National News

A man has chuckled in the dock of the court after receiving a four-year football ban having admitted wearing a football shirt at Wembley Stadium which made an offensive reference to the Hillsborough disaster. James White, 33, of Warwickshire, pleaded guilty to displaying threatening or abusive writing likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress at Willesden Magistrates’ Court in north-west London on Monday. The court heard he wore a Manchester

Manchester United have announced defender Ona Batlle is to leave the Women’s Super League club and sign for Barcelona on the completion of her contract at the end of the month. The 24-year-old Spain international joined United in the summer of 2020 after leaving Levante and went on to make 77 appearances for the Red Devils, scoring three goals. She was included in the Professional Footballers’ Association WSL team of the year for

Iceland is trialling an aisle solely devoted to food that can be cooked in an air fryer as sales continue to soar for the energy-saving ovens. The supermarket said the aisle would operate from June 19 for a week at its large format Food Warehouse outlet in Charlton, London, and include around 287 food items that can be cooked in an air fryer. Products include Greggs sausage rolls and steak

Train drivers at 16 rail operators will refuse to work overtime for six days next month in the long running dispute over pay. Aslef said its members will withdraw non-contractual overtime – known as rest day working – from Monday July 3 to Saturday July 8. The action coincides with the first week of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. Train companies affected are: Avanti West Coast; Chiltern Railways; Cross Country; East

The threat of terrorism is “still very real”, London mayor Sadiq Khan said on the sixth anniversary of the Finsbury Park terror attack. Makram Ali, 51, died and 11 others were injured on June 19, 2017 when Darren Osborne drove a van into worshippers outside the Muslim Welfare House shortly after Ramadan evening prayers. Osborne, from Cardiff, was found guilty of terrorism-related murder and jailed for life in February 2018. Mohamed Mamoud –

Fewer than half of councils serving some of England’s poorest communities are confident they will meet their budgets this year, a survey has found. In a dire warning of the perilous state of local government finances, 47 authorities in the North, the Midlands and on the south coast said they will have to make savings totalling £700 million on spending plans set just four months ago due to inflationary pressures.

Michael Gove has said two Tories should keep the honours they were handed by Boris Johnson despite attending a pandemic-era gathering at which staff were filmed apparently joking about Covid restrictions. The Levelling Up Secretary apologised over the footage of a Christmas event at Conservative Party headquarters said to have taken place on December 14 2020 when indoor socialising was banned. But Mr Gove said the former prime minister has

Ollie Robinson was unrepentant after appearing to give Usman Khawaja an expletive-laden send-off as tempers rose on day three of a delicately-balanced first Ashes Test. Khawaja’s masterful 141 was ended when England’s ring of close fielders led to the Australia opener attempting to make room, only to york himself as he was castled by Robinson. Television cameras seemed to show a fired-up Robinson giving Khawaja a verbal volley in his celebration as he helped restrict