News

Updated: 14:14 EDT

Snowdonia is voted the UK's most spectacular view

On a clear day it is the most beautiful view in Britain. However, the days which are sufficiently free of rain, cloud and mist to enjoy the magnificent vista are sadly all too rare. The challenges of the weather make the chance of enjoying the view something of a lottery. However, that does not stop thousands of people making the pilgrimage to the top of the mountain every year. The return trip takes six to seven hours, depending on which path is taken, and most people who are reasonably fit should be able to make the ascent of more than 3,500feet.

U.S. officials: Russia knew in advance about Syria gas

A senior U.S. official told the Associated Press that a drone operated by Russia was flying over a hospital as victims of the attack rushed to be treated - and then the hospital was bombed. Hours after the drone left, a Russian-made fighter jet bombed the hospital in what American officials believe was an attempt to cover up the use of chemical weapons. Local reports after the attack said Rahman hospital, near Khan Shaykhun, was hit while treating victims, although it is unclear if this is the hospital U.S. officials were referring to. The official said the presence of the surveillance drone over the hospital couldn't have been a coincidence, and that Russia must have known the chemical weapons attack was coming and that victims were seeking treatment. The move piles further pressure on the relationship with Moscow. Vladimir Putin has already snubbed the Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with the Kremlin saying they will not meet when the U.S.'s top diplomat arrives in Moscow on Wednesday.

A damning audit today reveals 539 council staff took home at least £150,000 in pay and other benefits in 2015/16. This was 53 more than the year before – a rise of 11 per cent.

Politics used to be called showbusiness for ugly people. These days, the politicians are taking over showbiz proper.

Hackers have found a way to extract information from every move we make with our phones, including how we type, tilt or even swipe, experts from Newcastle University have found.

When the Army’s IRA double agent Stakeknife – said to be Alfredo ‘Freddie’ Scappaticci (pictured) – warned that Joe Fenton was to be murdered as a traitor, military chiefs did nothing.

Bashdar Abdulla Qarani, 36, arrived in Britain illegally in 2005, and became a repeat offender, including battery, theft and carrying a knife.

Fur from cats has been used illegally on shoes sold in Britain by the popular youth fashion brand Missguided (pictured). A pair of gloves at ‘fur free’ retailer House of Fraser tested positive for rabbit.

Six foot seven bodybuilder Shane Oakden, 45, who competed on the ITV show Ninja Warrior urged a TV star's 13-year-old daughter to send him naked snaps has been jailed for three years.

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Dunkirk migrant camp fire injures at least 10

A huge fire has torn through at least half of the Grande-Synthe migrant camp outside the northern French city of Dunkirk. Witnesses say the fire broke out following rows between migrants. The camp was home to some 1,500 people by the end of March, living in closely-packed wooden huts. Local officials said the blaze had affected around 20 of the huts, each of which accommodates four people, as firefighters continued to battle the flames.

Official figures have highlighted the scale of abuse of the system by immigrants desperate to stay in the UK after finishing their education.

The cost of the average annual motor insurance policy in the UK is already £110 higher today than it was a year ago, rising 16 per cent to £781.

The UK's Department for Transport approved the move through a directive issued in February, without informing MPs, it has emerged.

Citizens Advice found the cost of the broadband itself can suddenly see shocking increases, and the organisation feels the internet service providers are not doing enough to warn people.

Islamic State fighters used a car bomb in an attempt to blow their way into the al-Tanf garrison, which has been used by SAS and US special forces to train moderate Syrian rebels.

The UK's Environment Secretary Andrea Leadsom will consider a scheme put forward by the packaging industry whereby cups are marked with a ‘decomposition date’.

A record 51,000 children and teenagers in Britain are on waiting lists to join their local groups amid a crisis in recruitment of adult helpers.

Kadcyla is unlocked in Scotland

Kadcyla, widely considered the biggest breakthrough treatment in the past decade, was approved yesterday for routine use in Scotland but may be withdrawn in England.

