News 01/12/25

Police are considering corporate manslaughter charges in the ongoing Post Office Horizon investigation.

The criminal probe into the scandal, in which hundreds of postmasters were wrongly convicted of theft and false accounting through the Horizon software, has been widened to include additional persons of interest and another suspect. One further individual has been interviewed under caution, the National Police Chiefs’ Council said. Material has been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will continue assessing evidence until it can make a charging decision. Persons of interest include Post Office investigators, lawyers, and Fujitsu management involved in the Horizon programme.

Luigi Mangione has viewed surveillance footage of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson at a recent court appearance.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to state and federal murder charges. State charges carry the possibility of life imprisonment, while federal prosecutors seek the death penalty. His lawyers are attempting to bar evidence, including a 9mm handgun and a notebook in which he allegedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive. Both items were reportedly found in a backpack he had at the time of his arrest.

Families of some Hillsborough disaster victims fear they may again be denied full accountability as the long-delayed report into police conduct is published on Tuesday.

Several involved in the Independent Office for Police Conduct investigation, including a former director, have expressed doubt that the report will provide all the promised answers. Some warn it could prompt accusations of another cover-up. Families have also criticised the inquiry’s length and cost, describing it as the largest of its kind in England and Wales.

Police in North Yorkshire are investigating a crash in Tadcaster in which a girl died and another was seriously injured.

It involved a Mercedes Sprinter minibus and a Hyundai car on Toulston Lane shortly before half past twelve on Monday. The minibus carried nine passengers aged sixteen to eighteen and one girl died at the scene.

The White House has released details of Donald Trump’s medical evaluation, which included MRI scans of his cardiovascular system and abdomen.

The US president, aged seventy nine, underwent the preventive imaging in October. His doctor Sean P Barbabella said the results were perfectly normal and that the scan aimed to identify issues early and confirm the president’s health.

Sir Keir Starmer has warned that China poses real national security threats to the United Kingdom.

Speaking at the Guildhall in London, he also described China as a nation of scale, ambition and ingenuity and a defining force in technology, trade and global governance. He said the UK needs a policy reflecting this reality after years of mixed approaches.

Police say an eighteen year old man has died after leaving an ambulance on the M5 and being hit by a car.

It happened late on Sunday night between junctions twenty and twenty one after the ambulance stopped on the northbound carriageway to give treatment. An off duty officer tried to help but the man was struck by a car travelling south and died.

The rail regulator has reversed a decision that would have stopped passengers using a morning service between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston.

The Office of Rail and Road had planned to block Avanti West Coast from carrying staff only on its seven o clock train, but changed following feedback and will allow the service to continue.

Brit Award singer Jorja Smith’s label says it wants royalties for a song it claims used an artificial intelligence clone of her voice.

I Run by British dance act Haven went viral on TikTok but was removed from streaming platforms over alleged impersonation. It has been re released with new vocals, though the label is seeking compensation.

The United States has agreed to exempt the United Kingdom from tariffs on pharmaceutical products after uncertainty about potential charges on exports.

The deal makes Britain the only nation to secure a zero per cent tariff. In return the UK will raise the baseline threshold used to assess NHS medicine use as part of the agreement.

Doctors in England will take strike action in the days before Christmas, with resident doctors set to walk out from the 17th to the22nd of December.

The action follows a five day stoppage last month. British Medical Association says the government has failed to make a credible offer on jobs or pay.

Sheffield Wednesday have received another six point deduction from the English Football League.

The club had already been docked twelve points in October after entering administration and remain bottom of the Championship on minus ten. The EFL says the sanction reflects multiple regulatory breaches.

Agency workers covering Birmingham’s bin strikes have voted to join the walkout. Action begins today with a Unite rally at the Smithfield depot.

The union says numbers are rising, though the council reports only a small group involved. The Job and Talent recruits say they backed strikes over bullying, harassment and fears of blacklisting in the refuse department. Unite says participation is growing as frustration builds among staff.

Virgin Media has been fined twenty three point eight million pounds for leaving thousands without lifesaving telecare alarms during the digital switchover.

