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This week has been far from normal - for several reasons
"There is nothing normal about this."

Words spoken from the furthest humanity has gone in half a century.

In their first live broadcast, Commander Reid Wiseman and his fellow astronauts on the Artemis II mission described their view of Earth as "spectacular".

From outer space, they watched the polarising politics of their home planet fade into the distance.

But reflecting on the past week, it could equally be said of the White House under Donald J Trump: there is nothing normal about this.

Monday brought debate about potential war crimes, with the president having threatened to bomb Iran's power and water desalination plants.

His press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said the US always operated within the law, "but" would continue to pursue its objectives "unabated".

Iran war - latest updates

By Tuesday, he was threatening to pull the US out of NATO, again, and singling out the UK, in particular.

"Go get your own oil!" he blasted on Truth Social.

An insult juxtaposed with confirmation that the King and Queen's state visit to the United States will go ahead as scheduled this month.

The insults continued on Wednesday, with Donald Trump mocking Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron during an Easter reception.

He depicted them as weak, while his spiritual adviser, Paula White, depicted Trump as Christ-like.

"You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It's a familiar pattern that our Lord and Saviour showed us," she said.

"They call me king now. Can you believe it?" Trump interjected, while reading about Palm Sunday.

A few hours later, he was delivering the vaguest presidential address to the nation in living memory.

Heavily billed as "an important update on the war", it brought more confusion than clarity.

A quiet Maundy Thursday? Not a chance. That turned out to be US attorney general Pam Bondi's last supper.

The president fired another high-profile woman from his cabinet, this one over her handling of the Epstein files, and for not pursuing his opponents more aggressively.

On Friday, the US lost an F-15 fighter jet to Iranian fire, one of the two crew quickly plucked to safety.

During efforts to find the second, a second US plane and two US Blackhawk helicopters were also hit.

A daring search and rescue mission in enemy territory, in the shadow of a daring lunar mission that has captivated humanity.

Christina Koch, the first woman in history to travel around the moon as part of the Artemis II mission, described seeing all of Earth through "one single pane".

An "absolutely phenomenal" view, she said.

From tens of thousands of miles away, the planet is a fragile luminous sphere without borders, where human quarrels seem small.

But in the context of an unconventional White House, the potential for a much larger war in the Middle East looms large.

The one drawback of flying to the moon is that you might not want to come back again.


Golders Green: Three people charged over arson attack on Jewish charity ambulances
Three people have been charged over an arson attack on Jewish volunteer ambulances in Golders Green.

Four ambulances from Hatzola, a volunteer-led ambulance service, were destroyed in the early hours of 23 March in north London.

Hamza Iqbal, 20, and Rehan Khan, 19, both British nationals from Leyton, have been charged with arson being reckless as to whether life would be endangered.

A 17-year-old boy, a dual British and Pakistani national from Walthamstow, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been charged with the same offence.

The group, who were all arrested on Wednesday at different locations in east London, are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court later today.

While an investigation was launched by Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP), the incident has not been declared as terrorism.

When the four ambulances were set on fire, the resulting blaze caused gas canisters stored in the vehicles to explode, and nearby homes were evacuated as a precaution.

Local residents describe being woken by the noise, with the force of the explosions blowing out windows, including those of the nearby synagogue.

The government loaned the charity four ambulances to replace those that were destroyed, and has said it would cover the cost of new vehicles.

An appeal has raised more than £3.2m to find new, safer premises for the Hatzola ambulance service in Golders Green.

Read more from Sky News:
Boy, 14, shot dead in London
M&S boss issues crime warning
Look to faith this Easter, says Starmer

Separately, two men aged 45 and 47, arrested last Wednesday, have both been released on bail until later in April.

Detective Chief Superintendent Luke Williams, who leads policing in northwest London, said a "bespoke policing plan" has been deployed at vulnerable areas across London, including Golders Green.

"This has involved a significant number of additional officers on the ground. It is also being supported by highly visible armed police patrols to serve as a deterrent to anyone seeking to cause our communities harm."


UK weather: Storm Dave to hit hard, forecasters warn - here's when and where
Forecasters are warning that Storm Dave will hit the UK hard later today - bringing gale force winds as millions travel for the Easter break.

Four yellow weather warnings from the Met Office will come into force this afternoon:

• An alert for wind covering northern England and part of Wales is active from 5pm until 7am tomorrow

• A separate warning for wind across the whole of Northern Ireland is in place from 2pm until 3am

• The whole of mainland Scotland also faces a yellow warning for wind from 6pm until 12pm tomorrow

• A yellow alert for rain and snow applies to the Scottish Highlands between 3pm and 6am

Storm Dave will be at its worst today, but will weaken tomorrow as it moves into the North Sea.

