Family ‘heartbroken’ after discovery of body of John George, 37, who went missing in Alicante area in December
A murder investigation is under way in Spain after the body of a 37-year-old man from Northern Ireland was found three weeks after he went missing.
John George from Belfast, a father of two children, was in Spain for a short visit in December but the alarm was raised when he failed to board a flight home on 18 December.
Continue reading...Snow, ice and fog yellow weather warnings remain in force across the UK as snow and sleet cause disruption to transport
It’s a very cold morning in Ireland with widespread frost and ice lingering, says the Irish meteorological service, Met Éireann.
In a post on X, Met Éireann said:
Sunny spells will develop later with just a scattering of cloud in a cold northerly breeze.
A few isolated wintry showers will drift in over Connacht and Ulster for a time but elsewhere should hold dry.”
Continue reading...Amber warnings for snow and freezing rain in place for much of Wales and England while second snow warning affects most of northern England
Some pictures of heavy snow from the Pennines
Heavy snow is threatening to postpone Manchester United’s Premier League game with Liverpool on Sunday.
Continue reading...Disruption expected as rain turns to snow, after major flooding incident declared in Greater Manchester
An ice warning is in force for much of the UK as temperatures have dropped, after a major incident was declared due to flooding.
The yellow Met Office warning indicates there could be some difficult travel conditions across Scotland, Northern Ireland and north Wales, and stretching down to the Midlands, until 10am on Thursday.
Continue reading...Manager of Lough Neagh Partnership praises actions so far on lake’s algae crisis but warns of wider problems
The introduction of water rates in Northern Ireland could address crumbling wastewater infrastructure and the impact on waterways, it has been suggested.
It comes as the Stormont executive works to halt an environmental crisis at Lough Neagh, where noxious blooms of blue-green algae have covered the surface of the water across the past two summers.
Continue reading...Unsealed documents show British PM’s idea in 2002 did not go down well with Northern Ireland politician
The 2002 World Cup had been a gruelling rollercoaster for the Republic of Ireland. Nine days before the team’s first match in the tournament, hosted by Japan and South Korea, its captain and talisman Roy Keane was on his way home before a ball had been kicked, after publicly berating his manager, Mick McCarthy.
Two draws and a victory against Saudi Arabia had taken Ireland through the group stages, but after a dramatic penalty shootout against Spain, they were knocked out of the competition.
Continue reading...Weather warnings for wind, rain and snow cover much of country, with 16 flood alerts in place
Storm Bert has hit the UK, with snow closing roads and strong rains and winds expected to cause further travel disruption and potential flooding.
Weather warnings and 13 flood alerts have come into effect across much of the country.
Continue reading...Several weather warnings in place for weekend, with snow, wind, rain and ice predicted
Storm Bert is expected to bring wind, rain, ice and snow to much of the UK over the weekend in what forecasters have called a “multi-hazard event”.
The Met Office has issued several weather warnings – mostly yellow, but also including the more severe amber in Scotland – for Saturday and Sunday.
Continue reading...Say Nothing, about 1972 abduction and murder of Jean McConville, is horrendous, says Michael McConville
The son of Jean McConville, a woman who was murdered and buried in secret by the IRA, has condemned a new Disney series on her death as “horrendous” and “cruel”.
The series is based on the acclaimed book Say Nothing, about McConville and the wider role of the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, written by the US journalist Patrick Radden Keefe.
Continue reading...Only 2.5% of more than 300,000 farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, researchers find
There is just one local authority inspector for every 878 farms in England, Scotland and Wales, according to a report, which says that the current welfare system is continuing to fail animals.
Researchers for the Animal Law Foundation found that only 2.5% of the more than 300,000 UK farms were inspected at least once in 2022 and 2023, a marginal decrease from 2018-21 when Covid-19 might be expected to have affected inspection rates.
Continue reading...Matthew Pennycook says Tory position now unclear on cap on tax rises that was in place when Kemi Badenoch was local government minister
A minister has criticised her Tory shadow for talking about “joy” in the health sector about the funding it received.
Karin Smyth, a health minister, said it was a strange word to use given the state of NHS finances left by the last government.
Many in the health sector would have been pleased to hear the announcement of the extra funding going into the NHS [in the budget], only for the joy to be struck down by the realisation of a broken manifesto promise not to raise national insurance contributions.
This was only compounded further on the discovery that a raft of frontline care providers – care homes, hospices, care charities, pharmacies, GPS, to name but a few – found themselves not exempt from the NI rises, leaving them with crippling staff bills and the threat of closure and redundancies.
He talks about joy. There was no joy when we inherited the mess that they left back in July.
The chancellor took into account the impact of changes to national insurance when she allocated an extra £26bn to the Department of Health and Social Care.
