A police officer has been shot dead at Croydon Police Station in south London.

The officer was shot by a man who was being detained at the custody centre in Windmill Lane.

It is believed the suspect was taken to the station, where he was searched, before producing a weapon and firing it at an officer and himself.

The officer was treated at the scene by paramedics after the incident at 02:15 BST. He later died in hospital of gunshot wounds.

A 23-year-old man was detained by officers at the scene. He was also taken to hospital with a gunshot wound and remains in a critical condition.

No police firearms were discharged during the incident, the Met Police said. The officer’s family are being supported by specialist officers.

Asked about how someone could enter the building while armed,...

The UK government borrowed £35.9bn in August as tackling the economic fallout of pandemic took its toll on the public finances, official figures show.

The figure – the difference between spending and tax income – was £30.5bn more than it borrowed in August last year.

The increase meant that the borrowing figure hit its highest amount for August since records began in 1993.

Borrowing between April and August totalled £173.7bn – also a record.

UK debt passed £2tn for the first time in history in July as the government spent billions on introducing measures designed to protect the economy against the fallout caused by the coronavirus crisis.

In August, debt hit £2.024tn, £249.5bn more than the same time in 2019, according to the Office for National Statistics.

That figure now exce...

The government has “wasted” three weeks of Whitehall bosses’ time by twice changing its advice on civil servants working from home, a union says.

FDA leader Dave Penman said ministers had got themselves into a “tizzy” and had suggested staff were “lazy”.

In March, civil servants were told to work from home if possible, but earlier this month ministers said 80% should come in once a week or more by October.

But, with Covid cases up, they reverted to the previous advice this week.

The government has promised to maintain “productivity” and “cohesiveness” within the Civil Service as the pandemic continues.

Over the summer, with city-centre businesses such as shops and cafés suffering because of a lack of commuters, the government encouraged companies to bring more people back into the offi...

Industries hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic are facing further uncertainty after missing out on help in the chancellor’s new emergency jobs scheme.

Retail, hospitality, events and night-time industries expressed concern, as have those on zero-hours contracts.

Rishi Sunak has said employees must be in ”viable” jobs to benefit from the wage top-up scheme.

This means people working in industries currently closed – such as nightclubs – may lose out as there isn’t any work.

Mr Sunak said he hoped the new plan, announced on Thursday, would “benefit large numbers”, but warned the government “can’t save every job”.

The Job Support Scheme will replace furlough and last for six months, starting in November.

Under the scheme, if bosses bring back workers part time, the government will help t...

More than 40 Conservative MPs are backing an attempt to increase parliamentary scrutiny over further coronavirus restrictions in England.

Senior Tory Sir Graham Brady has tabled an amendment that would see the House of Commons to debate and vote on any future such measures.

It comes as MPs prepare to consider government legislation that will keep Covid-19 emergency powers in force.

The government said it was consulting MPs on public health measures.

The Coronavirus Act – which was passed in March – gave ministers emergency powers to respond to the pandemic but they were time-limited and need to be renewed by the House of Commons next week.

But a number of MPs are worried about how restrictions – including the limiting of pub and restaurant opening hours and the ban on meetings of more ...

More than 1,000 people have been arrested and an estimated £1.2m worth of drugs seized in a police crackdown on so-called “county lines” gangs.

Young and vulnerable people are used as couriers to move drugs and cash between cities and smaller towns.

Police said raids in the past week, involving all 43 regional forces in England and Wales, had been the most successful of their kind.

Almost 200 weapons and £526,000 in cash were also seized.

The operation resulted in:

• 1,041 arrests
• The discovery of an estimated £876,000 worth of cocaine, £87,000 worth of crack cocaine and £234,000 worth of heroin
• Seizure of £526,000 of cash
• Confiscation of 196 weapons including 130 knives, 18 firearms, 5 samurai swords and 10 knuckledusters
• 102 “deal line” devices, linked to phone numbers used to b...

Thalidomide campaigners have paid tribute to investigative journalist Sir Harold Evans, who has died aged 92.

The British-American journalist, who led an investigation into the drug, died of heart failure in New York, his wife Tina Brown said.

David Mason, whose daughter Louise Medus-Mansell was a Thalidomide victim, said Sir Harold played a “pivotal” role in securing compensation for survivors.

Sir Harold oversaw many campaigns as editor of the Sunday Times.

His 70-year career also saw him work as a magazine founder, book publisher, author and, at the time of his death, Reuters’ editor-at-large.

Sir Harold’s Thalidomide campaign was launched in 1972 and eventually forced the UK manufacturer, Distillers Company – at the time the Sunday Times’s biggest advertiser – to increase the compen...

The UK has recorded 6,634 new coronavirus cases, the government has announced, making it the highest figure since mass testing began.

Another 40 people have died within 28 days of testing positive for the virus.

The latest figures take the overall number of confirmed cases to 416,363, and total deaths to 41,902.

Meanwhile, people arriving in the UK from Denmark, Slovakia, Iceland and the Caribbean island of Curacao now need to self-isolate for 14 days.

The rules take effect from 04:00 BST on Saturday.

The latest surge in cases comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced plans aimed at stopping mass job cuts, and two days after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced further restrictions to help curb the spread of coronavirus.

They include a 22:00 closing time for all pubs, restaurants...

Students are being told not to go to pubs, parties or restaurants in a bid to stem a spate of coronavirus outbreaks at Scottish universities.

Hundreds of students have tested positive at campuses across the country, with many more self-isolating.

Universities have now pledged to make it “absolutely clear” to students that there must be no parties.

And they will not be allowed to socialise with anyone outside of their accommodation.

Students have also been warned that any breaches of the new rules “will not be tolerated”.

The stricter guidelines were announced after opposition leaders accused First Minister Nicola Sturgeon of a “basic failure” to anticipate the problem and provide more testing on university campuses.

Universities Scotland said the new guidance that had been agreed wi...