The bank has sent a message to customers explaining what they need to do before 5 October

Halifax has alerted customers that it will begin closing its app in October ahead of its rebrand to Lloyds.

In an email, the bank explained that customers will need to switch over to the Lloyds app to continue accessing their online banking services, as the original app will be shut down on 31 October.

The email reads: “Just a quick reminder that from 5 October, as part of the Halifax brand changing to Lloyds, we’ll start to close the Halifax app. To keep managing your accounts online, you need to move across to the Lloyds app.

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The correspondence continues: “In just a few easy steps, you’ll be up and running, with everything you need ready for you – your accounts, payments you’ve set up, and any letters and statements we’ve sent to your digital inbox.”

Lloyds stated that its banking app “should feel familiar and just as easy to use” and that switching over will “only take a few clicks”.

Halifax added that once its app is closed at the end of October, “you won’t be able to access your accounts from there at that point”. It is also shutting 13 branches in September as part of the broader Lloyds closure programme, reports the Express.

The banking group, which encompasses Lloyds, the Bank of Scotland and Halifax, will close at least 247 bank branches in 2026 and 2027, following the Group’s announcement of 79 new closures.

It stated that decisions are “based on a range of factors, including how customers are choosing to bank and the availability of nearby services”.

The use of mobile banking has rocketed in recent years, with approximately 87% of UK adults now using at least one form of digital banking, according to recent figures.

Customers have been urged to access in-person banking services at its other brands, including Lloyds and Bank of Scotland, where they can deposit cash, make withdrawals and pay in cheques.

Account holders can also make use of banking hubs, which are shared spaces operated by the Post Office, where customers of multiple banks can deposit and withdraw cash, receive face-to-face support and manage their accounts.

A spokesperson for Lloyds Banking Group said: “The way people are banking has changed, with over 21 million customers choosing our apps to manage their money. We’re providing more choice than ever before, bringing together the best in digital convenience with our people.

“Alongside our app, our customers can use any Lloyds, Halifax or Bank of Scotland branch, the Post Office or Banking Hubs for their everyday banking, and deposit cash at over 30,000 PayPoint locations.”

The wife of a British businessman has called on Andy Burnham for help after several pleas sent to his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer went unanswered amid his family’s fears that the 72-year-old may die behind bars in Dubai.

Ryan Cornelius has spent nearly two decades jailed in Dubai’s central prison in the Al Awir desert – a world away from the glittering metropolis shown by celebrities and influencers of the United Arab Emirates on social media.

The forbidding prison, famously dubbed Dubai‘s Alcatraz, has been repeatedly condemned by human rights groups as a grim, high-security ‘hell-hole’ where inmates face harsh conditions and overcrowding. 

Here, Mr Cornelius has been locked away in a cell the size of a shipping container, which he shares with six other inmates, despite demands from the United Nations that he be released, as it accused the UAE of ‘serious judicial irregularities’.

In 2008, he was arrested and accused of defrauding the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) after taking out a $500million bank loan, which he and another Brit were using to fund investment programmes in the Gulf state. He vehemently denies the charges.

During his trial, prosecutors alleged he forged invoices for the construction of a luxury development called The Plantation, which includes a 200-room hotel, 100 villas, an equestrian centre and a polo club. 

Footage recently emerged of construction being carried out on the site as his family accuses the Gulf state of trying to keep Mr Cornelius behind bars ‘until he dies’ so the businessman can never ‘mount any kind of legal challenge against’ the UAE.

In an interview with the Daily Mail, his loyal wife Heather Cornelius spoke of her agony after her family’s pleas for her husband’s release have fallen on the deaf ears of the British Government for the last 18 years.

This upcoming Monday, she is set to hand the Prime Minister a letter calling for him to take action and help free her husband from the bleak Middle Eastern penitentiary.

‘I’d like to have an answer from Andy Burnham,’ Mrs Cornelius said. ‘We didn’t get an answer from Keir Starmer. I sent to [him] last year in April, and even my brother-in-law has written to the Foreign Secretary, Ed Miliband. We’ve had no reply.’

