Britain

Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup captain Anne Keothavong and British number two Katie Boulter tell BBC Sport their focus is on their upcoming tie with Japan.

Emma Raducanu is absent after choosing to play on the WTA Tour this week.

READ MORE: GB have ‘real shot’ at BJK Cup win without Raducanu

Sept. 16 (UPI) — U.S. President Donald Trump was due to touchdown in Britain later Tuesday as he embarks on an unprecedented second state visit to the United States’ closest ally as the guest of King Charles.

Trump and first lady Melania Trump will be met from Air Force One by Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. Warren Stephens and Viscount Hood, King Charles’ lord-in-waiting, before being whisked off to Windsor Castle, their main base for a packed schedule of events.

The visit gets underway in earnest Wednesday morning when the Trumps will be formally welcomed with a gun salute fired from the east lawn of Windsor Castle and the Tower of London, 25 miles away, simultaneously.

They will then ride a carriage through the estate in the company of the king, Queen Camilla, Prince William and Princess Catherine along a route lined with military personnel and music provided by the bands of the Royal Marines, army and Royal Air Force.

They will be greeted by a honor guard on arrival at the castle before lunch in the state dining room, followed by a tour of the royal art collection.

After lunch, the president and first lady will lay a wreath on the tomb of Queen Elizabeth II in St. George’s Chapel, which is in the grounds of the castle, followed by a tour and a recital by the chapel choir.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his wife, Victoria Starmer, will join the group to view the “beating retreat,” a military ceremony involving the beating of drums and parading of Post Guards that dates back to the 17th century, followed by a fly past of the Red Arrows and U.S. and British F-35s, weather permitting.

The main event, the state banquet, comes up on Wednesday evening, a traditional white-tie event at which the king and Trump will deliver speeches.

Trump will begin the final day of his visit on Thursday by traveling to Chequers, Starmer’s country residence, 40 miles northwest of London.

This will be the business part of his visit, although there will still be a full honor guard complete with bagpipers — a nod to Trump’s Scottish roots — when he is greeted by Starmer ahead of bilateral talks.

Afterward, they will host a reception with executives from British and American companies, including GSK, Microsoft and Rolls-Royce, followed by lunch, before wrapping up their mini-summit with a news conference at which they will announce deals on technology and financial services.

Investment in AI and super and quantum computing is expected to be the focus of the tech agreement.

While a second visit is unknown for a non-royal, it will differ from Trump’s first visit in 2019 — which attracted both large protests and controversy after he walked ahead of Queen Elizabeth and intervened in domestic politics — in that there will be no public appearances or events.

He will not be able to address Parliament as Tuesday was the last day it sits before a month-long recess for party conferences.

At least one demonstration, however, is expected to be held on Windsor’s main street on Tuesday.

Security will be tight across the three days the Trumps are on the ground, with British authorities expected to mount one of the largest ever operations for a visiting foreign leader with a price tag running into the tens of millions of dollars.

Good Morning Britain has seen a string of changes recently, and one star has now made an announcement that has sparked concern among viewers.

It appears that some Good Morning Britain viewers are concerned that a familiar face might be departing the programme, amid the sweeping shake-ups at ITV.

The popular breakfast show, which recently witnessed presenter Susanna Reid praising an ITV legend live on air, revealed plans to extend their broadcast by an additional 30 minutes starting January 2026.

Additionally, the programme will be produced by ITV News at ITN from their London headquarters and created by a team operating within ITV News at ITN.

Nevertheless, it seems one Good Morning Britain presenter has strong ties to ITN, having initially joined the organisation back in 1999 before returning to their studios this weekend to present ITV news bulletins.

Charlotte Hawkins, who regularly hosts Good Morning Britain, posted on social media on Saturday, sharing a snap of her old ITN security pass alongside a more current photograph, reports Wales Online.

She wrote: “Do not adjust your sets.. a guest appearance from me presenting the @itvnews this weekend! I was first here at ITN back in 1999, working on ITN Radio, and then this security pass is from when I worked on the ITV News Channel.

“A lot has changed over the years.. including the hair! Next update is just after 10pm see you then.”

Yet her appearance sparked confusion amongst some viewers, with one person wondering what this means for her Good Morning Britain future, following a series of budget cuts.

One fan commented: “You will be there all the time soon when GMB becomes part of ITN.”

One fan queried: “Wow this is amazing Charlotte watched u this afternoon u were superb. Will we see u do more weekends in future occasionally.”

Former Good Morning Britain director Erron Gordon commented: “A much more palatable time of day for a change. Love to see this!!”

To which Charlotte responded: “Yes, bit of a change to having an early alarm!! Thanks Erron xx.”

On X, one viewer asked: “Are you leaving @gmb for @itvnews??? Was a nice surprise when I put the news on.”

