UK news

UK news

British pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has pledged a $15 billion investment in China by 2030, aiming to expand its medicines manufacturing and research and development capabilities. The announcement, made on Thursday during Prime Minister Keir Starmer's visit to Beijing, marks the largest deal of his trip as Britain seeks to strengthen ties with China amid strained relations with Washington. Prime Minister Starmer welcomed the investment, stating: "AstraZeneca's expansion and leadership in China will help the British manufacturer continue to grow - supporting thousands of UK jobs."

Figures released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show 499 homicides were recorded by police in the 12 months to September 2025, a drop of 7% year on year from 539. These are the lowest overall homicide figures since records were first recorded in 2003. Homicide involving a knife or sharp instrument in England and Wales has fallen by 23% to 174 in the year.

Newly retired civil servants say they are struggling to pay bills and buy food because delays at their pension scheme have left them without an income for months. Pensioners have reported being forced to borrow money from family to pay for food and heating, with some saying they feared losing their homes because they could not afford their rent or mortgage.

An elderly woman with dementia has been left terrified to leave home after she was muggedjust yards from her front door in east London. Katherine Stockdale, 84, was targeted on Sturry Street in Poplar on Saturday, January 24, while walking back from the local market with her trolley. CCTV footage, which has been circulating on social media, appears to show a woman stopping Katherine in the street and asking her something.

The European boss of Fujitsu, the company behind the Horizon software at the heart of the Post Office IT scandal, is to step down from his role in March. Paul Patterson, who is the chief executive of the European division of the company, will become non-executive chair of Fujitsu's UK business, where he will continue managing the company's response to the inquiry into the scandal.

A baby born after their mother was hit by an e-bike in Poole on Monday is in a serious condition in hospital, Dorset Police said. The rider of the e-bike failed to stop at the scene, and police told The Independent that no arrests have been made. The mother, a woman in her thirties, also attended the hospital for treatment after the e-bike collided with her on Herbert Avenue, near the junction with Manor Avenue.

A community defibrillator fundraiser has begun to remember a "very friendly and therapeutic" cat named Defib which moved into an ambulance station in east London 18 years ago. Defib lived at Walthamstow Ambulance Station, after being rescued by paramedics as a kitten in 2008 and "adored by them ever since". In 2024, the cat was faced with eviction from his home but this was overturned after more than 62,000 people signed an online petition.

Chan pleaded guilty to ten counts of taking indecent photographs of children, six charges of outraging public decency, sexual assault on a female, and nine counts of voyeurism. As a result of his guilty pleas, Chan has now admitted filming up the skirts of children as they sat at tables in a classroom. Police also recovered images showing Chan exposing himself in a classroom in 2017, as well as videos, believed to be of Chan, depicting a solo sex act.

Limy's tech aims to show brands how AI agents are driving sales for their businesses - and optimize AI to drive even more sales. Limy integrates directly with a brand's content delivery software to detect when AI agents visit that advertiser's site and which prompts led to a purchase. Based on these insights, brands can improve how they show up in popular large language models by allocating more ad spend to specific prompts that perform better among agents.

"We're now exploring updates to our controls to let sites specifically opt out of search generative AI features," said Ron Eden, Google's principal for product management, in a statement. "Any new controls need to avoid breaking search in a way that leads to a fragmented or confusing experience for people. As AI increasingly becomes a core part of how people find information, any new controls also need to be simple and scalable for website owners," he added.

But soon after a hotel in Seel Street in Liverpool owned by one of the firms was found to be unsuitable, people in one of their Liverpool housing complexes were told they had to move out over "urgent" fire safety issues, unaware that 116 asylum seekers had seemingly been lined up to replace them almost immediately. Maassarani, whose involvement with one of the firms was hidden behind a complex structure of companies and trusts registered in the Isle of Man,

Peter Dervin had spent all day by his son's side in Broomfield Hospital before he decided to get dinner. He pleaded with staff at the Essex facility not to leave his eldest child, Greg, alone in his absence. "They almost laughed at me and said, 'This is what we do. We're nurses and we look after patients'," Dervin recalls. Greg had been given lorazepam, an anxiety drug flagged by clinicians as leaving him prone to becoming unsteady and agitated.

