Cars catch fire at London shopping centre
An investigation has been launched after a number of vehicles caught fire in a car park at Brent Cross Shopping Centre in north London.
London Fire Brigade (LFB) said four fire engines and about 25 firefighters responded to the blaze in an open-air car park near Prince Charles Drive in Hendon, after first receiving reports at 4.06pm on Saturday.
Crews from West Hampstead, Finchley, Willesden and surrounding fire stations all attended the scene, where a number of vehicles were on fire.
The incident was under control by 6.14pm and the cause of the fire was being investigated, the LFB said.
No injuries have been reported.
Brent Cross Shopping Centre confirmed an investigation was under way.
Footage on social media appeared to show a fire and thick black smoke in the shopping centre car park and rising above the building.
Rosanna Rafel-Rix, 35, a programme manager based in north London, captured video of the fire.
She said: “So I was leaving Brent Cross and there were plumes of black smoke coming from the John Lewis entrance of the centre. So I started to film.
“As I got closer I saw it was at least one car fully on fire causing the smoke and it didn’t look like the centre itself, but I couldn’t really tell.
“There were no alarms that I heard of people running out, but in the car park people were trying to get away.”
The Metropolitan Police have been contacted for comment.
Temperatures soar across the UK – but prepare for thunderstorms
Temperatures across the UK are set to reach highs of 25C to 26C for much of the weekend – but a record-breaking sunny spell is then under threat from “vigorous thunderstorms” and heavy rain.
The beginning of May has been bathed in sunshine, making it the driest start to spring in 69 years, according to the Environment Agency.
But flooding, lightning and even hail could bring the sunny spell, which could see highs of 26C across Sunday and Monday, to a dramatic close.
The Met Office said from Saturday night, into Sunday morning, there is an increasing chance of rain, showers and isolated thunderstorms moving northwards across the southwest of the UK.
By Monday, the storm could cover western parts of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
Met Office deputy chief meteorologist, Dan Harris, urged Brits to stay up to date with any severe weather warnings which may be issued.
He said: “On Monday itself, we could see some particularly vigorous thunderstorms developing, most likely in Wales and parts of southern England, whilst elsewhere during this whole period, dry, fine, and increasingly warm conditions are expected.
“Should these thunderstorms develop, especially on Monday, there is potential for 25-35mm of rain to fall in an hour or so, which may lead to some localised surface water flooding.
“Hail, lightning, and isolated strong wind gusts would be additional hazards.”
The rain will come as a relief to some farmers in England, as March was the driest since 1961 and April received just half its normal rainfall.
The dry spell has forced farmers to start irrigating crops earlier, with reservoir levels either notably low or exceptionally low across the North East and North West of England.
Both these regions have seen their driest start to the year since 1929.
The Met Office clocked an average of 228.9 hours of sunshine across last month, meaning the UK recorded its sunniest April since the series began in 1910. This follows the sunniest March since records began for England.
May started off with the hottest day of the year so far as the Met Office recorded 29.3C in London.
The chance of showers persists into Tuesday across the far south, with higher pressure once again becoming dominant and eventually clearing the showers away.
Much of the UK will have another bright, sunny day on Tuesday, with the settled conditions covering the vast majority of the UK by Wednesday and likely to remain through the week.
Duke of Edinburgh to represent King at inauguration of Pope Leo XIV
The Duke of Edinburgh will represent the King at the inauguration of the new Pope next weekend, Buckingham Palace has said.
Prince Edward will travel to the Vatican to attend Pope Leo XIV’s formal installation as pope at a mass in St Peter’s Square on 18 May.
The formal inauguration Mass, for the first US pontiff in the 2,000-year history of the Roman Catholic Church, will be held in St Peter’s Square on 18 May, the Vatican announced.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: “The Duke of Edinburgh will represent His Majesty at the inauguration of Pope Leo XIV.”
Pope Leo XIV has only been in the job one day and already faces a packed schedule of religious services, diplomatic meetings and Holy Year events, many of which were organised for his predecessor, Francis.
After presiding over a Mass with cardinals in the Sistine Chapel on Friday, his next expected public engagement will be a meeting with cardinals on Saturday, followed by midday (1000 GMT) prayers on Sunday from the main balcony of St Peter’s Basilica.
