Author: DispatchTimes News Desk

Four members of the same family, including a 13-year-old boy, have been identified after a fire tore through a townhome in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighbourhood. The victims were named by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as Mariza Garcia Jimenez, 48; her son Valentino Jozeph Vallejo, 13; her mother, Maria Piedad Jimenez de Garcia, 69; and her other son, Francisco Rey Vallejo, 24. Firefighters were called to the 7000 block of North Paulina Street at about 4.15am on Thursday. The Chicago Fire Department said the blaze was confined to one property in a four-unit building. The family had lived in…

Explosions heard across southern Iran were suggested by Iranian media to be linked to military activity rather than fresh US strikes, as Tehran and Washington reported separate incidents involving shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Iranian state television said officials had not confirmed any missile attack on Iranian territory after blasts were reported on Saturday evening, including on Qeshm Island in the strategic waterway. The Tasnim news agency later reported that two missiles had hit Qeshm Island, although neither Iran nor the US commented on the claim and there was no official information about possible damage. Iranian state…

A passenger train from Giza to Fayoum ran into the back of a Cairo-to-Aswan service in Giza Governorate. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has ordered a prompt investigation to hold those responsible to account. Four people have died and 88 have been injured after two passenger trains collided in Giza Governorate, south of Cairo, according to Egypt’s health ministry. A train carrying passengers from Giza to Fayoum ran into the rear of another travelling from Cairo to Aswan. Several carriages left the tracks and fell down an embankment. President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ordered a prompt investigation to hold those responsible to account. What…

Karoline Leavitt has said Democrats used Donald Trump’s political playbook to secure victories in both the Senate and the House at the recent midterm elections. Speaking to Lara Trump on Fox News, the former White House press secretary said Republicans must find a new leader capable of appealing to the voters who had been drawn to the party by the president. “President Trump wasn’t on the ballot in these midterms, he’ll never be at the top of the ticket again,” Leavitt said. She argued that the party needed an “America first” candidate who could connect with what she called the…

Democrats have made sweeping gains in state legislatures across the United States, flipping more than 500 seats and taking control of at least a dozen chambers in a result that will reshape policy and political power for years. The party established new governing trifectas in Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada, while capturing legislative chambers in Texas, Georgia and North Carolina – states that have long been dominated by Republicans. Democrats also strengthened their grip on traditionally liberal states including New York, California and Illinois. Their victories give them greater scope to pursue policies on housing costs, public education,…

The average UK worker would need to save every penny of their earnings for 52 years to accumulate the £1.3 million needed to join the country’s wealthiest 10 per cent, research from the Resolution Foundation has found. The calculation assumes that no money is spent on housing, food, bills or any other costs during that period. It highlights the scale of the wealth gap facing people seeking to move beyond the middle-class bracket. Molly Broome, formerly a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation and lead author of the research, said: “Wealth gaps in Britain are now so large that a…

Del Casher, the inventor of the wah-wah pedal, guitarist and film and television composer, has died aged 88. He passed away on 1 October. Casher created the influential pedal in 1967 while working with Vox and the Thomas Organ Company. He used a transistorised mid-range booster circuit originally designed for trumpets to develop the effect. His career also included appearances on screen and guitar performances alongside Elvis Presley in Roustabout and Jerry Lewis in The Patsy. Casher composed music for more than a dozen television shows and films, and was a member of the studio recording unit known as the…

Celtic will face Kilmarnock in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday 8 November 2026, with kick-off scheduled for 4pm at Celtic Park. The fixture will take place at Celtic’s Glasgow stadium as the two sides meet in league action.

Sunshine and cooler temperatures have returned to central Florida, but flood warnings remain in place along the St Johns River as water levels continue to rise after last week’s exceptional rainfall. The National Weather Service said warnings were continuing at Cocoa, Geneva, Sanford, DeLand and Astor, with flooding expected to persist through the start of the working week. Some locations could reach major flood stage before levels begin to fall gradually. At Cocoa, officials said the river was expected to continue rising towards a crest of about 17.1ft by the middle of the week. Moderate flooding was already being reported,…

South Australian motorists could soon be protected from ticketless parking fines issued weeks after an alleged offence, under proposed reforms to the use of AI-assisted council camera cars. Premier Peter Malinauskas said council inspectors would have to issue a physical infringement notice at the scene, while councils would remain able to use camera technology to enforce parking rules. The change would end the current practice of sending fines through the post after they have been generated by camera vehicles. Drivers would instead be notified immediately, giving them the opportunity to understand the alleged offence and challenge it. “When fines arrive…