Shocking pictures have emerged showing the damage caused by an explosion which rocked a building in Germany on Saturday night, injuring 25 people.

The several-story building was destroyed in the western city of Wuppertal.

Police said the explosion happened shortly before midnight on Saturday, with a large noise scaring people in surrounding homes so much they ran out into the street in a panic.

German police said a fire broke out in several different parts of the house and firefighters had trouble dousing the flames because parts of the building kept collapsing.

They were able to rescue four severely injured people from inside the building.

Another 21 people were slightly injured and treated by emergency staff at the scene.

Emergency services said on Sunday they were still trying to get the fire under control. They are investigating the cause of the explosion.

There are no easy games in international football, the experts said, after England’s dramatic late win against Tunisia in the country’s opening group game.

So before the match against debutants Panama in the 32C Russian heat, the important thing was to manage expectations.

But expectations were precisely what most England fans tossed to the winds during this fiery-tempered World Cup game.

From the get-go, Panama made clear they were going to get up close and personal with the England boys ...

As England galloped to a 5-0 half-time lead, it started to dawn on most that Panama were actually not that good.

With the result starting to look like an inevitability, Twitter turned to puns ...

And, yes, with group stage qualification assured, it was time to turn those expectations up to 11.

And Harry Kane’s assent to minor deity status continued ...

Meanwhile, is this right?

Actually, was this World Cup lark becoming too easy?

And if you were thinking there was nothing to play for against Belgium, think again ... 

The mercury will rise above 30C this week as Britain bakes in its hottest temperatures so far this year.

Britons can look forward to barbecues, beer gardens and basking in the sun as the World Cup also hots up with England’s qualification to the knock-out stages.

The weekend saw highs of 27C, but temperatures are set to soar as summer gets into full swing following the warm and dry weekend.

But while its good news for those who enjoy the warm, dry weather, high UV levels mean sun cream is a must for those spending time outside, and gardeners will have to make sure they water their plants.

Hay fever sufferers are also in for a difficult time, with pollen levels expected to remain very high. 

The hottest day so far this year came in April when a temperature of 29.1C was recorded in London.

Met Office forecaster Sophie Yeomans said: “We would expect at some point this week to beat that.”

“We are going to continue with the dry and sunny weather for most places. Top temperatures are going to be on the rise.

“We could see temperatures into the low 30s some time this week, possibly from Tuesday, but more likely from Wednesday.”

Yeomans added: “The pollen levels are going to be very high right throughout the week, with grass pollen the main allergen there, so for hay fever sufferers it’s bad news.”

The sons of a retired British couple found dead at their home in Jamaica have said they are “completely devastated” after the death of their “hugely popular” parents.

Police are treating the deaths of Charlie and Gayle Anderson, both originally from Manchester, as suspected murder.

Anderson, 74, and his 71-year-old wife, were discovered on Friday at their home in Mount Pleasant, according to local media reports.

The Foreign Office would not confirm when they were discovered.

Their bodies were found with serious injuries and police investigations have suggested the couple may have been the victims of fraud, the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper reported.

The Andersons’ sons said in a statement: “Our parents Charlie and Gayle enjoyed a long and happy marriage of 55 years and leave behind their four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

“They were hardworking people, building a business with integrity and making sure we were always provided for.

“Charlie and Gayle were pillars of the community in Manchester and Jamaica, and were hugely popular and loved by many.

“They were just beginning the next chapter of their lives, retiring to Jamaica before this terrible tragedy.

“We would like to thank our friends, family and community for their prayers and support.

“We are completely devastated and ask for privacy at this extremely difficult time.”

Former neighbour Kishore Singh, who lives on High Bank in Manchester, said the couple “were two of the most beautiful people in the world, Charlie was like a father to me”.

The 51-year-old said Mr Anderson had been building a house in Jamaica and had been going back and forth over the past few years.

He said: “He would tell me ‘I’m going home, I’ve worked in this country and now I want to go home and retire and enjoy my last few years’.

“He would tell me how the house building was going with so much pride in his face. We’d stand outside talking for hours.

“When I found out what happened I couldn’t accept it. Not Charlie.”

He said the Andersons moved out to Jamaica for good around 12 months ago having lived in Manchester for decades, but had been back in the UK recently after falling victim to credit card fraud.

Boris Johnson should resign as foreign secretary in order to vote against the expansion of Heathrow, a senior Tory has said.

MPs are expected to give the green light on Monday to building a third runway at the airport.

But Johnson will conveniently be out of the country meaning he will avoid having to choose between his Cabinet job and his longstanding opposition the plan.

Theresa May has already suffered one resignation over the decision to force Tory MPs to back the plan, with Greg Hands quitting as international trade minister to oppose the airport expansion.

Sarah Wollaston, the Tory chair of the Commons health committee, said Johnson should follow Hands.

“I think this would be an opportunity for a colleague like Boris Johnson to actually put his money where his mouth is,” she told BBC Radio 4′s Westminster Hour.

