Campaigners have called it a ‘very significant moment’ for the pub and city

A controversial application to change a 200-year-old pub into a staff room for teachers at King’s Ely has been withdrawn. The Fountain has sat on the corner of Silver Street in Ely for two centuries but the future of the Grade II listed building was left in doubt when the plans were submitted in March.

A planning statement prepared by Bidwells said the pub is “no longer viable in its current form” and has been operating “with substantially reduced hours”. It said the landlord had confirmed their intention to sell the pub and “pursue the sale of the premises” to the school.

They said the current staff common room for King’s Ely is “located away from the main teaching block” and “underutilised as many staff do not have the time to walk there and back in school breaks”.

The plans were due to be put before East Cambridgeshire District Council’s planning committee on June 10. On Wednesday (May 27), the application was withdrawn.

Joe Moor, who has been campaigning to save the pub, called it a “very significant moment for The Fountain and for Ely”. He set up the ‘Save the Fountain Pub, Ely’ Facebook group and thanked everyone for supporting the campaign.

The 41-year-old said: “Hundreds of people spoke up because The Fountain is not simply an old building, but a nearly 200-year-old Grade II listed pub with real heritage and community value.

“We are hugely grateful to everyone who supported the campaign, and pleased that King’s Ely has listened to the strength of feeling within the community. At the same time, important questions remain about what happens next, including whether any revised proposals may emerge in future.

“For now, though, this is an important moment to recognise – and a reminder that community voices really can make a difference.”

King’s Ely has been contacted for comment.

MIAMI (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday allowed a teenager charged with sexually assaulting and killing his 18-year-old stepsister on a Carnival Cruise ship to remain free for now as the judge considers arguments following a hearing in Miami.

Timothy Hudson was initially arrested and charged as a juvenile, and U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres ruled in February that the 16-year-old could live with an uncle and be electronically monitored. But after the case was transferred to adult court, prosecutors wanted Hudson in custody.

Minors are rarely prosecuted in federal court, and this case landed there because Kepner apparently died in international waters, outside any state’s jurisdiction.

The judge ended Wednesday morning’s hearing without making a final decision, saying he wanted to speak with the U.S. Marshals Service about the logistics of detaining Hudson in central Florida, closer to his family, rather than South Florida, where the trial is taking place.

It’s unknown when Torres will announce his decision. In the meantime, Hudson walked out of the courthouse after the hearing, rather than being immediately taken into custody.

Hudson has pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. His federal public defenders have declined to comment on the charges.

Hudson’s stepsister, Anna Kepner, had been traveling on the Carnival Horizon ship in November with her family, including Hudson. Before the ship was scheduled to return to Florida, her body was found concealed under a bed in a room she was sharing with Hudson and another teen, a criminal complaint said.

The cause of Kepner’s Nov. 6 death was determined to be mechanical asphyxia, which is when an object or physical force stops someone from breathing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Alejandra Lopez argued Wednesday that the crimes Hudson is accused of are so serious that the court shouldn’t risk another violet attack. An autopsy determined that Kepner had been pinned down and violently raped, the prosecutors said. She also noted that it likely took 3-5 minutes for Hudson to strangle Kepner until she was dead.

“I believe there is clear and convincing evidence that this defendant is a danger to the community,” Lopez said.

The prosecutor also argued that Hudson was a much greater flight risk because he now faces a possible life sentence if convicted of the adult charges. As a juvenile, he would have been released at age 21, regardless of what counts he was found delinquent on.

Evan Kuhl, with the Federal Public Defender’s office, told the judge that Hudson has abided by the conditions of his release for months without issue.

The judge acknowledged that an adult facing these charges would almost certainly be detained until trial, but he still needed to consider the reality of Hudson’s age, despite the adult charges. While the judge said he agreed with the defense that Hudson was a low flight risk, he still hadn’t decided whether the teen posed a threat to the community if certain pre-trial restrictions remained in place.

Kepner’s father, Christopher Kepner, previously released a statement, saying the family was placing “trust in the justice system to pursue the truth with care and integrity.”

“The situation is deeply painful and complex for the entire family,” Kepner said.

Anna Kepner was a high school cheerleader at Temple Christian School in Titusville, Florida, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) east of Orlando. At her memorial service in November, family members encouraged people to wear bright colors instead of the traditional black “in honor of Anna’s bright and beautiful soul.”

Afterwards, Korpatsch rebuked the suggestion by 32nd seed Wang that she was “not a fair player”.

Korpatsch said there had been two ball marks, one old and one new, but both were out – a claim supported by the chair umpire and Hawk-Eye.

“The chair umpire came down and showed the mark, and it was out. Also on the TV, they showed the Hawk-Eye and it was like 8mm out. She came on my side because she didn’t believe it,” Korpatsch said.

