United Kingdom

    A banned driver led police on a 100mph chase while his girlfriend was in labour next to him - before dumping his car and leaving her in a "hysterical" state, a court heard. Kyle Stogden, 21, ran red lights and mounted grass verges in a bid to get away from police before abandoning the car with his girlfriend still inside. Police called an ambulance which rushed the mum-to-be to hospital, where she gave birth to her child following an emergency Caesarian section. Police had initially tried to pull Stogden over onto the hard shoulder of the M621 motorway near Morley, Leeds, West Yorks., but he sped off away from officers, leading them on a high-speed chase where he clocked up 122mph as he sped towards the city centre. After leaving the motorway, Stogden ran red lights and dr...

    Iain Duncan Smith has intensified the Conservative war over Europe by claiming that David Cameron offered Germany a “de facto veto” on his EU renegotiations, forcing him to drop a plan for an emergency immigration brake hours before he was going to unveil it. Duncan Smith said Berlin exercised the “ultimate power” over what changes the prime minister sought from Brussels and was allowed to block the key demand, which would have given Britain more control of its borders. Germany’s resistance to the policy was reported at the time of the renegotiation, but the former work and pensions secretary detailed what he said took place, claiming the emergency brake was included in a draft of a speech by Cameron hours before it was due to be delivered. “I saw the draft,” he told the S...

    Quitting the European Union would put peace and stability at risk and hamper the fight against terror, David Cameron has warned, as he made the "patriotic case" for a Remain vote. The Prime Minister also insisted there is "safety in numbers" as he argued that staying in the 28-member bloc was crucial in the fight against Islamic State (IS). Leave campaigners have had years to work out what would happen after a Brexit, but have failed to do so, he said. In a speech at the British Museum, he warned that quitting was a reckless and irresponsible economic risk. But Mr Cameron turned his focus on the impact that quitting would have on Britain's safety and international standing. The UK must be strong in Europe if it wants to be strong in the world, the Prime Minister insisted, ...

    A decommissioned Boeing 767 is undergoing a unique journey - not by air, but by sea. The 159ft-long aircraft took to the high seas after workers spent six hours loading the giant cargo onto a barge at Ireland's Shannon Airport, in County Clare. It then sailed up an estuary and into open waters for the journey to a resort in County Sligo. Curious onlookers gathered on the shore to watch the 50-ton plane's perilous trip. The aircraft is being moved as part of a project carried out by businessman David McGowan. Mr McGowan wants to use the aircraft for a glamping - or glamour camping - resort in Enniscrone. The resort will see other modes of transportation such as buses, taxis and a train also turned into accommodation for visitors. Deirdre Whitney, property manager at Shannon...

    Sadiq Khan, the new Labour mayor of London, has launched an extraordinary attack on David Cameron and his defeated opponent, Zac Goldsmith, accusing them of trying to turn different ethnic communities against each other to stop him winning in the capital. Writing in the Observer after becoming the most powerful Muslim politician in Europe, Khan says the prime minister and Goldsmith deployed tactics “straight out of the Donald Trump playbook” – a reference to the anti-Muslim campaign of the Republican hopeful in the US. Khan wrested control of the capital from the Tories after eight years under Boris Johnson, in what turned out to be a comfortable win. He said he had hoped the campaign would focus on issues such as housing, transport and air pollution. “But David Cameron a...

    A 1933 penny. the rarest British coin of the 20th century - has just sold at auction for £72,000. Only a handful of pennies, bearing the head of King George V, were made in 1933. Because the banks had so many pennies in stock already, there was no need to make any more. But 'six or seven', says the Royal Mint Museum, were made for ceremonial purposes. Three were placed by the King under the foundation stones of important buildings, with two going to the British Museum and two others ending up in private hands. Even rarer than these, though, are the four prototypes for the design - the so-called 'pattern pennies'. One is in the Royal Mint Museum, with the other three in private hands. And it's one of these that has just sold for £72,000 through auctioneers Baldwin's - almos...

    The island where Princess Diana was laid to rest is undergoing extensive renovation work, it has been revealed. The work will be overseen by Diana's brother Charles Spencer and his wife Karen, and is set to be completed by August 2017 – in time to mark the 20th anniversary of the Princess of Wales' death. The late mother of Princes William and Harry was laid to rest on an island at the centre of the Althorp Estate, a stately home set within a 13,000-acre estate in Northampton owned by the Spencer family. Following Diana's death in August 1997, an oak tree was planted to mark each year of her life, along with hundreds of white water lilies and roses. There is also a temple for visitors to pay their respects, which features Diana's name engraved on the top. The news coincide...

    Properties stand empty and derelict. Meanwhile, rents and house prices soar and families are made homeless because they can't make payments. It's a national scandal. The good news - as one mum found out - is that by taking action yourself, you can not only help get a home back into use, but make yourself (and a local charity) a very tidy sum. Meet mum of two Levinia Gluck, who decided it was about time a home in Hendon, London, was lived in again. “I always wondered why such a potentially great property across the road from a park and with good access to the North Circular was sitting empty and abandoned," she explained. Late last year she came across YouSpotProperty, and realised there was a way to not just get the home back on the market, but get rewarded for it too. She...

    First-time buyers will be able to get on to the property ladder without needing any deposit under a new deal launched by a major bank. Barclays Mortgages has revamped its "family springboard" mortgage, removing the need for first-time buyers and home movers to put down any deposit at all when buying a home using this mortgage. The deal has previously allowed people to climb on to the property ladder with a 5% deposit, provided that a "helper" - often the home buyer's parents - puts cash equating to 10% of the house purchase price into a savings account linked to the mortgage. Under the new deal, only the 10% contribution from parents is needed. This cash will be returned to the borrower's parents after three years with interest added - provided the borrower has kept up wit...

    A waitress in South Africa who was reduced to tears after an Oxford University student refused to pay a tip until white residents “return the land” has seen hundreds of people donate to a fund in her name following the incident. Ashleigh Schultz, 24, a waitress at Obz Café in the Western Cape was described as having cried “typical white tears” when Ntokozo Qwabe and his friend handed her their bill declaring the reason they would not pay a tip. Mr Qwabe’s actions became known after he posted about the incident on Facebook, claiming that he was “unable to stop smiling” over what had happened. He described how the waitress had started shaking when she had seen the note, adding: “She leaves us and bursts into typical white tears (like why are you crying when all we’ve done is...