Tragedy struck a sleepy English village yesterday when a father and son were gunned down in a rural post office. Shopkeeper Craig Hodson-Walker, 29, died and his father Ken, 56, was badly wounded after they confronted three armed robbers. The gang arrived at the store in Fairfield, near Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, wearing balaclavas and armed with a handgun and a sledgehammer.
Only ten teachers have been struck off for incompetence in almost a decade despite a Government crackdown on poor practice, it has emerged.
British energy bills are rising at four times the pace of elsewhere in Europe. UK consumers have suffered the biggest increases of any EU country over the past year.
Police have been told they cannot object to a planned gipsy camp in a picturesque village - because to do so would be 'racist'.
A bride-to-be reported her paedophile fiance to police five days before they were due to marry.
This is the dramatic moment a ransom of $3m was paid to Somali pirates to end the world's biggest ship hijacking. The canister of cash was parachuted onto the Sirius Star and the two-month ordeal of the 25 crew, including two Britons, was over. But things went badly wrong for the pirates - they squabbled over how to split the money and then a wave washed over their getaway boat and drowned five of them. ...read
After claiming to have 'saved the world' in a slip of the tongue during Prime Minister's Questions last month, you might think Gordon Brown would want to avoid the subject of superheroes.
Gordon Brown is putting the finishing touches to a second attempt to rescue the banks, it has emerged.
They had already taken over a £6.25million mansion - and it seems its charms gave one group of squatters a taste for the high life.
The first British baby designed to be free of breast cancer has been born into an ethical storm. She will grow up without a gene which has blighted three generations of her family.
Israeli troops were accused yesterday of evacuating Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza and then shelling it 24 hours later.
Polish migrants warn they are suffering from 'hate crime'. The Federation of Poles in Great Britain said it was concerned by the growing number of racist incidents.
A young Conservative who attended a fancy dress party as Madeleine McCann was last night lambasted for his ' disgraceful' behaviour.
A teacher has been suspended after a 13-year-old pupil allegedly spotted him having sex with a colleague in a school changing room.
The hangman is a beach masseur and gigolo, the jail warders hold rum parties before the execution. But St Kitts believes there is only one way to beat violent crime.
A third runway at Heathrow will be given the go-ahead within a fortnight, it has emerged. Ministers are ready to approve a sharp expansion in flights.
Christina Quilter has more reason than most brides to treasure her wedding dress. She believes it saved her life. Mrs Quilter, 27, was trying on the satin gown when the side of the corset dug into her right breast and she cried out in agony. The pain remained for the next two weeks so she sought medical advice - and discovered she had breast cancer. ...read
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WHO WILL BUY MY SPOTTY COLLECTION?
INMATE TEARS OWN EYE OUT
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MOSQUITOES WOO WITH ANNOYING WHINE
AMAZING ELLIE PAINTS FROM LIFE
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WHO WILL BUY MY SPOTTY COLLECTION?
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After a week of spectacular frosts, bitterly cold nights and travel chaos, the end of the January freeze is in sight. Forecasters say wet and windy weather will start to sweep down from Scotland today, bringing milder conditions to most areas by the end of the weekend. ...read
Britain's army of Euro MPs are to see their pay soar by almost £20,000 under reforms intended to end the Brussels gravy train.
A ray of sunshine has broken through the clouds hovering over the high street after John Lewis and several other chains reported a sales surge.
A teenager was given £50 by a 'fixer' to brandish guns on the BBC programme Panorama. The 17-year-old was also filmed assembling a shotgun.
Assisted suicide has been given a green light by the chief prosecutor. Families of gravely ill people may help them commit suicide abroad without fear of punishment, the Director of Public Prosecutions signalled.
A seven-year-old hanged herself with a pink dressing gown cord while watching a Bratz movie on Mother's Day, an inquest heard.
The NHS trust which let a vulnerable patient starve to death in hospital has apologised to his family. A 'breakdown in communication' meant Martin Ryan, 43, was not fitted with a feeding tube.
Face scanners to speed up pupil registration and queues for lunches were helping to create a Big Brother regime in schools, it has been claimed.
Fewer than half of teenagers finish compulsory schooling with a basic set of GCSE qualifications including English and maths, school league tables will reveal next week.
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They're noisy, filthy, violent... and they're moving into a street near you. No, not gangs of teenagers, but the seagulls invading Britain's inland towns by their thousands. They may be unwelcome tenants but urban gulls, it seems, are here to stay. And until or unless a solution is found, our neighbourhoods will never be the same again. ...read
Britons face being banned from the U.S. from Monday unless they apply for security clearance three days before departing under strict new American anti-terror rules.
An 'unprecedented' increase in cases of child measles has prompted fears of an epidemic. New figures show there were 1,217 cases in England and Wales from January to November 2008, compared with 990 in 2007.
Within minutes of handing her number over to a BT call centre worker, a young woman found herself on the receiving end of a barrage of text-messages, peppered with kisses.
Expensive aftershaves, hair gels and deodorants are all part of the armoury of the modern man. But, when it comes to getting the girl, chaps might be better off letting their natural scent shine though.
The lead actor of a West End show has been sacked after he refused to work with disgraced comedian Chris Langham.
Sixties pop star Dave Dee died on Friday following a three year battle with prostate cancer. He had continued playing gigs until as recently as September.
An eco-friendly family have reduced their household waste so much they have only filled one bin - in six months. The Strauss throw away an average of just 100g of litter every week - enough to fit in the palm of a hand.
Huge communal bins - 40 times the size of wheelie bins - could soon be the norm for thousands of residents who will have to share them with neighbours.