“At the end, we didn’t have a handshake because she told me she’s not OK with the ball marks.

“I can’t say I’ll gift her the point. I’m a bit surprised because we have a good relationship, we’re not enemies.

“I didn’t offer her my hand because that’s not fair for me. She was unfair to come on my side, and I’m not an unfair player.”

CAIRO (AP) — Iranians began to regain internet access on Wednesday after authorities ended a monthslong shutdown. But users said service was slow and spotty in some areas, with apps like YouTube and Instagram heavily restricted, as they were before the cutoff began during nationwide protests in January.

Authorities justified the outage as a military imperative after the United States and Israel attacked Iran on Feb. 28. Their decision to lift some restrictions this week came as negotiators appeared to be closing in on a more permanent truce. But many Iranians feared access could be cut off again at a moment’s notice.

Internet tracking company Netblocks said Iran’s connectivity, which measures the ability of devices to connect to the internet, is at around 86% of capacity from before the cutoff. Internet analysis firm Kentik said internet traffic, which measures the amount of data transferred and is a good illustration of usage, was at around 40%.

Amir Rashidi, an Iranian cybersecurity analyst, said there were still widespread disruptions. “It’s too early to say the shutdown is over,” he wrote on X.

An unprecedented shutdown

Iran’s roughly 90 million people have been cut off from the internet for most of 2026, one of the world’s longest and strictest national shutdowns. Young people with online careers saw their incomes evaporate. Job losses and the closure of online businesses added to the war’s steep economic costs.

The cutoff made it difficult for Iranian families to communicate through months of unrest and war. At some points, phone lines were also cut off, though they were later restored.

A woman living in Tehran said that for months she was barely able to speak to her sons living abroad. She couldn’t believe authorities had restored access, saying she had assumed they would find some justification to prolong the outage.

A taxi driver said service was restored but weak. He expressed hope it would improve so he could use messaging apps with family and friends. Both spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Prices spiked during the shutdown, with residents in Tehran at times paying around $7.50 per gigabyte. Prices are back down to around $2.25 for 30 gigabytes, roughly where they were before the protests.

Even then, Iran tightly controlled access to popular social media sites, leading many to rely on virtual private networks, or VPNs. The cost of those workarounds soared during the shutdown, making them unaffordable for many as the economy was battered.

A slow return to service

Businesses have started reappearing online, announcing their return with posts on sites like Instagram and Telegram.

A gamer and tech influencer in the central city of Isfahan said the shutdown had caused him to lose a lot of his audience on YouTube and Instagram, where he had spent years building up a large following.

“All my views and interactions are way down. I’ve been erased from the algorithm,” he said in a voice note sent by WhatsApp, adding that his internet connection was still slower than before the shutdown.

“The situation is such that many content producers have had their income reduced to zero, have moved on to other jobs, or have been forced to sell their equipment to survive,” he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal.

Iran claimed the shutdown was a wartime necessity

Iranian authorities first shut down the internet in January during mass anti-government protests that were eventually stamped out in a violent crackdown. Thousands of people were killed and tens of thousands detained.

That cutoff was just starting to ease when the government imposed a complete internet blackout after the start of the war, when U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials.

The government faced criticism for the prolonged shutdown, which caused even more harm to an economy devastated by inflation, strikes on key industries and a U.S. blockade on Iranian ports.

The internet cutoff cost an estimated $30-40 million daily, with indirect losses likely twice that much, a member of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, Afshin Kolahi, told a local newspaper last month. About 10 million people have jobs that depend on internet connectivity, according to Communications Minister Sattar Hashemi.

Iranians still had access to a national net, but that has a far narrower reach, and users complained of poor service and heavy censorship. Senior government officials are given SIM cards granting them access to the global internet. Under pressure, the government expanded access to the SIM cards to some professions during the shutdown.

Ouse it or Lose it, a newly formed community group in York, is launching a campaign to improve water quality, raise public awareness and involve residents in protecting the city’s rivers.

The group is bringing together residents, river users, scientists and campaigners to encourage informed, community-led action.

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Emilie Flower, a participant in the project, said: “York’s rivers are a huge part of the city’s identity, but many people feel disconnected from them or concerned about water quality.

“This is about bringing people together to understand the issues, including the risks better and to explore what positive action might look like locally.”

The group’s launch event, taking place on Friday (May 30) at Clements Hall, features a screening of the documentary Rave on for the Avon, which tells the story of a community reclaiming and protecting their river.

The group are working with York City Rowing Club, academics from the University of York, Surfers Against Sewage and the River Foss Society, after a protest held earlier this month to raise awareness of pollution on the city’s rivers.

