Author: Darren Smith

Student leaders say ministers’ education package falls short, as protests enter a fourth week and unions prepare a wider strike on Thursday French student unions say high school blockades will restart on Monday, when pupils return from a two-week holiday, despite a package of government concessions and a plea from President Emmanuel Macron for a calm return to classes. Pierre Sourzat, head of the Lycéens! group, told broadcaster RMC on Sunday that some schools would be blocked from the first day, with disruption growing from Tuesday. The announcement follows a third weekend of nationwide demonstrations. The unions say the government’s…

Home Office figures show 16 boats reached Britain between Thursday and Saturday, carrying an average of almost 75 people each, as footage from the French coast shows chaotic scenes at boarding points A total of 1,193 people crossed the English Channel in small boats between Thursday and Saturday, ending a three-week lull in arrivals, according to Home Office figures. They came in 16 boats, an average of almost 75 on each vessel. The surge appears to have followed a break in the poor weather that had kept crossings at bay. It comes as video from the French coastline shows crowds…

A 21-year-old was stabbed twice in the thigh at one of London’s best-known dance venues, and a 24-year-old man is due before magistrates on Monday A 24-year-old man has been charged with grievous bodily harm after a man was stabbed at Studio 338, the nightclub on the Greenwich Peninsula, on Friday night. The Metropolitan Police said officers were called to Boord Street on 30 October and that the 21-year-old victim was taken to hospital with wounds to his thigh. His condition has been described as non-life-changing. Immanuel Francis-Gordon, from Croydon, was arrested within hours and charged the following day. He…

Police have arrested six people and are searching for the online personality, as local reports say the event’s permit was cancelled hours before thousands of fans surged towards the gates At least two people have died and 18 were injured in a crowd crush at a pre-wedding celebration for Pakistani TikTok personality Ansar Mehmood in Sialkot, Punjab, on Saturday night. Thousands of fans converged on a cricket ground on Daska Road after he used social media to invite them with promises of prizes, including a car and 50 motorcycles. Police say six people have been arrested and Mr Mehmood, known…

West Midlands Police is appealing for dashcam footage and witnesses after a pedestrian died at the scene in Alum Rock in the early hours of Saturday A man in his 30s has died after being hit by a car on Sladefield Road, in Alum Rock, east Birmingham, and the driver did not stop. Emergency services were called just after 12.15am on Saturday 31 October after reports that a man had been seriously injured. He was pronounced dead at the scene. West Midlands Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit is leading the inquiry, and no arrest has been announced. What police are…

South Wales Police says it has seen the video and sent the case to its Professional Standards Department, while the boy’s mother alleges officers also took phones and a second scooter South Wales Police has referred an incident in Pontardawe, in the Swansea Valley, to its internal Professional Standards Department after footage showed a 12-year-old boy in pyjama trousers being forced to the ground and handcuffed by three officers. Zain Evans was found near a disused chapel on Wednesday 28 October, and officers took his e-scooter. His mother, Emily Evans, says he was treated in hospital for muscle injuries and…

The manager says the midfielder wants to stay long term, with a deal reportedly close and a January announcement mooted ahead of Sunday’s trip to Liverpool Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta says it is only “a matter of time” before Declan Rice signs a new long-term contract at the club. The 27-year-old joined from West Ham for £105m in 2023 and has two years left on his current deal. Talks began earlier this year, and he is understood to be close to an agreement that would take him near Bukayo Saka’s £350,000 a week. Arsenal have not confirmed anything, but Arteta…

Officers are keeping an open mind about the motive after the discovery at Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor, with local representatives condemning the act Police in Northern Ireland are investigating after severed pigs’ heads were found in a public park in County Down on Saturday morning. The heads were discovered in the early hours at Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor, and one was reportedly impaled on a wooden stake. Reports say a sign reading “here piggy piggy” was left with them. The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it is exploring all lines of inquiry and has not ruled anything out,…

The Metropolitan Police said 139 people had been detained by early evening, as the group’s ban faces a Supreme Court challenge next week More than 100 people were arrested in London on Saturday at a protest outside the US embassy in support of Palestine Action, which was banned under the Terrorism Act in 2025. The Metropolitan Police said at 6.15pm that 139 people had been detained, most for expressing support for a proscribed organisation, with further arrests expected. Hundreds gathered at the embassy in Nine Elms, many holding signs reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”. The demonstration came…

A judge told Durham Crown Court the violence was ‘grossly disproportionate’ after a man left the inmate he shared a cell with needing surgery for a broken arm A prisoner who flew into a rage at his cellmate’s snoring has been jailed for three years for a sustained assault that left the other man with a broken arm and head wounds. David McLaughlin, 47, attacked the inmate at HMP Durham on 27 February 2024, Durham Crown Court heard. A jury cleared him of wounding with intent, accepting that he may have acted in self-defence, but convicted him of the lesser…