The Independent - December 12, 2024

In this issue

December 12, 2024

Post Office and Fujitsu staff investigated for perjury and perverting course of justice

Detectives are investigating dozens of staff at Fujitsu and the Post Office for crimes including perjury and perverting the course of justice over the wrongful prosecutions of subpostmasters.

3 mins

Father and stepmother found guilty of murder after horrific abuse of schoolgirl

Sara Sharif’s father and stepmother were found guilty yesterday of her murder after inflicting a campaign of abuse that saw the schoolgirl being hooded, restrained and beaten during her short life.

5 mins

Tortured and beaten for years before being killed

Horrifying abuse of Sara Sharif, 10, at hands of parents

5 mins

Tractor protest at Whitehall sees farmers rage at Starmer

Farmers remain in a deadlock with the government over tax after a day of protests in which hundreds of tractors were driven through Westminster.

4 mins

Rayner: Councils must yield green belt to build housing

Angela Rayner has announced that councils will be forced to surrender large parts of the green belt to achieve immediate new housing targets.

2 mins

Government could axe 10,000 civil service jobs

Ministers will not set an arbitrary cap on the number of civil servants amid reports more than 10,000 jobs could be lost as the result of a spending squeeze.

2 mins

MPs rage at assisted dying bill committee 'stitch-up'

The committee that will scrutinise the assisted dying bill will have a majority of supportive MPs, including two government ministers, in a move that has been branded “a stitch-up” by campaigners.

4 mins

Courts reform expected as murder trial backlog soars

Ministers are poised to pave the way for major criminal justice reform after new figures seen by The Independent revealed the dire state of the courts system.

3 mins

Police staff vote to strike over home working rules

Civilian staff at the Metropolitan Police have voted for the first time to strike, after being told they may not work from home so often.

1 min

Disability services face axe due to Budget, says charity

Latest blow to chancellor on back of national insurance hikes

2 mins

Is there any way of solving our prisoner cell blockage?

The headline news is that the prisons crisis is not going to get much better for many years.

3 mins

NHS patient awarded £70k after drug made him gamble

The NHS has paid out tens of thousands to a man who developed an “uncontrollable” gambling problem after he was given a common Parkinson’s drug, The Independent can reveal.

3 mins

British teenager jailed in Dubai over holiday romance

A British teenager has been jailed in Dubai for having sex with a 17-year-old girl while the pair were on holiday.

2 mins

Syrians vow to rebuild their town after Assad's brutality

Bel Trew in Jobar, north of Damascus, meets residents returning home for the first time in more than a decade

5 mins

Putin helped Assad escape Syria via Russian airbase

Russian intelligence agents persuaded Bashar al-Assad to flee Syria for Moscow, having become convinced that he would lose against the insurgents rapidly advancing on Damascus, sources have said.

2 mins

Ukrainian women pulled alive from rubble seven hours after Russian strike

Rescue crews working through the night have pulled two Ukrainian women from the rubble more than seven hours after a Russian missile struck a private medical clinic in southern Zaporizhzhia city, killing six people and injuring 22 others, Ukraine’s emergency services said.

1 min

Boots owner in negotiations with US private equity firm

Walgreens, the US-based owner of Boots, is in talks to sell itself to a private equity company, casting uncertainty over the future of the venerable high street chain.

1 min

Sublime Saka scores brace as Gunners boss Monaco

Bukayo Saka continues to show the way, as well as new levels. Arsenal have recently been a team in need of a bit of stability and sense of comfort, and this 3-0 win over AS Monaco duly offered them a straight line into the Champions League last 16.

3 mins

City slump to defeat and Champions League peril

It amounts to miserable seven for Pep Guardiola.

4 mins

Liverpool spoilt for choice in battle to look after No 1

The big screen in the corner of the quaint Estadi Montilivi displayed some pre-match entertainment.

3 mins

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