Another viewer remarked: “It was lovely to see you on the early evening news, Charlotte. I thought I’d missed a career change!”

While another person noted: “It could confuse some people, imagine going for a nap, waking up and seeing you on you would think how long was I sleep.”

Good Morning Britain is available to watch on ITVX.

Great Britain took a big step towards next year’s Davis Cup qualifiers as Cameron Norrie and Arthur Fery both won to give them a 2-0 lead over Poland.

World number 34 Norrie survived a scare against world number 545 Tomasz Berkieta to win his nation’s opening World Group 1 match 7-6 (11-9) 6-4 in Gdynia, Poland.

Fery, ranked 227 in the world, then battled to a 6-4 6-2 victory over Olaf Pieczkowski, ranked 484.

The 23-year-old was making his Davis Cup debut after British number three Jacob Fearnley pulled out with a rib injury.

Britain need one more win on Saturday to reach February’s first round and therefore have a shot at winning the title in 2026.

The world’s number one doubles pair, Lloyd Glasspool and Julian Cash, will make their debut in Saturday’s doubles, which will be followed by two reverse singles.

World number seven Jack Draper was unavailable for the tie because of an arm injury which has ruled him out of the remainder of the season.

IT was perhaps the most famous poster in election history. “Labour Isn’t Working,” proclaimed its simple slogan above a photo of a long, snaking queue outside an unemployment office. 

The image helped Margaret Thatcher’s Tories to win a decisive victory in 1979. 

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That poster could be revived today as the beleaguered Labour Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, seems to be trapped in a kind of doom loop created by his party’s epic mismanagement of the economy. 

Growth is anaemic, the tax burden colossal. Just like in the late 70s, Britain is gripped by rising debt, inflation and unemployment, as well as increasing militancy in the public sector workforce, where recent generous pay settlements have fuelled a mood of greedy irresponsibility. 

Only yesterday the distinguished business leader Lord Stuart Rose, the former head of Marks & Spencer, warned that Starmer and his bumbling Chancellor Rachel Reeves had dragged Britain “to the edge of crisis.” 

In a bleak analysis, Lord Rose argued that because “there is no growth in the economy,” neither wealth nor jobs are being created. 

The parallel with the 1970s is at its most stark in the hostility to hard work. Fifty years ago Britain became known as “the sick man of Europe” because of its addiction to strikes, with an astonishing 29million working days lost in 1979 alone. 

Modern Britain has yet to plumb those depths, though the pig-headed unions are trying to go in that direction, as shown by the current miserable strike on the London Underground, which has paralysed the capital this week. 

What makes this strike so ridiculous is that the Tube drivers are extremely well-paid, typically earning around £72,000-a-year, and enjoy excellent job security, pensions, hours and holidays. Yet they act like they are oppressed members of the proletariat. 

The same is true of the resident doctors who went on strike last month in support of an outrageous 35 per cent pay claim. 

These grotesque demands are part of a wider culture of self-serving entitlement that is destroying Britain’s work ethic, reducing productivity and weakening the dynamism of business. 

That destructive spirit can be seen in the recent surge of sick leave in the national workforce, a phenomenon caused not by harsher conditions but by more indulgent management, and the fashion for treating normal emotions as mental health problems. 

Mental-health crisis 

Yesterday a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development revealed that employees are now taking an average of nearly two weeks off sick every year. 

Only two years ago absenteeism stood at an average of 7.8 days a year. Now that figure has risen to 9.4 days a year, with the mental-health crisis the key driving force. 

All too predictably, the record of the public sector is much worse than the private sector. That is not because work on the state payroll is tougher. Just the opposite is true. 

The heavily unionised culture of public employment, with its emphasis on workplace rights and victimhood, promotes weak management and a lack of accountability. 

The rise in absenteeism is mirrored by the growth in welfare dependency where ever increasing numbers of people think that the state owes them a living. Social security is no longer just a temporary safety net but has become a comfortable lifestyle choice. 

There are now 6.5million adults of working age who are claiming out-of-work benefits, while some forms of incapacity payments have become a sort of subsidy for early retirement. 

As Lord Rose puts it, “We have arrived in a situation in Britain today where there is effectively no obligation to work, absolutely none.” 

In a recent newspaper interview, one claimant called Clare Russell gave an insight into the mentality of some of the worst freeloaders. 

Labour likes to boast that it is the party of ‘working people’. Now it should live up to that description. 

Ten years ago she gave up work at the age of 46 and since then has lived off the disability benefits she receives for a bad back, as well as a substantial rental income from some property, plus a carer’s allowance to look after her mother who lives 30 miles away. 

In her sickening interview, she said that she has “a lovely life, thanks to the great British taxpayer.” 

Just to heighten the outrage she added, “when I am at the gym, I watch young people scuttle past the window on the treadmill of work and I must admit to feeling smug.” 

