UK

The annual rate of inflation has surprisingly risen, official figures show. The consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation stood at 4% in the year to December, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). A fall, to 3.8%, had been expected by economists polled by Reuters. But instead inflation rose from 3.9% in the

The King will go to hospital next week where he will be treated for an enlarged prostate. The 75-year-old monarch’s condition is benign but his public engagements will be postponed while he recuperates after the corrective procedure, Buckingham Palace announced this afternoon. In a statement, it said: “In common with thousands of men each year,

Rishi Sunak has been dealt a fresh blow to his authority as 68 MPs, including 60 Tories, voted in favour of changes to his Rwanda Bill put forward by Conservative backbencher Sir Bill Cash. The amendment, seeking to ensure UK and international law cannot be used to block a person being removed to Rwanda, was

People in Scotland have been sharing their stories of how the pandemic has affected their lives – as the UK COVID inquiry resumed in Edinburgh. It is the first time the hearings, chaired by former judge Baroness Hallett, have taken place outside of London since the inquiry began in 2022 – and will focus on

Wales’s Louis Rees-Zammit has quit rugby union for America’s NFL ahead of the Six Nations. The 22-year-old, who has also previously been selected for the British and Irish Lions, said he had taken the decision “after careful consideration”. In a statement on social media, he said he would be joining the NFL’s International Player Pathway

A hospital in the West Midlands has reportedly declared a critical incident over a bed shortage – just 24 hours after two Sussex hospitals were forced to divert ambulances. Russells Hall in Dudley declared the critical incident on Monday afternoon, according to reports. Diane Wake, the chief executive of the Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust,

A body has been recovered three weeks into the search for a missing father feared drowned in a Christmas fishing tragedy that claimed the life of his friend. Greig Stoddart, 44, disappeared following an overnight fishing trip to Gartmorn Dam in Clackmannanshire with Ian McBurney, 55, on 23 December last year. The alarm was raised

Operation Span was hailed as “a fantastic result for British justice”. On the face of it, it was a success; in 2010 an investigative team had turned things around after a failed investigation into a grooming gang in the south of Manchester, Operation Augusta, and by May 2012 with renewed vigour had convicted nine men

Drivers could end up stranded or delayed this week as freezing temperatures hit the UK – with National Highways issuing a “severe weather alert” for snow. The travel warning covers northwest England on Tuesday and coincides with four days of Met Office warnings for snow and ice. Temperatures 5-6C lower than normal are forecast, with

A League One match between Bolton Wanderers and Cheltenham Town has been postponed following a medical emergency in the crowd. The game at the Toughsheet Community Stadium was halted after 29 minutes in the first half after a fan fell ill in the stand. Home club Bolton said in a statement a supporter in the

Reading’s League One match against Port Vale was abandoned after around 1,000 home fans protesting against the club’s owner invaded the pitch. The start of the game at the Select Car Leasing Stadium had already been held up for three minutes when tennis balls were thrown onto the playing surface. Referee Ross Joyce then took

A former police officer has been jailed for 16 years for a “brutal” attempt to kill his ex-girlfriend after he learned she was planning to start a relationship with another man. James Riley, 28, strangled PhD student Ellie Moxham and left her unconscious in a hotel room in Manchester on 10 November 2022 before calling

A woman’s body has been found during the search for Lucy Charles who went missing three weeks ago. North Wales Police said on Friday that its officers and underwater teams recovered the body from the River Dee. Formal identification is yet to take place. Ms Charles, from Bangor-on-Dee, near Wrexham, was last seen walking past

Police have released a CCTV image of the last known movements of a woman who has been missing for three weeks. Lucy Charles, 39, was last seen walking past a pub in Bangor-on-Dee, Wrexham county, at 5.34pm on 22 December. Her personal items have been found on the bank of the River Dee during extensive

Rishi Sunak will visit Kyiv today as he announces a new package of military aid, security assurances and humanitarian support. Mr Sunak will sign a UK-Ukraine Agreement on Security Cooperation with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy – committing the UK to provide intelligence sharing, cyber security, medical and military training, and defence industrial cooperation. The UK will

Police are treating a woman’s death as murder after finding the bodies of a married couple at a home in Scotland. Alison McLaughlin, 53, and husband Neil, 57, were found dead in their home on Greenock’s Banff Road, Inverclyde, after concern was raised for the pair’s welfare on Friday 5 January. A probe was subsequently

A former firearms officer has been awarded a reported £820,000 after winning a sex discrimination case against West Midlands Police. Rebecca Kalam was made the “poster girl” for the force’s firearms unit in 2012 and told she could not pass the training course unless she agreed, an employment tribunal heard. She was also required to

A constable is under criminal investigation after a man died when a police van crashed into him on a pedestrian crossing. Trevor Bartlett, 80, a former photographer for the Nottingham Post, was killed on the A52 in the city on 19 December. The van had its lights and sirens on and was in a bus

An autonomous robot designed to tackle potholes using AI is to venture out of a controlled environment and be tested on actual roads for the first time. The machine called ARRES (Autonomous Road Repair System) PREVENT can identify and characterise potholes and cracks using artificial intelligence. Image: Pic: Zenzic CAM UK Image: It can automatically

Prince Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre said she was paid $15,000 by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the royal when she was 17, court documents have revealed. The legal papers are among the latest batch released relating to Ms Giuffre’s civil defamation claim against Epstein’s ex-girlfriend and long-time associate Ghislaine Maxwell, which was filed in