Airport drop-off charges are to be reviewed by the government following sharp price increases in recent years. Prices at major UK airports have risen by a third since the summer of 2025 on average, according to one analysis, with Gatwick and Stansted drop-off charges found to be the most expensive, jumping from £7 to £10. Such charges at Edinburgh Airport have risen from £6 to £8.50, while fees at Bournemouth increased from £5 to £8, the same price as Leeds Bradford and London City. The Department for Transport confirmed it had committed to a review, saying it was vital to ensure travel remains accessible and that passengers are treated fairly. The government added it hoped airports would exercise restraint on rises, particularly where there are limited public transport alternatives.

A civil servant is accused of earning almost £350,000 by juggling five full-time public sector roles - using sick notes and working from home to cope with the workload. Kashim Chowdhury allegedly held multiple government jobs between February 2020 and September 2023, earning £350,000 overall. The jury at Southwark Crown Court has been told he wore white make-up during a video call with his boss to try to look ill, but the make-up began peeling off his skin. Chowdury, a 55-year-old from east London, is on trial accused of nine counts of fraud, which he denies. He denies acting dishonestly or intending to make a dishonest gain. The jury was told that Chowdhury got jobs by making ''false representations'' about his employment status whilst applying.

To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. It is 01:00 on a Thursday and we are in the back of an unmarked police car on the hunt for vehicle thieves in east London. A call comes in over the radio about a stolen Ford Transit van. Within 25 minutes officers have found it, chased it down and arrested a suspect. Officers tell us the night has been successful, with further arrests made, yet across the UK a car is stolen every four minutes.

Narayan will argue the UK needs to build more of its own AI infrastructure. Narayan will argue the UK needs to build more of its own AI infrastructure. Companies building the most advanced AI systems must increase safety efforts, the UK's AI minister will say, as he announces a strengthening of Britain's cyber defences. Kanishka Narayan will call on companies developing frontier AI to do more to make sure it is safe. He will say Britain cannot rely entirely on technology companies to police their own models and will argue the UK needs to build more of its own AI infrastructure. Narayan's speech in west London will be the first since Andy Burnham made AI a cabinet-level brief.

Bestselling author and former politician Jeffrey Archer has died at the age of 86. Archer sold more than 300 million books in his five-decade writing career, including the Clifton Chronicles and Kane and Abel, and often set the novels in his home town of Wellington, Somerset. In a statement, Archer's publisher HarperCollins said the author died suddenly and peacefully at home on Monday between writing sessions. The former Conservative MP was jailed for perjury in 2001 after being found guilty of lying and cheating in his 1987 libel case against the Daily Star. Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940 but would quickly move to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, where his family bought a house from John Cleese's mother.

As many have observed, Jeffrey Archer, who has died aged 86, led a life as colourful as the plot in one of his novels. He was, at one time or other, a senior Conservative politician, a best-selling author, a peer of the realm, and a convicted perjurer. Possessed of huge drive, vast wealth and immense personal charm, Archer bounced back from disaster and, more than once, rebuilt a shattered life. But for all his talents, he will be remembered as a man affected by a defective moral compass, whose public humiliation was entirely self-inflicted. Jeffrey Howard Archer was born in north London on 15 April 1940. Within two weeks, his parents moved to Weston-super-Mare in Somerset, where they bought a house from John Cleese's mother.

Prisoner took his own life after terror order had'substantial impact' on mental state, inquest finds A prisoner took his own life after strict terrorism control measures imposed by the government had a substantial impact on his mental state, an inquest jury has concluded. Akhtar Uddin, 35, a builder from east London, died in HMP Wandsworth on Christmas Day 2021 after being jailed the previous year for breaching Terrorism Prevention and Investigation Measures (TPIM). The jury at Inner West London Coroner's Court also found the prison service had failed to provide the support that Uddin needed. Jurors concluded that Uddin died due to an action he took but said that it was not possible to determine whether he intended the outcome to be his death. Prior to being jailed in February 2020 for breaching the TPIM order, Uddin had served a sentence for racially or religiously aggravated harassment.

A man who killed a dog walker and attacked two other people in a frenzy of violence in west London has been given an indefinite hospital order for manslaughter. Dawood Safi, 28, fatally stabbed Wayne Broadhurst, 49, in the street during a series of knife attacks which began at Safi's home in Uxbridge on 27 October last year. Safi, who was having paranoid delusions and hearing voices, attacked his landlord Shahzad Farrukh minutes before killing Broadhurst, and also stabbed a 14-year-old boy. At Southwark Crown Court, Mrs Justice Cutts said Safi, an Afghan refugee, had been in a psychotic state and recommended that he be deported, but said the final decision rests with the Home Secretary. This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.

Image caption, Parents like Natalie (right) say it's important children are confident enough to use the loo on their own when they start school The number of children who were toilet-trained before starting school this year has increased significantly in a city where parents were given potty training guides with their first school offers. York was the subject of the city-wide pilot, which also put on workshops for parents and offered special training for early years staff. Twenty local authorities across England are now signed up to launch similar schemes to tackle the number of pupils starting school without being fully toilet-trained. The government said the pilot's results were encouraging, and confirmed they were committed to 75% of pupils reaching a good level of development at the end of their first year in school by 2028. Since April this year, parents across York have been targeted via GP surgeries, pharmacies, family hubs, schools and nurseries with information and offers of support on how to potty-train their child ahead of starting school.

'This gap opens up of doubt and scepticism about everything': Jess and Morgs confront the politics of deepfakes I t appears the interviewer has got him on the ropes. "For the record, I did not take part in a pagan ceremony with minor members of the royal family in which we daubed ourselves in paint," states the beleaguered politician, caught outside Buckingham Palace with his flies undone and forced to defend himself. This is a fabrication, of course - I'm watching the scene play out in an east London dance studio - but it doesn't feel miles away from something that could be true. And how do we know what's the truth anyway? The pair tell modern stories with ambitious tech - film and live camera work - and often techy themes, too.