Campaigners said that the Ouse had been chosen as it was the third most polluted river in England and Wales, with over 18 thousand hours of sewage discharged each year – something that Yorkshire Water has said it is ‘determined’ to play its part in addressing.

An ongoing crowdfunder aims to keep prices for the launch event affordable and tickets are available via Eventbrite

Rescuers in Laos have found five villagers alive inside a flooded cave after they were trapped for a week following heavy rain and landslides.

Two people are still missing, rescue teams said.

Footage shared by the rescuers showed cave divers crawling through narrow, muddy passageways.

The seven people were part of a group of villagers who had gone into the cave in search of gold deposits and wildlife, but could not get out as the cave’s entrance was blocked.

Read more on this story here.

BEIRUT (AP) — The Israeli military on Wednesday told residents across southern Lebanon to leave as it expands its operations there, saying in a statement that the military will “work with extreme force” against Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group.

The warning comes a day after Israeli troops clashed with the Iran-backed Hezbollah along a strategic river in southern Lebanon, with Israeli forces pushing farther north, days ahead of talks in Washington between Lebanese and Israeli delegations.

Wednesday’s warning is the first that orders the Lebanese to relocate from the south since a ceasefire went into effect on April 17 and follows an escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah war.

Israeli Israeli troops have crossed the Litani River, edging closer to the southern city of Nabatiyeh. Israel and Hezbollah have had near-daily exchanges lately, though Israel has not struck Beirut or areas near the capital since the truce started.

The war started on March 2 after Hezbollah fired rockets towards northern Israel in solidarity with Iran. Over one million people in Lebanon have since been displaced, and over 3,200 people killed in Israeli strikes according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

Earlier, the Israeli military had called on the residents of southern cities of Nabatiyeh and the city of Tyre along the Mediterranean coast to leave and stay away from it, saying there were Hezbollah members and military posts there.

Hezbollah claimed responsibility for several attacks on both Israeli troops in Lebanon and northern Israeli border villages.

Also, amid a surge in Hezbollah’s exploding drone attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the Israeli military will expand the scope of its attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hezbollah has vowed to fight until the war ends in Lebanon and Israel withdraws its troops that operate across large swaths of the country’s south. The Iran-backed group has dismissed Lebanon’s direct talks with Israel and has backed Iran’s talks with Washington to their war. Among Tehran’s conditions is ending the war in Lebanon as well.

A man was captured stealing a victim’s handbag while she was having breakfast at a hotel in Toft Green at approximately 8am on Thursday (April 23).

The thief then used credit cards taken from her stolen handbag to buy items at shop in York Railway Station before boarding a train, North Yorkshire Police has said.

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A force spokesperson said: “Please contact us if you recognise the man pictured, as he may have information that will assist our investigation.

“Please email Nicola.manning@northyorkshire.police.uk if you recognise the man pictured or have any information that could help our investigation. Alternatively, you can call North Yorkshire Police on 101.

“If you would prefer to remain anonymous, you can contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111 or make an online report.

“Please quote reference 12260072800 when passing on information.”

Children were left in tears as the suspects demanded goods during the ‘terrifying’ attempted robbery

Armed police were called to an antiques event in Salford after the event was held up by three suspects ‘with a BB gun’. Officers raced to the Masonic Hall in Swinton on Wednesday (May 27) which was hosting the jewellery and antiques event throughout the day.

Witnesses saw a large police presence in the car park outside the venue on Hospital Road at around 11.30am, which was temporarily locked down. Those attending the event said three men barged in, one holding a gun, shouting ‘don’t move’. Children were said to be in tears.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed the suspects threatened those in attendance at the event and ‘demanded goods’. An altercation took place between one of the suspects and members of the public in attendance, in which a BB gun was recovered.

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“Three lads ran in,” one witness told the M.E.N. “One with a gun, one with a baseball bat, and then one who waited in the hallway. The guy with the gun shouted ‘don’t anyone move’.

“There was a guy buying gold and silver who jumped up, grabbed the guy with the gun and then shouted out to his mate, who hit his head with the bat. Then I ran at them, picked up a chair and threw it at the lad. Then they ran out.”

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The witness, who asked to remain anonymous, said the three suspects were wearing balaclavas and in all black clothing. “There were children crying, and old ladies,” he added.

Greater Manchester Police are appealing for information as they continue their investigations into the attempted robbery. One member of the public sustained a minor injury, and no arrests have yet been made after the suspects fled the scene.

Detective Inspector Paul Davies, from GMP’s Salford district, said: “This was a terrifying incident for those in attendance at the hall, and I want to commend the members of the public who acted incredibly bravely during this incident. We could easily have had more serious consequences, and I am glad that no-one was seriously injured.