British businessman Ryan Cornelius (now 72) was arrested in Dubai 18 years ago over a $500M bank loan used to fund a luxury development project (Pictured: Ryan with his wife Heather)

Ryan is held at Al Awir Central Prison (pictured), a overcrowded, high-security facility in the desert. He shares a cell the size of a shipping container with six other inmates.

Her brother-in-law, Chris Paggett OBE, who worked for the Foreign Office for 32 years, added they had delivered two letters to Sir Keir – one in November before he visited the UAE and another last April. Both went unanswered. 

He maintained the Foreign Office ‘just ignored Ryan’s case for 14 years’ because ‘it suited them to believe Dubai’s version of events’, adding that Sir Keir ‘never even bothered to reply’. 

‘To do otherwise was too inconvenient to their objective of having a close relationship with this wealthy country,’ he said. ‘We’re hoping that Andy Burnham will be different.’

‘This is a matter for the Prime Minister now. Burnham needs to involve himself in this because manifestly nothing else has worked.’ 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the billionaire ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister of the UAE, is one of the biggest landowners in Britain, and as of 2021, owned more than 40,000 hectares in London, Scotland and Newmarket.

In May 2008, Mr Cornelius, who was once a successful entrepreneur living with his family in Bahrain, was arrested by men in civilian clothes as he changed flights in Dubai and whisked away in an unmarked car. 

Initially, they approached him amid suspicions that he was carrying drugs. Although a search found nothing, he was still taken to Dubai’s police headquarters with his hands bound with zip ties and a hood placed over his head.

After hours of interrogation with no access to lawyers, family or the British Embassy, the accusations against him were no longer drugs but fraud, as they alleged he stole $500million from the DIB. 

Now Heather is set to hand a letter to Andy Burnham in the hopes he will finally take action after years of the British government ‘turn[ing] a blind eye’ 

Ryan Cornelius (right), pictured with his wife Heather and their three children, may have been tortured by authorities in the United Arab Emirates. UN human rights experts have warned

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But after serving his time, Ryan (pictured with his son) was brought to a closed-door hearing in 2018 with no lawyer or notice and handed a further 20 years in jail under Dubai Law no 37. 

It came amid concerns from Dubai authorities about the sizeable loan he and another Brit were using to fund investment ventures in the area amid the fallout of the global financial crash.   

However, Lord Clement-Jones, a lawyer and Lib Dem peer, who has fearlessly backed Mr Cornelius, said the original issue surrounding the loan and the receipts was ‘technical’ rather than fraud. 

But during his initial arrest, Mr Cornelius was ordered to sign a statement in Arabic despite not being able to read or speak the language – after hours of being interrogated in a windowless room with no contact with the British Embassy. 

Three years later, his case was brought before a Dubai court. He was handed a ten-year jail sentence and, alongside his three co-defendants, ordered to repay the loan and a £500million fine. 

But after serving his time for the charge of ‘theft from public bodies’, despite DIB originally being a publicly traded joint-stock firm, he was brought to a closed-door hearing with no lawyer or notice and handed a further 20 years in jail under Dubai Law no 37. 

And despite the UAE Constitution outlining that prisoners should not be jailed beyond the age of 70, Mr Cornelius’s application to be released at this age was opposed by the DIB and thus refused. 

Earlier this year, the experts at the UN found that his detention was arbitrary and once again called for his immediate release amid concerns the businessman had been ‘tortured’ behind bars. The European Parliament also made the same demands.  

But amid the government’s inaction and Mr Cornelius’s health issues, having contracted tuberculosis, Covid on two occasions, as well as his borderline diabetes, his family fear he may never be released from the desert prison.  

‘It’s a massive concern, and we are looking at that very possibility,’ Heather said. ‘We need someone to see that this is going nowhere unless we do get much more substantial help.’

Pictured: A screenshot from a video of construction taking place on the plot of land dubbed The Plantation which Ryan formerly owned 

The Plantation land seized by the DIB has been renamed ‘The Acres’ and is being developed by a Dubai Holdings real estate company

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Describing the last 18 years as ‘absolutely life-changing’ for not just herself but her children and her family as a whole, she added: ‘Nothing has been normal since Ryan was arrested.

