News – World and UK

Royal Mail is set to be allowed to ditch Saturday deliveries for second class letters under plans being put forward by Ofcom that will also see wider postal delivery targets cut. The regulator said that after a consultation, it had provisionally concluded that reducing the second class letter service to alternate weekdays, while keeping first class deliveries six days a week, would continue to meet postal users’ needs. This would […]

President Donald Trump says he has been briefed on the “terrible accident” after a passenger jet collided on Wednesday with an Army helicopter while landing at Ronald Reagan National Airport near Washington DC. There was no immediate official word on casualties, but all take-offs and landings from the airport were halted as helicopters from law enforcement agencies across the region flew over the scene in search of survivors. In a […]

Fewer than half of parents think children should know how to use books correctly before starting primary school, a survey has suggested. Only three in four (76%) parents think children should be toilet trained before joining Reception, according to a poll for early years charity Kindred2. Children are entering primary school with delays in basic motor skills and a lack of core strength, teachers have suggested. It comes after the […]

Retail crime is “spiralling out of control” at more than 2,000 incidents a day, according to the latest figures. Incidents including racial and sexual abuse, physical assault and threats with weapons have reached three times the level they were in 2020, when there were 455 incidents a day, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Annual Crime Survey shows. Over the last year, there were 70 incidents a day which involved a […]

Almost 11 million people were hit with letter post delays over Christmas, Citizens Advice has found. As well as Christmas cards not arriving on time, some 3.4 million UK adults faced a serious consequence as a result, including missing vital health appointments, bills, legal documents, letters from the bank, fines and benefit decisions. The worst-hit region for letter delays in the past month was the South East, with 27% of […]

Households in England and Wales will see an average £123 or 26% increase to their yearly water bill from April 1, final figures show. The rise, confirmed by industry body Water UK, will take the average water and wastewater bill from £480 to £603 for the next year alone. This equates to an increase of around £10 a month, from £40 to £50. However millions of households face even steeper […]

Actor Noel Clarke has lost a bid to get the Guardian publisher’s defence in his libel claim struck out ahead of a trial. The 49-year-old is suing Guardian News and Media (GNM) over a series of articles, including one from April 2021 which said 20 women who knew Mr Clarke in a professional capacity had come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct. In a statement at the time, the former […]

A “small number” of cans of Coca-Cola and Appletiser have been recalled in the UK after testing abroad revealed elevated levels of the chemical chlorate. The recall includes imported cans of 6x250ml Appletiser multipacks which were sent only to supermarkets in the UK and imported cans of Coca-Cola Original Taste, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar, Diet Coke and Sprite Zero, which were only sent to cafes and restaurants during a limited time […]

Love Island star Jack Fincham has been jailed for six weeks after his black cane corso dog called Elvis bit a runner. The 32-year-old, who won the 2018 series of the ITV2 show with Dani Dyer, gave a thumbs up as he was led to the cells at Southend Magistrates’ Court as a woman in the public gallery wept. Fincham, whose address was given in court papers as Swanley in […]