“Just being conveniently out of the country I’m afraid won’t wash.”

She said voters “might expect him to use this as an opportunity and to resign on a point of principle in order to fulfil that election promise”.

Wollaston added: “We’ve seen a series of gaffes from Boris Johnson. I think many of us are wondering why in fact he has been allowed to stay so long.”

Meanwhile, Johnson has been mocked about missing the vote by Hands.

Trade minister Greg Hands resigned from the government over plans to extend Heathrow as his Chelsea and Fulham seat lies under the airport’s flight path, which is heavily affected by noise.

In his election campaign literature, Hands said he was opposed to the expansion of Heathrow “like Boris Johnson”.

On Sunday, Hands used Twitter to fire a shot at Johnson. He wrote: “Great to arrive back in the UK at Luton Airport in time for the match today and to vote against Heathrow expansion tomorrow.

“I wouldn’t want to be abroad for either of those. #commitments.”

May has said the government’s believes to increasing capacity at Heathrow was important for “the ambitions we have as a trading nation for the future”.

And she has defended allowing Johnson to skip the vote. “The foreign secretary early next week will be what I would describe as the living embodiment of global Britain,” she said.

“He will be out there actually showing the UK’s continued presence around the world and the work that the UK continues to do around the world with our diplomacy, working on so many of the issues and challenges that we face across the world today.”

Jeremy Corbyn has decided to allow Labour MPs a free vote on the expansion plans.

His decision follows big pressure from trade unions like Unite and the GMB, who have long campaigned for a third runway as the key to more jobs in construction, travel and retail.

It also means that Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, whose London constituency is under the Heathrow flight path, can continue his opposition to the third airport.

On Sunday night, Len McCluskey, the head of the Unite union, wrote to all Labour MPs urging them to back the expansion on Monday, saying it was “the opportunity to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs”, putting him at odds with Corbyn.

In a letter seen by the Guardian, he wrote: “We urge you to make the right choice. Your action in the next few days matter to us.”

Meanwhile, more than 40 Labour MPs have said they will disregard their frontbench and support a third runway at Heathrow.

The group whose constituencies span the country put their names to a letter to colleagues in the party urging them to support a project they say could create 180,000 jobs across the UK.

Those who have signed the letter include many critics of the party leadership, including Luciana Berger, John Mann, Mike Gapes and Wes Streeting. 

They wrote that supporting the scheme is right “in principle”, saying: “It’ll create up to 180,000 new jobs across the country, delivering growth and connectivity for our constituents.

“As this project will span multiple parliaments – including, we hope, a Labour government – it’s our responsibility to secure strong cross-party backing for this project.”

The MPs disagreed that the expansion plan failed to meet its four tests for support: increased capacity, C02 reduction, minimised noise and shared benefits across the UK, writing: “Monday night’s vote is not a blank cheque – the huge benefits from expansion can only be achieved if Heathrow also meets stringent tests on air quality and noise.

“We will work to ensure legally binding safeguards are in place that will mean a new runway can only be built if it is environmentally sustainable.”

Ahead of the vote, officials said the expansion of Heathrow would create 114,000 extra jobs in the area around the airport by 2030, with an extra 16 million long-haul seats by 2040.

It would represent the first full-length runway in the south east since the Second World War, the Department for Transport said.

Opponents have attacked the scheme on environmental, noise and financial grounds grounds, with Friends of the Earth saying it was “morally reprehensible” and would see the enlarged Heathrow emitting as much carbon as the whole of Portugal.

More than 45,000 football fans packed out Wembley Stadium earlier this month to watch Chelsea beat Arsenal 3-1. There’s nothing unusual about this sentence, until it’s completed by the words “…in the SSE Women’s FA Cup Final.”

Women’s sport is finally coming off the bench - and about time, too. But why has it taken so long? And what are the forces holding it back?

History holds a clue, and football gives us a focus. The women’s game wasn’t always a sidelined curiosity. On Boxing Day 1920, an estimated crowd of 55,000 filled Everton’s ground, Goodison Park, to watch twenty-two ladies play football. It’s possible that as many as 15,000 additional fans were locked out. This was 10,000 more spectators than at Wembley for the cup final. By way of context, this was not an historic anomaly. In 1895, women’s matches regularly attracted crowds of 10,000 spectators. So: the vital question - what caused a century-long reset?

The tipping point came in December 1921 - a year after that record-breaking attendance. The Football Association, alarmed at the growing popularity of women’s football, adopted a resolution that would alter the course of British sporting history:

“Complaints have been made as to football being played by women, the council feel impelled to express their strong opinion that the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged.”

After that landmark decision, it was decreed that no FA team could use its ground for women’s matches. A paradigm shift had taken place, which set women’s football back many decades, as the ban stayed in effect until July 1971.