Up to 8,000 stroke sufferers a year in England will benefit from the revolutionary technique, which works for more people and is far more effective than traditional drugs.

DAVID JONES sees the courageous PC Keith Palmer honoured

He saw himself as an ordinary man and his aspirations were noble in their simplicity. At work he was just PC 4157U of the Metropolitan Police Service. His aim was to serve and protect the people of his city – where possible, with a smile. At home his dedication to his wife Michelle and their five-year-old daughter Amy was equally unswerving. For his pains, he was pretty devoted, too, to his struggling local football team Charlton Athletic. Yesterday, however, Keith Palmer was given surely the most extraordinary send-off a British police officer has ever received. For, as we heard from the many people whose lives he enriched, there was nothing remotely average about the London bobby who died in defence of our democracy and the British way of life.

Writing after PC Palmer was stabbed to death in Westminster, the child from West Yorkshire asks God to 'protect my dad' because he had to 'fight off bad people to protect all the good'.

The lender revealed yesterday that chief executive Jes Staley had been issued with a formal reprimand for trying to expose who was behind criticisms of one of his top employees.

The leaked conversation, which was had at the height of the financial crisis, has fuelled suspicions that senior government officials leaned on banks to keep their Libor rates low.

Many heads of multi-academy trusts earn ‘obscene’ six-figure salaries as the ‘rot of greed’ sets into the education system, activists said.

The royal borough of Kensington and Chelsea falls within the worst five areas in Britain for its percentage of care homes rated ‘inadequate’ or which need ‘improvement’.

Judges said that refusing to allow certain categories of inmates access to public money to fight legal cases was ‘inherently unfair’. Pictured is Chris Grayling.

Shocking moment armed police point MACHINE GUNS at children in pyjamas as they are led from a house, forced to the ground and handcuffed after an incorrect tip off about a man with a firearm 

A 37-year-old mother said her four children were 'treated like animals' by West Midlands Police after they were led out of their Birmingham home at gunpoint and handcuffed on the ground. Footage showed armed police leading the four from a house in Bordesley Green, Birmingham, and they were lined up in the road by officers wielding machine guns. Their mother, who asked not to be named, said she has yet to receive an 'apology or explanation' for the incident and claims officers 'ransacked' her home.

Candace Dellaway (pictured), from Croydon, lied that numbness in her legs meant she was constantly in danger of falling over and could not work, but she continued to claim benefits.

Hollyoaks actor Jamie Lomas had his driving disqualification overturned after it was revealed legal letters sent to him were posted to the incorrect address - meaning he was unaware of the summons.

Liverpool Crown Court heard how Dean Robinson, 34, clung to a chimney on the Blarney Stone Irish bar in Liverpool in a dramatic 45 minute standoff.

The owner of an English Mastiff that was so neglected inspectors could see every bone in its body and later had to be put down has been banned from owning animals for ten years.

Hackney council in London is behind the 'School Streets' intiative, at St John the Baptist C of E primary, Hoxton, and Tyssen community primary, Stamford Hill.

Bernice Williams, 50, was found dead alongside a man who is believed to be her husband Lawrence Williams, 49, at their £400,000 Lutton St Nicholas home.

Uber reveals bizarre list of lost items left by passengers

More than 5,000 items have been handed in to the company's lost property centre in east London in the past six months, with mobile phones and keys the most commonly forgotten items. But Uber's list has also revealed some of the more unusual items that have been left behind by users of the service - commonly known as riders - including dentures, a bag of human hair, 50 mozzarella balls and five sombreros. Uber users can contact their driver directly via the app if they leave an item behind, or speak to the company's lost property centre to reclaim it. Where possible unclaimed items were donated to charity, Uber said.

The collection for US retail giant Target is a fraction of the cost of Mrs Beckham's other designs. Prices in the latest 150-piece range start at £6 and go up to £60.

