Transport secretary says he should have been more sceptical about industry assurances after critical report by regulator

Chris Grayling has declined to take personal responsibility for this summer’s rail chaos after a regulator’s report concluded that nobody had taken charge of the crisis, saying “a system problem” had been the primary cause.

The transport secretary conceded that in retrospect he could have been more sceptical about assurances from rail operators that timetable changes could be properly managed, but said it was “tough for any politician to overrule the advice of the professionals”.

Automotive industry risks blowing its carbon budget within 10 years without drastic change, analysis shows

New petrol and diesel car sales in Europe must be phased out before 2030 if the auto sector is to play its part in holding global warming to the Paris agreement’s 1.5C goal, a new analysis has found.

Forecourt plug-in hybrids will also have to disappear by 2035 at the latest, according to analysis by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR).

Comments at Salzburg summit aimed at pressuring EU to be more flexible in future talks

Theresa May has tried to threaten EU leaders over dinner at a special summit in Salzburg by telling them the UK would not seek to delay Brexit, prompting European leaders to warn that the two sides remained far apart on trade and the Irish border despite months of negotiations.

The prime minister told her counterparts “that the UK will leave on 29 March next year” and as a result “the onus is now on all of us to get this deal done” by the end of an emergency summit that the EU confirmed would happen in mid-November.

Sun removes story from website for ‘legal reasons’ as police sources indicate one line of inquiry could be that claims are hoax

The saga of the Salisbury nerve agent poisonings is long, twisty and dark, but when the book or film comes out, the story of the Russian lingerie model, the rat poison and the Italian restaurant may emerge as one of the more bizarre subplots.

At the centre is Anna Shapiro, a Russian-born model who has claimed that she and her husband, Alex King, were targeted by Moscow at the weekend a few metres from the bench where the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, collapsed after being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok.

Hospitality industry workers mount unprecedented action to fight ‘poverty wages’

Staff at JD Wetherspoon, McDonald’s and TGI Fridays are to strike next month in an unprecedented action by employees in the hospitality sector, where a campaign to recruit new trade union members is gathering pace among workers who have traditionally not been organised.

The co-ordination and scale of the action – which takes place on 4 October and includes staff from a number of McDonald’s branches in London and two branches of the pub chain on the south coast – is the first of its kind and engages often young, newly unionised workers who will be striking for £10 an hour and union recognition.

Democratic Unionist MP says electorate accepts his apology for lobbying scandal as petition falls just short of 10% threshold

Ian Paisley has thanked the voters of North Antrim for their “unwavering support” after Westminster’s first ever recall petition fell short of the threshold required to unseat him.

The MP hailed his family and “true friends” for sticking by him after he narrowly avoided a byelection.

Northern Ireland woman takes on decision to prosecute her for supplying pills to daughter

A woman is challenging a decision to prosecute her for obtaining abortion pills for her pregnant underage daughter in a potential landmark case for abortion rights in Northern Ireland.

She will seek to overturn a decision by the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland to subject her to a criminal trial and the prospect of five years in prison for supplying the pills in 2013 to her then 15-year-old daughter, who terminated the pregnancy.

Once the number of walking trips is taken into account, Barking and Dagenham is the borough where pedestrians are most in danger of death or injury

Every 12 hours, a pedestrian is seriously injured by a car, lorry or bus on London’s streets – and one person is killed every week.

Eleven people on foot were killed in the borough of Westminster in the three years to 2016; another 11 in Hackney and 11 more in Tower Hamlets. Ten people died in both Havering and Greenwich.

Khaw Kim-sun placed ball filled with the suffocating gas carbon monoxide inside car in Hong Kong

An anaesthetist has been jailed for life in Hong Kong for murdering his wife and teenage daughter using a yoga ball filled with carbon monoxide that he had placed in their car.

Prof Khaw Kim-sun, 53, shook his head and looked at his three other children sitting in court on hearing the verdict on Wednesday, broadcaster RTHK reported. One of them burst into tears.

Dancer broke barriers for African Americans in the 1950s in leading roles with the New York City Ballet

Arthur Mitchell, who broke barriers for African Americans in the 1950s as a dancer with the New York City Ballet and who would go on to become a driving force in the creation of the Dance Theatre of Harlem, has died. He was 84.

Mitchell died on Wednesday at a New York City hospital according to his niece, Juli Mills-Ross. She said he had renal failure that led to heart failure.