The disappearance of the work ethic is neither morally defensible nor financially affordable. 

The disability benefits bill is expected to reach £100billion by 2030 while the overall cost of welfare is forecast to go up from £210billion a decade ago to £380billion by 2030. 

The welfare leviathan is tracking us ever deeper into debt and towards national bankruptcy. 

In the depths of its current political crisis, France — which has an even more lavish benefits system than Britain — shows what can happen when the cost of welfare spirals out of control. 

We were the nation of the industrial revolution. We must revive that kind of drive and determination. This should be an absolute priority for the new Labour cabinet. 

Reform of welfare and the workplace is not an option, it is a necessity. 

Labour likes to boast that it is the party of “working people”. Now it should live up to that description. 

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Good Morning Britain’s Ranvir Singh shared an important news update during the latest episode of the ITV breaking show alongside hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls

Good Morning Britain star Ranvir Singh shared a “chilling” news update on Monday (September 8) as fans said the same thing.

During today’s edition of the hit ITV programme, hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls updated viewers on the latest news across the UK and around the world.

Ranvir delivered the rest of the day’s news, while Laura Tobin presented regular weather updates.

Later in the show, Ranvir revealed that an Australian woman convicted of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with poisonous death cap mushrooms has been sentenced to life in prison, with a minimum term of 33 years.

However, the show’s viewers were left confused, with one person writing on X (formerly Twitter): “Might be big in Australian news, but why report it here?”

Another said: ” GMB……. An Australian woman get life for murder in Australia? UK headline news.”

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Dutch rider Olav Kooij won the opening stage of the Tour of Britain after fending off a strong challenge from Tord Gudmestad.

The pair went toe-to-toe in the closing stage of the 167.6km route between Woodbridge and Southwold.

But the 23-year-old Team Visma-Lease a Bike rider crossed the finish line ahead of Norway’s Gudmestad, of Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, to claim a fifth stage win at the Tour of Britain since his debut in 2023.

“It’s a really good feeling, of course. It’s always nice to win a race, and I have good memories from here two years ago,” Kooij said.

“I was happy to come back to this race, and I’m really happy to continue the success of two years ago.”

France’s Hugo Hofstetter of Israel-Premier Tech finished third, while Ineos Grenadiers’ Samuel Watson was the first British rider to cross the line in sixth place.

Kooij leads the general classification with Gudmestad in second and Hofstetter third after stage one, which needed an early diversion because of a burst water main.

Great Britain’s Joshua Golliker, meanwhile, is fifth in the overall standings.

The 2025 Tour of Britain will also be the final professional race of Geraint Thomas’ illustrious 19-year career.

The 39-year-old Welshman, who won the Tour de France in 2018, sustained a puncture on the opening stage but recovered to finish with the main field.

The second stage on Wednesday will start and finish in Stowmarket, with the sixth and final stage finishing in Thomas’ home city of Cardiff on Sunday.

Good Morning Britain hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls returned to the show after their summer break on Monday

Good Morning Britain fans said the same thing as Susanna Reid unveiled a new look after her summer break.

During Monday’s (September 1) edition of the hit ITV programme, Susanna and her co-host Ed Balls made their return as they presented the latest news from across the UK and around the world.

It comes after the pair took several weeks off over the summer holidays.

They were joined in the studio by Alex Beresford, who delivered regular weather forecasts, while Ranvir Singh took charge of the rest of the day’s news.

The show’s viewers quickly took to social media to share their delight at Susanna’s return, with many noticing her glam new hair transformation. The 54-year-old has notably dyed her hair a lighter colour, a far cry from her signature brunette locks.

“Hello, September new month new hairstyle. Nice to see you back,” one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

Another added: “I’m glad you’re back, it’s not been the same show without you. I hope you had a great summer,” while a third said: “Susanna looking fresh faced and lovely after her well earned summer break.”

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A Good Morning Britain news presenter has announced his departure from the ITV show, as he lands a new role at GB News – which he’s ‘thrilled’ to start in September

A Good Morning Britain star has revealed he’s leaving the show amid ITV’s ongoing cutbacks. News reporter Will Godley has been a crucial part of the news team on the morning show for the last four years, delivering news updates from across the country. However, on Friday, Will revealed his time on ITV would be coming to an end – as he lands a new role on GB News.

Taking to X, formerly known as Twitter, to announce the news, Will announced: “JOB NEWS. Thrilled to be starting as a National Reporter at @GBNEWS in September!

“That means I’m sadly saying goodbye to @GMB after 4 wonderful years. A huge thanks to the brilliant team, who even made the nightshifts amazing. Really excited to get stuck in at GB News!”