‘[It’s] become more and more frightening every year because it’s just so difficult to get any justice.  

‘We just don’t get anywhere with, you know, getting anywhere with the British government, you know, standing up for the rights of British people like Ryan Cornelius.’

‘My family’s been devastated. Everything in our lives has been affected by this. And it is something we can never repair or get back. It just doesn’t get any easier. It is really difficult.

‘Every time you think that you might have some little bit of hope, it just gets dashed. We’ve had absolutely no help [from the British government] whatsoever.’ 

She added: ‘At the beginning, the very beginning, I thought, ‘I’ll get Ryan home. This has all been a big mistake.’ We all just tried to survive

‘But to tell you the truth, every single year since he was arrested, it has just got more and more difficult for all of us.’

In the fallout of his conviction, authorities in Dubai seized all of Mr Cornelius’s business assets, his personal properties including homes in London, and drained his bank accounts. His family was left homeless. 

Meanwhile, as of 2024 in Meeras, the Plantation land seized by the DIB has been renamed ‘The Acres’ and is being developed by a Dubai Holdings real estate company. 

It is marketed as a luxury development, comprised of 1200 villas – the cheapest priced at $1.5million.

Mr Paggett accused the British Government of ‘turn[ing] a blind eye’ and, as such, strengthening the UAE’s ‘feeling that they can act with impunity’ as ‘the world needs their money too much’. 

‘This is very much an issue for our times, and it’s one Western democracies like ours haven’t yet found an answer to.

‘But increasingly, autocracies, particularly rich autocracies, have the badge of traditionally being sort of friendly autocracies, friends of the West, are able to ignore what they want to ignore. The UAE has an awful lot of question marks over it now.

‘At no point has the British government given the UAE any reason to think that what it’s doing to Ryan would be anything other than cost-free.’

He believes that Ryan would not be behind bars currently if the British government ‘had the gumption early on’. 

Comparing their battle with David and Goliath, he added: ‘We’re just a family. We haven’t got any money. We’re facing a well-resourced machine.’

Meanwhile, Heather and her family, who once ‘loved’ living in the Middle East and was full of ‘great excitement’ at eventually moving to Dubai when her husband’s project was finished, have missed out on a lifetime with Mr Cornelius. 

Milestones such as birthdays, funerals, university excitement and even the birth of his first grandchild this year have all been robbed from the 72-year-old, who has but the tiny view of the sprawling desert from his cell. 

‘We’ve gradually lost, you know, anything that we did have. Ryan is bankrupt,’ Heather added. 

‘I think the damage done to all of us on mental health will continue to affect us for the rest of our lives.

‘Our children are very strong. Ryan’s strong. I’ve had to find some strength somewhere.

‘But I think there’s a limit to how long you can keep drawing on those reserves to get some strength.

She added: ‘There’s a greater hope now with the new Andy Burnham. They should do this for every British citizen, not just for Ryan.’

An FCDO Spokesperson said: ‘The UK Government continues to raise Mr Cornelius’ case with the UAE authorities and is providing ongoing consular support to him and his family.’

A woman has been accused of beating her husband to death with a flagpole in a luxury California gated community.

Vicky Kim, 65, was charged with murder after police found her husband bludgeoned at The Enclave, a neighborhood of rental condos in Palm Desert.

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Office said deputies went to The Enclave shortly before 10 a.m., local time, last Friday on an “unknown trouble call.”

Upon arrival, deputies found someone with “traumatic injuries consistent with a physical assault,” and the person was pronounced dead, a press release issued Saturday read. Police are withholding the victim’s identity, citing the ongoing investigation.

Court records revealed that the victim was Kim’s husband and that she had inflicted great bodily harm on him using a flagpole, per SFGate. She was taken into custody and later booked into a local jail.

A spokesperson for the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office said that Kim has had several domestic violence cases against her that involve her husband.

“In January of this year, our office charged Ms. Kim with a felony, obtained criminal protective orders, and intended to aggressively prosecute her for her crimes against her husband,” spokesperson Molly Smith told SFGate.

