News 17/12/25

Rob Reiner’s son Nick made his first court appearance on Wednesday charged with two counts of first-degree murder over the killing of his parents.

Wearing a suicide prevention smock and shackles, the thirty-two-year-old did not enter a plea and appeared from behind the glass wall of a custody area. His next court appearance is scheduled for the seventh of January.

An eighty-six-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a couple on their farm in Wales more than thirty years ago.

Harry and Megan Tooze were found dead in a cowshed with gunshot wounds at their farm in Llanharry, near Cardiff, on the twenty-sixth of July nineteen ninety-three. South Wales Police began a forensic review in twenty twenty-three case.

Labour has granted six areas in and around London powers to raise council tax by more than five percent for two years without local voters signing off the move.

The authorities include Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Wandsworth, Hammersmith and Fulham, the City of London, and Windsor and Maidenhead. Ministers say shifting funding will make England’s model fairer, but Conservatives disagree.

A Slough mum who lost her home four days before Christmas, after her artificial tree caught alight, has shared a warning after being left homeless for nearly three years.

In December twenty twenty-two, Tracey Azab, forty-two, had lived there five months and had gone all out with decorations, including a six-foot artificial tree with baubles and lights inside her home.

A new study suggests Alzheimer’s disease is more common in people over 85 than previously thought.

Researchers used a simple blood test to identify biomarkers linked to dementia and found that more than one in ten people over 70 would meet the criteria for drugs that can slow early stages of the disease. The study analysed 11,486 blood samples from participants over 57 in the Trondelag Health Study in Norway, conducted by teams at King’s College London, University of Gothenburg and Stavanger University Hospital.

A teenage boy has appeared in court charged with the murder of nine year old Aria Thorpe.

Avon and Somerset Police say she died after suffering a single stab wound. Emergency services were called to Lime Close in Weston super Mare at 6.09pm on Monday, but the girl was pronounced dead at the scene. The fifteen year old appeared at Bristol Magistrates Court on Wednesday.

A hitman who shot another man outside a pub on Hogmanay has been jailed for at least twenty six years.

Grant Hunter, thirty four, killed Marc Webley, thirty eight, outside the Anchor Inn in Edinburgh shortly before midnight on thirty one December twenty twenty three. Webley had taunted rivals online earlier and dared them to come and get it.

The Prime Minister has told MPs during Prime Ministers Questions how the UK is supporting Ukraine as it faces a fourth winter at war with Russia.

Sir Keir Starmer said he is working with Ukraine and its allies on using frozen Russian assets to help Ukrainians in their hour of need. He announced a licence to transfer two point five billion pounds from the sale of Chelsea Football Club, frozen since twenty twenty two. Sir Keir warned Roman Abramovich to honour his commitment or face court action.

Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police say they will arrest people holding placards or chanting the phrase globalise the intifada.

They said the context had changed following the Bondi Beach shooting in Sydney and warned words have meaning and consequence. The forces referenced violent acts and the Manchester synagogue attack in October. The UK chief rabbi says the chant helped lead to the attacks.

The Duke of Marlborough has been charged with intentional strangulation.

The seventy year old is accused of attacking the same person three times in Woodstock Oxfordshire over eighteen months. Charles James Spencer Churchill, formerly known as Jamie Blandford, is due at Oxford magistrates on Thursday. Police say the alleged attacks took place between November twenty twenty two and May twenty twenty four.

Slough Borough Council has agreed to sell its former Saint Martins Place headquarters.

Options include potentially leasing the building back long term and using it for temporary accommodation. The three storey building at Bath Road and Montem Lane has been empty since twenty twenty. It was declared surplus to requirements by the council in January twenty twenty three.

A nine-year-old girl found dead in Weston-super-Mare has been named as Aria Thorpe, and a fifteen-year-old boy has been charged with her murder.

Emergency services were called to Lime Close in the Somerset town at 6.09pm on Monday, but Aria was pronounced dead at the scene. Avon and Somerset Police said a post-mortem examination indicated her death resulted from a single stab wound.

Inflation eased by more than expected to three point two percent in November, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

Economists had predicted a fall from October’s three point six percent, but many expected it to come in higher at around three point five. Lower food prices, which usually rise at this time of year, were the main downward driver, alongside tobacco costs. Core inflation, which strips out food and energy, also fell more than forecast to three point two percent.

Alleged Bondi Beach attacker Naveed Akram has been charged with fifty nine offences, including a terror charge, New South Wales Police have said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he expected the twenty four year old to be charged after he woke from a coma. The second alleged attacker, his fifty year old father Sajid, died at the scene of Sunday’s mass shooting.

The UK is set to rejoin the European Union’s Erasmus student exchange scheme, according to reports.

The programme allowed British students to spend a year studying at European universities without paying extra fees, with European students doing the same in the UK. UK participation ended after Brexit on 1 January 2021 and the scheme was replaced by the government’s Turing programme.

The UK has recorded its sunniest year ever, despite only being halfway through December.

Provisional Met Office figures show 2025 has already recorded more sunshine hours than any previous full year. The bright conditions were driven by frequent periods of high pressure during spring and summer, reducing cloud cover and locking in sunny skies across much of the country.

Patients are being warned to expect disruption as doctors begin a five day strike in England.

NHS England says it is struggling to keep as many services running as during earlier walkouts, with hospitals also under pressure from a wave of flu. Non urgent services will be affected from 07:00 on Wednesday. This is the fourteenth walkout by resident doctors in the long running pay dispute. Health Secretary Wes Streeting says the strike risks patient safety, while the British Medical Association says it will work with NHS leaders to protect patients.

Learner drivers are facing months of delays booking practical tests, with a backlog not expected to clear until November 2027, according to the National Audit Office.

It says 1.1 million tests were not carried out in 2020 and 2021 because of the pandemic, with around 360,000 still unbooked. Average waiting times stood at 22 weeks in September, hitting the 24 week maximum at most test centres. The Department for Transport says it is taking decisive action, including using military driving examiners.