United Kingdom

    Andrew Bailey, Britain's top markets regulator, warned on rising levels of debt being accrued by Brits, saying the government must take action to stop the problem spiralling out of control. According to a report in the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday, the Financial Conduct Authority chief is concerned about the sheer number of people who need loans to make ends meet, with those on zero-hours contracts and those working in the gig economy a cause for particular concern. In both those forms of work, staff have no guaranteed hours, and many frequently have to turn to payday lenders such as Wonga to make ends meet. These firms allow consumers quick, easy access to credit, but in return offer extremely high interest rates, which if not managed properly can cause big problems for ...

    Theresa May is embarking on a critical make-or-break 48 hours which could determine whether she can deliver Brexit successfully and survive as Prime Minister. Her authority has been badly damaged this week by a bruising clash with Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson over payments to Brussels and the UK's relationship with the EU after Brexit. May and Johnson The PM is chairing one of the most crucial Cabinet meetings of her premiership, ahead of making a landmark speech on her Brexit strategy in the medieval Italian city of Florence. In her speech, she is expected to attempt to break the deadlock in Brexit negotiations, caused by a row over the UK's so-called "divorce bill", by making an offer of €20bn. Her twin aims over the next two days are first to try and restore some uni...

    The British Government has refused to rule out joining its US ally in using military force against North Korea after Donald Trump threatened to totally destroy the rogue state if attacked. The US President said he would be left with “no choice but to totally destroy North Korea if forced to in a dramatic speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday. He sparked gasps of shock among members as he called dictator Kim Jong-un a rocket man on a suicide mission for himself and his regime. Downing Street has since confirmed it would consider joining Mr Trump in military action against North Korea. In a statement, a spokeswoman said no-one wants to see military action but it would be wrong to rule anything out. Mr Trump has been criticised in some quarters for his infl...

    A bomb disposal squad was called to the M1 after a suspicious object was found under a motorway bridge. The road is closed in both directions between junctions 14 and 15 in Buckinghamshire - and police are urging motorists to stay away. One Twitter user said the lockdown was caused by a smoking package containing yellow bubbling liquid. There are reports a controlled explosion was carried out by emergency services, but this has not been confirmed by police. Motorists said they had been sitting in queues for four-and-a-half hours - and some even started playing football to pass the time. 
In a statement, Thames Valley Police said: We are urging the public to avoid the M1 as we are currently dealing with a report of a suspicious object. It was found underneath one of the mo...

    A calculating sex predator posed as a Justin Bieber lookalike online to lure schoolgirls into sending him indecent images over webcams. Yohann Ramchelawon, 30, was brought to justice thanks to the courage of a 12-year-old schoolgirl from Greater Manchester. She told police that someone she believed was a boy called Ryan Smith had asked her during an online chat to send him naked pictures. It emerged that Ramchelawon concealed his true identity behind a photo of a teenage boy he took from the internet. He also used bogus social media profiles, in which he claimed to be a lookalike of the pop star, as well as many aliases to groom children across the country. Invision The NSPCC said the disturbing case was a ‘stark reminder’ of the dangers of sexual predators on social media...

    After the UK Statistics Authority rebuked Boris Johnson for reviving a claim that up to £350 million a week extra would be available for the NHS after Brexit, we look at how much the UK gives to the EU: The UK made a net contribution to the European Union of roughly £156 million a week in 2016/17. Treasury figures released in the summer suggested the total amount for the 12 months to March 2017 was £8.1 billion, the lowest level for five years. The UK’s gross contribution to the EU budget in 2016/17, before the application of the rebate, totalled £16.9 billion or around £325 million a week. But, as the UK Statistics Authority pointed out during the referendum campaign, the Treasury pays the UK’s contributions to the EU after deducting the value of the rebate. The rebate in...

    Grainy footage has emerged of a man holding a Lidl bag close to a house in Surrey raided in the aftermath of the Parsons Green attack. ITV has obtained images from CCTV showing a man in Sunbury-on-Thames around an hour and a half before the attack on Friday morning. Pictures of the man with the bag, reminiscent of what is thought to be a homemade bomb found at Parson’s Green, emerged as police continued to search the home linked to a couple highly respected for their work looking after foster children. Police believe they have identified the main suspect, an 18-year-old man arrested at the Port of Dover. He is in custody, along with a 21-year-old man who was arrested in Hounslow on Saturday. Officers are searching the house of an elderly couple known for fostering hundreds...

    Wayne Rooney ordered to do 100 hours unpaid work and banned from road after pleading guilty to drink driving charge Former England captain Wayne Rooney has been banned from the road for two years after admitting a drink driving rap which has plunged his nine-year marriage into crisis. The Everton and ex-Manchester United striker was also ordered to perform 100 hours of unpaid work as part of a 12-month community order at Stockport magistrates' court. The 31-year-old stared straight ahead as he pleaded guilty to being almost three times over the drink drive limit when he was stopped by police at around 2am on September 1 while drunkenly driving a woman home. Rooney's pregnant wife Coleen was on holiday in Mallorca with their three children at the time of his arrest. Coleen ...

    Senior Conservatives have denounced Theresa May as too weak to unite her cabinet and run an effective government after she refused to sack her foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, for breaking ranks over Brexit. Johnson infuriated Tory MPs on both sides of the European debate when he spelt out his own personal vision of a hard Brexit in a newspaper article, only days before May is expected to outline possible areas for compromise with Brussels in a speech in Florence. Downing Street insisted that May still had full confidence in Johnson, although he had not informed her of the content of his article. Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Johnson insisted that the UK must not pay any money to the EU for access to its markets after Brexit and made no mention of a transition period af...

    Eyewitness have revealed the full horror after a lorry smashed through a central barrier on the M5, leaving at least four dead and a woman and two children fighting for their lives. The truck was travelling along the southbound carriageway when it suddenly smashed through the barrier and ploughed into several vehicles, witnesses said. Dozens of motorists leapt from their vehicles to help victims and pulled screaming children and their parents from burning cars. A hero cardiologist, who was among those that rushed to the aid of one of victims, said one car was absolutely destroyed and another had flipped over. Another motorist said they could see one car had been left completely flat, leaving them fearing the people inside wouldn't have stood a chance. Horror pictures show ...