Other early commitments will include taking possession of Rome’s three basilicas – St Paul Outside the Walls on 20 May, and St John Lateran and Santa Maria Maggiore (Saint Mary Major), where Francis is buried, on 25 May.
Before all this, the new pope will meet on 12 May with the thousands of journalists who covered the conclave, and on 16 May, he will hold an audience with diplomats accredited to the Holy See, the world’s smallest independent state.
His first weekly general audience with the faithful is set for 21 May.
Adding to the early workload is the continuation of the 2025 Holy Year, also known as a Jubilee, which traditionally occurs every 25 years, drawing millions of pilgrims to Rome for a continuous stream of events. Leo inherits celebrations for that from Francis, who died on 21 April, aged 88.
Special meetings to celebrate specific groups special to the Church, such as choirs, families and the clergy, are planned from May to the end of the year, including a major youth jubilee from 28 July to 3 August.
One of the highlights of the 2025 Catholic calendar is the canonisation of the first saint of the millennial generation, Carlo Acutis. It was set for 27 April, but had to be postponed because of Francis’ death. A new date has to be fixed.
Out-of-control Russian spacecraft probably just fell to Earth, experts say
An out-of-control Russian spacecraft has probably plummeted to Earth, after 53 years stuck in orbit, experts say.
In recent weeks, the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 has been making an uncontrolled approach towards Earth. Experts have been tracking it since – though they noted that it was very unlikely that it would land over a populated era.
Now, the European Space Agency and others say the spacecraft has most likely hit the Earth. It was not spotted on its most recent pass over radar in Germany, the agency said, and predictions based on its orbit and previous location suggest that it would probably have already fallen to Earth.
As of Saturday morning, the US Space Command had yet to confirm the spacecraft’s demise as it collected and analysed data from orbit.
But it remains unclear when and where exactly it dropped down.
The spacecraft was originally made to land on Venus, and was built to survive the extreme atmosphere there.
But it was hit by technical problems during its launch, and got stuck in orbit around Earth. For the 53 years since, it has been floating around our planet until its orbit collided with the Earth.
Since the spacecraft was made to land on the hot and high-pressure planet of Venus, experts have speculated that it could have survived the descent through Earth’s atmosphere, rather than breaking up like many other uncontrolled descents.
But experts said it was likely to come down over water, covering most of the world, or a desolate region.
The odds of it slamming into a populated area are “infinitesimally small”, said University of Colorado Boulder scientist Marcin Pilinski.
“While we can anticipate that most of this object will not burn up in the atmosphere during re-entry, it may be severely damaged on impact,” Mr Pilinski said.
By Friday, all indications pointed to a re-entry early on Saturday morning, US Eastern Time, give or take several hours.
While space debris trackers around the world converged in their forecasts, it was still too soon to know exactly when and where the spacecraft known as Kosmos 482 would come down.
That uncertainty was due to potential solar activity and the spacecraft’s old condition.
Its parachutes were expected to be useless by now and its batteries long dead.
Dutch scientist Marco Langbroek estimated the impact speed at 150mph if the spacecraft remains intact.
The Soviets launched Kosmos 482 in 1972, intending to send it to Venus to join other spacecraft in their Venera programme.
But a rocket malfunction left this one stuck in orbit around Earth.
Gravity kept tugging on it and was expected to finally cause its doom.
Spherical in shape, the spacecraft – 3ft (one metre) across and packing more than 1,000lb (495kg) – will be the last piece of Kosmos 482 to fall from the sky.
All the other parts plummeted within a decade.
Any surviving wreckage will belong to Russia under a United Nations treaty.
The best time to fast if you want to lose weight, according to experts
Restricting your eating to an eight-hour window each day could be a key to long-term weight loss, according to new research.
A study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga found that overweight and obese individuals who adopted this time-restricted eating pattern successfully lost weight and maintained their reduced weight over time.
While the research is yet to be peer-reviewed, the findings suggest that this strategy could be an effective tool for those struggling with weight management.