Societal and sociological changes began gradually to emancipate the women’s game again over the past three to four decades, with Channel 4 providing regular coverage of matches from 1989 and the FA outlining plans in 1997 to develop women’s football at every level. Now’s the time for the sport to come into its own, with the FA announcing in March that it is on track to double the numbers of players and fans by 2020.

But what are the structural barriers to this success being amplified and replicated across the entire sporting landscape, and how can these be overcome?

The oft-overlooked reality is that women have excelled across the whole range of sports, despite gender discrimination. The Olympics have often seen highlights and firsts, from Helene Madison’s phenomenal 100-metre freestyle in one minute at the 1932 Olympics to Morocco’s Nawal El Moutawakel becoming the first woman from an Islamic nation to win an Olympic medal for the 400-metre hurdles in 1984. But professionalising women’s sports has to start with the grassroots, by popularising them amongst all women and girls. Tomorrow’s world champions don’t emerge from a vacuum. They’re grown in today’s schools, communities and clubs.

Sport England notes that almost twice as many men take part in sport as women. Part of their remit is to narrow that gap. The organisation categorises the barriers into two: personal and practical. Practical barriers include the responsibilities and duties of both working mothers and full-time mums; children’s bed times and family meal times; and budgetary issues. Indeed, even this statement indicates an assumption: not every potential female sports participant has children.

The personal barriers are more psychological in nature. These range from fear of being judged, worries about appearance and lack of social confidence to concerns about ability – whether health related or not – and whether justified or not.

Participation rates amongst women across the board will continue to rise, but if we want (as a society) to accelerate this, being mindful of (and implementing) the following principles will help.

To challenge the dominant male paradigm, we must be unashamed of (politely, but firmly) challenging sexist worldviews. We should use the language of ‘wellbeing’ and ‘health’ to communicate more effectively.

Above all, we ought to realise that the rise of women in sport, and indeed the rise of women’s sport are not a new phenomenon, nor are they a cultural aberration. A hundred years ago, 55,000 watched a women’s game. Earlier this month, we saw a crowd of 45,000. It won’t be long before we’ll have come full circle, but now with a more enlightened outlook, and a brighter future.

It’s the news story that been almost impossible to escape this week - the separation of children from their parents at the American border. The justification is that their parents have committed a criminal act in crossing the border, even if it’s to seek asylum, and by taking the children away they are being spared the jail conditions the parents are facing.

It’s not hard to see the flaws in this logic. If it wasn’t for Trump’s new “zero-tolerance” policy, which calls for prosecution of all those crossing the border without authorisation, then most of the parents involved wouldn’t be heading for jail. Whether the American court and prison systems are equipped for such a big spike in convictions is unclear but the circular argument of making people criminals in order to justify removing their children is deeply cruel and unpleasant. And the lack of strategy to reunite the families once the parents are freed is creating a mess that will take generations to unpick.

But why are we surprised that Trump is driving this change? Why are we surprised that he seemingly has little in the way of conscience at these scenes of children being dragged away from their parents? Why are we even shocked that he, in the words of Melania’s jacket, “really don’t care”? He has always been cruel. From the mocking of the disabled journalist to the persistent and racist “birther” campign against Obama, he has consistently shown a cruelty of character that makes the treatment of immigrants as animals entirely unsurprising.

And people voted for this! After two terms of a President who wore compassion as openly as a tan suit, there was an appetite for someone who would be harsher on immigrants. Trump campaigned on building a wall, mass deportation and a ban on foreign Muslims entering the country. He praised leaders like Putin and Saddam Hussein and said that the Tianamen Square massacre “shows you the power of strength”. In every way, he always has equated strength with cruelty. Even his TV show was a celebration of power over co-operation, calling a candidate stupid for being truthful and making repeated sexualised remarks which the candidates could do nothing but awkwardly giggle about.

So appealing to Trump’s compassionate side is never going to convince him that removing children was a bad idea. The one thing that works is appealing to his ego and that’s how he’s been convinced to sign an order stopping the practice. He has noted the outrage and has seen the opportunity to step in and play the hero and that is a classic Trump move. Don’t be fooled - he cares not one jot about the suffering of these babies or their parents. He just craves attention and this is how he’s getting it right now.

How should we react then? We should be angry, we should be distressed and we should be taking whatever action we can - if you’re in the UK, that might include joining the masses next month to protest Trump’s visit. But don’t be surprised. Don’t be shocked. And be expectant for whatever act of cruelty Number 45 decides to pull next.

A 50-year-old man has been charged over the murder of a woman whose body was found in a back garden after she was stabbed in the back.

Gary Davies, 50, is believed to have known the 56-year-old victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene in Greenwich, southeast London.

Her body was found in the garden of a house on Tunnel Avenue following emergency calls at around 11.30am on Saturday.

Scotland Yard said a post-mortem exam carried out on Sunday gave the cause of death as stab wounds to the back.

Detectives do not believe the incident is domestic, although Davies and the woman are believed to have known each other.

