Mother and daughter ‘washed away’ in deadly sea incident named

A mother has died and her teenage daughter remains missing after a “tragic incident” off the East Yorkshire coast, police have said.

Sarah Keeling, 45, and her daughter Grace Keeling, 15, got stuck in the sea on Friday, Humberside Police said.

The bodies of Sarah and Mark Ratcliffe, 67, who tried to rescue them, were recovered after the incident in Withernsea, but searches are still ongoing to locate Grace, the force added.

They said in a statement on Sunday: “Following reports of concerns for safety for people in the water in Withernsea, with the permission of the family, Humberside Police can now confirm that a mother and daughter, 45-year-old Sarah Keeling and 15-year-old Grace Keeling, were involved in this tragic incident, alongside 67-year-old Mark Ratcliffe, a member of the public who died trying to assist with the rescue.”

The family of Sarah and Grace Keeling are being supported by specially trained officers, they added.

Officers were called to the incident at Central Promenade in Withernsea at 3.15pm on Friday, Humberside Police previously said.

Ratcliffe’s family paid tribute to him on Sunday, saying he was a “true selfless hero with a heart of gold, who was so cruelly taken trying to save others”.

The force added: “Residents will continue to see an increased police presence in and around the area as officers continue to search for the one remaining missing person.”

Witnesses of the incident previously told The Telegraph they saw a teenage girl “washed away” by the waves.

Karen Higgs, 66, told the paper: “I was by the cafe and this woman was running up the front towards the pier towers, shouting ‘she’s in the water, she’s in the water’.”

“I looked and I went across and there was somebody in the water… going in and out with the waves.

“Someone threw a safety ring in for her to catch. She was going out as the ring went in… and she never tried to catch it. We were all shouting at her to catch it, catch it. She just didn’t.”

On Friday, local charity Hornsea Inshore Rescue said on Facebook that it had been called out to Withernsea, but had been “unable to launch the lifeboat due to horrendous conditions and three-metre waves”. A later post from the team said it had “launched on service”.

Starmer signals plan to unpick Brexit harm a decade on from EU vote

Keir Starmer risks re-igniting a row with members of his cabinet after he signalled the UK is prepared to “get closer” to the European Union to undo the harm caused by Brexit.

The prime minister said Britain should align itself more closely with the EU single market when it is in the national interest, adding “we should go that far”.

But he poured cold water on the idea the UK should rejoin a customs union with the bloc, days after his health secretary Wes Streeting said the arrangement had “enormous economic benefits”.

Sir Keir said there was too much water “under the bridge”, particularly after the UK signed trade deals with the US and India which would potentially have to be unravelled for there to be any customs union deal.

But he said the UK could go “further” on the single market.

In an interview with the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, the PM pointed to steps agreed last year to align the UK more closely with the EU on agriculture and food, adding: “That’s the sovereign decision that we have taken.

“I think we should get closer, and if it’s in our national interest to have even closer alignment with the single market, then we should consider that, we should go that far.”

He added: “I think it’s in our national interest to go further.”

On the idea of a customs union, he added: “I do understand why people are saying ‘wouldn’t it be better to go to the customs union?’ I actually think that now we’ve done deals with the US which are in our national interest, now we’ve done deals with India which are in our national interest, we are better looking to the single market rather than the customs union for our further alignment.”

But the prime minister ruled out a return to freedom of movement, a key principle of the EU’s single market, although he pointed to plans for a new scheme to allow young people to come and work in the UK, and vice versa, for a set period of time.

In response, shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel accused the Labour leader of a “Brexit betrayal”.

“In a desperate bid to appease his backbenchers, Keir Starmer is pursuing alignment with the single market – surrendering our freedom to cut regulation and strike our own trade deals,” she added.

Before Christmas No 10 was forced to say the PM was “very happy” with his cabinet after Mr Streeting’s comments.

In what was seen as a direct challenge to Sir Keir, the health secretary said a “deeper trading relationship” with Europe would boost UK economic growth.

The Labour leader has pledged a “reset” of UK-EU relations but has rejected calls to rejoin the group or become part of its single market or customs union.

However, in recent weeks Labour ministers have begun to talk more about the economic costs of Brexit.

A recent analysis, seen by The Independent, revealed that the EU is costing the UK up to £90bn a year in lost tax revenues.

On Sunday the Lib Dems announced they will try to force a new Parliamentary vote on a customs union, by tabling an amendment to the EU Reset Bill, expected to be brought forward by the government in the coming weeks.

At the start of December more than a dozen Labour MPs voted with the Libs to call on the government to open talks on a new EU-UK customs union.

Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: “Businesses are drowning in red tape and families are paying the price for the appalling Brexit deal left by the Conservatives. But so far the Labour government has been far too timid, only tinkering around the edges when it comes to rebuilding our ties with Europe.”

Greek flight chaos as air-traffic control failure closes all airspace

Hundreds of flights to, from and within Greece have been cancelled or delayed due to a failure of the air-traffic control system.

The leading Greek airline, Aegean, has cancelled dozens of flights, mainly to and from Athens. It told passengers a “technical issue affecting the radio frequency systems of the Hellenic Aviation Service Provider, which has been ongoing since the early morning hours continues to cause a significant reduction in capacity within Greek airspace”.

Some flights to Athens have been diverted to Rome and Dubrovnik, while passengers heading for Thessaloniki on SAS are in Budapest and Transavia from Amsterdam diverted to the Albanian capital, Tirana. A flight from Vilnius to Heraklion in Crete is currently in Larnaca, Cyprus.

One British passenger, John Berry, told The Independent: “Hopefully we will still get home tonight. Just waiting for the flight LS1709 from Manchester to take off to collect us, as this is the last flight out of Athens for Jet2 until February.”

The outbound Jet2 flight is now en route and is expected to arrive around 7pm, four hours behind schedule.

EasyJet told passengers from Manchester whose flight to Athens was cancelled: “This is due to an ATH airport related airspace closure.

“The disruption to your flight is outside of our control and is considered to be an extraordinary circumstance.”

British Airways cancelled one of its morning departures from Heathrow to Athens. In the opposite direction, Aegean grounded its evening Athens-Heathrow flight, and the corresponding overnight inbound leg to the Greek capital.

Ryanair has cancelled flights from Athens to Malta, Rome and Bologna.

Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible on any airline, and to be provided with meals and hotels until they get there.

Athens airport later posted: “The Hellenic Aviation Service Provider started gradual release of some flights in accordance with air-traffic control capacity availability. Efforts for full restoration of the technical issues are continued.”

Jesy Nelson says twins may never walk after heartbreaking diagnosis

Doctors have told Jesy Nelson that her twin babies will probably “never be able to walk”.

The former Little Mix singer, 34, gave birth to twin daughters Ocean Jade Nelson-Foster and Story Monroe-Nelson-Foster in May following complications with her pregnancy. Announcing the birth, she shared photos of the twins together with their father, British rapper Zion Foster.

In an emotional video posted on Sunday (4 January), Nelson told fans that her babies have since been diagnosed with a muscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) after her mother had noticed their legs “weren’t moving as much as they should be”.

“The girls have now been diagnosed with a severe muscle disease called SMA type one. For those of you who don’t know what SMA type one is, it is the most severe muscular disease that a baby can get,” said the singer.

Explaining the disease, she said: “It does affect every muscle in the body, down to legs, arms, breathing, swallowing.

“And essentially, what it does is, over time, it kills the muscle to the body, and if it’s not treated in time, your baby’s life expectancy will not make it past the age of two.”

Recalling her daughters’ assessment at Great Ormond Street hospital in London, Nelson said: “We were told that they will probably never be able to walk and never regain their neck strength, so they will be disabled.

“The best thing we can do right now is to get treatment and then just hope for the best. Thankfully the girls have had their treatment, which I’m so grateful for because if they don’t have it, they will die.”

Speaking about how their lives have changed since receiving the diagnosis, Nelson recalled “endless hospital visits” and having to learn how to put her babies on “breathing machines”.

“The reason I wanted to make this video was because the last three months have honestly been the most heartbreaking time of my life. I literally feel like my whole life has done a 360,” she added.

“I almost feel like I’m grieving the life I thought I was going to have with my children and I know I have to be grateful because at the end of the day, they’re still here and that’s the main thing.”

Nelson said she truly believes her daughters would “defy the odds” and “go on to do things that have never been done”.

On why she decided make the diagnosis public, Nelson said she wanted to raise awareness so that other parents could identify the condition as early as possible to make treatment more effective.

As stated by the NHS, symptoms include floppiness in the arms and legs, as well as movement problems.

“The main thing I want to get across is that the majority of this can be prevented if it is detected from birth and all it takes is a heel prick,” she said, referring to the newborn blood spot test.

As stated by the NHS, SMA is a rare genetic condition that can cause muscle weakness, including problems with breathing or swallowing, weak arms and legs, tremors, and bone and joint problems.

Tyson Fury confirms boxing future and announces return from retirement

Tyson Fury has announced he is returning from retirement this year.

The former heavyweight world champion, who last fought in a points defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in December 2024, was linked with a sensational clash with Anthony Joshua before his British rival was involved in a fatal car crash in Nigeria earlier this week. Joshua has since returned to the UK following the deaths of two close friends and members of his team.