Deputies went to an address in Palm Desert on January 20 for a domestic incident and found Kim’s husband with an injured nose, according to court records obtained by local outlet KESQ.

Kim allegedly admitted to a deputy that she hit him on the nose three times after an argument about finances.

“Despite our office’s clear objections, a judge resolved all of the defendant’s cases as misdemeanors, released her from custody, and terminated all protective orders that prosecutors worked hard to obtain,” Smith told KESQ.

Prosecutors filed five domestic violence cases against Kim from September 2025 to January 2026, according to the court records.

Everyone has their own take on the best spot for a classic Sunday roast but I think I’ve found the perfect spot

Aside from my mother’s roast chicken and stuffing there’s one place I will always head to should I need a Sunday dinner fix and it’s tucked behind a retail park with a massive B&Q in a bustling Welsh town where the food scene has come on leaps and bounds in recent years.

The Bunch of Grapes in Pontypridd has placed in the The Good Food Guide as well as swiping titles of National Pub of the Year and AA Pub of the Year for Wales, is on a funny little street, Ynysangharad Road, which takes you towards Pontypridd’s famous and lovely park at one end while at the other you’re into steep hill territory as you head towards Ponty Common.

Affectionately called ‘The Bunch’ by locals and regulars, this is a pub with a cosy bar stocked to the rafters with own-brewed ales and beers, a big fireplace on one side of the building and a fresh open restaurant area on the other.

The menu is full of exceptional pub food on a regular basis and they often do themed menus like their recent fried chicken specials. Having dined there many times there’s barely a bad pick and if the tandoori lamb or kimchi fritters are there don’t leave them behind.

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But you’re here for the Sunday lunch. I’m having the beef – non-negotiable – and you can choose it two ways with either a 12-hour braised brisket or a roasted rump. I tend to opt for the rump because they cook it perfectly pink in a way I wouldn’t be able to at home.

Served as two slices, it’s soft against a knife with that ideal level of chew. The brisket falls apart and comes with a Welsh stout jus (thinner gravy I suppose you could describe it as) and I reckon next time I’ll go I’ll pick that one.

Other meats on offer include roast leg of lamb and chicken supreme (done on the bone) and you can also get fish and chips or a nut roast. Their menu is seasonal and changes regularly.

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The quality of the food is second to none. The beef’s flavour oozes quality on top of its fresh, healthy beefy deliciousness. The accompanying vegetables – charred broccoli, braised carrots, and roast potatoes – may seem modest when your plate is popped down on the table but, let me assure you, come the end you’ll be more than full to the brim and ready for a Sunday afternoon snooze.

They too are flavourful due to their freshness and the standard side of leek gratin offers a rich, cheesy swirl that is all sorts of right when mixed in with the gravy (even though mixing cheese and gravy is instinctively a culinary crime to me). Pop some swede mash in the centre and it takes you right back to proper childhood Sundays.

Sunday lunch at The Bunch is slightly on the fancier end of the roast scale – but only due to high-quality components and presentation. It’s the number one recommendation I make to those going out for that special weekend dinner.

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The balance, timing, and coordination it takes to achieve a successful, delicious, and perennially hot Sunday roast is no mean feat. It takes talent, practice, and a hell of a lot of patience and I take my hat off to anyone who cooks them en masse. It’s also why I go out to eat them.

Sunday lunch at the Bunch of Grapes is priced at two courses for £25 or £30 for three and you can find them at Ynysangharad Road, Pontypridd, CF37 4DA.

I always raise my eyebrows when people associate gardening with relaxation and pleasure.

Yes, it is lovely to have a garden and yes they are great places in which to sit and relax with a glass of wine. But they also have to be maintained and, far from being a place to boost your wellbeing gardens can be a serious threat to your health.

Around 87,000 people are injured every year while gardening, estimates from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) state. That probably won’t come as a surprise to most people, with hazardous equipment such as lawnmowers and electric hedge trimmers being in regular use. But, get this – seemingly innocuous pieces of gardening kit can also pose a problem.