Jaeger - which employs around 680 staff across 46 stores, 63 concessions, its London head office and a logistics centre in Kings Lynn - had been on the market for around £30 million.

Edward Enninful, 45, a Ghanaian-born stylist who grew up in London, will take over the coveted chair from Alexandra Shulman when she retires at the end of July.

Iran calls on Syria to ensure Trump 'regrets his attack'

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (bottom right) accused the US of not acting 'within international frameworks' before condemning America's surprise bombardment of a Syrian airbase (top right). It comes after both Russian and Iranian forces last night warned Donald Trump (top left) they would retaliate with military action if he launched more airstrikes on Bashar al-Assad’s forces. In an ominous threat raising the prospect of war, they said the US President had crossed a ‘red line’ with his attack. ‘From now on we will respond with force to any breach of red lines and America knows our ability to respond well,’ the military chiefs said in a joint statement with Hezbollah. The Russian Embassy in London last night suggested there could be ‘real war’ if Moscow is presented with an ultimatum over Syria. But speaking ahead of the G7 summit today, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (main picture) has said the US will stand up to anyone who commits crimes against humanity.

The two leaders spoke about the crisis by telephone as the US president thanked the PM for her backing of his military strikes against Syrian government forces last week.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis, the leaders of the two great superpowers stepped back from the edge. But in April 2017, the outcome is chillingly different, writes DOMINIC SANDBROOK.

Downing Street said Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson supported last week's attack by Donald Trump but wanted to find a political solution to the crisis.

Sadiq Khan said the EU should act with 'confidence' to strike a deal that worked for both sides. He met European Parliament chief negotiator Guy Verhofstadt (pictured) in Brussels today.

Just 17 per cent of the public believe the Labour leader is performing well, the research by GfK found. By contrast 18 per cent think the US president is doing a good job.

Mum died of heart attack after being sent home by doctors

Sian Hollands suffered a heart attack and died hours after doctors failed to spot signs of a blood clot and discharged her from Darent Valley Hospital in Kent in 2015. A&E; consultants failed to spot signs of the blood clot, despite ambulance paramedics having noted chest pains, stomach pains and shortness of breath, all of which were present throughout Hollands's time in hospital. Both Dr Leila Mohamed and Dr Kamran Khan, who saw Hollands when she was admitted to Darent Valley Hospital in Kent, said they did not have access to the ambulance notes and that the patient was only complaining of abdominal pain.

Healthy swimmer Christopher Rogers (pictured), 20, was training at a leisure centre in Northern Ireland when he collapsed and was rushed to hospital, weeks before his 21st birthday.

Paul Wilmott died when his home in Haxby, near York, was destroyed in a gas explosion with devastation so shocking that paramedics said they thought a plane had crashed on the property.

Rex Ouston (pictured) says his home in Birmingham is now overshadowed by a massive 13 foot high shed which was put up with belated planning permission.

Harley, 18, claims he was 'tricked' into smoking a legal high when he was 15, which caused him to have a stroke. The drug was a synthetic cannabis similar to Spice.

Joanne Carter (pictured) was getting her groceries at an Asda in Frome Somerset where she was forced to self-scan more than 60 items. She took to Twitter is express her frustration.

EXCLUSIVE: Jeff, born in Tiptree and the father of Jade's children Freddy, now 11, and Bobby, 12, says there is little awareness of the link between HPV and cancer for men.

Jess Strachan (pictured), from Hertfordshire, unknowingly put her baby's life in danger when she dyed her hair, which resulted in her face swelling up and left her unable to open her eyes.

Gracie Horn, three, was on the Race O Rama ride at Redcar seafront, in North Yorkshire, when she fell out and suffered cuts and bruises.

Aeron Jones, 50, was stopped by supermarket Morrisons from continuing his six-year tradition of giving chocolate eggs to children at three village schools in North Wales.