“While only several hours have passed since this incident, we have launched a thorough investigation to establish the full circumstances, and I would urge anyone who has any information to please get in touch”

You can contact police via 101 or Live Chat at gmp.police.uk, quoting log 1334 of 27/05/26.

International tourism sells the promise of a borderless world: open skies, new horizons, the freedom to explore. But for the holder of a weak passport, that promise rings hollow.

The Henley Passport Index (HPI) ranks the world’s passports by the number of destinations their holders can visit visa-free. This may be affected by factors like a country’s economic and political stability, colonial history and association with risks or terrorism. Singaporean passport holders currently top the list, enjoying visa-free access to 192 destinations worldwide. Afghan nationals, at the other end – only 23.

In a recent study, my co-author Samira Zare and I explored the challenges that tourists with low-ranking passports face at airport borders.

Travelling with a weak passport is costly and time-consuming. Before a holiday even begins, tourists with a weak passport navigate visa applications months in advance. They may attend interviews, provide extensive documentation and still be rejected.

Crossing a border is one of the most charged moments in any trip. Our research reveals that tourists regularly encounter both subtle and overt challenges at border control, which they perceive to be influenced by assumptions about their passport, nationality, race, gender and class. These experiences leave real emotional marks.

We found that tourists, particularly those with weak passports, often adopt certain qualities – softening their tone, smiling more than feels natural and overexplaining their itinerary – to project what we call “performed innocence or docility”. In other words, taking steps to demonstrate that they are bona fide tourists.

Participants described being asked “patronising” or “condescending” questions by border control agents, or asked more questions than their travel companions with different passports. Others described how they “have developed coping strategies which include using my title, making sure I speak quite articulately to the person”, and “[playing] up your intelligence and big words, the higher chances they’ll treat you better”.

Another explained that “there is safety in subservience. Why pick a fight during my holiday? I don’t have enough resources to take on such an elaborate infrastructure of ‘passport apartheid’.” Several said they have become “desensitised to” the extensive border scrutiny.

In particular, tourists of certain nationalities, ethnic minorities and women travelling alone reported being subjected to extended questioning, secondary screening and what they described as a baseline suspicion. The emotional impact was profound. Participants reported embarrassment, shame, anxiety, self-doubt, blame and anger that lingered after the border crossing, sometimes tainting the entire trip. One described his feeling of powerlessness:

There’s no dignity because you’re in front of everyone who are thinking … [that] I’ve done something illegal, dodgy … You lose your agency in that moment because you are completely at their mercy.

Tourism research has long focused on the positive restoration that travel offers – relaxation, adventure and escape. Our study suggests that for some tourists, the journey to their holiday begins with dread: “Even with the right paperwork and visas, there is always a lingering fear that you may not be allowed into the country.”

Tightening borders, shrinking mobility

Globally, borders are becoming more complex, more digitised and, for many tourists, more restrictive. The introduction of the EU’s entry-exit system, which requires biometric border checks for non-EU visitors, suggests that borders will increasingly operate through automated surveillance, pre-arrival data checks and algorithmic risk profiling, rather than human discretion.

Decisions about who can cross are now embedded in visa application portals, electronic travel authorisations and advance passenger data systems. Digitalisation may streamline borders, but it comes with risks. When discrimination is embedded in an algorithm rather than human decision, it becomes far more difficult to see, challenge or overturn.

The burden of proof for travellers is increasing. From February 2026, the UK’s new Electronic Travel Authorisation system came into full effect, with unexpected implications for British dual nationals. British citizens who hold another nationality are now required to present a valid British passport. A British citizen with an expired UK passport could be denied boarding.

Increasing document requirements already affect tourists with weak passports. As one participant said: “You must carry [a lot] of documents. I still have a habit of carrying unnecessary documents … just everything to prove that I am who I say I am, and I can travel.”

Yet what counts as sufficient proof is not necessarily a settled issue. Passport strength and travel access is relative and constantly shifting, shaped by geopolitics, diplomacy and political will. The goalposts for who must prove themselves, and how, are always moving.

International tourism generates trillions of dollars annually and depends on the flow of people across borders. Yet there is a lack of recognition of the structural inequality that shapes who can participate in that flow, and the emotional toll on those who navigate it at a disadvantage. Research shows visa restrictions alone deter tourism inflows by around 20%.

An industry that measures success in arrivals and revenue appears to have little incentive to care about who gets left behind at the border. But this isn’t entirely true. When a tourist arrives after hours of questioning, suspicion, and unwelcoming treatment, that experience also becomes part of how they perceive the destination. It shapes whether they return, what they tell others and how they see themselves as travellers.