United Kingdom

    Affected patients at Leicester Royal Infirmary put into isolation and given antiviral drugs as hospital wards they were in are closed. A hospital is dealing with a "significant" outbreak of swine flu among 14 cancer patients. The patients on three wards at Leicester Royal Infirmary are being treated for the condition, while another three people with the illness - a child and two adults - are being treated at the city's Glenfield hospital. All 17 people have been diagnosed with having the H1N1 flu strain of influenza, better known as swine flu. The affected patients at Leicester Royal Infirmary were immediately isolated when the discovery was made. They have been put into isolation and given antiviral drugs, as have people who come into contact with them. The wards they are...

    A woman who thought she was constipated gave birth on the toilet after doctors allegedly failed to notice that she was pregnant . Charlotte Bryant, 20, said she was misdiagnosed by three different GPs after suffering from constant backache at her home in Cardiff, Wales. She claimed she was firstly told she had inflamed muscles and given painkillers, before later being examined and diagnosed with constipation. None of the medics noticed that she was nine months' pregnant, she said. Charlotte returned home with a big box of powder laxatives to treat her suspected constipation, but later felt a sudden urge to go to the toilet. Within seconds, she had given birth to a baby boy. Shortly after, Charlotte sent a photo of her newborn son, Joshua, via text message to her partner, D...

    Extremism is both contributing to and exploiting mass migration, the Home Secretary has warned. Speaking in Washington, Theresa May urged the UK's partners in the Five Eyes security alliance - the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand - to work together against terrorism. Ms May called for better information sharing and a more thorough exchange of terrorist finance details, saying tackling terrorism is the “challenge of our generation”. She asked the UK's partners to extend “the successful co-operation between our countries on issues of national security which we have built over past decades”. “I am clear that defeating terrorism requires a global response, and that we will not succeed by acting in isolation,” she said. She challenged the alliance to help vulnerable states...

    David Cameron is to visit Paris on Monday evening for talks with President Francois Hollande ahead of a crunch EU summit on Thursday. Securing French agreement to a package of EU reforms will be crucial if a deal is to be reached in Brussels at the end of this week, clearing the way for a referendum on UK membership before the summer. The Prime Minister must win over Mr Hollande on proposals for protections for non-eurozone states, which have caused consternation in Paris. Mr Cameron is insisting on legally-binding assurances that countries which do not use the single currency will not face discrimination as the eurozone integrates further. But France has made clear that it will resist anything which looks like special treatment for the City of London. The visit to Paris com...

    UK property asking prices have hit an all-time record high of almost £300,000, new data suggests. House sellers so far this month have been seeking an average of £299,287 across England and Wales, according to property website Rightmove. The figure is an increase of £8,324 or 2.9 per cent from the average asking price in January, and is £2,738 above the previous all-time high set in October 2015. The biggest increases were in London, where the average asking price has risen by 10.5 per cent over the last year, to £643,843, and in the East, where it rose 10.7 per cent to £321,630. Related: It's official - these are the 25 best places to live in the UK Demand for housing is also increasing to record highs, with 4.9 million phone and email enquiries last month, the website sa...

    Parts of the UK are set to plummet to temperatures as low as -15C over the next few days, with some expecting considerable amounts of snow and flooding. Britain is set for up to four inches of snow over a freezing Valentine's Day weekend, as cold showers are set to hit both the north and south of the country. The Met Office has issued yellow warning for snow and ice in the north of England and Scotland, and said that are a lot colder than normal for the time of year. Severe weather warnings have been issued for large parts of northern Scotland warning drivers to take care in potentially hazardous conditions and to expect travel disruption. The Thames even burst its banks yesterday as heavy rain hit the UK, and there are still 16 flood alerts put in place on the river by th...

    Their Nissan Qashqai was travelling along the E4 highway in Stockholm when it careered off an 82ft-high bridge into the Sodertalje canal. Police divers recovered the bodies of five men - aged between 19 and 32 - from the water. Their names have not been released, but they are understood to be four-piece band Viola Beach. The fifth man killed was their manager, say reports. The Warrington-based group had played a gig in Sweden on Friday, according to their Facebook page. They were due to play in Guildford, Surrey, on Saturday night, but the venue said the gig had been cancelled due to "unforeseen circumstances". Fans have been paying tribute to Viola Beach on social media. Ibiza Rocks ‏tweeted: "Saddened and shocked to hear of the passing of @Viola_Beach. Lovely guys & ...

    Akhtar Javeed An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a business owner who was shot dead in Birmingham last week. Married father-of-four Akhtar Javeed died in hospital after suffering a gunshot wound to the neck during an attempted robbery at his warehouse. Police believe two men were involved in a "targeted" raid at the premises in Rea Street South, Digbeth, on 3 February. Three of Mr Javeed's colleagues were reportedly tied up by robbers who demanded keys to a safe. West Midlands Police made the arrest in Derby on Thursday night. Man shot dead in warehouse robbery bid Mr Javeed has been described by his family as a "loving grandfather" and "honest man". The 56-year-old lived in east London and helped run the Birmingham-based food and drink f...

    Police and prosecutors attempted to keep the identity and possible homosexuality of a British jihadist a secret to protect his human rights, it can be reported today. Officers and the Crown Prosecution Service were concerned that should details surrounding Aseel Muthana emerge during a trial of his friends who helped him join Isil it would put his life at risk. They believed they still had a duty of care under human rights laws to protect the teenager, even though he had run off to join a terror group intent on attacking this country. The concerns centred on a series of text messages between Muthana, now 19, and Forhad Rahman, 21, who helped pay for him to travel to the war zone in February 2014. Language in the messages left their "sexuality open to interpretation" after ...

    The Health Secretary answers questions in the House of Commons (Picture: [copyright]) NHS junior doctors will be forced to accept a controversial new contract without agreement or further negotiation, the Health Secretary has announced. Jeremy Hunt said imposing the contract unilaterally would end “uncertainty” in the health service. Doctors have been on strike over the new contract, which they say will put patient safety at risk and leave medics working the longest hours worse off.