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First UK government flight departs Middle East after delay

Published

2 months ago

2026/03/6

Priyan

[pic BBC]

A flight chartered by the UK government to bring back some Britons stranded in the Middle East has departed after being delayed.

Problems with getting passengers on board meant the plane, due to leave Oman’s capital Muscat on Wednesday, had remained grounded.

Thousands of British nationals are stuck in the Middle East, after US-Israeli strikes on Iran prompted retaliatory strikes by Iran across the region.

Giving an update on the situation on Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer confirmed the chartered flight had departed Oman.

Shadow Foreign Secretary Priti Patel said returning UK nationals was “an enormous exercise and ministers must be honest about all their actions”.

She asked what was being done to get British nationals home and questioned why “Britain was so woefully unprepared” for the war.

More than 130,000 Britons in the region have registered for updates from the UK government.

Sir Keir said more than 4,000 people have arrived back in the UK on commercial flights from the UAE, including “vulnerable Brits”.

A further seven flights are due to leave the UAE for the UK on Thursday, he said, adding that the government will lay on additional charter flights in the coming days.

He said British Airways is putting on daily flights from Oman, and the government will keep working with partners to “increase the speed and capacity of this airlift”.

Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer described the situation as “a consular challenge on a scale not seen since Covid” and said there were “no instant solutions”.

Britons in Oman will be contacted as soon as the additional government-organised flights from Muscat become available, Falconer said.

However, he said commercial flights becoming available were “by far the most likely and the most rapid routes back to the UK”.

In response, the shadow foreign secretary criticised the government’s position on the conflict, calling Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper “weak and feeble”.

Patel said the US, Cyprus, the UAE and Bahrain felt let down by the UK’s lack of involvement.

Cooper had “failed in her duty to stand up for Britain’s place in the world” and had not provided the leadership needed to protect military personnel, British bases and British nationals, she added.

Regarding the delayed flight, Home Office minister Alex Norris earlier told LBC: “It didn’t take off because there are operational reasons… about getting passengers on board, and it wasn’t able to happen in the time that it had to happen.”

On Thursday evening, a plane sent by France to Dubai to repatriate its citizens reportedly had to turn back because of missile fire.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said the turning round of the French plane underscored the instability in the region and the complexity of safely carrying out repatriation operations.

Those eligible for government flights are being asked to pay for seats. When announcing the initial flight, the Foreign Office said it would prioritise the most vulnerable people, and that only British nationals, their spouse or partner, and children under 18 would be offered a seat.

Rajen Shah A landscape image of passengers queuing in an airport terminal — *Passengers queue at Muscat airport on Thursday after Qatar Airways said they would begin operation a limited number of relief flights for some places in Middle East [BBC]*

Foreign Office officials said 138,000 British nationals in the Gulf had registered their presence, of whom 112,000 were in the United Arab Emirates.

Following the missile strikes across the Middle East, airspace remains severely restricted, with flights completely or partially grounded over Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Syria, the UAE and Israel.

A passenger on the flight, named Mark, messaged the BBC as it was about to take off. He’s travelling with his young family to London Stansted.

He described the “complete shambles” of Wednesday’s delayed flight – check-in took two hours, and they were stuck on a bus to the plane for another hour with “no communication from the craft or the crew”.

Mark said someone had a panic attack on the bus, and once the doors finally opened, they were told the crew were working out of hours, meaning the flight would not legally be able to reach Cairo.

Britons unable to secure a seat on the charter flight have been looking for alternative ways home.

Sam Sahabandu, 47, from Northamptonshire, who got stuck in Muscat after his flight back to London from Sri Lanka was diverted, was due to be on a Qatar Airways flight to Heathrow on Thursday afternoon local time.

Sahabandu said Muscat Airport appeared “relatively peaceful” despite the disruption, and some other passengers were being routed through other cities such as Rome to get back to the UK.

