News 18/12/25

The UK has named career diplomat Christian Turner as its new ambassador to the United States, Downing Street has confirmed.

The previous ambassador, Peter Mandelson, was sacked by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer after evidence including emails and photos showed his continued association with the paedophile Jeffery Epstein. Turner has spent nearly thirty years working across Whitehall and the Foreign Office. In Washington he will need to manage relations with the Trump administration amid disagreements over Ukraine and President Donald Trump’s criticism of Europe.

Nearly twenty million pounds will be paid to children injured in the Manchester Arena bombing, a judge has ruled.

Payments ranging from two thousand seven hundred and seventy pounds to eleven point four million were agreed for sixteen people, all under sixteen at the time. The court heard some suffered catastrophic and life changing injuries, while others experienced severe psychological harm after a suicide bomber detonated a homemade device at the end of an Ariana Grande concert on twenty two May twenty seventeen.

A former Premier League footballer has won a High Court case against a leading surgeon, arguing an unnecessary procedure brought his career to a premature end.

Ex Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Sylvan Ebanks Blake, thirty nine, brought the challenge more than a decade after being injured playing for the club. He broke his left leg against Birmingham City in April twenty thirteen and said the surgeon also removed ankle scar tissue and loose cartilage during the operation.

Volodymyr Zelensky has urged European Union leaders to agree a multibillion euro loan from frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine’s military and economic needs.

He warned Ukraine is months from running out of cash and without support by spring will have to reduce drone production. Most of Russia’s two hundred and ten billion euros in EU assets are held by Euroclear. Belgium and other states oppose using the money as a reparations loan. Russia has warned against it, but Poland’s prime minister Donald Tusk said leaders must rise to the occasion.

Waterloo Road actor William Rush has died aged thirty one, his family has announced.

He played schoolboy Josh Stevenson in the BBC One drama, appearing in one hundred and sixty eight episodes between 2009 and 2013. As a child actor he also appeared in Grange Hill and Shameless, and later went on to roles in Casualty and Vera. His mother, former Coronation Street actress Debbie Rush, said the family’s hearts are completely broken. His cause of death has not been announced.

The Bank of England has cut the base rate to 3.75%, taking it below 4% for the first time since January 2023.

Economists had expected a reduction after rates were held at 4%  last month. Lower inflation at 3.2%, softer wage growth and slowing economic activity increased expectations. The base rate guides lenders, so the cut should help reduce borrowing costs on credit cards, mortgages and loans for households.

A man has been charged over an alleged hit and run in Birmingham that left one man dead and a woman in hospital.

West Midlands Police say Harinderpal Athwal, forty one, from Oldbury, faces charges including causing death by dangerous driving, failing to stop, driving while disqualified and uninsured, causing serious injury and failing to report a collision. Two pedestrians were struck on Soho Road near Whitehall Road shortly before eleven twenty on Tuesday, and the vehicle left the scene.

England’s Ashes hopes are fading after being overwhelmed by Australia on day two of the third Test amid Snicko controversy.

In temperatures reaching forty one degrees at the Adelaide Oval, England slipped to two hundred and thirteen for eight in blameless batting conditions and now trail by one hundred and fifty eight runs. It was not a collapse but a fold there.

Teachers will be trained to spot early signs of misogyny in boys and steer them away as part of the government’s long awaited strategy to tackle violence against women and girls.

Sir Keir Starmer warned that toxic ideas are taking hold early and going unchallenged, with more than forty percent of young men said to hold positive views of influencer Andrew Tate. The government will unveil a twenty million pound package today.

Policymakers at the Bank of England are expected to cut interest rates, bringing the Bank rate to its lowest level since February twenty twenty three.

Analysts predict a fall from four percent to three point seven five, though they do not expect a unanimous decision among the nine member Monetary Policy Committee. This would be the sixth cut since August last year, affecting borrowers and savers.

A student who worked as a sales assistant has settled a sexual harassment case against JD Sports for sixty five thousand pounds.

Jayla Boyd worked part time in a Belfast store while studying for her A levels. During a shift, she was slapped on the bottom by a male supervisor at seventeen and was upset that her employer failed to offer support after the incident.

A Scottish couple whose teenage son took his own life after being blackmailed on Instagram are suing the platform’s owner Meta.

Murray Dowey from Dunblane was sixteen when he became a victim of sextortion in December twenty twenty three. His parents have launched legal action in a United States court seeking punitive damages, claiming Instagram was not safe.