Officers believe they know the identity of the victim and have informed her next of kin, but formal identification is yet to take place.

Davies will appear in custody at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

A Scotland Yard statement said: “A post-mortem examination on Sunday, June 24, at Greenwich Mortuary gave cause of death as stab wounds to the back.

“Officers believe they know the identity of the deceased and next of kin have been informed, but formal identification has not taken place.

“A 50-year-old man was arrested at the location and charged on June 24 with murder. He is Gary Davies, of Tunnel Avenue, SE10. He will appear in custody at Bromley Magistrates’ Court on Monday, June 25.

“Although the incident is not thought to be domestic, detectives believe the deceased and the man charged were known to each other.”

Anyone with information is asked to call murder detectives on 020 8721 4054.

The legalisation of cannabis is again in the news. This because of a plea from Billy Caldwell’s mum that he be allowed to use oil abstracted from cannabis to help with his epilepsy.

Happily, the Home Secretary agreed to help them.

Of course the two matters can be separated into legalising the use of cannabis for medicine and making it legal to use it merely for recreational purposes - but in our usual way we are mixing the two in the media right now.

I want to contribute my experience of policing in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s in London to this debate, because it is still relevant today.

It was alcohol that was the major problem for police then and now - not cannabis.

Alcohol leads to casual violence in the streets at night, sometimes leading to serious injury or death. It leads to anti-social and threatening behaviour between drunken people, making some streets in our cities an unpleasant place to be on Fridays and Saturdays.

Alcohol often made domestic arguments and disputes more likely to turn into domestic violence, again leading to injury and sometimes death. It added to the misery felt by by both the adults and children because it got in the way of reason when reason and compromise was needed most

Of course there are violent people who would do bad things without alcohol - but it certainly made the worst behaviour and anger more likely - because booze is the enemy of reason and compromise.

Alcohol was increasing violence in the home and on the streets. It was also slowly killing addicts who often came to the notice of police as they got drunk in public places everyday.

Drinking and driving causes injury and death and gets people disqualified and some lose their jobs and it was another thing for police to deal with - and quite rightly so.

Less of a problem now than in the 1980s but still a challenge for police.

On the other hand, laws on the use and possession of ordinary cannabis meant arresting people for possession or for producing or growing it in the loft or spare bedroom.

But as far as I recall it never caused street violence or made for more domestic violence or made our streets feel unsafe.

The argument that cannabis, especially in its stronger forms, can cause mental health issues is worthy of research and debate but it is the use of legal booze that keeps police in business.

So if cannabis were made legal there would be less for police to do.

They would have a bit more time to deal with the more serious problems. Ordinary cannabis is only a problem for police because its possession and use is illegal - while legal alcohol is a massive problem for police and society because of its effect on behaviour.

By the way I don’t actually think we should make alcohol illegal, since most people use it peacefully and don’t fight and can still solve their domestic issues.

Some of us will live a little less long because of it but that’s not a policing problem.

All I am saying is that we shouldn’t think cannabis causes anything near the problems that booze causes in our streets and homes. Not from my experience.

If anything it is the Daily Mail effect that stops many politicians from getting rid of many of the laws on cannabis, the moral panic that we would be forcing our children into hippy lifestyles or onto hard drugs.

Again, that’s all open to proper debate and research but it is the fear of criticism by popular newspapers and the blue rinse brigade of middle England that rules on this matter, and I think dealing with cannabis wastes police time in most cases.

Police budgets are still being slashed by this government and there are only so many things they can deal with.

As a community, people with disabilities have an amazing ability to creatively negotiate the immense challenges posed by inaccessible environments.

From a blind user figuring out how to use the inaccessible menu systems of everyday products by listening to whirrs and beeps that are often meaningless to others, to a child who uses his mouth to hold a pen to write with, disabled people tend to be good at finding unique ways of working, despite the environment they are operating in.

In some cases, great designs come from people’s needs – sometimes specialist, sometimes mainstream. In the best cases, well-executed design of everyday products takes the needs of our diverse human race, or at least some of it, into account. But sadly, this isn’t always the case.

It seems that increasingly, disabled people’s needs are not taken into account when it comes to the design of new technology. This is despite the fact that the numbers of people with disabilities are well-known – one in five people in the UK are affected by disability. We also know that acquired disability, as a result of living longer, is on the rise.

Historically, the needs of disabled people have driven some of the world’s greatest technological innovations.

Pellegrino Turri, an inventor of the 19th Century, developed one of the first mechanical devices that enabled his blind girlfriend to be able to write letters to him without the need to rely on a scribe to write for her. The typewriter was born, followed by the delivery of the qwerty keyboard – ever-present today, even on our touchscreen devices.

Ray Kurzweil is one of the first to have developed a “reading machine for the blind” – a device not dissimilar in size to a refrigerator in the late 1970s, using synthetic speech to read text that could be scanned. Today, these OCR systems are on every desktop. Ray’s latest delivery – an app for mobile phones - offers orientation instructions to ensure that a blind person captures the document correctly with the camera.