Poppy Cleary wears a pink and black stripey tshirt while looking directly at the camera. She appears to be in a hotel room with cream walls and brown curtains over her shoulder — *Poppy Cleary is trying to get back to the UK after her flight was diverted to Muscat [BBC]*

Poppy Cleary, 27, was one of those stranded in Muscat after her flight from Singapore was diverted to Oman on Saturday. She told BBC Your Voice that she registered and paid for a charter flight, but never heard back.

She said the British Embassy in Oman told her the first flight was not for people who had been diverted to Muscat, but instead for people who had come to Oman from “unsafe countries” including the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar.

Cleary said she was “relieved” to eventually secure a place on the Qatar Airways flight leaving Oman on Thursday, telling the BBC after boarding that it did not appear to be full, with a “fair amount of empty seats”.

One woman selected for a space on the government charter flight said she had to decline her spot as her parents – who have indefinite leave to remain in the UK, but are Sri Lankan passport holders – were not eligible.

Erasha Amarasinghe, a 39-year-old doctor from Northampton, told BBC Your Voice: “I am travelling with my disabled mother and my father who has cognitive impairment. I feel stuck as I cannot leave my parents behind.”

Handover A young woman sites outside on a sunny day - she has darker skin with brown hair, is waring some make up and is smiling at the camera — *Erasha Amarasinghe had received a place on the flight, but had to turn it down [BBC]*

There were emotional scenes at Edinburgh Airport on Wednesday night as some 300 passengers landed on an Emirates flight from Dubai.

Andrew Crow and Jean Weir, from Glasgow, had checked out of the Fairmont The Palm hotel in Dubai just hours before it was caught in a large explosion on Saturday.

“The flight was a long one on the way back, I can assure you, but we are relieved to be home,” Andrew said.

Victoria Cameron, from Larkhall, had been travelling home from New Zealand via Dubai when flights in the Middle East were grounded.

“The staff said ‘run, run, leave your suitcases’,” she told the BBC. “Our phones were going off, saying ’emergency alert’. We were crying, we were shaking.”

A mother and son wait for a family member at Edinburgh Airport. They are holding up a sign that says Welcome Home Papa — *A mother and son wait for a family member at Edinburgh Airport, where a commercial flight landed from Dubai on Wednesday evening [BBC]*

Meanwhile, the UK government continues to set out its wider response to the crisis in the Middle East, including deploying a warship to the area close to Cyprus.

The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Dragon will be sent to the Mediterranean, possibly next week, to bolster defences around a British military base at Akrotiri after it was hit by an Iranian drone.

[BBC]

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Trump announces three-day ceasefire in Russia-Ukraine war

Published

13 hours ago

2026/05/9

Priyan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left), US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin [Aljazeera]

United States ⁠President Donald Trump ⁠says ‌there will be a three-day ceasefire in ⁠the war between ⁠Russia and ⁠Ukraine.

Posting on Truth Social on Friday, the US leader said the truce would last from ⁠Saturday to Monday.

“I am pleased to announce that there will be a THREE DAY CEASEFIRE (May 9th, 10th, and 11th) in the War between Russia and Ukraine,” Trump posted.

Soon after, Ukrainian ⁠President ⁠Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed on X that ⁠a three-day truce ⁠had been arranged as part of ‌US efforts to negotiate an end to the more than ⁠four-year-old war.

Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov later said “an agreement on this matter was reached during our telephone contacts with the US administration. In turn, US representatives were in contact with Kyiv.” He said the agreement followed a recent telephone conversation between President Vladimir Putin and Trump, in which the two presidents “emphasised that our countries were allies during World War II and also discussed the possibility of a ceasefire during the Victory Day celebrations.”

Russia had previously announced a two-day unilateral ceasefire to mark its May 9 World War II Victory Day on Saturday. Ukraine previously stated that it too had offered a truce but that this had been ignored by Moscow.

“This request was made directly by me,” Trump said on Friday, thanking his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts for agreeing to it.

“The Celebration in Russia is for Victory Day but, likewise, in Ukraine, because they were also a big part and factor of World War II. This Ceasefire will include a suspension of all kinetic activity, and also a prison swap of 1,000 prisoners from each Country,” Trump said. Zelenskyy also confirmed the prisoner swap would take place.