Lead author Dr Alba Camacho-Cardenosa, from the University of Granada in Spain, said: “Our study found that restricting the eating window to eight hours at any time of the day for three months can result in significant weight loss for at least a year.
“These benefits can be attributed to the 16-hour fasting window rather than the time of eating.”
A previous randomised controlled trial by the same researchers published in the journal Nature Medicine found that restricting eating to eight hours per day decreased body weight and improved cardiometabolic health.
Their latest study looked at the long-term effects over 12 months for 99 people.
Individuals were split into four groups for 12 weeks – eating in a 12-hour or more window; restricting eating to an eight-hour window starting before 10am; restricting eating to an eight-hour window starting after 1pm; and allowing people to select their own eight-hour window.
All groups were given tips on a Mediterranean diet to help them eat healthier.
The researchers measured body weight, waist and hip circumferences at the start of the trial, after the 12-week plan, and 12 months later.
The study found that, while those eating over 12 hours or longer lost an average of 1.4kg, the time-restricted groups lost more, at around 3kg to 4kg.
Time-restricted groups also had greater reductions in waist and hip circumferences of several centimetres, and had maintained greater weight loss after 12 months.
At the one-year mark, those eating for 12 hours or more had an average body weight increase of 0.4kg, compared with around a 2kg weight loss in the early and late time restricted groups, the study concluded.
Those who chose their own pattern also maintained some weight loss although this was not statistically significant.
Around 85% to 88% of people restricting their eating window also found they stuck to the plan.
Dr Jonatan Ruiz, study co-ordinator from the University of Granada, said: “This kind of intermittent fasting appears feasible for adults with overweight or obesity who wish to have a relatively simple way of losing and maintaining weight loss that is less tedious and more time efficient compared with daily calorie counting, but it warrants further investigations in larger and longer-term studies.”
Dr Maria Chondronikola, principal investigator and lead for human nutrition at University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Laboratories, said further studies were needed.
“Understanding how well participants adhered to the timing of their meals, the level of their caloric intake and whether time-restricted eating changed any obesity-related metabolic outcomes would provide valuable insight into the true effectiveness of time-restricted eating,” she said.
Celebration villa breaks: find your perfect luxury getaway
If you’re planning a milestone birthday, a big anniversary, or a long-awaited reunion, a villa holiday is hard to beat. Imagine clinking glasses on a rooftop terrace at sunset or gathering loved ones around a candlelit garden table for a leisurely dinner under the night sky.
These special occasions deserve much more than booking out a busy hotel, and nothing beats having your own sun-drenched sanctuary where you have the space and privacy to celebrate in style. Whether you’re heading to Marrakech in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains, to the rolling hills of Tuscany, or a tropical oasis further afield, Villas are the perfect home-away-from-home for celebrating something, or someone, special.
CV Villas’ luxurious ABOVE collection offers the perfect backdrop for unforgettable moments – think breathtaking settings, total privacy, and the kind of comfort and space that makes everyone feel at home. All come with stunning interiors, sweeping views as far as the eye can see, and enviable locations in some of the world’s most sought-after spots. Each villa is hand-picked by dedicated CV Villa specialists, who are experts in helping people craft their dream getaway. Many come with their own infinity pools, breathtaking views and large alfresco dining areas, perfect for spending quality time together during life’s most important moments. Villas aren’t just places to stay, they’re a big part of the celebration itself.
From the moment you book your stay to your arrival back home, the CV Villas Concierge team is there to make everything as seamless and stress-free as possible. They are dedicated to looking after you and your party before and throughout your holiday so that you can focus on the things that really matter, like spending quality time together and celebrating without having to worry about the minor details. The team tailors each trip to exactly what you’re after, whether you’re looking to book a private boat day or need to organise a surprise celebration dinner, nothing is too much trouble. Many of the five-star villas even come with their own butlers and chefs so that you can be waited on hand and foot during your special getaway.
ABOVE villas are the epitome of luxury and come with designer interiors, infinity pools boasting panoramic ocean views, and terraces made for golden hour cocktails – properties with serious star quality. What’s more, they’re located all around the world, from the sun-soaked shores of Spain and Greece to the palm-fringed beaches of far-flung Sri Lanka and beyond.
