News 09/06/26

A man who killed his partner by stabbing her thirty-one times before blowing up their home has been jailed for life with a minimum term of twenty-three years.

Forty-five-year-old Clifton George attacked Annabel Rook at their north London home last June after she ended their ten-year relationship. George punched and throttled the forty-six-year-old before stabbing her repeatedly with a kitchen knife. Following the killing, he started a fire in the basement, triggering a gas canister explosion that ripped through the property.

The Conservatives have called for the repeal of rules requiring public bodies to consider equality in their decision-making.

Party leader Kemi Badenoch described the Public Sector Equality Duty as a factor in groups being preferred over others, warning that institutions have become incompetent due to excessive focus on equality targets. The Labour government has responded by promising a new strategy with a primary focus on improving civil service opportunities for working-class people.

Sir Keir Starmer has condemned abhorrent scenes of violence following a knife attack in Belfast.

The Prime Minister described the assault as horrific and sickening, thanking members of the public who intervened to help. The Police Service of Northern Ireland confirmed that a man in his thirties, believed to be Somali, has been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following the incident outside an apartment complex in Kinnaird Avenue.

A schoolgirl has been arrested after three people suffered knife wounds at a school in Manchester.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed their injuries are not thought to be serious. The Co-op Academy in Blackley placed itself in lockdown following the incident on Tuesday morning. Emergency services remain at the scene, and officers are providing ongoing support to the school community.

A fifth person has been charged in connection with an ambulance arson attack in Golders Green.

Eighteen-year-old Subhan Ahmed, from Walthamstow, was charged on Monday with assisting an offender. This follows the damage caused to four ambulances belonging to the Jewish charity Hatzola in the early hours of March twenty-third.

The Nicholsons Shopping Centre in Maidenhead is closing its doors for the final time to make way for a major regeneration scheme.

Demolition of the centre, which dates back to the early nineteen-sixties, is expected to begin by early August and continue until next spring. Developers plan to replace the site with hundreds of new flats alongside more than fifty retail outlets. The project’s organisers say the closure marks the end of an era for the town centre and the beginning of a significant new chapter.

Somali referee Omar Artan will not officiate at the World Cup after being denied entry into the United States.

Set to become the first Somali to officiate at a tournament match, Artan was stopped by border officials at Miami International Airport on Saturday. US Customs and Border Patrol deemed him inadmissible due to vetting concerns. FIFA has confirmed the Confederation of African Football’s twenty-twenty-five referee of the year will now miss the tournament, which begins across the US, Mexico, and Canada on June eleventh.

Learner drivers are now restricted to swapping tests only to the three centres nearest their original booking location in an effort to reduce waiting times.

Official figures reveal that sixty-four-thousand-five-hundred practical tests were missed last year, while average wait times across Britain now exceed five months. The new rules aim to prevent learners from booking distant slots and making repeated swaps to get closer to home. One student reported waking at five-thirty every Monday, only to join queues of thousands and eventually secure a test seven months away.

Apple has unveiled a significant overhaul of its digital assistant, introducing Siri AI to provide a more advanced artificial intelligence experience.

The company also announced new trust and safety features designed to enhance child safety on its products. These updates were shared at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference, expected to be the final one for CEO Tim Cook before he steps down in September after fifteen years. He will be succeeded by John Ternus.

The sentencing of twenty-year-old Ilyas Akhtar, who admitted to two arson attacks and preparation for terrorist acts in Slough, has been postponed again.

He will now face a mention hearing at the Old Bailey on June nineteenth.