READ MORE: Amy Childs reveals TOWIE stars not invited to wedding as she pushes back ceremonyREAD MORE: Kate Garraway screams over Tory MP’s huge lie in furious immigration row on GMB

From January 2026, ITV daytime will undergo huge schedule changes. Good Morning Britain will be extended by 30 minutes to run from 6am to 9.30am daily. However, programme Lorraine, which airs straight after, has been cut in half and will run for just thirty minutes from 9.30, rather than an hour.

Not only that, but the show will only run for 30 weeks a year, with Good Morning Britain running until 10am on the weeks it’s off air.

This Morning will stay in its usual slot of 10am-12.30pm slot on weekdays throughout the year, with Loose Women staying in the 12.30-1.30pm slot. However, like Lorraine, the panel show will also only air for 30 weeks of the year.

News of Will’s departure comes just months after it was revealed US correspondent Noel Phillips had been axed from the show.

It emerged via Deadline that he has been dropped from his position on the programme as ITV attempts to shave £15 million from its budget. The journalist joined the show in 2021 as a US correspondent, covering a number of huge events, including the US elections and LA wildfires.

After news of his axe, Noel appeared on the ITV show – opening up about the moment he was scammed out of his entire life savings, of almost $30,000.

“I’m still in disbelief,” he told the hosts. “I remember two weeks ago I was lying on the kitchen floor numb, refusing to accept the fact I did something so stupid.

“I felt embarrassed, I felt ashamed, I felt worthless. On top of that, the excruciating pain of all of this is the mental trauma.”

“How could someone like me who reports stories like this fall a victim? How could this happen to me?”, Noel was left questioning.

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Aug. 29 (UPI) — Britain barred Israeli government and military officials from taking part in its flagship international defense and security event in September as London stepped up pressure on Israel over its military offensive to capture and occupy Gaza City.

Israel is normally one of the main exhibitors at the biannual Defense and Security Equipment International conference, but the Ministry of Defense said Thursday that Israeli government officials had not been invited to the event, which runs Sept. 9 through Sept. 12 at the Excel exhibition and convention center in London’s Docklands.

“The Israeli government’s decision to further escalate its military operation in Gaza is wrong. As a result, we can confirm that no Israeli government delegation will be invited to attend DSEI UK 2025,” a Ministry of Defense spokesman told Politico.

“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now, with an immediate cease-fire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”

The ban does not extend to private Israeli arms manufacturers, but their presence at DSEI — which is run by a private British company but with major backing from the government and armed forces — was expected to trigger large public demonstrations outside the venue.

Israel criticized the move as discriminatory and, accusing Britain of politicizing the global defense sector, said it would abandon plans for the large pavilion it usually sponsors at the conference, but stressed it fully supported domestic firms opting to exhibit at DSEI.

“These restrictions amount to a deliberate and regrettable act of discrimination against Israel’s representatives,” the Israel Ministry of Defense wrote in a social media post.”

“At a time when Israel is engaged on multiple fronts against Islamist extremists and terrorist organisations — forces that also threaten the West and international shipping lanes — this decision by Britain plays into the hands of extremists, grants legitimacy to terrorism, and introduces political considerations wholly inappropriate for a professional defense industry exhibition,” said the ministry.

The ban follows a standoff at the Paris Air Show in June, when the organizers draped black sheeting over the stands of some Israeli defense firms exhibiting at the event at the request of the French government after the Israeli defense ministry failed to observe a ban on arms designed for offensive purposes.

Britain has been gradually stepping up diplomatic and legal pressure on Israel in recent months over the conduct of its military operation in Gaza, including imposing restrictions on some arms sales.

In July, Britain announced it would recognize a Palestinian state in September if Israel did not agree to a cease-fire by then.

In June, it joined Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Norway in sanctioning far-right Israeli government ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich over “repeated incitements of violence against Palestinians.”

Britain suspended arms export licenses in September for around 10% of British-made weapons and military equipment destined for Israel after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s government determined there was a “clear risk” of Israel using the arms in ways that would breach international law.

The ban on 30 out of 350 categories of equipment and goods included military aircraft, helicopter and drone components, as well as ground targeting equipment.

However, the block did not extend to parts for F-35 joint-strike fighter flown by Israeli forces in combat missions over Gaza that Britain supplies into a pool as part of a multi-country support program for the American-made F-35 — except where they went directly to Israel.

Senior ministers in Starmer’s cabinet insisted at the time that Britain remained a “staunch ally” of Israel, defended the timing, which came just days after Hamas executed six Israeli hostages, and insisted it would not undermine Israel’s security.

BRITAIN must ramp up missile defences – like Israel’s Iron Dome – or risk its nuclear bases being obliterated in the first hours of a war with Russia.

Moscow would target RAF jets and Royal Navy nuclear submarines if it launched a surprise attack, a report by the Rusi think tank has warned.

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A pre-emptive strike could “cripple” Britain’s nuclear deterrent and conventional military power – as most of the UK’s best weapons are “concentrated on just a few sites”.