Posting on Instagram, Fury said: “2026 is that year. Return of the mac. Been away for a while but I’m back now, 37 years old and still punching. Nothing better to do than punch men in the face and get paid for it.”

Fury has been training in Thailand at the Iss Boxing Gym Pattaya, with World Boxing Council (WBC) bridgerweight title holder Kevin Lerena in his camp as one of his sparring partners.

The South African has shared footage of Fury inside the ring, with the 37-year-old seen hitting pads and boxing his teammate off the back foot.

Riyadh Season boss Turki Alalshikh had planned to match both Fury and Joshua in separate fights in 2026 before finally meeting later in the year, potentially back in the UK.

Joshua’s provisional date, before his accident, was February, with Fury teasing a potential return last summer, with 18 April highlighted as a potential date.

Though Fury had intended to fight Usyk for a third time, though the Ukrainian has instead been linked with a fight in the United States in recent weeks.

Usyk’s promotional allegiance has been the source of speculation, with Deontay Wilder, a former rival of Fury’s, tipped to clash with the former undisputed heavyweight world champion and offer a platform to break new commercial ground in boxing’s biggest market.

Alalshikh had hinted at Usyk facing Fury for a third time when confirming an agreement with Fury had been reached, stating: “I talked with him [Fury], and I have his word to have him in Riyadh Season in 2026. We have a rabbit to hunt.”

Rabbit has often been used as one of Fury’s insults towards Usyk during their two-fight rivalry.

Fury had paid tribute to Joshua and his two deceased friends following the car crash in Nigeria.

“This is so sad,” wrote Fury in an Instagram story, sharing a post about Joshua’s late teammates. “May god give them a good bed in heaven.”

Fury later shared a video interview between Joshua and Boxing King Media, from earlier this year, and wrote: “thoughts & prayers with AJ and the families who have lost.”

‘Tis the season to connect: How to maximise your mobile

Our mobile phones are a vital part of our everyday lives, providing us with connection, entertainment and information. We rely on the device in our pocket to help us work, socialise, learn and so much more – so we want to make sure we’re getting the most we can from it.

Tesco Mobile’s new Pay as you go Essentials tariff can help you do just that, offering increased flexibility and benefits. It keeps things simple and lets you add 30-day bundles of data, minutes and texts that best suit your needs.

The tariff will replace Rocket Pack, Triple Credit and Lite tariffs for all existing Tesco Mobile Pay as you go customers.

Customers who prefer traditional Pay as you go can continue to use top-up balance for calls, texts and data at the standard rate: 25p per minute, 10p per text, 10p per MB.*

So whether you’re an existing Tesco Mobile customer or thinking of making the switch, here’s seven reasons why Pay as you go Essentials is the perfect option…

We all use our phones differently. For some, it’s all about streaming favourite shows and music, so having enough data is vital. Others just want to be able to text and call friends and family whenever they want. Tesco Mobile make it easy to find the right Pay as you go Essentials bundle for your needs. New customers can choose the best bundle for their needs, with bundles auto-renewing every 30 days using available top-up balance.

Circumstances can change and you might find yourself needing more data or minutes some months than others. Depending on how much you use your phone, a bundle is often more cost-effective than using your top-up balance and being charged standard rates for calls, texts and data usage. Pay as you go Essentials is a flexible top-up tariff designed to give users full control over their spend, letting them add bundles of data, minutes and texts to suit specific needs. You can change your bundle as often as you like or cancel at any time. If you decide to opt-out of a bundle you can continue to use your top-up balance for calls, text and data at the standard out-of-bundle rate (25p per minute, 10p per text, 10p per MB).

Pay as you go Essentials offers a range of five great-value bundle options that all include data, minutes and texts. Pay as you go Essentials bundles start from just £5 for 30 days (minimum £10 top-up at activation), while every bundle from £10 and up includes unlimited calls and texts (subject to Fair Usage Policy) – making it easy and affordable to stay connected. If you’re an existing Tesco Mobile Pay as you go customer you’ll get a free 30 day Essentials bundle based on your previous use so you can see if its the right one for you.

The new Tesco Mobile app is packed with useful features to help you make the most of your Pay as you go phone. It’s a quick and simple way to manage or change your bundles, check usage, top-up your balance change auto-renew settings and more. You can easily see your remaining data, minutes and texts, so you know whether you need to add a new or different bundle. Need a hand with something? Chat with the customer care team via live in-app messaging. This is a new app for Pay as you go customers, and customers will no longer be able to use their old Tesco Mobile Pay as you go apps.

