UK

A “household name” BBC presenter accused of paying a teenager for explicit photos is facing fresh allegations that he stripped to his underpants during a video call with the youth. The young person’s mother said she was “shocked” after her offspring showed her a screenshot of the video chat, in which the unnamed star was sitting

Rishi Sunak has said the UK “discourages” the use of cluster bombs after the US agreed to send them to Ukraine. President Joe Biden has faced criticism for supplying the munitions, which are banned by many allies because of their track record of killing many civilians. The prime minister said the UK was one of

Below the Medway Viaduct on the A21 in Kent, nettles have reclaimed a shrine left in the memory of Azra Kemal. The 21-year-old died there in July 2020 after falling from the dual carriageway bridge. Her car had broken down nearby and caught fire. She was travelling back to London with a male friend. Paramedics

A second eight-year-old girl is in a life-threatening condition after a car crashed into a primary school in southwest London. Tributes have been left at the scene to a “shining star” – also an eight-year-old girl – who died after the crash in Wimbledon on Thursday. A woman, aged 46, was arrested on suspicion of

Schools across England are facing widespread disruption today as teachers hold their second strike this week. Members of the National Education Union (NEU) will be heading to the picket line after a similar walk-out on Wednesday resulted in many schools closing entirely or forced to reduce the number of classes held. It comes amid a

A car has crashed into a primary school in Wimbledon, south-west London. Police say officers are at the scene in Camp Road – adding several people have been hurt. London Fire Brigade said firefighters are also at the school. Merton Police tweeted that “a car collided with a building at the school”, adding: “Several people

Police have seized up to £130m worth of cannabis as part of a nationwide crackdown, described as the “most significant” operation of its kind in UK law enforcement history. Officers discovered more than 180,000 cannabis plants during the series of co-ordinated raids, aimed at unearthing and disrupting organised crime groups (OCGs) across England and Wales.

Two Just Stop Oil protesters have disrupted a Wimbledon match after running out on to the grass and throwing orange confetti. Play was suspended on Court 18, where Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov was playing Japan’s Sho Shimabukuro. Just Stop Oil said the supporters ran on to the court at around 2.10pm and “threw environmentally-friendly orange confetti

The energy regulator has threatened action against household suppliers if they put investors before hard-pressed households. Ofgem’s chief executive Jonathan Brearley warned that financial practices seen before the energy crisis would not be tolerated. New rules were brought in last November to bolster the resilience of business models after the collapse of more than 20

Almost half of people in Britain (47%) think that NHS care will get worse in the coming years, according to a new international poll by Ipsos for Sky News. Just one in ten of those surveyed in the UK said they expect the quality of their healthcare to improve (10%), compared to 15% of Swedes

Drivers have been paying more for fuel since 2019 due to weakening competition between retailers, a regulator has said. They said that increased supermarket fuel margins led to drivers paying an extra 6p per litre. Asda has also been fined £60,000 for a failure to provide information when required, the regulator added. It comes in

A man has been found guilty of murdering his neighbours, a mother and her two daughters, who died after a flat fire. Jamie Barrow admitted starting the fire which killed Fatimah Drammeh, three, Naeemah Drammeh, one, and their mother Fatoumatta Hydara, 28, but denied murder by claiming he was unaware they were home at the

A major investigation is under way after shots were fired at a wedding in Wolverhampton. No one was injured in the shooting which took place at a reception being held at the Gujarati Association on Mander Street, Merridale, at around 9.30pm on Saturday. West Midlands police said a car was driven up to the back

Health Secretary Steve Barclay has criticised junior doctors, accusing them of “walking away” from talks over pay and conditions. The British Medical Association – the union representing many from the profession – has called a five-day strike in July and is demanding a rise of 35% to restore their wages to 2008 levels. It has

Labour frontbencher Jess Phillips has been accused of “racist and bullying behaviour” after getting into a row on social media with high-profile headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh. Ms Birbalsingh, former chairwoman of the Social Mobility Commission and once dubbed “Britain’s strictest headteacher”, accused the Birmingham Yardley MP of seeking to “whip up a social media mob” against

Two people have been arrested on suspicion of murdering a two-year-old girl in Ipswich. Police officers attended a property on Sidegate Lane just after 11.45am on Friday where they discovered the girl’s body. In a statement, Suffolk Police said: “In the early hours of this morning (Saturday 1 July), officers arrested a 22-year-old man from

The leader of the team which found the remains of the Titan submersible became emotional as he described how a rescue effort turned into a recovery operation. Pelagic Research Services set out a timeline of its response to the Titan emergency in a news conference this evening. “We were always conscious of the crew of

A double murder investigation has been launched after a man and a teenager were stabbed to death in London. Emergency services were called at 11.33pm on Thursday to Elthorne Road, Islington, north London, after a boy was found with stab wounds. The teenager, believed to be 15, was pronounced dead at the scene. Another man,

Shorter medical degrees, apprenticeships, and £2.4bn in funding are among the radical plans being put forward to solve NHS England’s severe staffing crisis. The long-awaited NHS workforce plan is due to be published in full on Friday, outlining how the service will address existing vacancies and meet the challenges of a growing and ageing population.

The privileges committee’s special report on “sustained interference” into the partygate probe names seven MPs and one peer, accusing them of “improper pressure”. Nadine Dorries is named four times and Mark Jenkinson, Michael Fabricant, Brendan Clarke-Smith, Jacob Rees-Mogg, Andrea Jenkyns, Priti Patel and Zac Goldsmith are all also cited in the report for criticising the