News 15/10/25

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the military has received the bodies of two hostages, handed over to the Red Cross by Hamas in Gaza.

The remains are being transferred to a specialist centre in Israel for formal identification, though Hamas hasn’t confirmed the names of those returned. Netanyahu said all hostage families have been informed and added that efforts to bring everyone home “continue relentlessly and will not stop until the last hostage is returned.”

The government has released three key witness statements connected to the collapsed prosecution of two men accused of spying for China.

The documents, published as promised by the Prime Minister, were prepared under both the previous Conservative government and the current Labour administration. They were part of evidence the Crown Prosecution Service planned to use to argue that China posed a threat to UK national security. The case was dropped last month after the CPS said it couldn’t proceed without further evidence from the government.

The government has vowed to recover more than £145 million from a company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone, after a High Court deadline passed without repayment for defective PPE supplied during the pandemic.

Earlier this month, the court ruled PPE Medpro — founded by Baroness Mone’s husband Doug Barrowman — breached its contract and must repay £122 million plus £23 million in interest. Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the company “sold the previous government substandard kit and pocketed taxpayers’ hard-earned cash,” warning that interest is now accruing daily.

FIFA says the US government does have the authority to decide whether cities are safe to host World Cup matches — following President Donald Trump’s threat to strip Boston of games.

The president has criticised crime rates in Democrat-run cities and previously warned California could lose matches at next year’s tournament, as well as events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a close ally of Trump, attended the Gaza peace summit in Egypt this week. In a statement, FIFA said safety and security remain its top priorities.

Hamas’s armed wing says it will hand over the bodies of two more Israeli hostages tonight.

The exchange is due to take place at 10pm local time, eight o’clock in the UK. It follows the return of eight bodies earlier this week, though Israel says one of those did not match any of the hostages still missing.

Former funeral director Robert Bush has admitted 35 counts of fraud after an investigation into the handling of human remains.

The 47-year-old also pleaded guilty to one count of fraudulent trading over funeral plans, at Hull Crown Court. However, he denied 30 charges of preventing lawful and decent burials and one of theft from charities. Those charges will go before Sheffield Crown Court next year, where he’ll stand trial.

A man who murdered his girlfriend in a hot tub on Shetland has been jailed for at least 25 years.

Forty-one-year-old Aren Pearson stabbed 24-year-old Claire Leveque more than two dozen times at his mother’s home in Sandness last February. The court heard she suffered 19 wounds to her face and neck. Pearson denied murder, claiming Claire had stabbed herself — but a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh found him guilty.

A misconduct hearing for a Metropolitan Police firearms officer who shot a man dead during a foiled prison break has been discontinued.

The officer, known only as W80, killed Jermaine Baker during an operation to stop a plan to free prisoners outside Wood Green Crown Court in 2015. The Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge the officer in 2017, and a public inquiry later ruled Mr Baker’s death was lawful. The inquiry heard Baker was unarmed, but a replica gun was discovered in the car used in the attempted breakout.

Sir Keir Starmer has confirmed the government will publish a key witness statement in the China spying case.

Speaking at the start of Prime Minister’s Questions, he said the Crown Prosecution Service had clarified that the decision rests with the government. After taking legal advice, the Prime Minister said he intends to release the full statement from the Deputy National Security Adviser, following a short review process. Starmer said the information contained is significant and that transparency is in the public interest.

Self-driving taxis could be on London’s roads from next year, according to autonomous vehicle company Waymo.

The firm, which already operates in San Francisco and Tokyo, says London will be the first European city to trial its driverless service. The rollout would see the vehicles sharing the streets with the capital’s iconic black cabs. But the Licensed Taxi Drivers’ Association, representing thousands of London cabbies, says it isn’t concerned about the new technology, insisting passengers still value the experience of human drivers.

Two people have been found dead inside a camper van after attending a cider festival in the New Forest.

Paramedics discovered the vehicle parked on Pound Lane in Burley last weekend. Inside were the bodies of a thirty-eight-year-old woman and a forty-five-year-old man, both from Blandford Forum in Dorset. Hampshire Police say they’re investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths but are not currently treating them as suspicious.

Government contractor Capita has been fined fourteen million pounds after a cyberattack exposed the personal data of more than six million people.

The Information Commissioner’s Office says the company failed to protect sensitive records, including pension details, criminal conviction data and financial information. The ICO found Capita didn’t have the technical or organisational safeguards needed to prevent or respond effectively to the attack, leaving millions at risk of identity theft and fraud.

