11+ hour, 15+ min ago (443+ words) By SAM GREENHILL, CHIEF REPORTER Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy on Monday said she intends to pave the way for a 'timely' sale of the Daily Telegraph to the owner of the Daily Mail. DMGT has struck a "500million deal to buy the prestigious newspaper which has endured a long period of uncertainty over its future. The merger will have to be approved by regulatory bodies and signed off by the Culture Secretary. Ms Nandy told the House of Commons the Telegraph had been 'in limbo for a long time', and said: 'My intention is to build a constructive path toward a timely sale, without further delay, that is in the public interest.' It was announced on Saturday that DMGT has signed an exclusivity agreement with RedBird IMI, an international consortium which stepped in to purchase the Telegraph more than two years…...

10+ hour, 47+ min ago (469+ words) By RACHEL SHARP, CRIME CORRESPONDENT It was New Year's Eve 2022 and husband and wife Ana and Brian Walshe were ringing in 2023 with a group of friends at their home in'Cohasset,'Massachusetts. That was the last time anyone saw Ana - a successful realtor and mom-of-three - alive.'Her body has never been found. Walshe - a conman convicted of art fraud for selling fake Andy Warhol paintings - claimed his wife had traveled to Washington DC'for work on January 1. But there was no record of her catching a ride to the airport or boarding a plane, and she didn't show up for work that week." When her coworkers reported her missing days later, Walshe quickly fell under suspicion. Surveillance footage captured him buying cleaning products and a knife from a Home Depot while multiple trash bags containing a hacksaw and bloody items were found…...

10+ hour, 49+ min ago (611+ words) Samir Shah, under-attack chairman of the even-more-in-the-mire BBC, tiptoed into the Commons culture committee. This natty, gnomic figure, dapper and discursive, speaks in a voice that is ever so slightly elusive, as if he hasn't put his teeth in right. Everyone calls him 'Dr Shah'. He is not a medic, even if his fastidious manner calls to mind a posh chiropodist. Give him a bow tie and a pair of latex gloves and he could set up shop on Harley Street, cooing over the tootsies of Knightsbridge widows. The BBC is in trouble for ignoring hideous journalistic scandals. These led to the threat of a $5billion writ from D. Trump and saw daylight only when a memo from Michael Prescott, former external adviser to the BBC's editorial standards committee, was leaked to the Press. Mr Prescott and one of his colleagues, a…...

17+ hour, 6+ min ago (744+ words) An ex-adviser to the BBC today told MPs he penned a damning memo on impartiality because he saw 'incipient problems' that were 'getting worse'. He'faced questions from the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee this afternoon after the leak of his memo sparked a furious BBC row. Mr Prescott told MPs on Monday he did not know how his memo, which he shared with the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and regulator Ofcom, had been leaked to a newspaper. 'At the most fundamental level I wrote that memo, let me be clear, because I am a strong supporter of the BBC,' he said. 'The BBC employs talented professionals across all of its factual and non-factual programmes, and most people in this country, certainly myself included, might go as far as to say that they love the BBC....

20+ hour, 54+ min ago (381+ words) A warning has been issued to visitors from 85 countries - including the United States, Canada and France - that they will not be able to legally travel to the UK next year without an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA)." From 25 February 2026, international visitors will be required to obtain digital permission to enter the UK through either an ETA or an e-visa." According to updated advice shared by the Home Office to the UK Government"website, passengers are warned airlines will be carrying out checks before they are due to travel. The move comes amid plans to digitise the immigration system and pave the way for a contactless UK border in years to come." Since the launch of ETA in October 2023 - which is now part of a fundamental part of travel - more than 13.3 million visitors have successfully applied." But while ETA was being rolled…...

12+ hour, 3+ min ago (429+ words) A serial burglar who stole five ATMs and seven vehicles across the country in a matter of weeks has been jailed. Tony Smith, 26, of Cambridgeshire, was jailed for seven years and six months for a cross-country crime spree. Between May 24 and July 9 this year, Smith travelled across England, stealing from businesses in Dorset, Hampshire, Leicestershire, Shropshire, Derbyshire and" Staffordshire. He was arrested in July after Leicestershire Police officers finally caught up with him following a spate of burglaries in the area. Detectives were then able to link him to similar offences across the country. Smith pleaded guilty to 16 offences at Loughborough Crown Court on Friday, November 21. He stole five ATMs, seven vehicles, two sets of car keys, crane straps and lifting straps and made two further attempts to steal an ATM." Among the offences, a Co-op store in Leicestershire was…...

20+ hour, 39+ min ago (692+ words) By MARK DUELL, SENIOR REPORTER and HARRIET LINE, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR and OLIVER PRICE, ASSISTANT DATA EDITOR The Chancellor plans to hit more than 100,000 homes with a 'mansion tax' in the Budget'as critics accused her of waging war on Middle England. Rachel Reeves is widely expected to place an additional annual levy on properties in the top three council tax bands, which could be as much as "2,000. Any changes affecting bands F, G and H would disproportionately hit homes in the South East, London and the East of England, based on analysis by the Daily Mail. The South East has about 645,000 homes in the top three council tax bands - compared to just 43,000 in the North East, according to official data. Westminster, Buckinghamshire and Kensington & Chelsea would likely be worst hit by such a tax change, while Burnley and Boston would…...

22+ hour, 28+ min ago (661+ words) By JON BRADY, SENIOR NEWS REPORTER Britain's obesity crisis is leading to a rise in coffins that are simply too large to be cremated, funeral directors have warned. The growing number of overweight, obese and morbidly obese people is driving demand for oversized caskets and prompting crematoriums to install larger furnaces. Coffins that were once a standard width of 18 inches are now two inches larger - but some 'oversized' caskets targeted at the obese are now up to 28 inches wide, according to listings reviewed by the Daily Mail. Many of the caskets we reviewed from one provider were sold out or low in stock. While many crematoriums have taken great pains to accommodate larger Brits in recent years, a recent report has found that larger coffins are continuing to complicate funeral services. Robert Swanson, Scotland's Inspectors of Burial, Cremation and Funeral…...

43+ min ago (478+ words) Lovers of milkshakes and lattes are bracing for tax hikes as Labour extends the 'sugar tax'." Wes Streeting is poised to announce that the exemption for pre-packaged milk-based drinks is being scrapped. The move is being billed as part of a crackdown on obesity - but it could also raise as much as "100million a year for the Treasury. That will be welcome to Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she desperately tries to fill a yawning gap in the public finances at the Budget tomorrow." The change will affect packaged milkshakes and coffees, but not drinks made in cafes and restaurants. It follows a Government consultation on the issue looking at removing the exemption for milk-based drinks while introducing a 'lactose allowance' to account for the natural sugars in the milk component of the drinks. The so-called 'milkshake tax' would axe the exemption…...

9+ hour, 16+ min ago (750+ words) A 'next generation' immunotherapy treatment that has the potential to cure leukaemia has been given NHS approval. Obe-cel is a type of CAR T-cell therapy developed in the UK and works by genetically modifying cells to enable the body's own immune system to recognise and attack cancer. The therapy, which only needs to be given once in a lifetime, was developed by Autolus, a University College London (UCL) spinout company. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has recommended obe-cel in England for people aged 26 and over. The watchdog said the treatment could help more than 150 people over the next three years who have relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), all with limited treatment options. Obe-cel increases the likelihood of people going into remission and has fewer side-effects, meaning more people could benefit from it compared…...