Sampling delicious local food is a big part of a holiday, but catering for a large group can often mean juggling different requests and palates. Luckily for you, many of these luxury villas come with their very own in-villa chefs – perfect for when you’d rather toast the moment with a glass of fizz than spend time flapping around in the kitchen. Instead, let your chef whip up multi-course meals morning till night, using the freshest local produce, all based on your personal tastes and dietary requirements, before tucking into it alfresco under the undisturbed starry night sky.
The little luxuries make a big difference to a bucket-list trip: daily housekeeping to keep things spic and span, spa treatments for when you need a little R&R, wine tastings for the adults, yoga sessions with epic views, and even round-the-clock babysitting. All of this can be arranged to make your stay feel even more indulgent.
Maison Emilion, France
This rustic French villa is practically made for wine lovers, aptly located amidst the rolling vineyards of Bordeaux. This six-bedroom hilltop hangout boasts views of the working vineyards from every angle, including from the heated pool and surrounding sunbeds. Wander into the nearby village of Saint-Émilion, then enjoy the included wine-tasting experience before settling into the garden for dinner with nothing but the glow of flickering candlelight and the moonlit sky.
Oleander, Corfu
It doesn’t get much more luxurious than Oleander in Corfu, a five-bedroom villa overlooking Avlaki Bay and the picturesque town of Kassiopi. It’s located high above the Ionian Sea and is the ideal villa for memorable summer celebrations. Soak up the sunshine from the infinity pool while enjoying views of Albania’s craggy Ceraunian Mountains, or hang out on the wrap-around terraces and communal outside dining areas. During peak season at Oleander, chef service is also included, so you can enjoy meals with your loved ones without even having to leave the villa.
Spirit of Son Fuster, Mallorca
Spirit of Son Fuster in Mallorca is hard to beat for large groups and multigenerational stays. This five-star bolthole is set in a stunning natural landscape at the foot of the Alaro twin mountains, right near the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Serra de Tramuntana, and is as secluded as it gets. This gorgeous 14th-century manor house sleeps twenty people across ten bedrooms and even has its own on-site spa and hammam where everyone can enjoy treatments in the dedicated treatment rooms. There’s even a private cinema room for movie nights and a well-stocked wine cellar filled with local vintage wines.
Masseria Giardini, Puglia
Masseria Giardini in Puglia is the height of luxury and the perfect home-away-from-home for families and large groups. It was built in 1750 and is surrounded by leafy olive groves and landscaped gardens curated by Chelsea Flower Show winners Urquhart & Hunt. Enjoy unparalleled views of the Canale Di Pirro Valley from this ten-bedroom farmhouse and spend days lazing around in the heated pool. This villa is an architectural masterpiece, with signature stone domed roofs and hand-carved stone baths in five of the ten bedrooms.
For more travel information and inspiration and to book your perfect villa getaway, visit CV Villas
We’ve given our spies huge power – but we’re not keeping them in check
On the London Underground, there are huge eye-catching posters for a virtual private network (VPN) bearing the words: “Some might say they have nothing to hide.”
VPNs, as you may know, help you stay anonymous while using your computers or phones. They are the friend of privacy.
“Go and tell it to the whistleblowers and the dissidents, to the journalist and their sources, to the activists, lawyers, doctors,” the text on the poster continues. “Tell it to everyone who just wants to live in a free and open society without authorities and big tech companies mapping their lives.”
Privacy has now gone mainstream. We have – gradually, then suddenly – woken up to the realisation that someone, somewhere, may be watching over our every thought, deed, question and movement. Vast databases are capturing whatever data they can lay their hands on. A VPN might indeed help a little.
The plundering of our personal information by Big Tech involves a kind of bargain. We get lots of free services in return for surrendering wheelbarrow loads of our personal information: where we are, who we speak to, what we buy, what medical conditions we search for in the middle of the night, what help we seek or need.
With the state, there is a similar bargain. We reluctantly accept that in order to keep us safe, the police, security and intelligence agencies must have a defined and controlled right to intercept and store our communications. However, we have all read our George Orwell and know the Big Brother dangers that can lie in wait. So we insist on proper oversight of this extraordinary capacity of the state to pry into more or less any aspect of our lives.