The report warned a single Russian Yasen-class submarine could launch 40 cruise missiles from the Norwegian Sea with “relatively low warning”.

Yet the UK lacks both the radars to detect them “skimming over the sea” – or the weapons to shoot them down.

The report’s author Sidharth Kaushal said the immediate threat comes from sub-sonic Russian cruise missiles which can be launched from planes and submarines.

By 2035 the main risk will come from intermediate range ballistic missiles, like the Oreshnik blasted at Ukraine last year.

By 2040 the UK will need to defend against “hypersonic glide vehicles” which can travel at 20 times the speed of sound.

He also warned short range drones could be smuggled close to targets and launched from sea containers – like Ukraine’s Operation Spiders Web – or launched by Spetznaz special forces.

Kaushal said calls for a British Iron Dome were warranted by Russia’s focus on “long-range conventional precision strike” weapons.

He said: “The initial priority is the expansion of its capacity for the defence of critical military installations against what is primarily a cruise missile threat.”

The report urged Keir Starmer to buy space based sensors and long range radars that can see 3000km away, the equivalent of Lands End to Moscow.

He said “long-range precision strikes” was central to Kremlin military doctrine.

He said: “The destruction of aircraft on the ground is particularly salient. The destruction of nuclear attack submarines that carry submarine-launched cruise missiles is also described as a priority.”

Russian targets would likely the Royal Navy Bases at Devonport and Clyde and RAF Marham in Norfolk, where the nuclear capable fleet of F-35 stealth jets is based.

It comes after RAF war games showed Britain would be overwhelmed if it faced a Russian missile attack like the first night of the war in Ukraine.

Air Commodore Blythe Crawford said: “It was not a pretty picture.”

The drills suggested bases would be blown to smithereens and £100 million fighter jets could get blitzed before they could hide.

Air Cdre Crawford, who was head the RAF’s Air and Space Warfare Centre at the time, said it showed the UK “home base” was no longer safe.

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The drills used a £36 million wargaming system to test the UK’s responses to “hundreds of different types of munitions” attacking from multiple different directions.

It exposed multiple vulnerabilities including a chronic shortage of airfields and a lack of hardened shelters for protect and hide jets on the ground.

The government sold off scores of airfields and watered-down the RAF’s powers to commandeer civilian runways.

The Armed Forces rely on RAF Typhoons, which scramble from RAF Lossiemouth, to shoot down incoming drones and cruise missiles.

The only British missiles that could intercept Russian ballistic missiles are based onboard the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyers.

Air Cdr Crawford warned Britain had got lax by standing at the edge of Europe and “feeling as though the rest of the continent stood between us and the enemy”.

He said: “Ukraine has made us all sit up.” The government announced last week it was buying six more launchers to for its Sky Sabre air defence systems.

The weapons, used by the Royal Artillery, can shoot down targets the size of a tennis ball at two times the speed of sound.

ITV have reportedly launched a formal investigation into an incident that sparked outrage on Good Morning Britain earlier this year on Holocaust Memorial Day

ITV have reportedly launched a formal probe into Good Morning Britain after one ‘humiliating blunder too big to ignore’ left viewers outraged. The broadcaster’s long-running early morning programme aired a tribute to the victims of one of history’s biggest atrocities on Holocaust Memorial Day earlier this year.

On that day, presenter Ranvir Singh was reporting and while she mentioned that the six million people killed in the death camps were ‘disabled, gay or belonged to another ethnic group’, but did not make it clear that that figure applied to solely the Jewish victims, and didn’t appear to realise that there were 11 million victims in total. The episode in question aired on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in January, and it is now thought that the incident has become the subject of a formal investigation.

A source told The Sun : “Good Morning Britain is a flagship programme for ITV and to allow a blunder like this was too big to simply ignore. They are now investigating how this happened and the top brass want answers. ITV pride themselves on their news coverage but this was lower than sub par.”

READ MORE: Kate Middleton has emotional reunion with Holocaust survivors at poignant eventREAD MORE: Full list of ITV hosts KEEPING their job amid major cuts ‘revealed’

The insider also claimed that ‘the probe will uncover who allowed it to happen and there will be consequences’ for those involved, adding that it ‘has been hugely humiliating and is a headache the bosses over at ITV really could do without.’

The Mirror has approached ITV for comment on the probe they have launched. At the time, the blunder sparked outrage and Ranvir, who also regularly covers for Lorraine Kelly on her eponymous daytime show, was quick to apologise for her error.

She said: “In yesterday’s news when we reported on the memorial events in Auschwitz, we said six million people were killed in the Holocaust, but crucially failed to say they were Jewish. That was our mistake, for which we apologise.”

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the show said: “In our studio introduction to the report on the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz we failed to acknowledge the Jewish community which we have since apologised for live on air in today’s programme.

