Millions of households face a greater than expected increase to their energy bills of about 5% from April after a slump in Europe’s gas storage levels caused market prices to climb, according to analysts.more

At the end of 2024, the U.S. population reached 340.1 million, an increase of about 8.5 million people from 2020. The largest number of new residents were added by Texas, Florida, and South Carolina, while the largest losses were recorded by New York, California, and Illinois.more

Iga Świątek advanced to the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. The world number two tennis player defeated Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6:0, 6:2. The match started with a delay of several hours due to rain. In the 1/8 finals, the Pole will play Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska.more

Plans have been revealed that could see Slough borough becoming part of London under the Government's devolution scheme. Options for the borough include Slough merging with a West London council or joining the Greater London Authority.more

Sadiq Khan will tell EU diplomats “Brexit was a mistake” and renew his backing for a youth mobility scheme as he argues strengthened ties with the bloc would help offset Donald Trump’s threatened tariff regime.more

London household face an average increase in council tax bills of almost £100 from April, according to research by The Standard. Total bills will range from almost £2,500 for a benchmark band D bill in Kingston, which will remain the capital’s most expensive borough for council tax, to just £990 in Wandsworth and just over £1,000 in Westminster.more

Barcelona player Robert Lewandowski, with 20 goals and 40 points, is third in the Golden Boot rankings - an award for the best scorer in European leagues in a given season. The leader is Egyptian Mohamed Salah from Liverpool with 23 goals.more

Companies are planning to cut jobs or recruit fewer people ahead of rises to National Insurance payments and wages, according to a survey of UK employers. Businesses questioned by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also said they would raise their prices to cover increasing employment costs.more

Iranian authorities have charged a British tourist couple with espionage, the Iranian judicial portal Mizan reported today. The couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman, were said to have ‘collected information in several provinces of Iran’ - the portal reported.more

Talks between US and Russian delegations took place today in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, Reuters reported. This is the first such meeting since the beginning of the Russian assault on Ukraine. The main topic was Russia's war against Ukraine. The meeting lasted 4.5 hours.more

Merton now has the worst roads in London, with four in 10 'unclassified' roads rated as 'poor' according to the borough's MP. This marks a dramatic increase from last year, when just 23% of roads were in poor condition, according to a study by the Liberal Democrats locally.more

The leader of the presidential poll by Opinii24 for RMF FM is Rafał Trzaskowski (30.9 percent support). Sławomir Mentzen won 16.8 percent of votes, thus recording the largest increase in support - compared to the previous, January poll for this radio station.more

Victoria Azarenka will be Iga Świątek's first opponent in the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai. The Belarusian eliminated Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina in the opening round 2:6, 7:6 (7-4), 6:4.more

The first of up to 390 prisoners are being released early in the latest attempt to ease overcrowding in Scotland's jails. Emergency legislation was passed last year which allows eligible inmates sentenced to less than four years to be freed after 40% of their term, rather than 50%.more

All passengers and crew on a flight which crashed and overturned while landing at Toronto Pearson Airport in Canada have survived, the airport's chief executive said. "We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries," said Deborah Flint of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.more

School attendance rates are being affected by parents working from home after the pandemic, the head of Ofsted has said. The chief inspector of the schools watchdog in England, Martyn Oliver, told the Sunday Times that the widespread change in working habits after the pandemic had led to a shift in attitudes among pupils.more

After the informal meeting in Paris, Prime Minister Donald Tusk stressed yesterday evening that it was a prelude to what will happen in the coming weeks and months. He said that he was pleased to hear from everyone that it is in the interest of all of Europe to work intensively to strengthen cooperation among allies.more

Robert Lewandowski scored a goal for Barcelona, ​​which defeated Rayo Vallecano 1-0 at home in the final match of the 24th round of the Spanish football league. The "Pride of Catalonia" returned to the top of the table.more

Smell loss was a defining symptom of Covid, and for some people, a curse. Most people regain their sense of smell as their infection fades, but some never recover. It means not being able to tell if milk is off, if there’s a gas leak or what your newborn baby smells like.more

Met Office says snowfall may continue briefly in parts of UK before milder conditions well above February average. The UK will have warmer weather this week and sunshine in a number of areas on Monday, forecasters have said. After snow and torrential rain in parts of the country over the weekend, rising temperatures will bring a welcome respite.more

The rapid decline in the number of pharmacies across London has been laid bare by a new map. Nearly 9 in 10 (87 percent) of London boroughs have seen at least one pharmacy close permanently in the last two years due to unprecedented funding cuts, according to data from the National Pharmacy Association. more

Iga Świątek remains the vice-leader of the world ranking of tennis players in the latest rating, but her loss to the first Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka has increased to 806 points. Hubert Hurkacz, on the other hand, maintained 20th place in the world ranking of tennis players. In today's rating, the Italian Jannik Sinner is still in the lead, ahead of the German Alexander Zverev.more

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer will meet US President Donald Trump in Washington next week, a Downing Street spokesman said today. The politicians are expected to discuss trade, investment and security.more

University leaders have urged England’s higher education regulator to rethink its priorities, saying that smaller institutions will be financially harmed by increasing costs of its bureaucracy.more

US President Donald Trump’s administration has told European officials that it wants to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine by Easter, Bloomberg reported yesterday. This year, Orthodox, Greek Catholics and Catholics celebrate the holiday on the same day – April 20.more