The government has announced it is abandoning plans to make digital identity verification compulsory for proving the right to work in the United Kingdom, a major shift that marks another policy U-turn by the prime minister and his administration, opening the way for people to use existing documentation instead and reducing concerns about state surveillance while keeping the wider digital ID programme under review.

Production and transmission of Love Island: All Stars has been delayed after wildfires near the South African villa forced a full evacuation of cast and crew, with the planned launch now uncertain as safety concerns grow, ITV saying their first priority is the welfare of everyone involved, and confirming the series will return on a later date once conditions improve.

United States forces launched a large scale overnight strike across Venezuela, with President Donald Trump announcing that Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores had been captured and flown out of the country. The dramatic military operation, which triggered explosions across Caracas, has intensified global concern and prompted urgent questions about regional stability and Washington’s intentions.

Sources report that Teyana Taylor and Aaron Pierre have ended their relationship after less than a year of dating, closing a chapter that began in early 2025 with public appearances on the awards circuit and affectionate social media posts, while both stars continue to focus on major projects in film and music and navigate life in the spotlight.

Sean “Diddy” Combs has taken a major legal step by filing an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, asking for his immediate release from prison or for the conviction that sent him to jail to be overturned or reduced.

A 24-year-old woman has been jailed for nine years after meeting men on dating apps then luring them to hotel rooms where they were tied up, assaulted and robbed in violent scams that left victims seriously harmed and terrified, one of whom was threatened with scissors and another burned with a hot iron during the ordeal.