So it came as something of a shock to read last week that the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) – which is there to oversee Big Brother on our behalf – is effectively hauling up the white flag and admitting they can no longer effectively monitor the work of the main agencies they oversee. They include MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
The admission came in an extraordinary press release, which was, oddly enough, little noticed. The language was, for anyone who has followed the hush-hush work of the ISC over the years, remarkably blunt. “In simple terms,” it said, “there is now around £3bn of public money being spent for which there is no oversight capability.”
Not only is there not enough money for the committee to do its work of overseeing the agencies, but there is also a fundamental question of its ability to do so independently.
The press release continued: “The committee in the last Parliament became greatly concerned that the vital scrutiny which the ISC provides was being undermined by continued interference by the Cabinet Office in the Committee’s Office … it does in fact go to the very heart of Parliament’s ability to hold the Government to account for those actions being taken in secret, behind closed doors, funded by the public purse.
“An oversight body should not sit within, and be beholden to, an organisation which it oversees.”
The ISC normally speaks in the reserved tones of a well-mannered city lawyer. This is the ISC breaking the fire alarm glass and bellowing at the top of its voice.
A little history is required to understand the gravity of these charges. You may remember the NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and his warnings 12 years ago about the remarkable ways in which digital technologies allowed states to mount forms of mass surveillance on, effectively, entire populations. Now imagine how, in the intervening dozen years, AI tools will have enhanced those powers by an order of magnitude.
Following the Snowden revelations, the UK government moved swiftly to put all these capabilities on a legal footing. Passed in 2016, it was colloquially known as “the Snooper’s Charter”.
The British security agencies could now legally make bulk collection and interception of our communications. The Act required Big Tech companies to retain, for a year, records of all the websites we visit so that authorities can access them without a warrant. You’ve secretly browsed Pornhub or looked for an STD clinic? Not so secret now: it’s all there.
The act allowed the targeting and bulk hacking of electronic devices. And so on. It permitted the state unprecedented access to our lives and secrets.
Smooth words were uttered by the Charter’s supporters: “If you’ve nothing to hide, you’ve nothing to fear” – much as today’s underground posters now parody. However, in America today, we’re witnessing a president put his most loyal cronies in charge of the security and intelligence apparatus. There’s no secret about his wish to target enemies and seek vengeance for perceived wrongs. British spooks are already wondering how much Russian intelligence to share with the Putin-friendly new intelligence chief in the US, Tulsi Gabbard.
Something similar is happening in Israel, where Prime Minister Netanyahu has removed the head of that country’s internal security agency, Shin Bet, at the very time when his organisation was investigating criminal allegations against him.
There is no guarantee that a populist leader in the UK wouldn’t seek similar influence over the intrusive capabilities of the modern security state.
In terms of interference in the UK, there is already an unhappy precedent in the way that Boris Johnson delayed the publication of the ISC report into alleged Russian influence in British police for 10 months, until after the December 2019 election. The former chair, Dominic Grieve, described the delay as “entirely untenable”, noting that the usual time between approval and publication was around 10 days. Johnson also tried to impose his chair on the committee.
The ISC, which is a statutory committee, is not the only oversight body for the spies and buggers – but it is the only way parliament itself can feel it has a direct handle on what’s going on in the shadows.
Its chair, Lord Beamish, told me that the committee’s staff, which should number 15, is down to seven. That’s just seven people overseeing the work of thousands of agents, officers and analysts working around the clock across the three main intelligence and security agencies.
The committee’s budget hasn’t increased since 2013, despite the exponential growth of the work of the agencies, despite the vastly changed geopolitical landscape, despite the greatly expanded powers of the spooks, and despite the new world of AI. No prime minister has met with the ISC since 2014.
Beamish was blunt in his assessment of the future of parliamentary oversight: “If the committee does not receive an increase in resourcing, then it will not be able to keep the doors open.”
At the time the controversial Snoopers’ Charter was passed Shami Chakrabarti, then director of the civil rights group Liberty, described the ISC as “clueless and ineffective… a simple mouthpiece for the spooks”.