Moment masked raiders waving guns and machetes shove a terrified female shop worker to the floor and force her to open a safe before fleeing with cash

CCTV captures the moment four robbers forced their way into a newsagents and threatened two members of staff with machetes and guns before making off with cash and stamps. Greater Manchester Police has released CCTV footage of the incident and are appealing for anyone with further information to get in touch. The incident took place on Tuesday, April 4. Jessica Samouelle, of Greater Manchester Police, said: 'Not only have these callous criminals stolen a significant amount of cash from an innocent business, but they've held two staff members at gunpoint and left them absolutely petrified.

Carol Bowditch, 64, from Lincoln had sex with a St Bernard, a black Labrador and an Alsatian at parties where owners would watch women have sex with their dogs.

Nathan Pearce, of Llandovery, Wales, is the manager of the King's Head hotel. The pair exchanged Facebook messages and he gave her £100 even though she didn't ask for it.

Lance Corporal Trimaan 'Harry' Dhillon, who was a serving soldier with the 2 Scots with hopes of joining the special forces, denies murdering Alice Ruggles (left), who was found dead in Gateshead.

Charles Chestnut, 55, set fire to Pontyrhodyn Farm in the hamlet of Efailwen in Carmarthenshire after being evicted then moving back in during a two-year 'cat and mouse' legal battle.

Abdul Qayyum, 44, pictured, was driving a Mercedes S Class when he knocked Jonathan Ollivier, 38, off his motorbike, throwing him into a lamppost in north London last year.

Mother who drove while swigging vodka on A605 is jailed

Tania Chikwature (left, arriving at court), 32, was three times the drink drive limit when she crashed her Nissan Qashqai while hurtling towards a roundabout on the A605 in Peterborough (right). Her toddler, aged 20 months, was sat in the back of the car but fortunately, escaped without any serious injuries. Chikwature, from Coventry, was jailed for 26 weeks for driving with excess alcohol and dangerous driving, at Peterborough magistrates' court. Footage of the horrific collision (inset) was captured by the dashcam of a lorry driver, who said it was one of the 'most dangerous pieces of driving' he had witnessed in over 30 years on the road.

Salah Hekmat, 43, of Kensal Green, North West London, insisted the 'clever' migrant had got into his vehicle while he made a cup of tea on the roadside in France.

The woman, believed to be a new mother, was found at her home in Speke, Liverpool, and died hours later in hospital. A man, 31, has been arrested in relation to her death.

Don Fisher, 51, was jailed for six months after a campaign of harassment that made his neighbours' lives hell, yet he claimed he was only 'guilty of being nice', Southampton Magistrates' Court heard.

University Challenge viewers let down by Eric Monkman

With his shouty answers, razor-sharp intellect and teeth-gnashing, the Canadian Economics student Eric Monkman was a favourite to secure the win for his team in this year's University Challenge. Even Jeremy Paxman was as shocked as viewers when Monkman lost his nerve and gave a 'completely useless answer' in round three.

Samantha Baldwin and her two sons went missing on March 27. Judge Jeremy Lea said Miss Baldwin accused their father of sexually abusing them prior to disappearance.

Former England footballer Paul Gascoigne looked healthy when he went out for a walk in the sunshine in his hometown of Poole, Dorset, as he looked at properties displayed in the windows of estate agents.

Richard Thornton, a 'gentlemanly financier with the Midas touch', died in 2013, aged 81, leaving half his fortune to his Australian wife, Susie, 71, pictured, who lives in their Knightsbridge mansion.

Manny Davidson, 85, and his wife Brigitta, 80, are suing their children Maxine and Gerald for the return of the collection 'built up over many years' and other valuables, in London's High Court.

The Britannia Hotel in Birmingham city centre, where rooms are available for as little as £24 a night, was blasted by Buddy Holly Musical actor Jordan Cunningham for being 'disgusting'.

