Western Europe

Though a successful counterterrorism operation, the recent arrests of five Iranian nationals underscore the persistent threat of state-sponsored terrorism across the UK. Geopolitically motivated state-sponsored terrorism is a growing challenge across the West, demanding robust international cooperation to meet shared counter-terrorism objectives. As global tensions intensify, state-sponsored terrorism is likely to remain a persistent and complex challenge.

On 24 April 90,000 people filed past the Pontiff's body following an 8 hour wait for access to pay respects to him. Factors including strong media attention, the religious element, and large crowds increase the appeal of the event as a target for Islamist terror groups. Travel disruptions are highly likely and visitors should expect closures, restrictions, and huge crowds. The Pope will continue to lie in state until the evening of 25 April 2025 and at around 1900hr

Clashes between rival gangs have been reported from Edinburgh and Glasgow over drug territories with violence levels that are rapidly escalating. Methods used between the rivals have been firebombs, firearms, weapons. The past six weeks have seen over a dozen brutal attacks take place with private properties and children caught in the crossfire of the organised crime that the Police Federation admitted there are not enough officers to deal with.

The “Revolutionary Class Struggle", a newly emerged extremist group, claimed responsibility for the incident. The group made their claim via a post on the "Athens Indymedia" website and also took credit for a similar incident involving explosives at the Labour Ministry building in Athens in February 2024.

The proposed amendments would give police the ability to impose conditions on protests, including altering protest routes and timings to prevent disruption to those attending places of worship. This comes in the wake of violent incidents during the summer of 2024, when religious venues including mosques and synagogues were targeted by protests, making it risky or impossible for worshippers to practice their faith peacefully.

The Russian ships, which included destroyer RFN Severomorsk, landing ship RFN Alexander Shabalin, and two transport ships, MV Sparta IV and MV Siyanie Severa, were sailing east towards the Baltic Sea. This comes after the Royal Navy began an operation on 16 March 2025 after tanker Tidesurge had monitored the destroyer in the North Sea and through the Strait of Dover. HMS Somerset and her Merlin helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron then began shadowing Russian task group's e