“No doubt it would be simpler if we went along with the spies’ motto of ‘no scrutiny for us, no privacy for you’ – but what an appalling deal for the British public.”
Even she couldn’t have imagined that a government of which she was a member would take the motto literally.
It may be time to invest in that VPN.
If the UK is to grow, Labour must look towards the real trade prize
Amid all the backslapping, and the sighs of relief from the UK automotive and steel sectors, following the world’s first post-tariff trade agreement with Donald Trump, the governor of the Bank of England made an important point.
The UK, Andrew Bailey told the BBC, must do everything it can to rebuild Britain’s battered trade links with the EU.
Bailey insisted that, as a public official, he did not take a view on Brexit. However, he said: “It is important we do everything we can to ensure that whatever decisions are taken on the Brexit front do not damage the long-term trade position. So I hope that we can use this to start to rebuild that relationship.”
He added: “It would be beneficial to have a more open economy to trade with the European Union. Because there has been a fall-off in goods trade with the EU over recent years.”
And, well, duh.
The narrative that has taken hold is that the US deal is a big win for Prime Minister Keir Starmer & Co., coming hot on the heels of a far superior arrangement with India.
While there has been a notable lack of detail, it should allow some cars and metals to be exported to the US without the really punitive tariffs Donald Trump has imposed on those sectors. The 10 per cent basic tariff will nonetheless remain in place. So while this is better than a kick in the teeth, it isn’t anything to write home about.
By contrast, an improved deal with the EU, which remains by far the UK’s biggest trading partner, would put anything agreed with the US, now or in the future, into the shade. Bailey didn’t quite come out and say that but it was implied. It would also be far more advantageous than even the excellent deal with India, which also sent out a message about the value of free trade (a point Bailey also made).
In 2023, the UK exported goods and services worth £348bn to the EU, 41.2 per cent of the total. The equivalent US number was £179.4bn, or 21.2 per cent. It is still an important market for the UK which is why the 10 per cent tariff on nearly all exports from this country will continue to hurt. But it is dwarfed by the giant market across the channel which is on Bailey’s mind.
The reason for this can be seen in figures filed at the House of Commons library. They show that goods exports to the EU remain below their pre-pandemic and Brexit levels. Last year, for example, they were 18 per cent below the 2019 number in real (inflation-adjusted) terms. Brexiteers argued that exiting the EU would catalyse a flowering of trade with non-EU countries boasting whizzy fast-growing economies, such as those in South East Asia. Um, no. Exports of goods to non-EU countries in 2024 were also 14 per cent below their 2019 level in real terms.
Services have done better. Sales of these to both EU and non-EU countries fell in 2020 but have since bounced back. In 2024, UK exports of services to the EU were 19 per cent above their 2019 level in real terms. Exports to non-EU countries were 23 per cent higher. Services – and this is a point worth remembering – were largely left out of the bare-bones Trade and Co-operation Agreement that Boris Johnson negotiated with the EU so that is an impressive performance. Now, just imagine how much better it would be for the UK and its service-based economy to successfully reduce the impediments that currently exist.
The governor spends a lot of time travelling up and down the country, speaking to business leaders. As a “public official” he soaks up their complaints about things like trade barriers. We also know, because it was all over the Bank of England’s minutes released following the decision to shave a quarter of a percentage point off interest rates, he is worried about the economy.
I don’t imagine his intervention went down terribly well with ministers hoping to end the week on a celebratory high after an overdue display of competence. But facts are facts and Bailey’s reminding them of some uncomfortable ones was timely.
Labour has often stated that it doesn’t want to re-litigate the past when it comes to Europe (translation: we’re desperately afraid of Nigel Farage). However, what its deals with both the US and India show is that you have to compromise to get things done. That includes, in the case of the US, allowing a huge increase in beef imports from ranchers.
It is bizarre that an agreement with the US is nonetheless hailed in some quarters while any compromise with the EU is immediately labelled as a betrayal. Needless to say, the latter also has a tendency to stick to the rules (it is famous for it) in a way that the US and some other countries the UK trades with do not.
If Starmer, and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, are to deliver the growth they’re always banging on about they should heed the words of the governor in Threadneedle Street and turn their attention to the real potential win for the UK economy.