Month: October 2024

A raft of tax rises are being considered for the new Labour Government’s first Budget, reports have suggested, as Rachel Reeves meets with City bosses to discuss investment in national infrastructure. Changes to inheritance tax, fuel duty, stamp duty, and a levy on e-cigarettes are among the measures said to be up for consideration by Rachel Reeves in her October 30 fiscal announcement, according to reports across the media on […]

The King and Queen Camilla have begun a landmark tour of Australia that will see them celebrate the country’s people, culture and heritage. The six-day trip to Canberra and Sydney will be Charles’ first to Australia as its head of state, and comes as he continues to receive treatment for cancer. Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn and her husband Simeon Beckett greeted the royal couple alongside Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, his […]

A comet last seen for Earth some 80,000 years ago has been spotted in North-East England. The C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan–ATLAS) comet passed through the dark skies in Northumberland, putting on a show for skygazers armed with telescopes at the Northumberland International Dark Sky Park. Although discovered in January last year, astronomers said it would last have been visible when Neanderthals were alive. Comets are made of dust, ice and small […]

Rafael Nadal will have one final battle with Novak Djokovic when they meet in the Six Kings Slam exhibition event on Saturday. Rafael Nadal will have one final battle with Novak Djokovic when they meet in the Six Kings Slam exhibition event on Saturday. The Spaniard is retiring after next month’s Davis Cup finals in Malaga, bringing the curtain down on an incredible career. His rivalry with Djokovic has been one of […]

Kemi Badenoch has criticised a Conservative MP’s suggestion she could not head the Tories because she was too “preoccupied” with her children, saying “it isn’t always women who have parental responsibilities”. Kemi Badenoch has criticised a Conservative MP’s suggestion she could not head the Tories because she was too “preoccupied” with her children, saying “it isn’t always women who have parental responsibilities”. Meanwhile, her leadership rival Robert Jenrick also distanced himself […]

Payne, 31, who found fame on The X Factor with the boy band, died after falling from a balcony on the third floor of a hotel in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Liam Payne’s One Direction bandmates have said they are “completely devastated” and will miss the singer “terribly”. Payne, 31, who found fame on The X Factor with the boy band, died after falling from a balcony on the third floor […]

Israel’s foreign minister has confirmed that Israeli troops in Gaza have killed Hamas’s top leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year’s attack on Israel that sparked the war. Mr Sinwar has topped Israel’s most wanted list since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war just over a year ago, and his killing strikes a powerful blow to the militant group. There was no immediate confirmation from Hamas of his […]

The Israeli military said it was looking into whether Hamas’s top leader Yahya Sinwar was killed in a military operation in Gaza, while an Israeli airstrike on a school sheltering displaced Palestinians killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The military said in a statement that three militants were killed during operations in Gaza, without specifying where or elaborating further. It said the identities […]

The wife of a Conservative councillor who used Twitter to stir up racial hatred against asylum seekers on the day of the Southport attacks has been jailed for 31 months. Lucy Connolly, who is married to West Northamptonshire councillor Raymond Connolly, posted a message on July 29 which read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f****** hotels full of the b******* for all I care… If that makes me racist, […]