Lead News

GDP estimate for third quarter cut from 0.5% to 0.4% after sharp slowdown in services, meaning UK chancellor is unlikely to hit growth forecasts George Osborne has received a second pre-Christmas setback after official figures showing a a stuttering performance by the economy in the months following the general election put the government’s 2015 growth forecast at risk. Following much ...

Labour MP Stella Creasy has called on the prime minister to challenge the US after a UK Muslim family was barred from boarding a flight to Los Angeles. The family of 11, from Ms Creasy’s Walthamstow constituency, had planned a holiday to Disneyland but were stopped at Gatwick Airport on 15 December. Mohammad Zahid Mahmood said his family was given ...

The Government has admitted that families receiving in-workbenefits will lose out from April next year – but suggested they could make up the shortfall themselves if they worked harder. In what Labour has called Iain Duncan Smith’s “Christmas message”, the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) proposed people “recoup the loss” from welfare reforms by doing three or four hours ...

Government borrowing figures were worse than expected in November, casting doubts over whether the chancellor will meet forecasts for this financial year. Borrowing for the month was £14.2bn, up by £1.3bn compared with November 2014. The Offfice for National Statistics (ONS) said last November’s figure was boosted by a one-off gain of £1.1bn in fines for foreign exchange rigging. Total ...

Outer London continues to outperform inner London in terms of house price growth, with Merton leading the way as the capital’s fastest rising borough… Wimbledon village, one of south-west London’s most exclusive enclaves,  is located in the borough of  Merton. House prices have shot up by almost 30 per cent in Merton this year. The south-west London borough, home to ...

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s granddaughter Tulip Siddiq has arrived on her first visit to Bangladesh after being elected a British MP. The daughter of Sheikh Rehana, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s sister, was elected a Labour Party MP in UK’s parliamentary elections in May this year from the Hampstead and Kilburn constituency. The Biman Bangladesh flight carrying her landed at Dhaka’s ...

An Air France flight from Mauritius diverted and made an emergency landing at Kenya’s port city of Mombasa after a suspicious device was found in a toilet, Kenya’s head of police and the airline said on Sunday. Police Inspector General Joseph Boinnet said on his Twitter account that the Boeing 777 aircraft headed to Paris with 459 passengers and 14 ...

Pope Francis has recognised a second miracle attributed to Mother Teresa, clearing the way for the Roman Catholic nun to be made a saint next year. The miracle involved the healing of a Brazilian man with several brain tumours in 2008, the Vatican said. Mother Teresa died in 1997 and was beatified – the first step towards sainthood – in ...

David Cameron has signalled that the UK will stage its referendum on membership of the European Union in 2016 and made clear that continued membership was vital not just to economic security but to the fight against international terrorism. His remarks, at the close of a two-day EU summit in Brussels, suggest that the prime minister knows he is not ...

Ansar Ahmed Ullah ::   44 Victory Day of Bangladesh was marked by raising Bangladesh’s flag by High Commissioner Md Abdul Hannan at London’s Bangladesh High Commission building on 16 Dec, 10.30am London time. Messages were read out from Bangladesh’s President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. The High Commissioner paid respect to those who responded to Bangabandhu’s call for freedom, ...