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, ...

A passenger who shouted at two Muslim sisters demanding them to get off a train has been given a suspended sentence. Andrew Thompson told Kalema and Fatema Rahman ‘get the f*** off the train, I want to sit down, I’m English’ on the Tyne and Wear Metro. The 26-year-old left the sisters shaken and terrified with the racially aggravated verbals. ...

The Great British Bake Off final has risen in the TV ratings to be crowned the most watched TV programme of 2015. More than 15 million people tuned in to watch Nadiya Hussain bake her own wedding cake to win the coveted title of Bake Off champion 2016. BBC One controller Charlotte Moore said: “It’s wonderful to see the fabulous ...

The government has decided to cut subsidies to householders installing rooftop solar panels by 65% just days after agreeing to move swiftly to a low-carbon energy future at the climate change conference in Paris. An impact assessment study by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) admits the move could wipe out up to 18,700 of the industry’s 32,000 ...