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An imminent cold snap could put the elderly at risk of death, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has warned as a charity criticised the Government’s decision to limit winter fuel payments. The UKHSA has issued cold weather health alerts for all of England ahead of a week of low temperatures. Amber alerts have been issued from 12pm on Thursday until January 8, meaning a rise in deaths, particularly among […]

An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures dropped after a major incident was declared due to flooding. The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and North Wales, stretching down to the Midlands until 10am on Thursday. A snow and ice warning is also in place covering northern Scotland until 10am, as rain turning to […]

It plans to use the cash to pay down its debt pile and complete a further share buyback Vodafone has completed the eight billion euro (£6.6 billion) sale of its Italian business to Switzerland’s Swisscom as a flurry of deals are sewn up for the start of the new year. The mobile phone giant – which last month saw its £15 billion tie-up with Three UK cleared by Britain’s competition […]

The number of first-time buyers with a mortgage is estimated to have rebounded in 2024 from a decade low, jumping by nearly 14% annually. Yorkshire Building Society estimated that across the UK there were 330,000 first-time buyer mortgage transactions during 2024, which would be a 13.8% increase compared with the previous year. The year 2023 marked a decade low for first-time buyer lending, amid pressures from the cost-of-living crisis and […]

The Co-op is planning to open 75 new stores across the UK this year and refurbish scores of existing sites, the company has announced. The new stores will be both Co-op and franchise-run, building on an increase in franchises in 2024, including on more university campus sites, a first Co-op in a hospital as well as on petrol forecourts. Matt Hood, Co-op’s managing director, said: “We want everyone to have […]

A US army veteran driving a pick-up truck that bore the flag of the Islamic State group has killed at least 15 people as he steered around a police blockade and slammed into New Year’s Eve revellers in New Orleans before being shot dead by police. The FBI said it is investigating the attack early on Wednesday in the city’s French Quarter as a terrorist act and does not believe […]

The Government must say how many migrants die crossing the Channel, a charity has urged, amid fears more perished in 2024 than in the previous three years combined. Enver Solomon, chief executive of the Refugee Council, said the status quo “is not working” as he called on ministers to look at opening up new routes into the UK for people fleeing conflict or persecution. The Home Office confirmed several schemes […]

The Post Office needs to be “taken out” of its role in administering redress schemes for victims of the Horizon scandal, Labour MP Liam Byrne has said, as the “legal bill appears to be racking up all the time” on compensation. The Commons Business and Trade Committee said compensation for victims is still not being paid quickly enough and the Government should face financial penalties if the process does not […]

A new King, a global pandemic and a trophy for England at the women’s Euros mean this is already a decade like no other – and all were responsible for some of the biggest TV audiences of the first half of the 2020s. Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and King Charles’s coronation both attracted enormous ratings, as did former prime minister Boris Johnson’s broadcasts about Covid-19, proving that moments of history […]