25 h. ago Cowboy builders bullied customers and left trail of misery, debt and shoddy work

A judge said the father-and-son builders had ruthlessly manipulated their victims to extract as much money as possible from them

Economics

29 h. ago Combat training is a rite of passage for police recruits. It's left a trail of deaths and injuries

Combat training drills are a rite of passage for police recruits nationwide, and an Associated Press investigation finds they've left a trail of deaths and injuries

Events

56 h. ago Cowboy builder jailed after fleecing couple of £150k for work he never carried out

Martin Ritchie, 35, conned Jim and Jean Shaw into working on their dream new bungalow in Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire.

Economics

4 d. ago A winter tour of Luxembourg’s fairytale chateaux – on the country’s free bus network

This tiny country is awash with atmospheric castles, many of which you can stay in, making for a magical wintry break. And it won’t cost you a cent to travel between themThe top of the tower had disappeared in the mist, but its bells rang clear and true, tolling beyond the abbey gates, over the slopes of frost-fringed trees, down to the town in the valley below. Final call for morning mass. I took a seat at the back of the modern church, built when the Abbey of Saint Maurice and Saint Maurus relocated to this hill in Clervaux, north Luxembourg, in 1910. Then the monks swept in – and swept away 1,000 years. Sung in Latin, their Gregorian chants filled the nave: simple, calming, timeless. I’m not religious and didn’t understand a word, but also, in a way, understood it completely.Although mass is held here at 10am daily, year-round, the monks’ ethereal incantations seemed to perfectly suit the season. I left the church, picked up a waymarked hiking trail and walked deeper into the for...

Society

2 w. ago 'Cowboy builder conned us out of £100k for extension and left our home in ruins'

Michael Parr, 55, was sentenced to two years and eight months after Andy and Lisa Clarke paid the 'cowboy builder' £98,000 for a home extension he never completed

Economics

2 w. ago Cowboy builder leaves couple's home in ruins and makes off with £100,000: Devastated wife reveals how the stress led to her losing a baby

Andy Clarke, 46, and his then-pregnant wife, Lisa Clarke, 43, from Chesterfield, Derbyshire, were forced to pay another firm £150,000 to get the work completed.

Economics

2 w. ago Driver left 'trail of carnage' after he mowed down four pedestrians in Shaftesbury Avenue on Christmas Day in homophobic and racist attacks, court hears

One of the victims, Aidan Chapman, 25, suffered fatal brain damage and died in hospital on New Year's Eve.

Events

3 w. ago Brain damage, blindness and death: the global trail of trauma left by methanol

Methanol, a cheap relative of ethanol, is entering the supply chain, causing thousands of deaths around the worldFor Bethany Clarke, poison tasted like nothing. There was no bitter aftertaste, no astringent sting at the back of the tongue. If anything, she thought in passing, the free shots she and her friends were drinking at a hostel bar in Laos had probably been watered down – she wasn’t detecting a strong vodka flavour through the veil of Sprite she had mixed it with.All in all, Clarke remembers drinking about five of those shots, sitting with her best friend, Simone White, and a crowd of others at the hostel’s happy hour. CCTV footage shows the group laughing in the warm air of the open bar in the town of Vang Vieng, green and red lights dancing over their shoulders. Continue reading...

Events