News 23/09/25

A convicted killer who repeatedly showed up at Cheryl Tweedy’s home has been jailed.

Daniel Bannister, 50, was sentenced to twelve months after admitting a single charge of breaching a restraining order. He has also been hit with a new order banning any contact with the former Girls Aloud singer.

“You are causing her anxiety,” Judge Alan Blake told him.

Legendary cricket umpire Dickie Bird has died aged 92, Yorkshire County Cricket Club has confirmed.

Former England captain Lord Ian Botham described him as “special” and recalled how players would joke with him on the field. He added: “99.9% of the time, he was spot on. He had a good sense of humour. I saw him not very long ago, and I’m quite shocked to hear he passed away. He looked in pretty good order. He hadn’t really changed much. Very sad, and 92—he’ll be disappointed he didn’t get those extra eight for a century.”

NASA says it hopes to send astronauts on a ten-day trip around the Moon as early as February.

The US space agency had previously aimed for a launch by the end of April but now hopes to bring the mission forward. It will be the first crewed lunar mission in fifty years. Four astronauts will test systems on the Artemis II mission, the second launch of the Artemis programme, which aims to eventually establish a permanent human presence on the Moon.

Diplomats say Donald Trump is moving towards a tougher stance on Russia.

They highlight his failure to sway President Putin during their Alaska summit. Since then, he has floated the idea of tariffs on India and China if they continue to buy cheap Russian energy, but only if Europe joins in. What’s different now is his suggestion that Ukraine could reclaim all of its territory, the first time he’s made such a claim.

Amazon is shutting down its nineteen UK grocery stores less than five years after launching them in London.

Five sites will be converted into Whole Foods outlets, another brand owned by the company. Amazon says it will concentrate on online delivery instead, working with partners like Morrisons, Co-op, Iceland and Gopuff. Two hundred and fifty staff are affected, and a consultation on the closures is underway.

Ryan Routh has been found guilty of trying to assassinate Donald Trump at his Florida golf club.

The fifty-nine-year-old was caught after a rifle was spotted poking from bushes near the course last September. It followed an earlier attempt on the president’s life, when a bullet grazed his ear at a Pennsylvania rally. Routh denied five charges and represented himself in court, but now faces life in prison.

Dani Dyer has pulled out of this year’s Strictly Come Dancing after breaking her ankle.

The twenty-nine-year-old says she “landed funny” during training on Friday, with scans confirming the fracture. She had already filmed the launch show, broadcast on Saturday, but the injury means she’ll miss the competition entirely.

Noel Clarke has been ordered to pay at least three million pounds towards The Guardian publisher’s legal costs after losing his libel case over allegations of sexual misconduct.

The case centred on reporting from April 2021, when twenty women accused the actor and filmmaker of harassment and inappropriate behaviour. Clarke, known for Kidulthood and Doctor Who, had sued over seven articles and a podcast, denying all allegations.

But a High Court judge ruled the coverage was substantially true and in the public interest.

Legendary cricket umpire Dickie Bird has died at the age of 92.

Yorkshire County Cricket Club confirmed the news, saying he passed away peacefully at home. Bird became one of the most recognised and respected officials in the game, standing in 66 Test matches and over 60 one-day internationals. He later served as president of Yorkshire, overseeing two County Championship titles during his tenure.

The club called him one of cricket’s most beloved figures, synonymous with Yorkshire itself.

An asylum seeker has been jailed for a series of sexual offences in Essex.

Hadith Gerberslasie Kebatu, an Ethiopian national staying at The Bell Hotel in Epping, was sentenced to 12 months after targeting a 14-year-old girl and a woman. Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court heard he tried to kiss the teenager, touched her thigh and brushed her hair after she offered him pizza. The case sparked weeks of protests outside the hotel.

Kebatu was found guilty of sexual assault, attempted sexual assault, inciting a child to engage in sexual activity and harassment.

NATO allies have condemned the latest breach of European airspace by Russian forces.

Three Russian jets entered Estonian airspace for twelve minutes on Friday, prompting the country to trigger Article 4 of the alliance treaty, requesting urgent consultation. Following talks in New York, NATO described the incident as part of a wider pattern of increasingly irresponsible Russian behaviour, warning it risked escalating tensions across the region.

Jaguar Land Rover has announced it will keep its factories closed until at least the first of October, extending a shutdown that began at the end of August.

The company, Britain’s largest carmaker, says the decision is costing tens of millions of pounds a day in lost revenue and is causing disruption across its supply chain. More than 33,000 people are employed directly by JLR in the UK, mainly at its Solihull plant in the West Midlands and in Halewood on Merseyside. A further 200,000 jobs depend on the company through suppliers, who are now facing weeks of uncertainty.

The closure has also raised questions about the resilience of UK industry to cyber attacks.

A cabinet member has warned Slough Borough Council is facing a serious financial challenge after a report revealed an overspend of more than £20 million.

At a cabinet meeting on Monday, councillors were told the projected overspend for the first quarter of the 2025/26 financial year was £20.7 million.

Officers have identified measures to bring this down to £13 million, but councillor Wal Chahal, chair of the cabinet, told colleagues the figures were still “eye watering” and represented a major challenge.

GPs in England are being urged to think again if a patient’s illness worsens or remains undiagnosed after three consultations.

The NHS says the new guidance, known as Jess’s Rule, will help doctors spot potentially deadly illnesses earlier. It is named after Jessica Brady, who contacted her GP more than 20 times before dying of stage 4 cancer at the age of 27.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting described her death as “a preventable and unnecessary tragedy” and said the change would improve patient safety.

Airports in Denmark and Norway were forced to close temporarily after drones were spotted nearby.

Flights at Copenhagen Airport were suspended for almost four hours on Tuesday evening, before operations resumed just after half past midnight local time. Oslo Airport in Norway was also shut down for around four hours.

Police in Denmark say it remains unclear how many drones were involved or where they came from.

Slough Borough Council is pressing ahead with plans to scrap pay-and-display parking machines.

Instead, drivers will need to use the RingGo app or take a RingGo code to a local shop to pay in cash. A consultation on the proposals launched on Friday.

The move follows a council review that found the current system was not cost effective, and comes as the authority also considers introducing charges of up to £20 a day for car parks that are currently free.

Rachel Reeves is being urged to cut national insurance while raising income tax to protect workers’ pay.

The Resolution Foundation says the chancellor should make tough choices in next month’s budget to send a “decisive signal” on tax reform. The think tank is proposing a two pence cut to national insurance, offset by a two pence rise in income tax.

Its principal economist, Adam Corlett, said the changes would help create a level playing field for workers.