“This failure was done in error, however clear reference to Jewish people in the correspondent news report from Auschwitz immediately followed, as well as a further extended programme report referencing the six million Jewish victims. Yesterday’s programme also included a live studio interview with a survivor of Auschwitz, Rachel Levy alongside Olivia Marks-Woldman, Chief Executive of the Holocaust Memorial Trust, both of whom talked candidly about their own experiences as Jewish people.”

The clip came under fire on social media, with one person writing: “Disgusting shameful!” A second added: “This can’t be for real?” “This coverage is utterly disgraceful! This history must not be forgotten, nor must it be distorted. The Jews were the victims then – we must make sure that they will never be the victims again,” said another.

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Good Morning Britain viewers said the same thing as Adil Ray returned to the show on Monday

Good Morning Britain viewers claimed to “switch off” as an ITV presenter returned to the show.

During Monday’s (August 18) episode of the programme, host Kate Garraway was joined by Adil Ray to present the latest news from across the UK and around the world.

They discussed Europe’s leaders flying to Washington to show their support for Ukraine, and whether the courts should start to crack down on shoplifting.

There was also a debate on a possible tax on the wealth of Britain’s top bosses, which has reached a record high.

Kate and Adil were joined in the studio by Sean Fletcher, who presented the rest of the day’s news, while Laura Tobin provided regular weather forecasts live from Kew Gardens.

However, several GMB fans were quickly left distracted by Adil’s return to the show, with many taking to X (formerly Twitter) to share their reactions.

Following Ben Shephard’s departure from the show last year, Adil has been on rotation as a Friday host and usually fronts the ITV programme with either Kate, Laura, or Charlotte Hawkins.

However, the Citizen Khan star hasn’t been seen on screen for several weeks.

After seeing Adil at the helm on Monday, one person wrote on social media: “I’ll pass on that thanks,” with another adding: “Nobody will get a word in with these two presenters. Switches over.”

A third said: “No thanks,” while another similarly shared: “Worst pairing ever. You can do better than this.”

A fifth viewer echoed the sentiment, saying: “Sorry but I will not be watching.”

Meanwhile, other viewers have shared their delight at Adil’s appearance, with one person writing: “Yes! Love Adil! But to be honest all the @GMB presenters are really good.”

Another added: “I like this pairing on GMB. At heart, both exceptional interviewers,” while a third said: “What a great pair today.”

The news comes after Adil revealed a shocking connection to Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan, sharing that they had a “lovely” dinner together 12 years ago.

Good Morning Britain airs weekdays on ITV1 and ITVX at 6am

Dozens of activists are on the run from authorities in the China-ruled city after a crackdown on civil liberties.

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and a former parliamentarian wanted by the city’s Chinese authorities have been granted asylum in Britain and Australia, more than four years after facing criminal charges over the 2019 antigovernment protests.

Tony Chung, an activist who was imprisoned under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law, and Ted Hui, a former lawmaker facing trial for his role in the mass demonstrations, both announced over the weekend that they have received asylum in Britain and Australia, respectively, where they now live.

They are among dozens of activists on the run from Hong Kong authorities. Civil liberties in the China-ruled city have been greatly eroded since 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law essentially criminalising dissent.

Penalties can run up to life in prison for endangering national security, treason and insurrection; 20 years for espionage and sabotage; and 14 years for external interference.

Hui, who fled Hong Kong in December 2020, is part of a group of overseas activists for whom police have offered rewards of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,800). The former lawmaker is now working as a lawyer in Adelaide.

The outspoken pro-democracy lawmaker is known for disrupting a legislative session by throwing a rotten plant in the chamber to stop a debate on a bill seeking to make it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. He was subsequently fined 52,000 Hong Kong dollars ($6,600) for the act.

He announced on Facebook on Saturday that he and his family have been granted protection visas.

“I express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Australia – both present and former – for recognising our need for asylum and granting us this protection,” Hui wrote. “This decision reflects values of freedom, justice, and compassion that my family will never take for granted.”

He also expressed regret for the exile he has been forced into. “When people around me say ‘congratulations’ to me, although I politely thank them, I can’t help but feel sad in my heart. How to congratulate a political refugee who misses his hometown?” he wrote.

“If it weren’t for political persecution, I would never have thought of living in a foreign land. Immigrants can always return to their home towns to visit relatives at any time; Exiles have no home.”

Chung, who fled to Britain, had advocated for Hong Kong’s independence and was sentenced to almost four years in prison for secession and money laundering in 2020. He was released on a supervision order, during which he travelled to Japan and then to the United Kingdom.

In a post on the social media platform Threads on Sunday, he expressed his excitement at receiving refugee status in Britain along with a five-year residency permit. He said that despite his challenges over the past few years, including persistent mental health problems, he remains committed to his activism.