Areas which suffered from hosepipe bans this summer have seen a sharp rise in strains and other back injuries caused by lifting heavy watering cans. It’s not only the elderly, even young, fit people are suffering. One osteopath practice in Berkshire reported ‘a huge increase in patients with back, neck, shoulder and elbow pain that they attribute to watering cans.’ Another practice, in Stowmarketin Suffolk, said patients were coming in with musculoskeletal problems from lugging watering cans to their plants.

Our vegetable patch is at the bottom of the garden and I admit to being relieved that we didn’t have a ban, and using a hosepipe throughout the heatwave. During the Yorkshire hosepipe ban last year I lugged watering cans up and down, hundreds of times. At the time I didn’t associate it with my sudden-onset lower back pain that lasted at least a month, but there was no other reason for it.

I haven’t avoided gardening ailments this summer, however. Thirty minutes extracting some dead wood from within our hedge left my arms covered in an itchy, bright red rash. An hour cutting the hedge with shears – the electric cutter terrifies me – left me with upper arm pain that’s still lingering. Cleaning out the green bin after collection, I lost my balance, fell over and bruised myself.

Take care when using gardening equipment. Picture: Pixabay

My husband has had his fair share of gardening accidents. Wearing sandals while tying up some runner beans, he stubbed his toe on the side of a raised bed, breaking it. It was the night before we were due to go on holiday. He refused to go to A&E and instead strapped it up. It healed awkwardly – it needs re-breaking and setting to fix it, but he refuses – and has since had to buy a larger shoe size.

He now wears clogs when digging, and sturdy boots when going up ladders.

That’s a trivial accident compared to some. What we don’t consider is that many gardening activities involve – proper ones, bought in the Netherlands – the use of equipment that, were it used in an industrial setting, would require special clothing, footwear, eyewear and, sometimes, hard hats.

Yet we – I’m pointing the finger at my husband here – skip up stepladders to saw branches off trees wearing flip flops. We dig, fork and hoe wearing sandals and, commonly, wellies, which, if you stick a fork into your foot, certainly aren’t up to the job.

My neighbour couldn’t wear shoes for a month this summer after dropping a pair of secateurs on her foot. The blades pierced her skin between the straps of her sandal. Secateurs, pruners and shears are, in fact, the third most dangerous gardening tool, with 4,400 injuries every year in the UK.

Lawnmowers are top, accounting for 6,500, according to the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents per annum in the UK, topping injury lists.

Another seemingly harmless item – flowerpots – comes next, with 5,300, due to heavy lifting strains, cuts, and dangerous trips or falls.

Garden canes can be lethal if you bend down and poke your eye, and a minor scratch form a rose could turn nasty.

Of course, it has been proven that gardening is great for your mental health, and keeps you fit, so don’t let me put you off. But if you have a garden, wear protective gear and take care.

An Oasis tour announcement is due on Monday – but how much will you be willing to spend to see the rock ‘n’ roll stars next year? Have your say in our poll

Oasis have confirmed they will make their huge tour announcement on Monday, September 14, and it has got fans of the band at fever pitch. The band have been teasing a host of potential gig venues and cities for the past week on their official social media accounts.

Then on Thursday night came the dramatic statement of intent – sending a 120-metre long drone display over the Etihad Stadium in Manchester with their Oasis logo beaming out. It went on to confirm the date of 14/09/26 for an announcement that will be made at 4pm BST.

It confirms that news of a major world tour from the band, fronted by reunited brothers Liam and Noel Gallagher, is now just hours away.

Click here for the latest on Manchester’s food & drink scene, gigs and more in our CityLife newsletter

Fans are now desperately refreshing Ticketmaster accounts and credit card details to get ready for what is set to be an almighty scramble for tickets whenever a new tour goes on sale.

One of the big topics of debate among fans now is exactly how much tickets will be for this new, Oasis 2027 tour, from the reinvigorated band. And, more to the point, how much fans are willing to pay to see the band this time around.

As fans will recall when Oasis Live 25 first went on sale, tickets were initially priced at £73 to £74 for basic seated tickets and then around £135 to £151 for general admission standing. But the unprecedented demand drove face-value and resale rates much higher to around £350.