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New figures have indicated a record-breaking 206 ebike and escooter fires broke out in London during 2025, according to the London Fire Brigade (LFB). Two Londoners died in the fires last year, with a total of five people since 2023. A brigade spokesperson said the blazes were often caused by faulty or poorly built vehicles, usually bought online or second hand, leading to failures in lithium-ion batteries, conversion kits or chargers.

Customer service in the UK has a problem. According to recent survey data, almost half of UK customers have experienced poor customer service over the past year. That's not a minor data point, but rather a warning sign. Long wait times, unhelpful responses, and automated loops that dead-end are just the beginning, and they erode customer trust quickly. While many businesses have invested heavily in digital tools and AI to help address these problems, that comes with its own drawbacks.

The forecasts from the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (Icon) show crime rates and unemployment will rise until the next election in England's 613 most deprived neighbourhoods, despite the government's promises to invest in local communities. The report's authors warn the extra money ministers have pumped in is not enough to counteract longer-term trends such as the increase in antisocial behaviour and the problems facing the retail and hospitality sectors.

The BBC has named senior executive Rhodri Talfan Davies as its interim general director, as the corporation continues the search for a permanent replacement for Tim Davie. Davie, who resigned in November after the row over the BBC's editing of a Donald Trump speech, will remain in the role until the start of April. Talfan Davies will then take over.

Law, who grew up in Blackheath and went to nearby John Ball Primary School, said the plans were not the answer to London's growing housing crisis. He said: My junior school was across from the site where this proposed development will take place. This plan does not answer housing needs. Instead this plan will enforce a strain on a wonderful old village that deserves our protection.

A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found no evidence of partisan political views. Ofsted inspectors arrived at Bristol Brunel academy earlier this month after reports that its leaders had called off a visit by Damien Egan, the Labour MP for Bristol North East, after opposition from a pro-Palestine group and members of staff belonging to the National Education Union (NEU).

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

It is absurd to let landlords drag their feet for an entire decade, denying renters the most basic standards in our homes. It will mean millions of renters, including children, trapped living in poor-quality homes with nowhere to turn. Homes are the foundations of our lives, but millions of renters are living in homes that are falling apart and dangerous to our health. This is terrible value for money as the rents we pay every month continue to soar.

Well it's official, I'm back doing what I love to do, Fury posted on Instagram. I've brought the biggest network along with me @netflix @netflixuk this is going to be astronomical. Blessed by God.

The open-ended sentences, which were scrapped in 2012 and have been described as psychological torture by the UN, have left thousands trapped in jail for up to 22 times longer than their original tariff. This includes many who were children at the time of their offence and handed a type of IPP sentence for under-18s called a Detention for Public Protection (DPP) jail term.

I'd like to recognise the awareness and proactivity of our officers in identifying Zenith, then quickly working to link him to further offences. This fast-paced investigative work allowed us to arrest, charge, and bring him before the courts in just two days. His imprisonment demonstrates our determination to tackle theft across the railway network. By using targeted patrols, intelligence and thorough investigative work, we are ensuring offenders are identified quickly and held accountable,

The Metropolitan Police's covert Special Demonstration Squad spied on relatives who started a peaceful campaign called Justice for Ricky Reel in the belief he'd been murdered. David Hagen an officer known as HN81 gathered information about them and their supporters as they travelled nationwide trying to expose apparent failings in the original investigation. On one occasion, Hagen drove Mr Reel's mother Sukhdev from a McDonald's in Stratford back to the family home an address she wanted to keep private.

Tiffany was loving and caring and was very close to my daughter and wife. I think the school friends got together and met up in the flat to just have a chat and enjoy their holidays. My daughter is in the same class as Tiffany in Kingsford Community School. We always saw Tiffany she was so generous and humble and has a heart of gold.

Officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) stopped the lorry as it was approaching the Dover ferry port and found the men hidden inside as part of a sting operation. Police had been tracking a suspected organised crime group involved in smuggling migrants out of the UK and said immigration crime was threatening the border security of both the UK and France.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Naked but for handcuffs, a waist restraint belt, and a towel to cover his modesty, a man waiting to be deported from the UK is carried by officers to his bed inside his new home the country's most notorious immigration detention centre. Days later, a resident with a history of mental health issues is restrained after smashing up the television in his room and boiling kettles of water in a bid to flood his sleeping area.