British and Australian authorities didn’t immediately comment on the activists’ statuses.

Hong Kong’s government did not comment directly on the cases but issued a statement on Saturday condemning “the harbouring of criminals in any form by any country”.

“Any country that harbours Hong Kong criminals in any form shows contempt for the rule of law, grossly disrespects Hong Kong’s legal systems and barbarically interferes in the affairs of Hong Kong,” the statement read.

Aug. 15 (UPI) — Two planes clipped wings at Manchester Airport in Britain on Friday, briefly pausing flight operations on the ground at the facility, officials confirmed.

No injuries were reported when the two easyJet planes collided on the ground at about 6:30 a.m. local time, an airport spokesperson said.

“We suspended operations briefly while they were assessed to see if they could taxi back to a stand, which they could so operations resumed after a few minutes,” the airport said in a statement to reporters.

Both flights were set to depart the international airport, with one bound for Paris and the other headed to Gibraltar.

Britain-based easyJet is a multinational low-cost airline group. The company operates a fleet of 318 Airbus aircraft and boasts that it has “one of the youngest fleets in the industry.”

The airline was working on re-booking affected passengers Friday, according to airport officials.

“EasyJet can confirm that the wing tips of two aircraft came into contact while taxiing to the runway at Manchester airport this morning. The aircraft returned to stand to disembark customers who have been provided with refreshment vouchers while replacement aircraft are arranged to operate the flights,” an easyJet spokesperson told The Guardian in a statement.

“We apologize to customers for the delay to their flights. The safety of our passengers and crew is our highest priority.”

Last weekend, a Delta Airlines flight clipped another aircraft at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Aug. 14 (UPI) — British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Downing Street on Thursday to maintain the momentum of a European push to influence a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The high-profile meeting between the British and Ukrainian leaders, reported by the BBC, Sky News and The Telegraph, was described as a carefully choreographed display of support timed for just hours before the historic U.S.-Russia summit in Alaska, which Zelensky was left out of.

Neither man commented nor provided any details of their discussion when the pair emerged from No. 10 after around 60 minutes.

The London talks came as the Kremlin confirmed “resolving the Ukraine crisis” would be the main focus of the summit and that the delegation headed by Putin would include top aide Yuri Ushakov, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Defense Minister Andrey Belousov, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov and Russian sovereign wealth fund CEO Kirill Dmitriev.

Co-chairing a meeting of European leaders, Zelensky and Trump on Wednesday, Starmer said a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine was a “viable” outcome from what he called Friday’s “hugely important” meeting, but stressed Ukraine’s “territorial integrity” must be defended and international borders “must not be changed by force”.

“As I’ve said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven’t got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire,” said Starmer.

“And now we do have that chance, because of the work the president has put in.”

However, Starmer said any cease-fire would have to be lasting and therefore needed “robust and credible security guarantees” and that European allies had established “this Coalition of the Willing” to back a post-war Ukraine militarily, with troops if necessary, to preempt Russia from breaking any peace agreement.

The bloc backed Zelensky’s demand that no decisions be made without Ukraine at the table.

Trump emerged from the meeting to put Putin on notice he would face “severe consequences” if he did not agree to a cease-fire when the pair meet in Anchorage on Friday. Trump said that, provided the meeting went well, he would also seek a second meeting between Putin and Zelensky to hammer out the details of a peace deal.

Aug. 13 (UPI) — Britain, Germany and France told U.N. officials that snapback sanctions are on the table if Iran does not sit down to negotiate over its nuclear weaponry.

The letter delivered to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, signed by the three foreign ministers, indicated the E3 was prepared to enforce severe sanctions if Iran did not agree to limit it’s nuclear program and gave Iranian officials until the end of the month.

“We have made it clear that if Iran is not willing to reach a diplomatic solution before the end of August 2025, or does not seize the opportunity of an extension, E3 are prepared to trigger the snapback mechanism,” read a letter in part signed by Britain’s David Lammy, Jean-Noel Barrot of France and Germany’s Johann Wadephul.

The sixth round of American-Iranian negotiations were abandoned in June after a joint U.S.-Israeli attack on known parts of Iran’s nuclear facilities. The 12-day conflict escalated regional tension amid Israel’s war in Gaza and spiked oil prices.

The “snapback” guardrail built into Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, officially titled the “Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” was set to trigger if an instance arose in which Iran committed an act of “significant non-performance.”

Signed by Tehran with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China, the European Union and United States it removed sanctions and curbed Iran’s nuclear program. Initially the United States left the JCPOA in 2018 during U.S. President Donald Trump‘s first term in the White House.

Iran, however, has periodically violated parts of the agreement for years and the snapback mechanism threatened more than once by Europe and the E3 as far back as 2019 nearly four years after the deal was inked.