However, last September, following an investigation into Oasis tickets sales, the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) secured commitments from Ticketmaster to improve transparency.

The retailer is now required to tell fans 24 hours in advance if a tiered pricing system will be used for a sale, and they will also have to display information about ticket prices throughout online queues.

There will also be real-time updates to notify users during the queue when cheaper tickets sell out.

With this in mind, fans are already preparing for what’s ahead, and many will have limits in mind for what they are willing, or are able, to spend to be in with a chance to watch the upcoming gigs.

Below, you can have your say in our poll on how much you think you will be likely to spend on Oasis tickets this time around. And you’ll be able to see what other fans are thinking in the poll results too.

The Fife native moved across the pond around a decade ago and became a naturalized American citizen.

KT Tunstall has stated “I’m American now” while commemorating the 9/11 terror attacks and revealing the song she wrote which was inspired by the tragedy.

The hugely successful singer grew up in St Andrews, Fife and rose to fame with her 2004 album Eye to the Telescope. She went on to win a Brit Award as Best Female Solo Artist and an Ivor Novello award for songwriting.

The 51-year-old moved to the US around 2014 and became a naturalized American citizen. She previously lived in Los Angeles and now resides in New Mexico.

Taking to Instagram on Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, the Suddenly I See hitmaker recounted where she was on that day in 2001, and the song she wrote off the back of the devastation.

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She wrote: “I was living in Edinburgh, trying to get somewhere as a musician. I was up early, and walked past a TV & Electronics store window, and every single TV was showing what was happening in New York. It didn’t feel real.

“I immediately called my dad, I needed to hear his voice. My song ‘Under the Weather’ was written after the events of 9/11, how it made all of us want to be near our loved ones and hold them close. How people are our home.

“My thoughts and my heart are with those today who lost their lives, those who lost their loved ones, and all the incredible heroes who did everything they could to help.”

On her US citizenship, she said: “I am an American now, and I love being one. This date will always be a harsh reminder that there are those who do not want us to thrive, or even exist. So I will thrive more, exist brighter, and remember.”

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The musician spoke about becoming a US citizen with comedian Craig Ferguson on his series Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose earlier this year. She said: “I remember the ceremony and kind of getting an idea of the commitment of it – giving up your allegiance to any other nation… it feels serious…

“I feel so lucky. So many people would love to be American and they can’t do it. People have died. Many people die today trying to get this and I’ve got it in my hands and I’ve done it and it’s a big deal.”

The US marked the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks with memorial ceremonies in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

All living US presidents bar Donald Trump attended a ceremony in New York at the site of the World Trade Center where about 2,700 died after hijackers crashed two planes into the Twin Towers.

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Another plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania, with a memorial service taking place there to remember those who died on board Flight 93 after passengers tried to regain control of the cockpit.

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Osama Bin Laden wanted to attack Britain years before 9/11, top secret documents have revealed 25 years after the tragedy that shocked the world.

Newly declassified presidential memos show the CIA had ‘strong indications’ that the terror chief wanted to attack the UK in 1998 – years before the incident. 

The information was revealed in a trove of President’s Daily Brief products released by CIA director John Ratcliffe to mark the 25th anniversary of the terror attack. 

The terrorist attack remains the worst of our time, claiming the lives of nearly 3,000, including 67 British citizens as well as victims from more than 90 nations.

The PDB is a confidential dossier presented to the US president each day, summarising the most important global threats, national security issues, and intelligence analysis. 

The intelligence agency said the single largest publication of such files relating to 9/11 aimed to give Americans a ‘glimpse’ into the days before and after one of the country’s ‘darkest moments’.   

It added that the 71 briefing notes, which have been redacted, ‘trace the story of CIA analysts’ evolving understanding’ of al Qaeda.

They said the reports made efforts to highlight and warn of Bin Laden’s plotting ‘despite sparse, vague, and imperfect information’.