The phonograph, precursor to the gramophone, and all that came after, was developed with dictation of letters and talking books for blind people as the two main possibilities for its use.

From colour contrast to sock sorters, the list is a long one – where through necessity, a design idea has been triggered by real need and translated into mainstream, everyday use.

Today, we as a disability community benefit from the latest technologies – screen reading solutions, switch controls, eye control, ‘sticky keys’, and very new concepts such as brain actuation, or the use of virtual reality simulations to support people with autism in controlled exposure to environments that they know will be challenging for them. These and many more have been hard won, often with the support of key company advocates, legislation and, simply, a great idea.

However, there are areas of life which, from an accessibility point of view, are still illusive. Often traditional marketing ideas see disability as too complicated, too difficult to reach, or too “niche”.

If I am looking for a washing machine or piece of kitchen equipment that I can use, for example, what I need is not always available. If I settle for an inaccessible piece of equipment, then the manufacturer will continue to think that the product is a success. But refusing to buy the product will do nothing but confuse the shop assistant. Making our voices heard is not always easy. We need manufacturers to consider disability from the outset of their designs, to ensure that their products are accessible.

Looking ahead to the future, in the world of education and work especially, we are tackling one of the very essential elements that make us human – intelligence. We are on a path to create intelligent machines, robots, delivery systems, and driverless cars. The very fabric of how our economy works and what human endeavour is all about will be transformed.

More than ever, we need to ensure that accessibility is dedicated to technical development and thinking. We cannot afford to lose the hard-won victories around this, nor can we afford to rely on the few who rise to the challenge.

We, the disability community, need to be clear and unified around our needs, and we must re-invent our methods for holding society to account around accessibility. Technology has the power to change the lives of disabled people. We must harness this to ensure everyone benefits from the rapid advancements in technology.

Jeremy Corbyn has come under renewed pressure from within Labour to back a second EU referendum.

On Monday, a new campaign by grassroots party members, Labour for a People’s Vote, was launched to demand the party keep open the option of stopping Brexit.

According to the group, 62 local Labour parties will debate a motion calling on Labour to “oppose Tory Brexit and win a radical Labour government”.

The campaign group said it expected that number to grow in the coming days.

Corbyn has said holding a referendum on the government’s Brexit deal is not currently Labour policy.

The party is split down the middle on Brexit, with the leadership having to carefully balance its largely pro-Remain membership against the party’s many ‘Leave’ voting constituencies. 

Mike Buckley, the Labour Party activist who set up the campaign, said: “Whether people voted Leave or Remain in 2016 they all voted for what they thought was a better future for them and their families.

“But the Tories’ Brexit deal will cost jobs, close businesses, and put at risk our NHS, workers’ rights and global alliances.

“The people deserve a chance to give their verdict on the Tories’ failed negotiation - only Labour can make that happen.”

The move is backed by Manuel Cortes, the general secretary of the TSSA union, as well as economist Ann Pettifor, an adviser to John McDonnell.

The shadow chancellor has said he would prefer a general election to a second referendum if a Brexit deal cannot be agreed and approved before the UK leaves the EU.

It comes after tens of thousands of people marched through London on the second anniversary of the EU referendum to demand a fresh vote on the terms of the Brexit deal.

A large crowd waving EU flags and placards attended the People’s Vote rally on Saturday afternoon, walking from Pall Mall to Parliament Square.

The People’s Vote estimated that 100,000 took part, but the figure could not be independently verified.

Labour campaigned in support of Remain in 2016 and there were chants of “Where’s Jeremy Corbyn?” from the crowd.

Uber’s long-awaited battle to regain its London licence will begin on Monday, in an appeal case that could have ramifications for the whole company.

The ride-hailing app, thought to serve some 3.5 million passengers in London via 40,000 drivers, is defending its right to operate in its largest European market after losing its licence in September after Transport for London concluded it was “not fit and proper” to operate in the capital.

TfL’s shock move last year came amid concerns over Uber’s approach to reporting serious criminal offences, how driver’s medical certificates are obtained, how criminal record checks are carried out – and its use of technology, which allegedly helps it evade law enforcement officials.

Transport for London (TfL) said it took the decision on the grounds of “public safety and security implications”, though more than 800,000 people signed an online petition launched by Uber calling for the decision to be reversed.

It was just one of many blows to Uber in the past year, as a stream of executives left amid controversies involving allegations of sexual harassment and issues surrounding data privacy and business practices. 

Uber, whose backers include Goldman Sachs and BlackRock and which is valued at over $70bn, will make its case against the decision at Westminster Magistrates’ Court in a hearing that is expected to last several days.

Court documents that form part of the company’s appeal have revealed that Uber has investigated more than 2,500 drivers in London for alleged offences including sex assaults, stalking and dangerous driving.

The figures also show that at least 800 potential drivers have had medical and sight tests by Uber over Skype.

