Struggling households owe billions of pounds in unpaid council tax, but bills are expected to keep rising in the years ahead. Newly-published figures show £6.6bn is owed to local authorities in England, with an extra £642m having been added to those arrears in the year to April.more

Stormzy has been awarded an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge for his work helping black students get into higher education. The 31-year-old received a Doctorate in Law for his "transformative" scholarship programme, which funds black UK students to study at the university.more

There is still uncertainty about how the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed millions of people around the world began, according to the final report published yesterday by a group of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) to investigate the origins of the worst epidemic in centuries.more

Heat health alerts have come into force across most of England as the country braces for a second summer heatwave. An amber alert covers the East Midlands, south-east, south-west, east and London - meaning various health services and the whole population could be affected by the heat, according to the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA).more

In the survey, as many as 40% of Poles declare that they will spend this year's holiday exclusively in Poland. This is more than twice as many as a year earlier, despite the fact that average accommodation prices are rising.more

Hubert Hurkacz announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon on Friday afternoon due to irritation of his synovial membrane. One year ago, the Polish star tore his right meniscus during his second-round Wimbledon match against Arthur Fils. Hurkacz will not be able to compete in the grass-court major this year at all.more

Adult tickets for a return trip cost up to £35, with half-price tickets for children. If you’re scared of heights (or high prices), look away now.more

The population of London is expected to grow to almost 9.5m by 2032 – putting it on course for 10m by the middle of the next decade. The increase will be largely driven by international migration – with the East End borough of Tower Hamlets set for an astonishing 20.4 per cent rise in residents, including a net increase of more than 87,000 people from abroad.more

Iga Świątek advanced to her first final this season and the first in... 384 days, last year's Grand Slam French Open. In the WTA 500 tournament on grass courts in Bad Homburg, Germany, she defeated the Italian Jasmine Paolini 6:1, 6:3 in the semifinals.more

The UK and France are reportedly in discussions over a migrants removal deal involving a “one-in, one-out” exchange agreement. Under the deal, an individual being deported from the UK would be exchanged for another individual sent from France who has the right to live in Britain.more

The extreme poverty rate in Poland in 2024 was 5.2%, which means a decrease of 1.4 percentage points year-on-year - the Central Statistical Office reported today.more

Counter-terror police have arrested four people after military planes were sprayed with paint during a break-in at RAF Brize Norton that was claimed by a pro-Palestinian group. Footage posted online last Friday by Palestine Action showed two people inside the Oxfordshire airbase in darkness, with one riding on a scooter up to an Airbus Voyager and spraying paint into its jet engine.more

Europe is rebuilding air traffic very slowly after the pandemic. The Turks were the quickest to do so, having built a new airport in Istanbul for this purpose. Poland and Warsaw Chopin Airport are also doing very well, "Rzeczpospolita" reported, citing a report by Airports Council International.more

Cristiano Ronaldo has extended his contract with Al Nassr Riyadh by two years. The 40-year-old Portuguese footballer has been playing for the Saudi club since January 2023. He has played 105 official matches for the club, scoring 93 goals and providing 19 assists.more

Sharp rises in rates of anxiety, depression and other disorders have led to one in four young people in England having a common mental health condition, an NHS survey shows, with young women more likely to report them than young men.more

The departure of Anna Wintour as editor-in-chief of American Vogue leaves a bigger absence in the fashion world than would be left by the departure of any designer, or any supermodel. For more than three decades, Wintour has held the official title of editor-in-chief of American Vogue – and an unofficial, but widely acknowledged, title of queen of fashion.more

Mobile phone blackspots will be eliminated on several major railway lines and train tunnels by 2028, the body which runs Britain's railway infrastructure has pledged. Network Rail, which is owned by the government, has signed a deal with two private telecoms firms in a move it claims will see 4G and 5G connectivity boosted on trains and in stations.more

A Dutch consumer organization has filed a class action lawsuit against online accommodation booking website Booking.com, accusing the company of unfair practices that may have led to inflated prices for accommodation. The platform is used by millions of users worldwide.more

Iga Świątek advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA 500 grass tennis tournament in Bad Homburg, Germany. In the quarter-finals, interrupted for over an hour due to rain, she defeated the Russian Ekaterina Aleksandrova 6:4, 7:6 (7-5). Her next opponent will be the Italian Jasmine Paolini.more

Londoners often get a bad rap for being unfriendly, with tales of unsmiling faces on the Tube and greetings on the street met with less than polite responses. However, if you're looking to escape this perceived hostility, there's a charming town in Somerset that has been recognised as one of the UK's friendliest places to live - though tourists might struggle with its pronunciation.more

Work has begun on a controversial project to create the building blocks of human life from scratch, in what is believed to be a world first. The research has been taboo until now because of concerns it could lead to designer babies or unforeseen changes for future generations.more

Liverpool have completed the signing of Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez in a £40m deal, with the Premier League champions' summer spending set to pass the £200m mark. The 21-year-old defender, who is understood to have signed a five-year deal at Anfield, becomes head coach Arne Slot's latest signing of the window.more

Age and education have displaced class as the main demographic dividing line in British politics, according to a leading study on trends in public views. The British Social Attitudes survey, which has run annually since 1983, found that traditional class-based support for parties had diminished.more

The Dragon capsule carrying four astronauts, including Pole Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski, arrived at the International Space Station today at around 11.30am UK time.more

The government says the shake-up would free up an estimated 500 cells per year, potentially saving taxpayers millions of pounds.more

Baltic cod has evolved to become a smaller fish, escaping fishing nets, biologists said Wednesday, in a scientific article published in Science Advances, the Financial Times reported. Researchers link overfishing of the species to changes in DNA.more

The German Football Association (DFB) has been fined 110,000 euros by a Frankfurt court for tax evasion in connection with the organisation of the 2006 World Cup in the country. The trial lasted 16 months.more

A portable phone mast that blitzes every nearby mobile phone with credible-looking scam text messages is the latest weapon being used by fraudsters. The “SMS blaster” lets criminals send out texts without the need for them to have obtained the victims’ numbers and without being stopped by the phone networks’ anti-spam measures.more

The first heatwave will hit Spain from Saturday and will last until at least early July, the state meteorological agency AEMET warned. Temperatures of 40 degrees are being recorded in Italy, and the weather in the US is particularly dangerous.more

Marks and Spencer has begun selling strawberries and cream sandwiches. The “dessert sandwich” is made from sweetened bread, red diamond strawberries and whipped cream cheese.more

Norway will once again send F-35 aircraft to patrol Polish skies this year, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz announced ahead of the second day of the NATO summit in The Hague. He had previously discussed the matter with Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Sandvik.more

Olympique Lyonnais, which finished sixth in the French top flight in the 2024/25 season, has been relegated to a lower league by the National Directorate for Management and Control (DNCG), the body responsible for financial matters in football.more