UK

The Duke of Cambridge has expressed his “profound sorrow” about the horrors of the slave trade, adding that “the appalling atrocity…forever stains our history”. Speaking in Jamaica, in what will be his only speech of a three-day visit to the fourth-largest Commonwealth realm, he stopped short of apologising, but said: “I want to express my

Rishi Sunak has raised the national insurance threshold by £3,000 and announced a cut in fuel duty tax by 5p a litre in an attempt to ease the burden of the cost of living crisis. The national insurance threshold has now been raised to £12,570. Unveiling his spring statement in the Commons, the chancellor said

A harrowing 999 call made after Sir David Amess was fatally stabbed has been played at the trial of the alleged terrorist accused of the MP’s murder. The caller Yvonne Eaves, who had arranged to meet the MP for Southend West at his constituency surgery, told the emergency operator that a man wielding a “big

The annual rate of inflation has hit 6.2% as the chancellor prepares to outline how he will help households with soaring living costs in his Spring Statement 2022. The consumer prices index (CPI) increased in February from 5.5% in January and remains at the highest level in 30 years, according to the Office for National

A 22-year-old man has been charged with murder following the death of Sabita Thanwani in Clerkenwell. Maher Maaroufe has also been charged with assaulting an emergency worker. Officers were called to Arbour House in Sebastian Street at about 5.10am on Saturday, 19 March, where Sabita, 19, was found suffering serious injuries. She was pronounced dead

MP Sir David Amess was killed in a “vicious and frenzied attack” by a “fanatical terrorist” who had previously targeted the home of Michael Gove, a court has heard. Ali Harbi Ali “hoped that he would become a martyr” after stabbing to death the Conservative MP for Southend West, a jury was told. Sir David

Wales has joined more than 60 nations in outlawing physical punishment of children. From today, any type of corporal punishment – including smacking, hitting, slapping, and shaking, is illegal under the Children (Abolition Of Defence Of Reasonable Punishment – Wales) Act of 2020. It marks the end of the common law defence of “reasonable punishment”.

A man sought by police investigating the death of a woman at student flats in central London has been arrested. Maher Maaroufe was detained in the Clerkenwell area after detectives appealed for information to locate the 22-year-old. He has been arrested on suspicion of murder, according to the Metropolitan Police. Maaroufe was also held on

Police have named a man they want to find following the murder of a young woman at student flats in central London. Maher Maaroufe, 22, is being sought after detectives launched an investigation into the death of the 19-year-old at a residential property in Sebastian Street, Clerkenwell. The Metropolitan Police said he is known to

P&O Ferries has restarted a limited service two days after sacking 800 crew members without notice in what it says is a cost-cutting exercise. The Dubai-owned travel firm said the Liverpool to Dublin ferry set sail on Saturday morning and has now resumed a normal service. The company’s other ships are still tied up as

A drive-by shooter has been jailed in Manchester after CCTV footage showed him opening fire near a primary school. Police launched an investigation after an innocent bystander reported that his car had been struck by a stray bullet during the shoot-out, which happened in the Harpurhey area in January last year. After a trawl through

David Cameron has revealed he is assisting the war effort by driving a van containing supplies for Ukrainian refugees to Poland. Announcing his upcoming trip on social media on Friday, the former Conservative prime minister said he would be travelling with two colleagues from the Chippy Larder, a food project in west Oxfordshire with which

The government’s Homes for Ukraine refugee scheme has officially opened for applications, after more than 138,000 Britons registered their interest in hosting in the first day after the website went live. People have said how much they want to help: whether that’s donating money or emergency supplies, or hosting a refugee for six months. But,

P&O Ferries has suspended all sailings ahead of a “major announcement”, which it said will be made today. A statement which appears to be from the ferry operator posted on Twitter by Hull Labour MP Karl Turner said it “will be making a major announcement today”. This will “secure the long-term viability of P&O Ferries”,

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori have arrived in the UK, touching down at RAF Brize Norton at 1:08am. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe spent six years detained in Iran after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government – but will now be reunited with her husband and seven-year-old daughter. Also on the plane was Anoosheh Ashoori, who

Boris Johnson will hold talks with the leaders of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as he bids to end the West’s “addiction” to Russian oil and gas. With Vladimir Putin’s increasingly barbaric assault on Ukraine set to enter a third week, the prime minister is visiting the Gulf in a stepping-up of his

Middlesbrough Football Club has called Chelsea’s request to play the quarter-final tie behind closed doors as “bizarre and without merit whatsoever”. Chelsea asked for the tie at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on 19 March to be played behind closed doors after government sanctions against Roman Abramovich meant it is unable to sell new tickets to home

British-Iranian nationals Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori are heading to Tehran airport ahead of leaving the country, their lawyer has said. Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a charity worker from Hampstead, northwest London, had been detained since her arrest in 2016 on charges of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government, which she denies. Her release comes after her

Britain’s pay squeeze deepened at the start of the year as wages fell in real terms at the sharpest rate for more than seven years, official figures show. Average earnings – stripping out bonuses – climbed by 3.8% in the three months to January, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), up from 3.7%

All remaining COVID travel measures, including the Passenger Locator Form and tests for arrivals, will end this week, the transport secretary has said.   Grant Shapps says anyone arriving in the UK from 4am this Friday will not need to comply with any of the previous rules. He tweeted: “These changes are possible due to