Earlier this year, in a bid to placate TfL, Uber announced a series of changes to its business model – including the proactive reporting of serious incidents to London’s police. The changes also include plans to give customers more access to driver information, including the licensing authority and private hire number of their driver.

A freedom of information request revealed that London’s Transport Commissioner Mike Brown met the new Uber boss, Dara Khosrowshahi, in both October and January, though no information about the meetings has been released. 

What changes has Uber made?

• Speaking to the Police: The firm said it will directly pass police information about any serious incidents reported by its customers. It said it will also do so if one of its drivers is the victim of a serious crime and wants the company to act on their behalf.

• A new complaints procedure: Additionally, it said it is conducting a review of all previous serious complaints to ensure there are no outstanding issues. A 24-hour support line for both drivers and customers to handle any issues around a journey was also announced.

• English tests: It has dropped its appeal against English language tests for its drivers in London. Uber had said it supports spoken English skills, but claimed the exam – introduced by TfL – would have gone beyond requirements for British citizenship, as well as rules governing public sector workers.

• App redesign: This month the company announced a “complete redesign” of the app used by its drivers, saying it wants to improve the experience for those who use it and it was part of plans to correct “missteps of the past”. The new app will feature an Earnings Tracker at the top of the screen, which will show drivers their earnings on their last trip, which it said will make it easier to track process towards an earnings goal.

The app will also feature a new Status Bar to showcase updates on market conditions around a driver and opportunities for more trips nearby.

The redesigned app will now also house driver profiles, which Uber says drivers can use to “showcase themselves” and give passengers more information about them.

• Better driver feedback: In February it announced it will launch a new scheme to make it easier for drivers to give feedback via an advisory group established in every city where it operates. Uber said the aim was to give drivers the chance to feed back on a new product or any decisions affecting them.

• A cap on driver hours: In January it announced it will introduce a cap on how many hours its drivers can work, describing it as an “industry first”. The new policy means that a licensed driver on Uber’s app must take an uninterrupted six-hour break after 10 hours of time on a trip with a passenger – or on their way to pick up a passenger after confirming a trip request.

Drivers who do not take a long enough break will not be able to log into the app and take trips. Uber said the new policy was introduced across the UK to help “enhance driver and passenger safety”.

• Cleaner vehicles: In September Uber announced it would add a surcharge to its fares to help pay for cleaner vehicles. It said all vehicles operating standard uberX journeys in London will be hybrid or fully electric by the end of 2019. It is hoping to reach the same standard across the rest of the UK by 2022.

Why did Uber lose its licence?

In August last year, a Metropolitan Police inspector claimed Uber was more concerned about its reputation than the safety of its passengers.

The company was accused of failing to report a string of serious crimes, including sexual assaults and an incident in which a driver produced what was thought to be pepper spray during a road-rage argument.

In 2016, the Met Police were made aware of six sexual assaults, two public order offences and one assault reported by Uber to TfL.

Uber subsequently told The Sunday Times the initial refusal to help was due to a misunderstanding, and said the pepper spray mentioned had actually been a spray to identify criminals, which was legal.

In November, Uber was urged to contact the 2.7 million UK users of its app who were affected by a mass data breach “as soon as possible” after it was found the firm had tried to conceal the matter.

Hackers obtained personal details of 57 million customers and drivers worldwide, but it was the first time the impact on the UK has been disclosed.

The culprits obtained people’s names, email addresses and mobile phone numbers, the taxi-hailing firm said, but third-party investigators have found no indication that financial details, journey histories and dates of birth were downloaded, it claimed.

Reuters reported in December that a 20-year-old man was behind the breach, and that he was paid by Uber to destroy the data. The firm later apologised for how it handled the breach.

That same month, Uber lost an employment case in the UK over the rights of employees, with the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) rejecting Uber’s argument over the status of drivers.

Unions argued drivers should be classified as “workers” rather than being self-employed, which would entitle them to rights such as holiday pay. Uber, which lost a court battle when two drivers argued they were employees, is appealing against that ruling. 

Caroline Flack paid an emotional tribute to ‘Love Island’ star Sophie Gradon on ‘Aftersun’ on Sunday night. 

The series two contestant died last week at the age of 32, and as the spin-off show aired live for the first time since her death, a moment was taken to remember her. 

Before one of the commercial breaks, Caroline said: “Before we go, tragically this week we lost a beautiful soul in Sophie Gradon.

“She was a gorgeous person both inside and out... Everyone’s thoughts here at Love Island are with Sophie’s friends and family at this really terrible time.” 

The emotional host added: “Sophie we will never forget you.”

The tribute followed a previous on-air dedication on the main show to Sophie, following the news of her death on Thursday. 

Bosses also released a statement, which read: “The whole ITV2 and Love Island team are profoundly saddened to hear the news about Sophie, and our deepest sympathies and thoughts go to her family and friends.” 