Kittens found dumped in a suitcase in Essex

The kittens (pictured) – thought to be aged between three and five weeks – were discovered by a nurse as she made her way to work at a vets in Dagenham, Essex. It is thought whoever dumped them intended for them to be found as they had cut air holes into the case (top right) and left it near the nurse’s home but the situation could have easily ‘ended in tragedy’. Believed to be from three litters, the kittens are now being cared for by Cats Protection’s Hornchurch & District branch.

This is the terrifying moment reckless teenagers (pictured) throw themselves off a 65ft cliff known as 'Dead Man's Cove' in Plymouth - despite the spot being notorious for injuries.

CCTV footage from the house in Great Holm, Buckinghamshire, shows the worker diligently fill in paperwork then launch the parcel, which would clearly have fit through the gaps in the gate.

Sergeant Horace Stanley’s harrowing diary entries and remarkable collection of photos from the front have been unearthed a century after they were captured in Ypres and The Somme.

Shocking new footage has emerged of drug users 'turning Manchester into something from a dystopian horror film' as the Spice epidemic in the UK continues to get worse.

Pharmaceuticals and baby products are among the items being exported on the DB Cargo locomotive which will leave Stanford-le-Hope in Essex today and arrive at Yiwu in China on April 27.

Peter Burgess and his wife Lynn are suing architect friend Basia Lejonvarn (pictured) after they were unhappy with her landscaping job on their garden in Highgate, north London.

French police and militant wardens clash in Fleury-Merogis

Around 350 guards who work in Fleury-Merogis, in the southern suburbs of Paris, were protesting against conditions that have become a breeding ground for radicalism (left, inset bottom shows footage of the riots). They set up barricades and lit fires, before riot police moved in shortly after 10pm last night. The protests were organised by a number of prison officer trade unions who say their jobs are becoming harder every day because of overcrowding and increased violence. There are some 4,500 inmates in the prison, which was built in the 1960s to accommodate around 3,000. Current inmates include Salah Abdeslam, the 27-year-old Islamic State operative who survived the November 2015 attacks on Paris (inset top right).

Rakhmat Akilov, 39, the Uzbek migrant suspected of killing four in last week's terror attack in Stockholm told police the atrocity was revenge for 'the bombing in Syria', it was claimed today.

Egyptian security services shot dead seven ISIS militants on Monday after coming under fire while carrying out a raid on a compound where the men were plotting attacks on Christians.

Some migrants who cannot pay their captors are reportedly killed or left to starve to death, and when migrants die or are released, others are purchased to replace them.

The men, both in their 20s, are being detained in Banda Aceh, Indonesia, where they could face 100 lashes for having homosexual relations.

People over 60 will make up almost 40 per cent of Japan's population by 2065, new data reveals, while those under the age of 14 will make up just 10 per cent, with changes in lifestyle to blame.

WORLD NEWS

       

Festival crowds stampede through Malaga amid terror fears

Dramatic footage shows terrified spectators - including tourists - running for their life after rumours spread that a lorry was about to plough through crowds in the heart of Malaga, southern Spain. Police later confirmed the situation was caused by a fight - but visitors to the religious parade had seen two people lying on the ground and believed a terrorist had struck.

The 60-year-old bull elephant, called Atork, took two hours to die after police opened fire with AK-47 weapons in eastern Cambodia.

Simba the lion and Lula the bear, the ailing last two residents of Mosul zoo, were flown out of Iraq Monday to receive emergency care from an animal welfare centre in Jordan.

A Ghanaian asylum seeker suspected of raping a woman in a nature reserve in Germany had received notice he would be deported just a few days before the attack.

As Barclays chairman John McFarlane and chief executive Jes Staley entertained journalists at London's Morton’s club there was no hint another major financial scandal was about to be exposed.

As nine in ten local authorities are hiking this grotesquely abused levy by up to 5 per cent the pain, particularly for those on fixed incomes, will have been acute.