Pictured: The moment A hijacked commercial plane crashed into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in New York

The document compiled after American cruise missile strikes on al Qaeda bases in Sudan and Afghanistan in retaliation for the earlier bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, were titled ‘Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat.

It stated: ‘Hours before the US missile strikes, Bin Ladin (redacted) was looking at options for further attacks against the US as well as the UK (redacted) Bin Ladin did not indicate precise targets or timing.’

A further memo at the end of that year, subject marked ‘Significant Near-Term Threat of Bin Ladin Attacks’, said: ‘We have strong indications that he would like to attack the US and allies such as the UK and Israel on their own soil.

‘If Bin Ladin judges these venues are too well defended, however, he will target US and allied interests in other areas of the world accessible to his network.’

It also made a portentous reference to ‘planning to hijack aircraft’, in relation to ‘impending anti-US terrorist operations’.

A separate file dated August 1999 highlighted Bin Laden’s frustration after two of his London-based henchmen were detained by British police.

The document stated: ‘His organisation’s capabilities have suffered from the arrest of key operatives.

‘Bin Ladin in interviews last year expressed anger over the arrests of his senior procurement officer and the chief of his organisation in the UK.’

Britain was also named in the haul of papers as a recruiting ground for the al Qaeda leader.

A note dated October 14 2000 with the title ‘Bin Ladin: Terrorist Network Active Despite Disruptions’ said: ‘Worldwide recruitment of fighters for the struggle in Chechnya has created a surplus of Islamic militants that Bin Ladin and other extremists are drawing on to promote terrorism abroad.

‘Mujahidin supporters recruit young Muslims in the UK, Pakistan, Turkey, the Arabian Peninsula, and elsewhere for training at camps affiliated with Bin Ladin in Afghanistan.’

The final document dated the day after the 9/11 outrage provided a situation report in which Bin Laden’s name featured prominently.

A source indicated the attacks had been planned for two years, and suggested the congressional building and the White House may also have been targets.

It also noted the disruption to air travel caused by the closure of US and Canadian airports and pointed out that the UK and Belgium had banned commercial flights over central London and Brussels.

2,977 people were killed when passenger jets hijacked by al Qaeda terrorists struck the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York on September 11, 2001, causing both to collapse, and the Pentagon outside Washington DC.

A fourth plane seized by extremists – United Airlines Flight 93 – crashed into a field in rural Pennsylvania after the crew and passengers fought back and so prevented it from hitting another target, thought to be the Capitol building and seat of the US legislature.

The information was revealed in a trove of President’s Daily Brief products released by CIA director John Ratcliffe to mark the 25th anniversary of the terror attack

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It remains the worst terrorist outrage of all time, claiming the lives of victims from more than 90 nations.

Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice, who was serving as White House national security adviser at the time of the attack, told a 25th anniversary ceremony at the Pentagon on Friday that she still felt deep pain that ‘those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11’.

She added: ‘I will always carry deep personal remorse for the pain that you, the families of the fallen, still feel, and for the trauma that our country endured.’

It has previously been reported that Bin Laden was aware of the July 7 bomb plot in London.

On that day back in 2005, four suicide bombers struck the capital’s transport network, killing 52 people and injuring more than 770 on three underground trains and a bus.

Evidence also emerged that he had prior knowledge of the foiled 2006 plot to detonate liquid bombs on transatlantic flights from the UK.

Bin Laden was killed in a US military raid on his compound in Pakistan back in 2011.

GoFundMe has been accused of deceptively adding “tips” to donations that go to the company and not helping others.

The fundraising site has skyrocketed in popularity since it launched in 2010, helping strangers connect with grieving families struggling to pay for funeral costs or those who can’t afford to pay for medical bills after a tragic accident. Donors can send money to those in need through GoFundMe with a click of a button.

But when people go to donate to a charitable cause of their choice on the site, they are also hit with an automatic tip to the company that they can opt out of, a practice that a recently filed lawsuit claims is tricking donors into paying more.

“Once automatically added, GoFundMe makes the ‘tips’ difficult to remove, forcing consumers to hunt around for a way to remove them,” according to a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Illinois last month by Sandra Donovan of Illinois and Ebony Baker of Georgia, who have both made donations on GoFundMe.