Many of Sophie’s fellow Islanders, including Katie Salmon, Olivia Buckland, Cara De La Hoyde and Malin Andersson have shared tributes online as well. 

It has also been revealed this year’s Islanders have been informed of Sophie’s death, particularly as contestant Ellie Brown knew her. 

The cause of Sophie’s death has yet to be confirmed, with an investigation currently taking place. However, it is not being treated as suspicious. 

Her family have since broken their silence on her death, with her cousin paying an emotional tribute on Instagram. 

Charlotte Martin wrote: “You were everything I wanted to be and more, the most caring and hilarious person I knew. The beacon of any room you entered and I will remember your smile and laugh forever.”

Danny Dyer has spoken of his pride at watching his daughter, Dani, on ‘Love Island’. 

The ‘EastEnders’ actor said he “proper misses” his eldest child, as he tweeted his support for her on Sunday. 

Shortly before the latest episode of the ITV2 reality series aired, Danny posted on the social media site: “I know she’s doing well....holding her own and all that bollocks...but It’s gotta be declared...I proper miss my baby girl now...”

Danny broke his silence on his daughter’s participation in the series a week after it began on TV, and it seems he took a little bit of time adjusting to the idea. 

Dani’s mum, Jo Mas, has also revealed Danny has even shed a tear while watching their daughter on the ITV2 reality series.

“Danny wasn’t happy at first when she was going into the show but at the moment he thinks Dani has done well with her behaviour,” she told The Sun.

“He got a bit choked up when she was sad about finding out Jack was a t***. That’s his daughter and they have a very close bond.”

‘Love Island’ viewers saw Jack Fincham ask Dani to officially become his girlfriend on Sunday night’s show, having coupled up at the start of the series.

However, there have been tabloid rumours his ex-girlfriend Keeley Maguire is set to make an explosive entrance in the villa. 

‘Love Island’ continues on Monday at 9pm on ITV2. 

When I was pregnant, a few people suggested I would have to get used to spending weeks apart from my daughter because “that’s what the men do”. But, like many other mums, I found my own way of making my career and parenthood work for my family.

Whatever job you are doing, when you have a baby there are bound to be decisions you have to make, that never crossed your mind previously.

My job, as a professional cyclist, is quite unusual because I rely on my body to be in the best physical shape to perform at the highest level, so I knew my pregnancy and giving birth need to be timed as carefully as possible, but prior to pregnancy, I didn’t have any preconceived plans about how I would manage travelling for my job with a child. 

As I was the first British Cycling programme rider to have a baby I had to forge my own path without any precedent.

It was the breastfeeding journey my daughter and I enjoyed, that made many of my decisions, and meant I didn’t follow advice offered because “that’s what the men do”.

Louisa breastfed until she was 3.5 years old, so we had to travel and stay together throughout that time. This included meticulous planning for the Rio Paralympic Games where I stayed outside of the Village to ensure Louisa’s needs were put first.

Deciding when to spend a night apart from my daughter was a decision I thought would be easier to make than it was. In the end the circumstance of how we flew home from the Rio Games made the decision and because Louisa couldn’t fly on the same gold-nosed plane as the British team, we spent our first night apart on different airlines from Brazil to the UK.

Second time round, with my son Charlie, decisions are still cropping up I never envisaged having to make.

Just a few weeks ahead of the World Track Championships, the Yellow Fever advice for the host nation changed meaning a vaccine was needed to travel.

As a breastfeeding mother to a four-month-old, who was too young to be vaccinated, I couldn’t be vaccinated unless I stopped breastfeeding. We couldn’t travel unvaccinated and I wasn’t prepared to stop breastfeeding and travel without him. So I was faced with a difficult decision.

It was a roller coaster of emotions, but in the end I felt a sense of relief when I realised that actually it was a no-brainer. I wouldn’t be putting my baby at risk of serious illness. There’s no job worth more than the health of a person. So I withdrew from the competition. 

I have surprised myself with my ability to make adjustments for my family. For instance, athletes are renown for being precious about rest and sleep, and I didn’t have a clue how I would handle things to ensure I got enough rest to perform, but it’s amazing how you can adapt.

I learned to safely co-sleep with my babies, something I never expected I’d be doing, and this undoubtedly ensures I get much more sleep than getting out of bed or sitting up for the night feeds. The added bonus to this is they both sleep well wherever we travel, not needing time to adjust to a strange place or new bed because they are always next to me. It’s also less packing as we have never used a travel cot.

I was once told it would be hard to combine the most self-absorbed job (sport) with the most selfless job (parenthood), but I think the balance of switching from one mindset to the other has given me a different perspective and although I am making decisions I didn’t consider, they are all easy ones to make. Whatever your job, we all have one thing in common, our kids come first.

Paper bags for fruit and vegetables have made a come back in Morrisons, as the supermarket tries to cut the use of plastic.

Brown paper bags for greengrocer areas have been introduced into 493 stores, and will be rolled out to the rest by the end of the summer.

