Month: December 2024

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have shared a rare picture of their two children as part of a series of images for their official Christmas card. Meghan and Harry are shown in the outdoors about to hug Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet as their son and daughter run into their arms. The couple have rarely exposed their children to the limelight and in the image their faces are not […]

Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother have been jailed for life for years of horrific “torture” and “despicable” abuse culminating in her murder. The 10-year-old suffered “unimaginable pain, misery and anxiety” as she was repeatedly beaten, burned, bitten and restrained at the family home in Woking, Surrey, the court heard. Urfan Sharif, 42, and Beinash Batool, 30, had tried to cover up the abuse, twice taking her out of school, and then […]

About one in five homes and businesses in England are in areas at risk of river, sea and flash flooding, analysis from the Environment Agency has warned. A major new update from the agency, which comes after widespread disruption and floods from storms Bert and Darragh, shows 6.3 million properties in England are in areas at risk of flooding from rivers, the sea or surface flooding, or a combination of […]

Liverpool has been named by GoFundMe as the UK’s most generous city in 2024 after its response to the Southport stabbings and subsequent disorder. Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, were all fatally stabbed at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in the Merseyside seaside town in July. When violent disorder broke out in the wake of the incident, around £1.3 million was raised via […]

Travellers and Roma face the highest levels of prejudice of any ethnic group in Ireland, according to new research. The study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) found people living in affluent areas were less comfortable with having Travellers as neighbours or in a relationship with their child than those living in disadvantaged areas. Previous ESRI research found the opposite was the case for immigrants. The report examined […]

Two environmental campaign groups will be allowed to take part in bids to challenge the sentences given to climate protesters for their roles in a protest which blocked the M25. Friends of the Earth (FoE) said on Monday that it and Greenpeace UK had been allowed to intervene in support of the appeal bids of Roger Hallam, Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin, who were […]

Lawyers for child serial killer Lucy Letby will make a fresh bid to challenge her convictions on the grounds that the lead prosecution medical expert at her trial was “not reliable”. Her barrister, Mark McDonald, said he would immediately seek permission from the Court of Appeal to take the “exceptional, but necessary, decision” to apply to reopen her case. Speaking at a press conference at London’s Royal Society of Medicine, […]

The Duke of York is to stay away from the royal family’s traditional Christmas gathering at Sandringham this year amid the controversy surrounding his links to an alleged Chinese spy. Andrew will miss what was expected to be one of the largest festive events at his brother, the King’s private Norfolk estate, where 45 members of their family had been expected to spend Christmas Day. The duke has hit the […]

Royal Mail’s sale to Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky has been cleared by the Government, paving the way for the more than 500-year-old postal service to pass into foreign ownership for the first time. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds confirmed the Government had secured a raft of legally-binding commitments with Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group over the postal service, including protecting the one-price-goes-anywhere delivery commitment and a pledge to keep Royal Mail headquartered […]