Ofcom ruled it failed to protect vulnerable users as landlines move from analogue to digital, saying the copper network is increasingly unreliable. Virgin Media admits mistakes and says it has launched a package of improvements. The fine follows concerns about how the transition affected elderly and disabled customers.

A man accused of stabbing ten people on a train failed to appear in court after refusing a video link from prison.

Passengers were seriously injured on the Doncaster to London King’s Cross service after it stopped at Peterborough on the first of November. Thirty two year old Anthony Williams faces thirteen attempted murder charges linked to several alleged attacks. The hearing was adjourned to twenty eight January. Proceedings at Cambridge Crown Court focused on his refusal to appear.

Sir Keir Starmer has rejected claims that Rachel Reeves misled the public or the cabinet ahead of the budget.

He said there was no misleading and repeated that the Office for Budget Responsibility cut government coffers by sixteen billion pounds in its productivity review, while not addressing suggestions that much of the money reflected higher than expected tax receipts.

Police Scotland is being urged to reopen an investigation into former Harrods boss Mohamed al Fayed after more than four hundred allegations of sexual misconduct dating back to 1977.

A rape inquiry at his Highland estate was previously closed but could restart if new information emerges. A Westminster group formed last week will monitor a Metropolitan Police investigation and press for a full inquiry.

A reindeer named Buddy sparked a major search after escaping from a festive event.

Armed police, the Coastguard and Royal Marines were involved in tracking the animal from north Wales after it fled a celebration in Formby. He was eventually found asleep in dunes on a nearby beach and returned to his owners, with Southport Lifeboat calling the incident bizarre.

Heavy rain and flooding pose a “danger to life” across much of Wales until Tuesday, forecasters have warned.

An amber warning issued by the Met Office has been extended in most of South Wales until 11.59pm on Monday. Forecasters say up to a month’s worth of rain could fall within 24 hours, with fast-flowing or deep floodwater possible, creating a serious risk to residents and property.

A major waste firm has warned that discarded vapes are still causing fires in rubbish trucks and waste facilities, six months after disposable vapes were banned.

Suez, which runs over 300 sites across the UK, reported 339 fires this year, averaging more than one a day. The incidents have put workers at risk and caused millions of pounds in damage. Vapes contain lithium batteries that can ignite if crushed or damaged. The Independent British Vape Trade Association said sales have halved since the ban but called for better consumer education on safe disposal.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq has been sentenced to two years in prison for corruption in Bangladesh.

She was accused of obtaining plots of land in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone from her aunt, the former prime minister, through abuse of power and influence. Ms Siddiq was tried in absentia. Her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, was ousted last year and sentenced to death, although she fled to India before she could be arrested.

An inquiry has heard evidence that some members of a British special forces unit in Afghanistan operated under a deliberate policy to kill fighting aged men even when they posed no threat.

A note dated 7 April 2011 shows a senior officer warning the director of UK special forces about concerns raised by the unit’s commander. The officer, codenamed N1466, said a conscious decision was later taken to conceal potential war crimes linked to the unit known as UKSF1. The document was released by the Afghanistan Inquiry after closed evidence sessions involving special forces personnel.

The family of Nathan Osman say new evidence has strengthened their belief that foul play was involved in his death in Benidorm.

The 30 year old father of four from Pontypridd had travelled to the resort for a long weekend with friends in September 2024. Less than a day after he arrived, an off duty police officer found his body at the bottom of a remote 650 foot cliff. A post mortem found he died from head and abdominal injuries caused by a fall from height.

Oxford University Press has named rage bait as its word or phrase of the year.

The term describes manipulative tactics used online to provoke strong emotional reactions and drive engagement. Usage has tripled in the past twelve months according to the publisher. Rage bait was chosen ahead of two other shortlisted terms, aura farming and biohack, to take the title.

A man has been jailed after Thames Valley Police found £180,000 worth of drugs in Slough.

Forty one year old Zaim Hysa, of Boundary Drive, was convicted at Reading Crown Court of possessing cocaine with intent to supply and of acquiring criminal property. He was sentenced to four years and eight months. Officers stopped and searched him on 17 September and found 150 wraps of cocaine.