About 20,000 cats were taken into charity’s care last year, an increase driven in part by pet hoarders

There is a cat crisis in rescue centres across the country, the RSPCA has said, as abandoned felines now outnumber dogs in the charity’s shelters.

Cats are arriving in RSPCA centres faster than they can be rehomed, and the charity is asking people across England and Wales to consider adopting. Pet owners are being urged to neuter their cats as kittens are increasingly being found dumped in perilous conditions.

Yellow severe weather warning issued for first named storm of season with gusts of up to 60mph expected

The first named storm of the season, Austen, is expected to bring gusts of up to 60mph to southern areas of the UK at the end of the week, forecasters said.

While there would be spells of rain and showers for many on Tuesday and Wednesday, by Thursday Storm Austen would be approaching the south-west of the UK, the Met Office said.

Witness breaks down in tears, tells court ‘I was scared’ after son declined to report alleged kissing and touching by broadcaster

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The mother of the youngest alleged victim of Alan Jones has told a Sydney court she “trusted” the 2GB broadcaster and was “comfortable” her teenager was going to spend a weekend at his Fitzroy Falls property.

The young man, known as complainant A, has testified that when he was 17 he was alone at the southern highlands farm when Jones allegedly kissed him, put his tongue inside his mouth and touched him on the bottom. “I felt violated and I felt gross,” he told the court earlier.

Police officer had operation at St Vincent’s hospital two days after Jesse Baird and Luke Davies were shot dead in Paddington terrace in early 2024

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Beau Lamarre-Condon’s alleged attempt to dispose of two bodies was briefly interrupted so he could undergo surgery, a Sydney court has been told.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has been accused of fatally shooting couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.

Drivers to get five minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave after their session ends

Drivers will get a guaranteed five minutes to decide whether to park and 10 minutes to leave after their parking session ends before they face a fine under new rules for private car parks that Andy Burnham said were designed to outlaw “rip-off” charges.

In the latest in a series of “everyday fixes” to ease the cost of living and give consumers a “fairer” deal, the prime minister said a new official code of practice for the industry meant motorists in England, Scotland and Wales would enjoy a range of new rights.

Downing Street delivered a rare rebuke to a senior member of Donald Trump’s administration

Asked why the Lib Dems were opposed to a third runway at Heathrow when they professed to be in favour of growth, Cooper said she did not accept that a third runway would produce all the benefits its supporters claimed.

She explained:

On Heathrow, it is clear from looking at all of the economic analysis of airport growth over the last few years that many of the promises made by all sorts of different airport companies simply haven’t come to bear.

The promise of higher wage jobs hasn’t been substantiated. Often it’s lower paid jobs, and often not as many as they’ve claimed.

NSW tribunal upholds liquor authority’s decision preventing Manthos Papadopoulos from entering Sydney Elements and Showgirls

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A Sydney strip club owner has failed in a bid to overturn a ban on entering venues – including his own businesses – in the nightlife precinct of Kings Cross.

Manthos Papadopoulos, the owner of Sydney Elements and Showgirls, was banned by the Independent Liquor and Gaming Authority in July after a request from New South Wales police, the NSW civil and administrative tribunal said in a decision published on Monday.

Bill to authorise production expansion at Mount Pleasant coalmine, subject to a landmark high court decision, criticised as ‘legislative overreach’

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The Minns government says it will introduce special legislation to allow a mine in the New South Wales Hunter Valley that was the subject of high court proceedings to increase its coal production by 32% per year.

The premier, Chris Minns, said the bill would authorise MACH Energy to increase the annual coal output at its Mount Pleasant coalmine by 4m tonnes to 16.5MT per year until 2032. He claimed it was necessary to save 400 jobs at the site before Christmas.

Accused asked fellow police officer how law enforcement would respond to reports of gunshots days before alleged murders, court hears

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Beau Lamarre-Condon allegedly told a friend “I love you’” and “not everything in the news is true” a month after he was arrested over a double murder, a court has heard.

Lamarre-Condon, 31, has been accused of fatally shooting Sydney couple Jesse Baird and Luke Davies with his police service weapon in Baird’s Paddington home on 19 February 2024.

Amid police brutality allegations, inquiry hears protesters against visit of Israeli president were ‘largely peaceful’

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An inquiry into a Sydney rally against the Israeli president’s visit has so far found protesters were “largely peaceful” and there is “limited evidence of physical violence on the part of the protesters”.

The Law Enforcement Conduct Commission (Lecc) kicked off its inquiry into the February protest at Sydney’s town hall against the visit of Isaac Herzog on Monday, outlining a number of issues it is examining, including police use of OC spray and “police boasting about gratuitous force”.

Police responding to reports of an alleged stolen car in Dulwich Hill were told a man was armed with a firearm

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An alleged gunman with “shaggy hair” has been arrested following reports of a confrontation about an allegedly stolen car which was set on fire prompting him to flee the scene.

The 32-year-old man was arrested late Sunday in Sydney’s inner west, after being on the run since Friday morning, following an appeal by the police.

ONS data for England and Wales shows 26% of heterosexual divorces in 2025 followed 20 years or more of marriage

Most couples are aware of the dreaded “seven-year itch”, when the honeymoon period wears off and real life starts to bite.

Now official data has shown that couples in England and Wales are more likely to split after 20 years. According to Office for National Statistics figures, more than a quarter of all divorces between opposite-sex couples happened after 20 years or longer of marriage.

Sydney teenager charged with offensive behaviour and sexual touching without consent in relation to incidents involving females aged 13 to 54

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An ebike riding 13-year-old boy has been charged with multiple sexual offences allegedly committed against women on walking trails on Sydney’s northern beaches.

New South Wales police said the boy was arrested on Saturday evening after a strike force was established to investigate inappropriate comments and alleged sexual touching incidents on walking trails in the Narrabeen area in the first weeks of October.

Exclusive: Research confirms official advice about high-risk properties and warns worsening conditions will make more homes unsafe

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Almost every home destroyed in New South Wales during the black summer bushfires of 2019-20 was inside the 100 metre buffer zone used to identify properties most at risk, new research has found.

The findings are an endorsement of the risk maps used by authorities, but the research warns that as global heating generates ever-worsening fire conditions, firefighters may have to extend the recommended distances between homes and vegetation to keep properties safe.

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The windswept plateau in central Wales, near the village of Sennybridge in Powys, was once home to a thriving Welsh-speaking farming society whose roots stretched back generations. During World War 2, this community was evicted to make way for what is now the third largest military training area in the United Kingdom. The disappearance of Mynydd Epynt remains one of the most controversial episodes in modern Welsh history.

For many Welsh people, Epynt stands alongside the flooding of Capel Celyn as a symbol of a community sacrificed in the name of a greater national cause. The slogan “Cofiwch Epynt” (“Remember Epynt”) continues to appear on walls and roadside signs across Wales, ensuring that the story is not forgotten.

The 'Cofiwch Fynydd Epynt' (Remember Epynt Mountain) mural, in Llanrug. Credit: Daily Post