News – World and UK

A statue has been unveiled in tribute to a duck who became an online sensation due to his unusually tall stature. Long Boi arrived the University of York in 2019 and went viral after a social media post incorrectly described him as “the tallest mallard duck to have ever lived …over 1m tall”. It was later confirmed the duck stood at around 70cm. But in May 2023, the university said […]

Parts of Britain have been struck by more flash floods as the Met Office warns of more heavy rain throughout the evening and into Friday morning. The forecaster has issued an amber warning for areas of the Midlands and south of the country, which came into force at 6pm on Thursday and will last for 12 hours. Yellow rain warnings had already been in place for large parts of England […]

Chancellor Rachel Reeves could be willing to change the plans for Labour’s crackdown on non-doms, according to reports. The Financial Times reported on Thursday evening that Government officials had said Ms Reeves could change the policy if the numbers are not satisfactory. A Treasury spokesperson called the report “speculation, not Government policy” and pledged to remove “the outdated non-dom tax regime”. It comes after a report in the Guardian suggested […]

The nephew of a man who was brutally murdered 41 years ago has said he remembered his uncle fondly. Alex McKay, 67, is the nephew of George “Dod” Murdoch who was garroted with a cheese wire in Aberdeen in 1983 while working as a taxi driver. The murderer has not been caught and his DNA was never added to the database. Despite having taken 8,000 statements from the public, leads […]

The Metropolitan Police are investigating a number of new allegations made against late Harrods owner Mohamed Al Fayed on top of reports previously made by 19 separate women. The force said it will carry out “full reviews of all existing allegations” of incidents which are said to have taken place between 1979 and 2013 to ensure there are “no new lines of inquiry based on new information which has emerged”. […]

Former Bradford captain Stephen Darby has emphasised the need to “be positive, love, laugh and smile” as he continues his fight with motor neurone disease. The 35-year-old retired in 2018 after being diagnosed with the condition that affects the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. Darby and his wife Steph Houghton, the former Manchester City and England captain, appeared on an episode of the Rob Burrow Seven Meets podcast […]

Warnings of heavy rain, flooding and brief tornadoes have been issued for parts of England. The Environment Agency has 30 flood warnings in place across England, meaning flooding is expected, and 78 flood alerts, meaning flooding is possible. Areas of Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire are listed as being the most vulnerable. The Tornado and Storm Research Organisation (Toro) is also forecasting much of the south-east to see lightning, winds up […]

The family of a teenager who was murdered by two 12-year-old boys armed with a machete have said they are haunted by thoughts of how scared he must have been when he was killed. In a victim impact statement read to the judge due to sentence the killers, both now aged 13, relatives of Shawn Seesahai described the Anguilla-born 19-year-old’s killing as tragic, unexpected and senseless, and having been committed […]

The UK faced an “absolutely catastrophic situation” as it headed towards the first Covid lockdown, England’s chief medical officer has said, as he defended the fact not all patients with other illnesses could get NHS care. Professor Sir Chris Whitty told the Covid inquiry in central London there were concerns things could get “substantially worse”, even at the point when the NHS was not functioning as well as it should. […]