There are well established processes for agreeing funding allocations across the system, we are going through those processes now with this issue in mind.
The British government needs to start now indicating for them what they believe is the tipping point at which they believe a referendum would be called.
Continue reading...Ombudsman’s report on death of Katie Simpson, 21, adds to concerns at levels of gender-based violence in Northern Ireland
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) “failed” the family of a 21-year-old woman after her death two years ago in Derry, initially treating it as suicide rather than a suspected murder, the police watchdog has said.
The report by the Police Ombudsman of Northern Ireland comes amid renewed concerns that gender-based violence is not being taken seriously enough in the region with the highest rate of femicide per capita of all nations in the UK and in the island of Ireland.
Continue reading...This live blog is closed
Here are some of the main points from Jonathan Reynolds’s evidence to the Post Office inquiry so far this morning.
Reynolds said he accepted as business secretary he was responsible for ensuring the compensation scheme operated properly. He said in the past there had been “insufficient accountability”.
He said that since the general election there has been a “significant increase” in the pace at which compensation is being paid. The journalist Nick Wallis (who wrote a superb book, The Great Post Office Scandal) is live tweeting from the inquiry, and he quotes Reynolds as saying:
Since the general election there has been a significant increase in the pace at which compensation has been paid. The overall quantum of compensation is up in the last four months by roughly a third and the number of claims to which there has been an initial... offer being made in response to that claim has roughly doubled in the last four months [to] what it has been in the four months preceding the general election.
Home Office officials do not believe Labour’s plan to “smash the gangs” will work as a way of bringing down illegal migration to the UK, i can reveal.
They say that civil servants in the department have been “underwhelmed” by the approach that was being outlined again this week by Sir Keir Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Continue reading...Jonathan Powell led talks on Chagos Islands in September and played key role in Good Friday agreement
Jonathan Powell, the former chief of staff to Tony Blair, has been appointed as Keir Starmer’s national security adviser in a further sign that leading figures from the New Labour era are returning to the government.
The veteran former diplomat, who played a significant role in the Northern Ireland peace deal struck in 1998 and served Blair for a decade, will be responsible for advising on the UK’s approach to the war in Ukraine and the international implications of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Continue reading...Claire Hanna lambasts arrogance of former PM and ‘stinking status quo’ in Stormont that has stifled ambition
Boris Johnson left a “wholly negative legacy” for the island of Ireland but difficulties in Northern Ireland also stem from a “stinking status quo” that has stifled ambition and drive for change, the new leader of the Social Democratic and Labour party has said.
Weeks after taking over from Colum Eastwood, Claire Hanna, spoke about her plans to revive the SDLP, pull Northern Ireland out of past mindsets and fight for new partnerships with Dublin on health and other public services.
Continue reading...Met Office issues warnings for across the UK as the first named storm of the season sweeps in
Parts of the UK have been battered by strong winds and heavy rain, as Storm Ashley – the first named storm of the season – swept in.
The Met Office said the storm was likely to bring a threat of injuries and danger to life, with winds of up to 80mph and heavy rain expected in some areas.
Continue reading...Ward’s body was found at her home and Ahmed Abdirahman was arrested in Dublin
A man has appeared in a Dublin court charged with the murder of Mary Ward in Belfast.
The 22-year-old was found dead at her home on 1 October with neck wounds. Her body was found after police officers went to her house, but she was last seen alive on 25 September, according to police.
Continue reading...Deal to rescue owner of four UK shipyards, including Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, could save up to 1,000 jobs
Spanish shipbuilding firm Navantia is in exclusive negotiations to buy Harland & Wolff, the owner of the Belfast shipyard that built the Titanic, in a deal that could rescue up to 1,000 jobs.
It is understood the group could take control of the group’s four yards – in Belfast; Appledore, Devon; Arnish on the Isle of Lewis; and Methil, Fife – as early as next month.
Continue reading...Most of those hurt were well enough to be discharged at the scene, according to the ambulance service
Four people have been taken to hospital after a school bus carrying 43 school pupils and a driver overturned in a field in County Down on Monday.
Photographs on social media showed children in uniform walking from the blue doubledecker bus, which had a shattered windscreen.
Continue reading...Villa Vie Odyssey passengers spent four months stuck in Northern Ireland while their vessel underwent repairs
The luxury cruise liner stranded in Belfast for four months has finally set sail after three days marooned in Belfast Lough.
By 8pm the Marine Traffic website showed the Villa Vie Odyssey skirting the Isle of Man, apparently on its original course to Brest in France. Six hours after raising anchor, the company issued a statement confirming the ship was on the way to France at the start of what it described as “an extraordinary journey”. There was no explanation for the delay.
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