The company has said it hopes the move will stop the use of more than 150 million small plastic bags each year.

Drew Kirk, fruit and veg director at Morrisons said: “We’ve listened to customers concerns about using plastic bags for fruit and vegetables and that is why we are bringing back paper bags.

“There’s more work to do, but this step will mean we prevent 150 million bags from being used in our stores every year.”

The new bags are made from 100% recyclable paper, and will have a thinner see-through strip so customers and staff can easily see what is inside. 

Chris Grayling has said he has “no idea” where Boris Johnson is as the foreign secretary is expected to dodge a vote on expanding Heathrow.

MPs will decide on Monday evening whether to give the green light to building a third runway at the airport.

Theresa May has ordered her MPs to vote in favour of the plan. But Johnson, who once said he would lie down in front of bulldozers to prevent construction, is conveniently out of the country.

Asked where the foreign secretary was, Grayling told BBC Radio 4′s Today programme: “I have no idea where Boris is, genuinely no idea where Boris is.”

The transport secretary added: “The prime minister has been very clear that there are people in the party who, for various reasons, have long held views about the airport and we are not going to whip those people into voting.”

Leading Tory backbencher Jacob Rees-Mogg also told LBC this morning he did not know where Johnson was. “I hear he’s on his travels,” he said.

Greg Hands, who resigned as a trade minister last week in order to vote against Heathrow expansion today, took a swipe at Boris on Twitter.

Senior Tory backbencher Sarah Wollaston said that Theresa May’s decision to allow him to avoid her three-line whip in support of the Heathrow plan by going abroad “won’t wash” and called on him to make a “principled decision” to stand down.

And former whip Stephen Crabb told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour that Johnson would “need to look his constituents in the eye and explain where he was on the night of the Heathrow vote”.

The government is expected to win the vote and Grayling said he was “cautiously optimistic”.

“There is strong support across the political spectrum on this,” he said.

“It’s not usual for me to find myself campaigning on the same side as Len McCluskey of Unite but he is right in arguing that this is a project that can make a real difference to Britain, to jobs, to connections around the world and indeed to the whole UK because this is not simply a project for London and the south-east, the connections that we create through Heathrow benefit every part of the UK.”

Labour is officially opposed to the expansion but Jeremy Corbyn has allowed MPs a free vote.

The Opposition is split on the expansion with the trade unions and over 40 MPs in favour but John McDonnell and Jon Lansman, the founder off Momentum, opposed.

Ahead of the vote, officials said the expansion of Heathrow would create 114,000 extra jobs in the area around the airport by 2030, with an extra 16 million long-haul seats by 2040.

Opponents of the expansion attacked the scheme on environmental, noise and financial grounds grounds, with Friends of the Earth saying it was “morally reprehensible” and would see the enlarged Heathrow emitting as much carbon as the whole of Portugal.

A British man has died while base jumping in the Italian alps. 

The man, named as Robert Haggarty, was wearing a wingsuit for the jump, but hit the mountainside before crashing down to a ledge 600ft below.

The 47-year-old was with a group of 25 on the 9,500ft Busazza mountain in the Dolomites, north of Venice, when the accident happened. 

The alarm was raised when he was spotted getting in to difficulty with his parachute. He is thought to have died instantly upon impact. 

A helicopter reached the area and sent down three technicians who recovered his body, repubblica.it reports.

A police spokesman told The Sun: “We were alerted by several witnesses who had seen the man get into trouble.

“One theory we are looking at is that he didn’t time his take-off well and was too close to the side of the mountain.

“His body was recovered by a three-strong team and that was also a very difficult operation which involved lowering the body by harness 160ft.”

A foreign office spokeswoman said: “We are providing advice and support to the family of a British man following his death in Italy, and are in contact with the Italian authorities.”

Last year an Austrian surgeon, 47, died base jumping in the Dolomites.

Is there anything worse than receiving an invite to a fancy bash and having nothing in your wardrobe to wear? We think not.

Now one lady from Lancashire has become our new style icon after using a household item as the pièce de résistance for her party outfit. 

Lilian Smith wrote to a magazine telling readers that she had decided to wear a bath puff (you know, the things you wash your body with) in her hair.

Smith revealed that the lightbulb moment came to her in the bathroom, after she had struggled to find the right colour fascinator in the shops, and realised the bath puff would fit the bill exactly. 

“It matched my outfit perfectly and looked great,” says Smith, who simply attached the puff to a hair clip (take note if you have a wedding coming up).

And people were full of nothing but admiration for her next level ingenuity. 

And it seems Lilian isn’t the only person who has been creative when it comes to headgear for special occasions. 

Elsewhere, people have been digging up other ingenious hacks with items made from household objects. Including the sanitary towel slippers.

And in other sanitary products, the tampon Halloween decoration.

And let’s never forget using cocoa powder as an alternative to makeup. 

The extent of human creativity knows no bounds and we could not be happier about it.