News – World and UK

The proportion of GCSE entries awarded top grades has fallen from last year but is higher than before the Covid-19 pandemic, national figures show. Hundreds of thousands of teenagers in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their GCSE exam results on Thursday in a year when grades were due to be restored to 2019 levels in all three nations. More than a fifth (21.8%) of UK GCSE entries were awarded […]

The gender pay gap might even extend to the bank of Mum and Dad, a new survey has suggested, after it found sons receive more help from their families than daughters when buying their first home. Nearly two-thirds of people who purchased their first home in the past five years had financial help from family, rising to more than three-quarters of homeowners under the age of 30, according to new […]

The UK is falling behind other high-income countries due to long waits for hospital care, a new report suggests. The Health Foundation said that the UK is among the “poorest performing countries” when it comes to hospital-based care. A decade ago, the UK was one of the best nations for people seeing hospital specialists in less than four weeks. But it “slipped from being one of the better-performing nations in […]

The search will resume for the remaining person missing after a luxury yacht sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily following the discovery of five bodies inside the wreck. Six people, including technology tycoon Mike Lynch, were unaccounted for after the vessel – named Bayesian – sank at around 5am on Monday. Salvatore Cocina, the head of Sicily’s civil protection agency, confirmed that of the five bodies found […]

Tim Walz accepted the nomination for vice president in a Democratic National Convention speech that blended optimism with fierce critiques of Republican rival Donald Trump. The Minnesota Governor, little known before his selection by Vice President Kamala Harris, thanked the packed arena in Chicago. “We’re all here tonight for one beautiful, simple, reason: We love this country,” Mr Walz said. “Thank you for bringing the joy to this fight.” Mr […]

Four bodies have been found inside the wreck of a luxury yacht that sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily. Three body bags were seen being taken to the port of Porticello on Wednesday afternoon following the sinking of the yacht at around 5am on Monday. The head of Sicily’s civil protection agency Salvatore Cocina confirmed two bodies had initially been found, followed by two more later in […]

A body has been pulled from the water near the site of a sunken luxury yacht off the coast of Sicily as reports suggested two more missing people had been found by divers. Sicily’s civil protection agency confirmed to the BBC that two bodies had been found in the yacht which sank at around 5am on Monday. On Wednesday afternoon, a green body bag was taken back to the port […]

A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after four people, including three children, died in a house fire in Bradford. Two girls aged nine and one, and a five-year-old boy, were taken to hospital but all died from their injuries, while a 29-year-old woman also died at the scene, West Yorkshire Police said. Police believe the fire was started deliberately and the incident was domestic-related. Officers were called […]

A Pakistani web developer is facing a criminal charge over claims he helped spread misinformation about the accused Southport attacker. Farhan Asif, 32, has been charged with cyber terrorism after false claims quickly spread online that the suspect was a Muslim immigrant to the UK, when in fact he was born in Wales and comes from a Christian family. Pakistani police announced the charge on Wednesday, and said that Asif […]