UK

A council where the Home Office plans to turn an RAF base into asylum seeker accommodation says the “irrational” move will put at risk a £300m regeneration project for the site. A new local plan, with proposals to re-develop RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire, was formally adopted on Thursday as part of requirements for councils to

Eight Metropolitan Police officers involved in a secret WhatsApp group which sent racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic and disablist messages – including some making fun of Katie Price’s son, Harvey – have been found guilty of gross misconduct. The WhatsApp group, named “Secret Squirrel S**t”, was active between 2016 and 2018, and was found to have

A body has been found on a beach after a search operation off Brighton Palace Pier. A search operation for somebody believed to have been swept out to sea as Storm Noa hit the UK was called off this morning, Sussex police said. Lifeboats, the coastguard helicopter and police started the search after the alarm

Police have said they are “very concerned” about the welfare of a missing dog walker in Snowdonia, northwest Wales. The search continues for Ausra Plungiene, who was reported missing earlier this week, with mountain rescue teams and RAF Search and Rescue looking for her in the Carneddau mountains. The 56-year-old from Prestatyn, North Wales, was

It had all been going so well.  The serious political business of the day dispensed with, Joe Biden left Belfast and broke for the border. Arriving for the first day of ancestral exploration in County Louth, he was taken on a tour of Carlingford Castle, the last sight his great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan would have seen

Police will spend less time dealing with social media spats and more time investigating crime on the streets following government plans to cut “unnecessary red tape”. The move is part of a wider set of rule changes on how forces record crime, aimed at freeing up police time. The Home Office has said police will

The number of people with diabetes in the UK has reached five million for the first time ever, a health charity has said. According to Diabetes UK, the country is in a “rapidly escalating diabetes crisis”, adding more should be done to prevent people from getting the condition. Diabetes UK is urging the government to

The Ministry of Defence says there is “a serious level of inaccuracy” in leaks which claim UK special forces have been operating in Ukraine. The claims have been widely reported after US classified military documents were allegedly leaked and published online. A Ministry of Defence spokesperson has warned against taking allegations contained in the reported

Uber has banned a driver after he was allegedly videoed with his trousers down while next to a young woman in the back of a vehicle. A spokesperson for the ride-hailing app said the tech company was “horrified by what is depicted in the video”. The firm also said that it had launched an investigation

Joe Biden will hold a bilateral meeting with Rishi Sunak today after arriving in Northern Ireland last night to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. Mr Sunak greeted Mr Biden after Air Force One landed at Belfast International Airport for the US president’s four-day visit to the island of Ireland. The two

Police have returned to the scene where the body of Nicola Bulley was found. Divers are back in the River Wyre where the mum of two’s body was spotted by two dog walkers on 19 February, following a huge police investigation. Lancashire Police confirmed that they were carrying out some work at the direction of

COVID-19 has dropped out of the top five leading causes of death in England and Wales for the first time since the start of the pandemic. The virus was the sixth leading cause of death in 2022, down from the leading cause in both 2020 and 2021, with 73,766 deaths (12.1% of all deaths) and

Police Scotland says it is investigating reports of “threatening and abusive” messages sent to referee Kevin Clancy following Saturday’s Old Firm derby. The Scottish Football Association (SFA) said the referee’s contact details were published online after the premiership clash in which Celtic beat Rangers 3-2. The SFA said it had referred a “significant volume of

An emergency was declared after a plane landing at Dublin Airport experienced a “minor issue” with its landing gear. The Ryanair flight from Liverpool on Sunday afternoon was met by the airport’s fire service, with passengers kept on board until the fire officer had given the all-clear. Ryanair said in a statement that the plane

The BBC has objected to being labelled as “government-funded media” on Twitter. The corporation said it had contacted Twitter after the label was added to the main BBC account. Twitter owner Elon Musk responded to the complaint, asking: “Is the Twitter label accurate?” Musk later emailed the BBC, saying: “We are aiming for maximum transparency

The coronation regalia is at the heart of the crown jewels, locked away in the Tower of London. The King’s crowning ceremony will be a rare outing for the sacred collection, with dozens of important and symbolic objects to keep an eye out for. From crowns and swords to sceptres and orbs, here’s what you

The route the King and Queen Consort will take to the coronation has been revealed – involving two gilded coaches, one of which has air conditioning and shock absorbers. The other one is uncomfortably suspended on leather straps, weighs four tonnes, and can move only at walking pace, pulled by eight horses. Charles and Camilla

Life-saving vaccines targeting serious health conditions including cancer and heart disease could be ready within the next seven years, experts believe. Pharmaceutical company Moderna – which produced one of the leading COVID-19 jabs – is reportedly developing “personalised” vaccines to target different types of tumours. Moderna’s chief medical officer, Dr Paul Burton, said the treatment

Police were called to a theatre in Manchester after a “disturbance” during a performance of hit musical The Bodyguard. Theatre-goers tweeted to say the show at the city’s Palace Theatre was stopped before the end because of people “singing over the lead during the final song”. Two people were removed from the venue, Greater Manchester

Police searching for a teenager first reported missing more than six weeks ago say they have found his body. Warwickshire Police say officers found the body in the water at Newbold Quarry Nature Reserve, in Rugby, on Thursday afternoon. It has now been identified as 17-year-old Toby Burwell, who had been missing from his Newbold