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Russian fighter pilots involved in an incident with a US drone which resulted in its crash will be given state awards, the defence ministry has announced. The move appears to signal Moscow’s intention to adopt a more aggressive stance toward future US surveillance flights. The US military said it ditched the air force MQ-9 Reaper in the Black Sea on Tuesday after a pair of Russian fighter jets dumped fuel

The TUC say ministers had failed to act on a series of breaches of the law and had not closed loopholes in minimum wage law Unions are accusing the Government of failing to strengthen workers’ protections a year after the sacking of hundreds of P&O Ferries employees, saying rogue employers are being given a “free pass to act with impunity”. The TUC said ministers had failed to act on a

Emma Raducanu will not feature in Great Britain’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals qualifying tie against France next month. Captain Anne Keothavong has named the same team which reached the semi-finals in September and said former US Open champion Raducanu was “unavailable” for the tie in Coventry from April 14-15. Raducanu said after her opening victory in Indian Wells that she did not even know when the tie was, a

A sea of green made up of half a million people is to descend on Dublin City centre for a St Patrick’s Day parade that organisers are predicting will be “the biggest and best”. Celebrations are also set to take place across the island of Ireland with massive crowds turning out to mark March 17 in towns and cities. Many more will watch Dublin’s 2023 parade on television, which will

Aldi has handed workers another pay increase to a minimum of £11.40 per hour. The discount supermarket, which employs more than 40,000 UK staff, said that all store assistants will receive the new rate nationally from July 1. Workers within the M25 will see their pay rise to £12.85 an hour. It comes only two months after a pay increase came into force, which handed store assistants £11 an hour.

Dominic Raab has suggested the rules surrounding the inquiry into whether he bullied officials may have been breached by witnesses speaking to the media. The Deputy Prime Minister said on Friday it is “improper” to discuss his conduct after giving evidence to the inquiry being carried out by lawyer Adam Tolley KC. Mr Raab has pledged to resign if he is found to have bullied staff, as the investigation is

The Duke of Richmond, organiser of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, says he is focussed on making his petrol-powered events more sustainable. The man behind the popular motorsport events says he wants to promote the ‘joy of second hand’ as he looks to boost his shows’ environmental credentials. Speaking to the PA news agency, the duke said he believed Goodwood’s motorsport events could ‘definitely become carbon neutral soon’ thanks to

The UK’s communication regulator has delayed the conclusion of its investigation into a new Openreach pricing plan. Openreach confirmed on Friday that it will hold back the launch of the Equinox 2 pricing offer as a result. The watchdog said its consultation into the new wholesale price plan, for telecom providers such as Sky, TalkTalk and Vodafone, closed on March 4. It had planned to unveil a decision on the

The company plans to have a reactor ready to send to the Moon by 2029 Rolls-Royce has received funding from the UK Space Agency to develop a nuclear reactor for a Moon base. The project will look into how nuclear power could be used to support a future base on the Moon for astronauts. Scientists and engineers at the British company are working on the Micro-Reactor programme to develop technology

A committee of MPs have issued a strongly worded report A committee of MPs has referred Royal Mail to regulator Ofcom for breaching its requirement to deliver letters across the country six days a week. In a strongly worded report, the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee said the company had “systematically failed to deliver” the so-called universal service obligation. The committee also said Royal Mail chief executive Simon Thompson