Israel’s military says the fourth body handed over by Hamas last night does not match any of the hostages.

In a statement, the IDF said Hamas is “required to make all necessary efforts” to return the bodies of those still missing. Earlier, Israel confirmed that the other three bodies returned were those of Uriel Baruch, Tamir Nimrodi and Eitan Levi. Under Donald Trump’s peace plan, Hamas had been ordered to return all hostages, living and dead, by the end of a seventy-two-hour deadline that expired on Monday.

Reports of sexual assaults and harassment on trains have risen by more than a third in the past decade, according to data obtained by the BBC.

There were more than two and a half thousand incidents reported across England, Scotland and Wales last year — and one in ten involved children, some younger than thirteen. Victim Rhiannon Williams said she felt trapped and unable to escape during her ordeal. British Transport Police say the rise is concerning and that every allegation is taken seriously, while train operators insist they have zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

A Westminster man has been jailed for four years for a series of violent and serious offences across Reading and Slough.

Fifty-six-year-old Anthony Chieke, of Mount Street, was convicted of burglary, criminal damage and dangerous driving after a hearing at Reading Crown Court. The court heard that in October last year, Chieke broke into Reading’s Abu Bakr Mosque on Oxford Road, smashed open donation boxes and stole around one thousand pounds in cash.

Royal Mail has been fined £21 million for missing its delivery targets for the third year in a row.

The company failed to meet both its standard and reduced delivery targets for first and second class post, according to Ofcom. Between April 2024 and March this year, only 77 percent of first class mail and 92 and a half percent of second class mail arrived on time, well below its targets of 93 and 98 and a half percent.

Ofcom has warned further fines are likely unless Royal Mail’s performance improves.

Israel has confirmed that the Rafah crossing remains closed today, despite earlier reports it would reopen.

An Israeli security official says preparations are continuing to allow movement for Gazans only once it does open. The crossing was shut after Hamas failed to return all the bodies of Israeli hostages. Four more were handed over last night, but 20 are still missing.

Aid deliveries into Gaza also remain restricted as part of the current ceasefire deal.

Vets could soon be required to publish their prices and reveal whether they’re part of a larger chain.

It’s one of several recommendations from the UK’s competition watchdog following an investigation into the £6.3 billion veterinary sector. The Competition and Markets Authority found pet owners are paying on average more than 16 percent extra at vet practices owned by big groups compared to independents. The CMA says a lack of competition may be driving up costs.

These are provisional findings, with final recommendations expected next year after consultations close next month.

Israel has received the bodies of four hostages taken by Hamas during the October 7 attacks.

It comes as pressure grows on the group to locate the remaining victims under the Gaza ceasefire deal. After all 20 surviving hostages kidnapped two years ago were freed on Monday, focus has now turned to those who died in captivity.

Of the 28 confirmed dead, only eight bodies have been returned so far. The four handed over late on Tuesday via the Red Cross are yet to be formally identified, though Hamas named them as Guy Illouz, Bipin Joshi, Yossi Sharabi, and Daniel Peretz.

The home secretary will today admit that the government does not currently have control of Britain’s borders.

Shabana Mahmood is hosting counterparts from across Europe and the Western Balkans in London, calling for stronger international cooperation to stop small boat crossings. The summit aims to build on Britain’s “one in, one out” migration deal with France, agreed earlier this year.

Ms Mahmood will say that working together will make “all of our borders and our countries stronger.”

New figures show a rise in the number of police officers dismissed or banned from returning to duty across England and Wales.

The College of Policing says 735 officers were struck off in the year to March, up 24 percent on the previous year.

That’s the equivalent of more than two officers added to the barred list every day.

Twenty-one were banned for child sexual offences, while other common reasons included dishonesty, discrimination, misuse of information, and inappropriate behaviour.

A company linked to Baroness Michelle Mone faces a High Court deadline today to repay £122 million for supplying faulty PPE during the pandemic.

PPE Medpro, founded by her husband Doug Barrowman and awarded contracts through the government’s “VIP lane,” has until 4pm to make the payment. Mr Barrowman says £29 million in profit from the deal was paid into a family trust benefiting Baroness Mone and her children, but neither are personally liable for the money.

The Department of Health and Social Care has given no sign it expects to recover the full amount.