearful a prolonged war will hurt their chances of holding onto power in the midterms. The conflict is already fracturing the MAGA coalition. And polls show a majority of Americans are against the operation in Iran, including an Ipsos survey released Tuesday that found two-thirds of Americans want the U.S. to end its involvement even if the president does not achieve all his goals, and that 56 percent expect the conflict will have a negative impact on their personal financial situation.
Voters are “going to look to their members of Congress to see if they double down or be an independent voice [on Iran],” Samuel Chen, a Pennsylvania-based GOP strategist, said. “If they’re doubling down on it in these tight seats in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and other places, that could be the difference.”
Login
