News 17/02/26

Hollywood actor Shia LaBeouf has been arrested after allegedly assaulting two men in New Orleans during Mardi Gras celebrations, according to police.

The Transformers star is said to have punched one man several times. Officers also allege the thirty nine year old then assaulted another man, punching him on the nose. LaBeouf, who first found fame on the Disney Channel as a teenager in the early two thousands, has been charged with two counts of simple battery.

An investigation has been launched after two hundred and fifty pounds was stolen from a seventy two year old woman in Taplow.

Police say she was withdrawing cash from an ATM at Sainsbury’s on Lake End Road when she was approached by two people. They told her she had left twenty pounds in the machine and that it had been swallowed back up. She was encouraged to check her balance and told to press buttons, which officers say was intended to confuse her while the theft took place.

A cold health alert has been issued as forecasters predict snow will hit parts of the UK.

The warning from the UK Health Security Agency runs from six o’clock on Friday morning until eight o’clock on Monday, covering the South West, the Midlands, the North East, the North West and Yorkshire and The Humber. The agency said the cold weather is likely to pose a greater risk to life for vulnerable people and could increase pressure on healthcare services. The alert comes as the Met Office has issued a yellow warning for snow, with disruption possible in parts of Wales and central England on Wednesday and Thursday.

Royal Mail has been given two weeks to respond to allegations reported by the BBC that it is prioritising parcel deliveries over letters, causing delays across the postal network.

In a letter, the Business and Trade Committee of MPs asked the company for commitments to improve what it described as chaos. The move follows hundreds of complaints to the BBC claiming parcels are being delivered first while letters are stored and sent out in batches. Royal Mail says it will respond to MPs in detail and understands the frustration of post not arriving as expected, adding it is working to resolve short term disruption.

The US civil rights leader Jesse Jackson has died at the age of eighty four.

A statement from his family says he died peacefully on Tuesday morning surrounded by relatives. It adds that his unwavering commitment to justice, equality and human rights helped shape a global movement for freedom and dignity. Jackson later ran for president and was a prominent figure in American public life.

Five people have died and at least five others were injured in a fire at an apartment building in Spain.

The blaze broke out at a five-storey property in Manlleu in the northeast of the country on Monday night. Emergency services said the fire started in a storage room, and authorities reported that victims, who have not been identified, were unable to escape from an attic storage area. The cause of the fire is not yet known.

Electronic music artist and tech creator Look Mum No Computer has been chosen to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, the BBC has announced.

The solo artist, songwriter and YouTuber is described as “an inventor of unique musical machines.” He first arrived on the music scene in 2014 as Sam Battle, frontman of indie rock band Zibra, which performed at Glastonbury in 2015 for BBC Introducing. Since then, he has performed and recorded under his solo name. He said: “I find it completely bonkers to be jumping on this wonderful and wild journey.”

More than 200 people have been arrested in the past four weeks as part of a phone theft crackdown in London, with drones and facial recognition helping to catch those responsible.

The Metropolitan Police said officers had made 248 arrests for mobile phone theft and seized around 770 devices, with a further 122 people arrested for other offences as part of the wider operation. Commander Andrew Featherstone revealed that “cutting-edge” technology including drones, e-bikes and live facial recognition had been used to identify and apprehend suspects quickly. He said these tactics were delivering results.

The UK unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in nearly five years, official figures show.

The jobless rate increased to 5.2% in December, the highest since the three months to January 2021, according to the Office for National Statistics. When Labour took office in 2024, the rate stood at 4.1%, amid promises of economic growth. The increase highlights growing challenges for those seeking work.

A nine year old boy has become the first patient in the UK to undergo pioneering leg lengthening surgery.

Alfie Phillips, from Northampton, has fibular hemimelia, a rare condition affecting fewer than one in forty thousand births each year. It meant his right leg did not develop properly and is around four centimetres shorter than his left. Specialists say the difference would have increased to about six centimetres by the time he was sixteen.

Local election administrators say councils face an uphill struggle to be ready for May’s local elections after the government reversed plans to delay some votes.

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed had approved postponing thirty council elections in England until twenty twenty seven. But ministers abandoned the delays after advice suggested the move could be unlawful, following a legal challenge by Reform UK. Representatives of electoral officials say teams have lost months of preparation and will struggle to be ready.

Parts of Britain could face further flooding for months because of heavy rainfall so far this year.

Analysis from the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology shows rivers in the south and southwest of England reached exceptionally high levels in January, with some breaking records. In badly affected areas the soil is so saturated that water is rising through the ground, posing an invisible threat of sudden flooding to homes. The Environment Agency has warned groundwater flooding could continue for months.