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The Strictly Come Dancing professionals will transform into minions from the Despicable Me franchise during the show’s movie week special. Kai Widdrington will dress as Gru, the grouchy former supervillain and protagonist of the film series, while the other professionals don yellow bodysuits to mimic the tiny henchmen. This year’s movie week will see Welsh dancer Amy Dowden and JLS member JB Gill dance the American smooth to the song […]

England captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the first Test in Pakistan as he continues to recover from a torn hamstring. Stokes sustained the injury in August while playing for Northern Superchargers in The Hundred and subsequently missed his side’s 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka. He had been hoping to lead his country out in Multan on Monday but is not yet ready to take the field, […]

South Africa has regained its position as the best value long-haul holiday destination for UK travellers, according to a new report. Local price falls and the weakening of the South African rand have brought costs down for UK visitors by 12% since autumn 2023, Post Office Travel Money said. This makes Cape Town the best value out of 32 resorts and cities analysed in the annual study for the first […]

The number of children in Scotland with developmental concerns has sharply increased since the Covid pandemic, figures show. The percentage of four and five-year-olds who were recorded as having one or more developmental concern has nearly doubled since 2019, according to data released by Public Health Scotland (PHS). A fifth (19.97%) of all children assessed in that age group were found to be of concern in the first quarter of this year, […]

Britons will continue to fly from Lebanon on Sunday after more than 250 UK citizens left the country on Government-chartered flights amid spiralling conflict in the region. David Lammy urged anyone wanting to exit the country to register immediately with the Foreign Office to book a seat on the plane, warning there was “no guarantee” of other options. The UK has chartered a fourth flight to leave Beirut’s Rafic Hariri airport on […]

Anne Hathaway has confirmed the return of The Princess Diaries, two decades after the last film was released. The US actress rose to fame in the original 2001 film as Mia Thermopolis, a teenager who discovers she is heir to the throne of a European country named Genovia. She starred opposite British actress Dame Julie Andrews who played her royal grandmother, while the cast also featured Mandy Moore, Heather Matarazzo […]

A “significant” policing operation will be in place across London in response to planned protest and memorial events marking the anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel, the Metropolitan Police said. On Saturday, there will be a demonstration organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and other groups, with protesters gathering at Russell Square and marching to Whitehall where there will be speeches. A counter-protest, organised by Stop The Hate, […]

The family of two UK teenagers evacuated from Lebanon have shared their anger with the Government after their non-British mother was blocked from boarding the flight with them. David Hardie, a 36-year-old from Carluke, South Lanarkshire, told the PA news agency that his siblings Thomas, 19, and Rebecca, 16, caught an evacuation flight chartered by the UK government from Beirut to Birmingham on Wednesday. The teenagers took a 45-minute taxi […]

DIY SOS star Nick Knowles said he has suffered a “quite painful” knee injury after falling during rehearsals on Friday, forcing him to pull out of the Strictly Come Dancing live show on Saturday night. Knowles, 62, and his dance partner Luba Mushtuk were due to perform the Charleston to Rain On The Roof from Paddington 2 during the 20th anniversary series’ movie week. As per the Strictly rules, the […]