Phone calls cutting out, videos buffering, texts that don’t send… an unreliable phone signal can be hugely frustrating. Tesco Mobile shares O2’s network, which means 99 per cent UK coverage, and a better connection in hard-to-reach rural areas – so you won’t be searching for a signal. Tesco Mobile’s 4G and 5G networks are constantly being improved, and with Pay as you go Essentials, customers can use 4G Calling (also known as VoLTE) means you’ll use your 4G connection to make and receive calls, enjoying clearer calls. You can find this option in your network settings.

With Tesco Mobile, you get a Clubcard point for every £1 you spend. Just link your Clubcard to your phone (text the word CLUBCARD to 28578 free from your Tesco Mobile phone) and watch the points add up. You can then convert your points to vouchers to save on your weekly grocery shop or exchange the vouchers for Reward Partner codes to save money on meals out, entertainment, day trips, travel and more. For a limited time, Tesco Mobile customers can get 500 Clubcard points every time they add a £15 Pay as you go Essentials bundle when they link their Clubcard within the first 28 days of adding the bundle. Clubcard points will be automatically issued within 30 days.

For more information on Tesco Mobile’s Pay as you go Essentials, including all available bundles, visit Tesco Mobile

*Offer ends 01/02/2026. See Terms And Conditions for full terms.

How Chelsea’s ‘nobody’ exposed Maresca as dispensable

The incomparable against the unknown, the defining manager of the last couple of decades against one who, two days earlier, many Chelsea fans would have struggled to pick out of an identity parade. And yet if it promised to be one of the great managerial mismatches, it instead finished with the supposed nobody being celebrated by the Chelsea faithful.

Arsenal may want to thank him, too. Perhaps the title race was reshaped by Calum McFarlane. Pep Guardiola has had the occasional unlikely nemesis in the past – Nathan Jones once denied him a quadruple – and the latest was a former City academy coach; when Tijjani Reijnders seemed to have earned the Catalan a ninth win in 10 games, Enzo Fernandez instead came up with a 94th-minute leveller. “Everyone thought we were coming here to lose,” said McFarlane. “No one thought we stood a chance.”

So City may have wished Enzo Maresca had not talked himself out of a job. Instead, this became a triumph for perhaps the lowest-profile figure to take charge of a Premier League superclub, however briefly.

McFarlane is not sure if he will spend Wednesday managing Chelsea against Fulham or the Under-21s against Benfica. But the McFarlane era will not be an era. He had been told when he was made the interim to expect a new manager on Monday. If Liam Rosenior is appointed, his reign might only span a few days, and he could get a return ticket to anonymity, but he will always have this afternoon, this point. “For me personally, it was stuff you dream about,” said McFarlane. “It is an honour to play against Pep Guardiola. He is, for me, the best manager who has ever managed.”

The sight of the former City academy coach on the touchline with Guardiola, as both equals and opposites, was surreal; for McFarlane, too. But the curiosity value gave way to a contest. The nobody held the somebody. McFarlane deployed two gameplans, the first negative, the second counterattacking, each with some skill. He changed the game.

He ended it pushed forward by captain Reece James to receive the travelling supporters’ acclaim. “I didn’t want to do that,” said the self-effacing McFarlane. “It shouldn’t be about me.”

But it was about him. He ensured Chelsea, who have not beaten City since the 2021 Champions League final, did not lose it. City were unconvincing in a match they were expected to dominate. They had looked vulnerable in the second half. They ended without both of their centre-backs, a seemingly damaging day seeing first Josko Gvardiol limp off with a knee problem and then Ruben Dias going off injured. Guardiola is particularly worried about the Croatian. “It doesn’t look good,” he said.

With Nathan Ake and Abdukodir Khusanov in defence, Fernandez finished at the third attempt, his first two denied by Matheus Nunes and Gianluigi Donnarumma, after a cross from Malo Gusto. And he, in turn, had been shifted to the right, as Fernandez was pushed into the No 10 role, by McFarlane in the half-time rejig.

It was transformative. He had begun with an understandable defensiveness, Chelsea losing not just Maresca but the injured Robert Sanchez and Marc Cucurella, the banned Moises Caicedo and the ill Wesley Fofana. Lacking their manager, best goalkeeper, centre-back, left-back and defensive midfielder, they pursued a policy of containment.

They denied City a shot in the first 19 minutes, one on target in the opening 37. A goal down at half-time, McFarlane, who had retained Maresca’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, altered tack in other respects. “The shape change really helped us,” said McFarlane.

