‘Strikingly large’ sum being recouped from people who fell foul of system that did not flag overpayments

Ministers are clawing back more than £250m from unpaid carers over benefit infringements that occurred largely as a result of government failures, it can be revealed.

More than 134,000 people who care for loved ones are being forced to repay often huge carer’s allowance overpayments. The debts are incurred in many cases through no fault of their own, and leave carers saddled with enormous debts, and some with criminal convictions.

Exclusive: Experts call for higher taxes and tougher regulation as research shows cost to NHS, other public services and economy

The cost of alcohol abuse is laid bare in a new study that shows £27bn a year being spent in England on the health and social harms of drinking.

The research that found the extra burden on the NHS, social services, the criminal justice system and the labour market cost at least 37% more than in 2003, when comparable research by the Cabinet Office estimated the costs at between £18.5bn and £20bn.

Samantha Power says barely 100 trucks of aid a day enter Gaza, far less than 600 needed to address threat of famine

Humanitarian assistance has begun to arrive in Gaza along a US-made pier, but the US aid chief said the new sea corridor could not be a substitute for land crossings, and warned that deliveries of food and fuel entering Gaza had slowed to “dangerously low levels”.

The White House national security spokesperson, John Kirby, confirmed on Friday that truckloads of humanitarian aid, including food from the United Arab Emirates, sent by ship from Cyprus, had been unloaded on the Gaza coast and handed over to the control of the UN.

Chancellor also criticised for ‘dodgy dossier’ on Labour plans as he aims to make low tax a key election issue

Jeremy Hunt has been accused of exaggerating the Conservatives’ economic record and presenting a “dodgy dossier” on Labour’s spending plans, as he moved to put low tax at the heart of his party’s offering at the next election.

The chancellor gave a speech in central London on Friday, pitching the Conservatives as having helped the UK recover from economic troubles more quickly than expected. He also signalled a further cut to national insurance in the autumn, having already reduced the tax from 12p in the pound to 8p.

Authorities confirm 46 cases and warn of weeks-long disruption as firms in Brixham hit by cancellations before school half-term

Cases of an illness caused by a microscopic parasite in a Devon harbour town could continue for a further two weeks, experts said, with businesses predicting thousands of pounds of losses as school half-term approaches.

The comments came as the UK Health Security Agency confirmed that cases of cryptosporidium infection in the Brixham area had more than doubled from 22 to 46, with more than 100 others reporting symptoms of the disease.

Firm asked to back up claims about Fiona Harvey after executive’s appearance before select committee

An MP has asked Netflix to provide evidence that the woman who inspired the character Martha Scott in Baby Reindeer is a “convicted stalker”, claiming that a record of her conviction has not yet been found.

Netflix’s director of public policy, Benjamin King, told the culture media and sport committee on 8 May that the show was “the true story of the horrific abuse that the writer and protagonist, Richard Gadd, suffered at the hands of a convicted stalker”.

Hotel surveillance cameras at InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles captured incident Combs had vehemently denied

A newly released video shows Sean “Diddy” Combs manhandling and kicking singer Cassie Ventura – his former girlfriend – in plain view of hotel surveillance cameras in 2016, before the rapper, music producer and businessman rapidly settled a lawsuit that she brought against him this past November, according to footage exclusively obtained by CNN.

The video in question illustrates in the most graphic nature possible one of the beatings alleged and described in Ventura’s lawsuit, which Combs had vehemently denied.

DePape, a rightwing conspiracy theorist, broke into the Pelosis’ San Francisco home in 2022 and hit Paul Pelosi with a hammer

David DePape, a rightwing conspiracy theorist who broke into Nancy Pelosi’s northern California home in 2022 and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison.

A federal jury convicted him of attempted kidnapping of a federal official and assault on the immediate family member of a federal official in November 2023, just over a year after the attack in the former House speaker’s San Francisco home.

Rebecca Joynes, 30, convicted of engaging in sexual activity with minors while in a position of trust

A teacher has been found guilty of having sex with two schoolboys.

Rebecca Joynes, 30, groomed the teenagers from the age of 15, Manchester crown court heard, and was on bail for sexual activity with the first child, boy A, when she began having sex with the second, boy B, by whom she went on to become pregnant. Neither teenager must be identified.

PC Perry Lathwood handcuffed Jocelyn Agyemang last year over false suspicion of fare evasion in Croydon

A Metropolitan police officer who manhandled a woman as she was arrested in front of her son on the false suspicion of fare evasion has been found guilty of assault.

PC Perry Lathwood was found guilty of assault by beating after a one-day trial at the City of London magistrates court last week.