[Aljazeera]

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Heat Index is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime

Published

13 hours ago

2026/05/9

Priyan

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre
Issued at 3.30 p.m. on 08 May 2026, valid for 09 May 2026

The Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in the North-central and Eastern provinces and in Mannar, Vavuniya and Monaragala districts during the daytime

The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.

Effect of the heat index on the human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.

ACTION REQUIRED

Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated.
Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.

Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.

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Finn Allen’s 47-ball ton powers Kolkata Knight Riders to huge win over Delhi Capitals

Published

13 hours ago

2026/05/9

Priyan

Pathum Nissanka carried Delhi Capitals in the first half of the innings [Cricinfo]

Kolkata Knight Riders picked up their fourth win on the trot, their spin bowlers (12-0-76-3) capturing Delhi Capitals in a vice-like grip and never letting go Finn Allen made sure that wouldn’t repeat in the second innings. He pulverised DC’s spinners (9-0-102-1) to score his first IPL century even though he only had 143 to chase.

Pathum Nissanka scored a good half-century. He made 50 of DC’s first 85 runs at a strike rate of 172. The other end could only contribute 33 at a strike rate of 103. It was symbolic of how hard it was for a new batter to settle in and how much pressure comes on the set batter on a pitch like this. Even though he was going at a good clip, and had hit the previous ball for four, he still left his crease looking for more and was stumped off Anukul Roy. The left-arm spinner took another wicket, four balls later.

DC were 74 for 2 after eight overs. But only four of those overs were from spin bowlers and three of them were inside the powerplay. Given the comfort of five fielders on the boundary, and a pitch that was slow and turning, Roy, Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy started to dictate proceedings. At one point, DC scored just 11 runs in 30 balls. This was between overs 12 to 16. No IPL team in nearly two decades has ever been this sluggish in this period of play.

Roy set this choke up, stumping Nissanka out with a slower and wider delivery and bowling Tristan Stubbs out with the exact opposite of that. That was solid range for a bowler with no mystery about him.

With DC at 89 for 5, Axar Patel in wretched form (his 44 runs, with only three boundaries, are the fewest by any batter this season having faced at least 50 balls) and the conditions not helping run-scoring, all Narine and Varun had to do was what they do so well. Amp up the mystery. Aim at the stumps. Narine finished with 4-0-17-1. Varun, badly limping when he bowled his final over which cost 16 runs, finished with 4-0-28-0.

Ashutosh Sharma broke a boundary drought that last 38 balls in the 17th over. He reverse swept Vaibhav Arora, coming around the wicket, for six in the 19th over. His cameo – 39 off 28 balls – carried KKR to 142 for 8.

For the first time in his IPL career, Allen played through the powerplay. This was his eighth innings. He might have felt bad for running out his captain Ajinkya Rahane when his straight drive flicked Mitchell Starc’s outstretched finger and deflected onto the stumps but he quickly got over it. DC played a part in that a well with Kuldeep Yadav and Vipraj Nigam bowling balls right in the slot. Allen is superb down the ground and needed no second invitation. From 20 off 17, he launched 10 sixes, the last of them when KKR needed two to win and he needed six to bring up 100.

Allen had a strike rate of 235 against spin (73 off 31). The next best, from both teams, was Rahane with 167, benefiting from playing just three balls and scoring five runs.

In a match where his former team’s spinners held so much sway (economy rate 6.33), Kuldeep suffered, going at 13.66 an over even though he was spared the trouble of bowling in the powerplay. Axar bowled three with the field up and still finished with figures of 4-0-27-1.

Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 147 for 2 in 14.2 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 13, Finn Allen 100*, Cameron Green 33*; Axar Patel 1-27 ) beat Delhi Capitals 142 for 8 in 20 overs (Pathum Nissanka 50, KL Rahul 23, Axar Patel 11, Ashutosh Sharma 39; Kartik Tyagi 2-25, Anukul Roy 2-31, Vaibhav Arora 1–29, Sunil Narine 1-17, Cameron Green 1-12) by eight wickets

[Cricinfo]