News 25/08/26

The number of young care leavers dying in England has risen by around a quarter, with 112 care leavers aged 18 to 24 dying in 2025.

A government review warns the true figure could be higher as councils lose contact with some young people. Care leavers are estimated to be dying at three to four times the rate of others their age, with more than a third of deaths believed to be suicides. Drug and alcohol misuse, homelessness, loneliness and serious mental health problems feature repeatedly.

Ministers have announced where more than seventy thousand social and affordable homes will be built in England over the next decade as part of an initial allocation of almost ten billion pounds.

Funding has been granted to Greater Manchester, the West Midlands, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, North East England, Liverpool, and London. It forms part of a wider plan to build three hundred thousand homes. Housing charities welcomed the news but warned it falls short of demand, while Conservatives called it unfunded.

The trial of a Libyan man accused over the Lockerbie bombing has been postponed for a third time after new evidence came to light three days ago.

Jury selection was due to start in Washington DC on Wednesday, but a new date has been set for January next year. Lawyers for Abu Agila Mohammad Kheir Al-Marimi said the newly discovered evidence emerged on Friday 21 August. Al-Marimi denies building the bomb that destroyed Pan Am Flight 103 in 1988, killing two hundred and seventy people.

A rising tide of complaints written using artificial intelligence is significantly increasing the workload of schools, local councils and public bodies.

Chatbots can produce lengthy, complex arguments that quote regulations and run to dozens of pages. One organisation noted that complaints once contained on single sheets of A4 now reach twenty pages. Public bodies say AI often makes errors and misquotes legislation, adding further delay, though users say it helps them effectively represent themselves.