News 07/02/26

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has accused Peter Mandelson of betraying his country, alleging he leaked government secrets and put Britain at risk.

Lord Mandelson, his former business secretary, is accused of sharing market sensitive information with US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein after the two thousand and eight financial crisis. Mr Brown said the information was commercially sensitive and secret.

Dozens of flood warnings are in place as rain continues across the UK.

The Environment Agency has issued seventy eight warnings for England, where flooding is expected, mainly in the South West and Midlands. Another two hundred and forty nine flood alerts are active, meaning flooding is possible from North Yorkshire to Cornwall and from the Welsh borders to Norfolk.

Police are searching for a convicted robber who absconded from prison.

Scott Warner, thirty seven, was reported missing after failing to attend a roll call at HMP Hollesley Bay. He was serving four years and seven months for robbery and other offences when he absconded from the open prison in Suffolk. Warner has links to Essex and is white man.

NatWest Group is close to buying wealth manager Evelyn Partners in a deal valued at around £2.5bn, which would be its largest takeover since the taxpayer bailout of 2008.

The bank, which returned to full private ownership last year, is in advanced talks to acquire the business from its private equity backers. NatWest is understood to have beaten competition from rival bidder Barclays after a recent round of offers.

Live Facial Recognition vans will be deployed on Slough High Street next week by Thames Valley Police.

The vans use a CCTV feed to capture facial images and process them through a system intended to identify people on a police watchlist. The force says footage is kept for up to thirty one days, except in very rare cases where it must be retained as evidence.

Donald Trump has refused to apologise after a video on his Truth Social account depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, saying he did not make a mistake.

The clip appeared at the end of a video repeating debunked claims that the 2020 election he lost to Joe Biden was stolen. The two second post was deleted around twelve hours later.

A fifteen year old student has been charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed article after a teacher was assaulted at Milford Haven Comprehensive School.

Dyfed Powys Police said the boy has been remanded in custody and is due at Swansea Magistrates Court on Saturday. Officers were called on Thursday afternoon, and the teacher was treated in hospital before being discharged.

At the Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Milan, appeals for respect were ignored when four Israeli athletes entered the San Siro.

Despite calls from International Olympic Committee president Kirsty Coventry, boos could be heard over the music inside the vast stadium during the parade.

Slough Borough Council is aiming to save more than fifteen million pounds next year to address long term financial challenges.

The savings are proposed for the twenty twenty six slash twenty seven financial year through service reviews, income generation and efficiency measures. They are part of a wider medium term strategy to save thirty seven point one five million pounds by twenty twenty eight slash twenty nine.