In addition to limiting Iranian nuclear activities, it thawed U.S. sanctions against Tehran that hampered its economy for years.

On Wednesday, Germany’s Wadephul said Iran “must never acquire a nuclear weapon” and reiterated that the E3 had “every right” to resort to snapback.

“Iran has the opportunity to return to diplomacy and resume full cooperation with the IAEA,” he wrote in an X post a little before 11 a.m. local time.

“The ball is now in Iran’s court,” Germany added.

Aug. 7 (UPI) — A landmark Anglo-French “one-in, one-out” migrant agreement saw the first small boat arrivals on the British coast taken into custody in preparation for being returned to France, the government said Thursday.

The detentions got underway on Wednesday with migrants who had crossed the Channel “illegally” held in secure immigration centers pending their removal to France, which was expected to take place in a matter of weeks, according to a Home Office news release.

It pledged full transparency, saying detainees would be briefed on the process for returning them to France and kept updated on their progress through the system on an individual basis.

For each migrant sent back, Britain will take in one pre-approved to claim asylum who has not previously attempted to enter the country and who has completed a formal application and security clearance process in France that is only open to those with a passport or identity document.

Pre-checked individuals, or family groups, will then journey safely from France via scheduled rail, ferry or airline services.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper declined to say how many migrants had been detained but vowed to fight any challenge launched in the courts in an attempt to block them from being sent back to France.

“The transfers to immigration removal centers are underway as we speak, so we won’t provide operational details at this point that criminal gangs can simply use and exploit. But no one should be in any doubt: anyone who arrives from now on is eligible for immediate detention and return,” she said.

Cooper added that it was the very early stages of a pilot that would take time to scale up, but stressed, given that France was a safe country for all, including migrants, the government would “robustly defend against any legal challenge that people try.”

However, Home Office sources told The Guardian that the scheme inked last month during a state visit to Britain by French President Emmanuel Macron would initially only involve about 50 asylum seekers.

Immigration lawyers warned that the ambiguous terms of the treaty left it open to legal challenge by individuals trying to prevent their removal from the country.

At least one charity cautioned that the scheme shut out people fleeing war or famine in countries including Eritrea or Sudan because they were unlikely to meet the criteria for official identification.

“This week in Calais, we spoke with many people from Eritrea and almost none of them have copies of their Eritrean passports because they were never able to obtain one,” said a spokesperson for Refugee Legal Support.

The spokesperson said the largest group making the journey across the Channel so far this year were Eritreans, 86% of whom had their refugee claims upheld once they reached Britain — but virtually all of them would never get that chance under the scheme.

The deal, marking the first time Britain has been able to return migrants who arrive from France, came as the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats in the first seven months of 2025 topped a record 25,436.

Under the treaty, Britain is responsible for the costs of transporting migrants in both directions, and France is entitled to refuse to accept returnees it believes pose “a threat to public policy, internal security, public health or the international relations of any of the Schengen states.”

Schengen states refer to the borderless, free travel area comprising 25 of 27 member countries of the European Union plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.

Cherry Vann has joined the growing list of religious leaders making LGBTQIA+ history within the church.

On Wednesday (30 July), Vann was appointed as the new Archbishop of Wales, becoming the first woman to lead any of Britain’s Anglican churches and the first lesbian to serve as an archbishop globally. 

According to The Guardian, her historic placement was reached after two days of deliberations by an electoral college boasting clergy and laypersons.

Vann’s decades-long experience as a church official dates back to the 1980s, when she trained for the ministry at Westcott House, Cambridge, and was ordained as a deacon in 1989.

Since then, the 66-year-old has risen within the church ranks, becoming one of the first women to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England in 1994, and serving as an archdeacon of Rochdale in the Diocese of Manchester for 11 years.

In January 2020, Vann was consecrated as the bishop of Monmouth, holding the position for the last five years. Before she was appointed the new Archbishop of Wales, the position was held by Andrew John.

In June, John abruptly left his role following the May publication of a safeguarding review at Bangor Cathedral in North Wales, which featured complaints related to inappropriate language, excessive consumption of alcohol and a “culture in which sexual boundaries seemed blurred.”

There was no suggestion that John perpetuated the aforementioned behaviour or conducted any wrongdoing.

Following her appointment, Vann released a statement detailing her first priority as the new archbishop of Wales.

“The first thing I shall need to do is to ensure that the issues which have been raised in the last six months are properly addressed and that I work to bring healing and reconciliation, and to build a really good level of trust across the Church and the communities the Church serves,” she said.

Since the news was announced, Vann has received support from her church peers, including Archbishop Mark O’Toole.

“I congratulate Archbishop-elect Cherry on her appointment as the new Archbishop of Wales. I am sure she will be able to bring healing to all in the Church of Wales. I assure her of my prayers and those of the Catholic community,” he said.

You can read more about Archbishop Vann here.