United Kingdom

    Sixteen people have been arrested after police received reports of migrants in the back of a lorry on the M1. Hertfordshire Police were called at 2.55pm as the vehicle headed north towards Bedfordshire. The lorry was stopped just past junction 11. Some of the migrants were taken to hospital before being taken into police custody. Police said none of those arrested are thought to be seriously unwell. The case will now be handed to the UK Border Agency. Sky Correspondent David Bowden said it was not yet clear how the presence of the migrants in the lorry became known. He added: "If they are refugees then what tends to happen is as soon as they get onto UK soil, they jump out of whatever vehicle they're in, give themselves up and claim asylum. "If they don't do that, if they'...

    Theresa May alone will decide the terms of Britain’s departure from the EU, Downing Street has said after Boris Johnson began setting out a strategy for Brexit. Speaking in the United States, the Foreign Secretary on Thursday said that the UK will begin formal Brexit talks “early next year” and leave the EU by 2019. In comments that will delight Conservative Eurosceptics, he said that the discussions could be wrapped up before the two-year deadline and that Britain will be able to control its borders and do a “jumbo free trade deal”. He also suggested that countries like Australia could send more migrants to the UK in return for signing trade deals. And he said that it is “absolute baloney” to suggest that Britain will be unable to retain access to the European single mark...

    Amber Rudd’s business career has come under scrutiny following a Guardian investigation that reveals her involvement with two companies in an offshore tax haven, and another where her co-director was jailed for fraud. A fresh leak of tax haven data names the home secretary as having been a director of two companies in the Bahamas – a fact she did not refer to earlier this year when defending David Cameron over his father’s investment fund in the same country. The Guardian has also discovered new details about her previous career in venture capital during the boom and bust 1990s. One enterprise led her to become a co-director of Monticello, a company that was at the centre of a share ramping investigation. She was also involved in a company prospecting for diamonds in Siber...

    An enormous explosion on the M40 was so loud that nearby residents thought a bomb had gone off when their houses shook. Reports suggest a crane lorry was involved in the collision with locals reporting as many as five blasts. One witness tweeted: “4-5 massive explosions just gone off in Gerrards Cross - smoke coming from Howards Wood Drive. A chorus of police sirens, lots of confusion. “Now hearing it was a vehicle that exploded on the M25 - seems strange though given we heard 4-5 explosions, minutes apart." Another added: "5 massive explosions fire and black smoke very nearby. Shook house. Defo not good whatever it is. Buckinhamshire Fire and Rescue service said there were 35 firefighters and officers at the scene who used foam and hoses to tackle the blaze. Six fire engi...

    Looking back on her time as first lady, one memory stands out for Michelle Obama: ordering french fries at Buckingham Palace. Mrs Obama was a guest on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, and was asked if there had been any oh my god' moments over the last eight years . "I mean, a sleepover at Buckingham Palace?" she responded. Mrs Obama dismissed Colbert's question as to whether she and the Queen had "painted each others' toe nails", explaining that it was a far more formal affair. "When they hosted us for the state dinner - when you're the guest country, you stay at Buckingham Palace," she said. The visit was not all pomp and circumstance, however, there were also chips on offer. "I do remember ordering french fries at the palace. They were good - they were som...

    Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, has told a group of children that he expects the penny to be scrapped shortly. He was being filmed for a BBC TV show, and was asked about the future of the penny by one of the children. He responded that he thought its days were numbered, because it wasn't worth very much. So what will this mean for you? On one level, it's not a major issue. If the penny was scrapped, anything priced at 1p would see the price increase, but very few things actually cost 1p nowadays - even penny sweets now cost around 5p. A study back in 2012 found that 50% of people would be perfectly happy to do away with coppers altogether, and round up or down to the nearest 5p. The same study found that one in ten people admitted they regularly threw cop...

    The City of London will be able to cope with the loss of banks passporting rights if Britain leaves the EU’s single market, according to an influential credit rating agency, assuaging fears that the UK’s financial services sector will be crippled by Brexit. EU passports allow lenders and other financial companies to operate across the 28-nation bloc without having to secure approval for access to each country individually. Opponents of Brexit have argued that losing passporting rights would deal a heavy blow to London’s status as a global financial centre that gives banks around the world access to the EU. However, in a boost to the City, analysts at Moody’s Investors Service have largely dismissed concerns that London would be unable to withstand the consequences of the U...

    Theresa May will criticise the West's response to the migration crisis when she addresses world leaders later. At a UN summit in New York, she will call for a greater distinction between refugees and people trying to enter a country for economic reasons. The PM will also say refugees should claim asylum in the first safe country they reach and stress that nations have a right to control their borders. The UN says a record number of people have been displaced by conflict. It estimates that 65.3m people were either refugees, asylum seekers or internally displaced at the end of 2015, an increase of 5m in a year. The UN summit for refugees and migrants is aiming to agree a more humane and coordinated approach. Mrs May will warn unprecedented levels of population movement risks...

    An investigation has been launched over footage apparently showing a car windscreen being smashed by a policeman after the driver refuses to get out. The clip, shared on social media on Saturday and viewed around 50,000 times, shows what appears to be a police officer - filmed from the position of the driver - repeatedly telling him to “get out of the car”, adding: “You're not allowed to drive it.” No arrests were made during the incident on 16 September. Video footage apparently shows an officer using what looks like a baton to hit at the car windows of a car with the driver still inside and then saw through the glass with a blade. A police spokesperson said they were still working to “get to the bottom” of the incident. The officers involved are still on their normal dut...

    Theresa May is facing fresh unrest from Eurosceptic Tory MPs who are plotting a major campaign to push her into delivering a hard Brexit. A new group, Leave Means Leave, launches today with the aim of getting the UK out of the EU’s single market, ending the influence of Brussels on British laws, and scrapping European “free movement” migration. The group has won the backing of leading Tories, including Dominic Raab, the former justice minister, Owen Paterson, the former environment secretary, and Sir Gerald Howarth, the former defence minister who chairs the Thatcherite Tory group, Conservative Way Forward. It is led by the businessman Richard Tice, one of the leading figures behind the Leave.EU campaign in the referendum, with the backing of other business figures, MPs an...