News 06/02/26

Two properties owned by Peter Mandelson have been searched by police investigating alleged misconduct in a public office.

Boxes were seen leaving his Camden home, while police vehicles were outside his Wiltshire property. Plain clothed officers briefly searched a Range Rover near the London address. Metropolitan Police deputy assistant commissioner Hayley Sewart said the central specialist crime team carried out the warrants.

A Nigerian court has reportedly ordered the UK to pay £420m to families of twenty one striking miners killed by security forces during British colonial rule.

Justice Anthony Onovo said the former administration was liable for the nineteen forty nine incident and Britain should formally apologise. Reports say the UK was not represented in court and has declined to comment.

Donald Trump has been accused of disgusting behaviour after a video on his Truth Social account depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.

The clip repeats debunked claims that the two thousand and twenty election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen. The two second video was later deleted around twelve hours after being posted.

An eighteen year old man has been charged with murder after a student was fatally stabbed near a university campus.

De Montfort University student Khaleed Oladipo, aged twenty, died in hospital after being stabbed in Oxford Street, Leicester. Harper Dennis is also charged with possessing an offensive weapon and is due in court.

There have been four arrests and a car seized following a violent shop theft investigation in Maidenhead.

Thames Valley Police say officers attended the Co-op on February fourth to review CCTV after a theft involving violence and threats towards staff. Police recognised four suspects and carried out an immediate area search. Minutes later, a car containing all four appeared in front of a PCSO, who followed it while directing other officers to the scene.

The Metropolitan Police have confirmed searches are being carried out at two addresses as part of an investigation into Peter Mandelson.

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Hayley Sewart says officers from the central specialist crime team are executing warrants at properties in Wiltshire and Camden. The searches relate to an ongoing misconduct in public office investigation involving a seventy two year old man. He has not been arrested and enquiries are continuing.

A summer camp leader who drugged children with sweets containing a tranquiliser before sexually assaulting them has been jailed for more than twenty three years.

Leicester Crown Court heard Jon Ruben, aged seventy six, ran the camp for at least twenty seven years. He was arrested in July after eight children were taken to hospital. Liquid Xanax was found to have been used on some victims at Stathern Lodge in Leicestershire.

Police have issued a vehicle protection warning after the arrest of a man linked to car break ins in Slough.

Thames Valley Police say vehicles were targeted near Montem Ice Rink and Salt Hill Activity Centre. Officers are continuing enquiries and a male has been arrested on suspicion of theft as the investigation remains ongoing.

Serial killer Steve Wright, sixty seven, has been given a life sentence for the nineteen ninety nine kidnap and murder of seventeen year old Victoria Hall and the attempted kidnap of Emily Doherty.

The judge set a minimum term of forty years, telling Wright he will die in prison. He is already serving a whole life sentence for murdering five other women. Wright showed no emotion as the sentence was passed and he was taken down to the cells.

A British man has died after falling from a sixth floor hotel balcony in Spain.

National Police are investigating the death of the thirty seven year old in the Costa del Sol town of Torremolinos in the early hours of Wednesday. Emergency services received several calls reporting a fall from a hotel balcony. Paramedics attended the scene but were unable to save the man’s life.

Flood warnings remain in place across the UK after January ended with record breaking rainfall and February has shown little improvement.

Persistent downpours have saturated the ground in many areas and left rivers bursting their banks. More than seventy flood warnings were active across England and Scotland by Friday morning. The Environment Agency says river levels are expected to continue rising as further rain is forecast.

A senior Russian military official is in hospital after being shot in what investigators describe as an assassination attempt in Moscow.

An unknown attacker fired several shots at Lieutenant General Vladimir Alexeyev inside a residential building on the Volokolamskoye Highway in the northwest of the city before escaping. The Russian Investigative Committee says officers are reviewing CCTV footage and carrying out a search to identify the suspect. Alexeyev holds the post of deputy chief of the main directorate of the general staff at the Russian Defence Ministry.

The Milan Cortina twenty twenty six Winter Olympics are under way with Italy preparing to host the Games across northern regions of the country.

Around two thousand nine hundred athletes from more than ninety nations will compete on snow and ice during the next sixteen days. Events are spread across hundreds of miles from Milan to Cortina d’Ampezzo, including Predazzo and Tesero in the Dolomites, and the Alpine resorts of Livigno and Bormio.

Cholesterol lowering drugs known as statins are far safer than previously believed, according to a major review.

Researchers say patient information leaflets should be updated to avoid discouraging people from taking the medicines. The British Heart Foundation funded team found statins do not cause most listed side effects, including memory loss, depression, sleep problems, weight gain or impotence, while reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Senior US and Iranian officials are expected to meet in Oman for direct talks in the coming hours amid a crisis that has raised fears of a military confrontation between the two countries.

The discussions follow a United States military build up in the Middle East after Iran violently repressed nationwide anti government protests last month which human rights groups say killed many thousands. Uncertainty over the location and scope had threatened to derail the talks which are part of a diplomatic effort by regional mediators to reduce tensions. Both sides remain far apart in their positions but there is hope the discussions could lead to a framework for negotiations.

Restoring the crumbling Houses of Parliament could cost more than £39bn and take between 38-61 years to complete, parliamentarians have been told.

It is one of two proposals being considered by MPs and peers and would see work on the largely Victorian era building completed in stages. A second option would see both Houses leave the Palace of Westminster for up to 24 years, with costs reaching £15.6bn. The restoration and renewal client board warned a decision on starting work is needed now.

There has been a five fold increase in the number of refugee households who are homeless or at risk of homelessness during the past four years.

Government data for England shows numbers rising from 3560 in twenty 2021-22, to 19310 in 2024-25. Charities said the rise is a direct result of government policy, including the twenty eight day move on period. The government said it is committed to helping refugees find accommodation.

Three African countries have agreed to take back foreign offenders and illegal migrants after the Home Secretary threatened visa penalties.

A month after the warning, Namibia and Angola agreed to cooperate, with the Democratic Republic of Congo also now on board. Shabana Mahmood said countries refusing to accept returning citizens would face consequences. The UK government had warned it would stop granting visas to people from the three nations if cooperation did not improve.

Four people received emergency treatment after an e bike blaze at a property in Slough.

Fire crews were called to a house on Granville Avenue at nine fifty on Tuesday evening, February the third. Two Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service crews from Slough, one from Langley, and an officer attended. Firefighters said an e bike fire was affecting the whole property when crews arrived at the scene.