Business

The Royal Mint will run the Great British Treasure Hunt from Feb 3 to Mar 30, with a 250g solid gold bar valued at roughly £28,000 offered as the grand prize.

A man later convicted of abusing children had 26 prior convictions before becoming a foster carer, and Glasgow City Council says it is investigating what it knew after a historic complaint was reported.

A Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) study estimates military casualties in the Russia–Ukraine war could approach two million by spring, with Russia suffering about 1.2 million casualties (up to 325,000 deaths) and Ukraine 500,000–600,000 (up to 140,000 deaths). A US-brokered third round of negotiations between the two countries is scheduled for this weekend.

An RPG was fired at Mayor Akmad Ampatuan's SUV in Shariff Aguak; police say the vehicle escaped and four suspected assailants were later killed in a police pursuit and shootout.

King Charles appears in the documentary Finding Harmony - A King's Vision, presenting his long-held belief that people should live in harmony with the natural world, and the film will premiere at Windsor Castle ahead of a Prime Video release next month.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a plan to cap ground rents at £250 a year and to phase permitted ground rents to a nominal peppercorn over 40 years, a reform the government says will affect more than 5 million leaseholders in England and Wales.

A QAA review found Glasgow University's assessment processes posed a "systemic risk to academic standards" after a student, Ethan Brown, was wrongly told he could not graduate; the university apologised and accepted the report's recommendations, and the Scottish Funding Council has commissioned a national review of assessment procedures. His mother has called for a fatal accident inquiry.

A Financial Times report says US officials told Ukraine security guarantees would be offered only if Kyiv agreed to cede the Donbas; the White House has denied the account and said it seeks to advance talks, which sources say will resume on Sunday.

Proposed rules would require vet practices to publish price lists for common treatments and to state if they are independent or part of a chain, and would introduce official operating licences for all clinics.

Sutherland Shire rangers overturned an inflatable pool set up by a family for their eight-year-old son with cerebral palsy at Kurnell beach, and the mayor later apologised and said rangers should have used discretion.

Three brothers aged six, eight and nine died after entering a frozen private pond near Bonham, Texas on January 26; their mother went into the water and was later rescued but could not save them. The Bonham Independent School District closed amid the severe winter storm.

The government has proposed that vet practices publish price lists for common treatments and disclose if they are independent or part of a chain; every practice would also need an official operating licence and a consultation will run for eight weeks.

The government has launched a consultation to reform the Veterinary Surgeons Act and introduce measures such as price transparency and business licensing; the consultation will run for eight weeks.

The Prime Minister has arrived in Beijing with nearly 60 UK business, sport and cultural representatives and is expected to pledge a strategic, consistent relationship with China intended to support UK jobs and trade.

Virginia Oliver, known as Maine's 'lobster lady,' died at 105 after a lifetime trapping lobsters; she began at age 8 and continued working on the water for decades.

Nepal, Thailand, Taiwan and Sri Lanka have increased surveillance and health screenings for arrivals from India after reports of a Nipah virus outbreak; two nurses were reported to have contracted the virus in a hospital in India.

The Civil Aviation Authority reported that almost £11 million was paid to passengers between October 2024 and October 2025 after claims had been initially rejected or left unresolved, with British Airways, Wizz Air and Ryanair among the largest pay-outs.

A mother of five in Newham describes decades of living with mould, damp and unaffordable heating, and a local community centre has opened a free Warm Wash Centre to help with laundry and drying for vulnerable households.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil a temporary support package for pubs in England and Wales worth around £100m a year; the wider hospitality sector is not included.

The government announced a cap of £250 a year on ground rents and set out proposals to ban new leasehold flats, while giving existing leaseholders the right to switch to commonhold; the measures will appear in a draft leasehold and commonhold reform bill to be published and introduced on Tuesday.

A Tokyo court has ordered North Korea to pay 88 million yen to four people who say they were lured to the North decades ago and later escaped; the ruling is largely symbolic because Pyongyang has ignored the case.

From January 27, Ofgem will regulate heat networks covering more than 500,000 customers in England, Scotland and Wales, and the government announced over £47 million to support four heat network projects.

At least six people have died during ICE enforcement operations linked to President Trump's immigration crackdown, with recent shootings in Minneapolis drawing particular attention; officials and family members have given differing accounts and several incidents are under investigation.

Nationwide said customers can pay by phone, transfer, direct debit or at branches after a customer raised concerns about a suspended credit card and posting delays; the group said payments usually take one to two working days to clear.

A New York Times/Siena poll of 1,625 registered voters found 65% say a middle-class lifestyle is out of reach, and many respondents called education and housing unaffordable.

Traws Pharma completed enrollment in a 90‑patient Phase 2 trial of ratutrelvir versus PAXLOVID and reported early tolerability and symptom‑resolution findings.

At least 11 people were killed and about a dozen injured when armed men opened fire at a football pitch in Salamanca, central Mexico; local and federal security forces are investigating.

Activists and an Iranian-born athlete say detained protesters were executed in custody and then recorded by prison guards as having died during a riot; the government has said thousands died during the wider crackdown.

The World Bank Group opened its first office in Doha and signed a memorandum with the Qatar Fund for Development to deepen cooperation on development financing and joint initiatives, including efforts on electricity access and agricultural support.

More than 60 Minnesota-based CEOs signed an open letter calling for immediate de-escalation and for state, local and federal officials to work together after two fatal shootings by federal agents; the letter was posted on the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce website.