Labor will increase the income and price caps for its signature Help to Buy scheme as part of next week’s budget, which it has promised will deliver cost-of-living relief. Under the shared equity scheme, the commonwealth provides first home buyers with 30% of the purchase price of an existing home, or 40% for a new…
It stole two woolly hats from the head of a 91-year-old pensioner. It clawed a jogger’s scalp and left him reeling. It is said to swoop in from behind without making a sound, has a penchant for tall men’s heads and – so far – has evaded capture. But the violent reign of the Flamstead…
Nasa has dropped its longstanding public commitment to land the first woman and person of color on the moon, in response to Donald Trump’s directives to eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices at federal agencies. The promise was a central plank of the space agency’s Artemis program, which is scheduled to return humans to…
Oleg Gordievsky, the UK’s most significant cold war double agent inside the KGB, has died at his home in Surrey aged 86. Gordievsky, who would eventually defect to Britain from Moscow under threat of exposure, was considered a key agent operating for the UK’s intelligence services working within the Soviet Union. While counter-terrorism police were…
Three people died last week as they attempted to cross the US-Mexico border near San Diego, California, amid a storm that brought near freezing temperatures to the challenging mountain terrain, according to the US border patrol. Border patrol agents responding to two separate distress calls – that came within less than an hour of each…
A clinical support worker who took a viable pressure cooker bomb into a hospital intending to “kill as many nurses as possible” has been jailed for at least 37 years. Mohammad Farooq, 29, of Leeds, also plotted a terrorist attack on RAF Menwith Hill, a top-secret spy base in North Yorkshire. At Sheffield crown court…
The UK is to “accelerate the pace and scale” of military planning to be ready to support Ukraine next week, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible. Keir Starmer’s spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to…
The popcorn mogul who founded Pirate’s Booty Snacks tried to commandeer a New York village’s local government, storming this minuscule municipality’s office armed with a false statement claiming that he was mayor. Robert Ehrlich strode into the town hall of Sea Cliff, a village of fewer than 5,000 residents within the larger town of Oyster…
Members of the punk rock band UK Subs have said they were denied entry and detained in the US, according to accounts from the band themselves. Bassist Alvin Bibbs shared details of the incident with local UK news website Dorset Eye on Thursday, which comes amid widespread reports of people being denied entry to the…
A Soviet-era dissident has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for his anti-war views, in a case that observers say highlights how the country’s repression now exceeds even parts of the Soviet period. Alexander Skobov, a 67-year-old lifelong dissident, was sentenced on Friday by a military court in St Petersburg over a…