He was proactive. He brought Andrey Santos on at the interval and switched his full-backs – Gusto, one of three right-backs to start, had begun on the left – and Chelsea acquired a threat. They could have levelled soon, Pedro Neto scooping a shot over. They might have done so later when the substitute Liam Delap thudded a shot into Donnarumma’s chest. They did at the last through Fernandez.

It reflected well on the rookie that he could reorganise the team. Perhaps, Chelsea may think, it shows that Maresca was dispensable, that another could manage these players. At least, for 90 minutes, he ensured that Chelsea did not look a club in crisis.

Some of his players, McFarlane said, were “shocked” by the departure of Maresca. But they regrouped, led off the field by James, Tosin Adarabioyo and Fernandez. On the pitch, they struggled only when City stepped up the pace just before the break. Filip Jorgensen, making his first Premier League start since February, excelled to tip a deflected Erling Haaland effort away. The Norwegian whipped a shot against the inside of the post, but endured a third game without a goal.

But Reijnders did find the net, lashing a left-footed shot in for his third goal in his last four games. City could not add to it. “We were extraordinary in all departments except we could not score a second, third or fourth,” insisted Guardiola, with exaggerated praise. But there was a slackness to City. They may have wished they had fast-tracked the signing of Antoine Semenyo. There was a slackness and a slowness to their performance, whereas Chelsea showed a unity. And the side with no manager stopped the team with the man McFarlane deems the best to ever do it.

Inside the quest for the origin of Stonehenge’s Altar Stone

“It was one of those kind of serendipitous occasions – a Eureka moment,” says Professor Richard Bevins.

Picking over a set of 15 sample stones from Stonehenge passed on to him by a former colleague, the geologist was asked to make a quick observation on the source of rock believed to have been brought from west Wales some 5,000 years ago.

“I said I can tell you what they are in terms of rock type, but this rock type – I’ve never seen in west Wales, never seen it at all,” Prof Bevins recalls. “So I wrote it up [his report], but before it was published, I had a Eureka moment and thought ‘there’s an outcrop that I have got material from but that I’ve never looked at before’.

“It led to the excavation of a Neolithic quarry [Craig Rhos-y-Felin] and the discovery of the exact location where the stone samples came. A perfect match. It was a special moment.”

That major discovery in 2011 was the first time a definite source for any of the stones at the world-famous monument had been found, reinvigorating the long-running debate on how the stones were transported all the way from Pembrokeshire to Wiltshire.

Now, today, 14 years on, Prof Bevins believes he could be on the verge of his next ground-breaking find; the source of the monument’s Altar Stone.

Having declared last year that the six-tonne megalith was not one of the bluestones hauled from Pembrokeshire, he and his team ventured to the archipelago of Orkney after determining it came from sandstone deposits in the Orcadian Basin, an area encompassing the isles of Orkney and Shetland and a coastal strip on the northeast Scottish mainland.

Detailed study of the stones in Orkney, however, came up with no match, and now Prof Bevins is staring at a mapped area 125 miles by 93 miles, determined to discover the exact location where the stone was quarried, before being transported more than 500 miles to the West Country.

“It’d be fantastic to find the exact source,” Prof Bevins says. “It’s been a rollercoaster to get this far, having found it doesn’t come from Wales but now from northeast Scotland. It’d certainly be the icing on the cake for all the work we’ve put in.”

Finding the source would open excavation works for archaeologists at the source site, who would then be able to trace the people behind the construction of Stonehenge and find out everything, from their society to their tools to what they ate and drank.

It would also, Prof Bevins says, add more substance to the theories behind how the huge stones were moved the hundreds of miles, with current thoughts, due to the hilly landscape in Scotland, that they were moved by sea.

The discovery of the location could also strengthen a theory that the building of Stonehenge was an act of unification across the UK against a foreign threat, with materials coming from all corners of the British Isles.

But, for now, Prof Bevins says he needs to work with his small team to pinpoint locations within the huge region.

“If we just went up there and went randomly walking across the whole area, we’ll probably retire and be a long time underground before anything were found, so we’ll be picking out some target areas within that region,” says Prof Bevins.

But it takes time, and operating in the field is expensive and time-consuming.

And after funding finished on ruling out Orkney last year, Prof Bevins and his team need to build a new case for money to pay for the next part of their project. Part of their case will be the public’s thirst for information on one of the UK’s most famous monuments, which had a record 1.4 million visitors in 2024.

“People like to know about other people, they like to know about their history, they like to know why Stonehenge was built, what do the pyramids mean? It’s that fascination with people and cultures,” says Prof Bevins.

“When we publish a paper [on Stonehenge], you can almost clock it going around the world across time zones. News, television channels, online. It really is quite astonishing. We’re hoping to achieve the same results again soon.”