Travel disruption on the roads - as well as on rail, air and ferry services - is possible.

Large waves could cause dangerous conditions along the coastline, and there could be 90mph gusts in exposed areas.

The Met Office's forecast says: "While some uncertainty remains in the exact track and shape of Storm Dave, a spell of strong southwesterly winds is expected.

"Gusts of 50mph to 60mph are expected fairly widely, with 60mph to 70mph in more exposed locations."

Read more UK news:
Armed officers leave guns outside Sadiq Khan's home
M&S boss issues stark warning over worsening crime

Some areas could also experience power cuts - with "injuries and danger to life from flying debris possible".

Earlier this week, the RAC predicted that it could be the busiest Easter on the roads since 2022 - with ABTA estimates indicating two million people were planning to travel abroad.

In Scotland, Network Rail has warned that the East Coast Main Line and services on the Ayrshire coast could be most affected by the extreme weather.


Armed police officers left bag of guns outside Sadiq Khan's home
Armed police officers guarding London mayor Sadiq Khan left a bag of guns outside his home, it has emerged.

Five people have now been temporarily suspended from frontline duties while an investigation takes place.

A Heckler & Koch submachine gun, a Glock pistol, a Taser and ammunition were reportedly inside the bag.

The Metropolitan Police's Directorate of Professional Standards has confirmed it is reviewing what happened.

In a statement, it said: "A member of the public called police after finding a bag containing Met-issued firearms and a Taser on a street in south London.

"Within seven minutes of the call to police, officers arrived at the scene and safely recovered the items.

"At this stage it is believed the bag was misplaced by on-duty officers a short time before the member of the public located it."

The incident happened at about 9.40pm on Tuesday.

Read more from Sky News:
Boy, 14, shot dead in London
Sadiq Khan takes a swipe at Trump
Three charged over arson attack

Jordan Griffiths told The Sun that his pregnant partner found the bag by the kerb, adding: "I could not believe my eyes. There was a handgun in the front pocket and a submachine gun in the main part of the bag."

The scaffolder said he called police, who came to collect the holdall quickly.

"When they arrived they were really shocked ... I was told they had been left there by one of Sadiq Khan's security officers, which made sense as he lives here," he added.

A spokesperson for the mayor said: "This is a very serious incident, which has been referred to the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards.

"The Met must now take all steps to ensure an incident like this never occurs again."


'It beggars belief': UK military reveal locations inside sensitive bases through exercise app
A Conservative MP has said it "beggars belief" that UK military personnel have revealed their locations inside sensitive military bases via the Strava exercise app.

Ben Obese-Jecty, a former army officer, has criticised what he regards as the potential threat from Britain's adversaries, who might discover personal details via the tracking platform.

It is reported nearly 520 people working at some of the UK's most sensitive sites have shared their activity publicly on the app, according to The i Paper.

Mr Obese-Jecty, who represents Huntingdon, wrote on X: "I stopped using Strava when I became an MP and I locked down my profile long before that. The app has numerous features to enable you to keep your data private.

"It beggars belief that our armed forces don't have a grip of this given the current, and very real, threat posed by sub-threshold activity from our adversaries."

Using GPS, the Strava app tracks certain activities, like running and cycling, and allows users to share the routes they have taken.

The newspaper found that, since January, 110 people have used Strava while running at the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, home of the UK's nuclear deterrent.

It reported that one route was logged within the site's restricted area and claimed the information could be used to reveal the identity of the specific nuclear submarine to which the user was assigned.

But the Ministry of Defence has cast doubt on the potential threat. A spokesperson said the use of fitness apps, such as Strava, is not an operational threat. It added the locations of bases are already in the public domain.

It said military personnel would continue to be given security guidance on the use of apps with GPS tracking features.

"We take the security of our personnel very seriously and keep guidance for them under constant review," a spokesperson said.

Read more from Sky News:
Pair stopped from entering Faslane
Leak from UK security meeting
'Staggering' security breach at RAF base

Personnel stationed at overseas bases, including RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus and Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, both of which have played a role in America's military campaign against Iran, were also identifiable through the app, the paper found.

Both bases have been targeted by Iran in retaliation for the US-Israeli war against it.

In March, the French newspaper, Le Monde, reported that a French naval officer's run around the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle was shared on Strava, revealing the location of the ship in the Mediterranean amid the Iran conflict.


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