United Kingdom

    Heavy rain and thunderstorms could cause chaos once again with an amber warning issued for flash flooding in some towns and cities. Rainfall of up to 50mm (2in) in just an hour caused travel problems and damage to homes and businesses earlier this week, and the heat and humidity today will fuel intense showers and thunderstorms across southern Britain. There is an amber warning for torrential rain, hail and lightning in place from 4pm until 6am on Friday for most areas in the South West, Wales and the West Midlands, as well as Oxfordshire, Hampshire and West Berkshire in the South East. The Met Office also has yellow warnings in place, advising that the storms may bring up to 80mm (3in) of rain in just a few hours. It says says power cuts are likely and there may ...

    A wave of devastating incidents of vital personal papers being lost in immigration cases has led to renewed calls for the Home Office to overhaul the way it handles documents. The problem has been so severe that at its peak the department routinely mislaid thousands of files, a former senior immigration official said. In the wake of the coverage of the Windrush scandal, the Guardian has spoken to people whose immigration status has been left in limbo after documents submitted to the Home Office have vanished. Despite this the Home Office has never made a voluntarily self-referral to the data protection watchdog over lost papers. The Home Affairs committee and the independent inspectorate have warned the Home Office repeatedly to improve the competency and accuracy...

    Cars were submerged and railway lines blocked as flash flooding hit swathes of Kent during a huge thunderstorm today. The south-east of England was hit by spectacular lightning and torrential downpours throughout Tuesday afternoon. Gravesend, Meopham, Strood and Doddington were particularly badly hit with images showing cars submerged and rainwater as high as the windows of some homes. The flash floods have affected Southeastern rail services with Network Rail tweeting an image of a level crossing at Gillingham partly under water. There was disruption on the Gillingham line, there were no Kent bound services on the Maidstone East line from Lenham and trains along the Medway Valley route were also suspended. Lines were reopened but Network Rail has warned passeng...

    Obese staff should be allowed to start work later to avoid anxiety during rush-hour, a government advisor recommends. Britain’s obesity problem is the worst in Western Europe with the number of people in England, Wales and Scotland diagnosed expected to double by 2035. In accordance with this rise, an employment expert has suggested that overweight employees should be offered flexible starts and should have the right to sue employers if they are not offered jobs or promotions because of their weight. Speaking at the European Congress on Obesity in Vienna, Professor Stephan Bevan, of the Institute for Employment Studies, said letting obese staff who feel anxious about travelling on public transport arrive an hour later, or work from home, would help their mental hea...

    A new pay-as-you-throw recycling scheme being planned by councils will cost homeowners as much as £50 extra per year unless food packaging is overhauled, waste experts have warned. The controversial pay-as-you-throw collection scheme, proposed by council chiefs, is designed to encourage people to recycle more by charging them for the weight of the general waste they put out. But according to one of Britain's biggest waste collection companies the move could leave millions of families worse off unless food manufacturers are forced to improve the recyclability of packaging. Today Suez is calling for the Government to force food manufacturers to make all packaging sold in the UK at least 50 per cent recyclable by 2025. At present less than 10 per cent of packaging is...

    Theresa May is under increasing pressure to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland after scores of her own… Theresa May is under increasing pressure to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland after scores of her own ministers called on her to back a vote on the issue. Anne Milton, the skills minister and former deputy chief whip, became the latest to back a free vote in the House of Commons after Ireland voted to allow women access to abortions this weekend. Other ministers have called for a referendum, but the Prime Minister is in a difficult position because any change in the law would be strongly opposed by the DUP, the party on which she relies for her Commons majority. Arlene Foster, the DUP leader, warned the decision will be for Northern Irela...

    Ireland's historic abortion vote has piled pressure on Theresa May to override opposition from her Democratic Unionist allies and reform the law in Northern Ireland. Members of the prime minister's own cabinet immediately joined opposition leaders and backbenchers in demanding new laws in Northern Ireland to legalise abortion. Pro abortion MPs claim that since devolved government in the province is currently suspended the UK government in Westminster should now grasp the opportunity to change the law. But any move to liberalise the abortion law will be bitterly opposed by the Tories allies at Westminster, the DUP, whose MPs are insisting Northern Ireland must not be bullied into a change. Although there was no word from the PM in the hours immediately after the re...

    David Davis has accused the European Union of public posturing and point scoring over public security after a breakdown in Brexit talks. On Thursday the European Union accused the Government of chasing a fantasy and mounted an outspoken attack over Britain's offer to co-operate on security after Brexit. Brussels is threatening to shut British firms out of the £8.8billion Galileo satellite navigation system and has also ruled out the UK's continued involved in the European Arrest Warrant extradition system. Mr Davis, the Brexit Secretary, said that Britain had come to Brussels with an unconditional offer on security because it wanted to put the public's safety first. He said: This is not about public posturing and scoring points we came to the table with a series o...

    Vladimir Putin says he has concerns about whether Yulia Skripal was forced to make a statement on Wednesday. Dmitry Peskov, who speaks on behalf of the Russian president, said the Kremlin did not know whether the poisoned daughter of a Russian ex-spy made her statement under pressure or independently. Yulia Skripal said in her video and written statement she felt lucky to have survived after being a victim of a nerve agent attack and that she would one day like to return home to Russia. From a secret location in London and with a red scar visible on her neck, she described her sense of shock at the use of the nerve agent. Mr Peskov, in a news conference called with reporters on Thursday, said there was a long list of questions that remained unanswered about Yulia ...

    Prince William is set to visit Israel and the Palestinian territories next month despite heightened tensions and outbreaks of violence in the region. The Duke of Cambridge’s trip, which was announced on Friday, will mark the first ever official tour of the areas made by a member of the Royal Family on behalf of the government. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it would be an historic visit, the first of its kind and said the prince would bewelcomed with great affection. William trip will go ahead in the aftermath of the bloodshed on the Gaza border in recent weeks, the worst outbreak of fighting since 2014. Some 58 Palestinians were killed and 2,400 injured by Israeli troops in violent clashes over the Donald Trump’s decision to move the US embassy to...