The Independent, which obtained the lawsuit from ClassAction.org, has reached out to GoFundMe for comment.

The lawsuit also challenges how GoFundMe explains the tipping option on its site.

When donors go to pay on the site, the company has a blurb that reads, “GoFundMe has a 0% platform fee for organizers and relies primarily on the generosity of donors like you to operate our service.”

But the lawsuit argues that this description is “false,” adding, “In reality, completely unbeknownst to those who donate through its website, GoFundMe funds its services by charging charitable organizations hefty transaction fees on each donation they receive.”

GoFundMe says on its site that while it’s free to create a fundraiser, the company charges “one small transaction fee per donation.”

The fee varies slightly depending on who creates the fundraiser. Individuals and businesses are charged 2.9 percent of the donation plus $0.30, while certified nonprofits are charged 2.2 percent of the donation plus $0.30.

“Donors act quickly, often emotionally, and with the reasonable expectation that their money will go where they intend—toward helping others, not toward undisclosed or preselected middleman fees like the ‘tips’ charged by GoFundMe,” the lawsuit claims.

Donovan and Baker “paid money they did not knowingly authorize, conferring an improper financial benefit on GoFundMe” because of the company’s business practices, the lawsuit argues.

Donovan and Baker’s lawyers are asking the court to certify the case as a class action and are demanding a jury trial to stop GoFundMe’s “deceptive conduct and return its ill-gotten gains,” according to the lawsuit.

A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Independent that the company “exists to help people help each other, and we have carefully designed our business model to deliver as much support as possible to those who need it – the beneficiaries of fundraisers.

“Donors have the choice to leave GoFundMe an optional tip, which helps us provide fundraising technology, customer support, and Trust & Safety protections to our community. Tips are completely voluntary and can easily be adjusted to any amount, including zero.”

The spokesperson said the claims in the lawsuit have “no merit.”

“The majority of donors adjust the suggested tip amount, and many choose to leave no tip at all. Before completing a donation, donors are shown a clear breakdown of their donation, optional tip, and total,” the spokesperson said. “Whether a donor chooses to leave a tip has no impact on the amount the fundraiser beneficiary or nonprofit receives.”

This article was updated on September 11, 2026, to include a statement from GoFundMe.

Andy Burnham and his Home Office cohorts would be very much happier if this lot were all in black hoodies and balaclavas, like the new breed of anti-migrant protester we have seen in recent days in Dover and Portsmouth (and, indeed, outside the offices of the Daily Mail).

How much easier it would be to demonise them as either the dark forces of the Far Right or a bunch of nutters – or both.

Instead, infuriatingly, these people are in jumpers, gilets, jackets and jeans. In short – though not in shorts – they are in country casual. 

Quite a lot of them are farmers. Others are accountants, engineers, builders, housewives and public servants. Many, if not most, are women. And I cannot see a single face-covering between them.

Nor can the spin doctors paint them as knuckle-dragging Reform/Restore voters since, at the last elections, they returned a Lib Dem and a full hat-trick of Lib Dem local councillors (though they may not go down that route again in future). No one here has been attaching British and English flags to the handful of local lampposts.

These are the people of Piddington, the pretty Oxfordshire village of 358 souls which is about to vote on leaving the United Kingdom, having been told that it will shortly accommodate more than 1,250 asylum seekers. 

All young, single, undocumented males, they will be free to come and go from their digs in a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site on the edge of the village.

With no shops or cafes in Piddington and nothing to do all day, some may board the first available bus to nearby Bicester – on the rare occasions when one actually turns up. But what about the rest of them the rest of the time? 

Daily Mail reporter Robert Hardman at Piddington in Oxfordshire, where a former Ministry of Defence (MoD) site was revealed as a planned asylum-seeker camp earlier this year

These are some of the many questions flying around the room this week as I drop in on a gathering which feels more like the Boston Tea Party than your ordinary parish council meeting.

For I find the village making its final plans ahead of Tuesday’s historic vote on a simple yes/no issue: Should Piddington secede from the United Kingdom and become a principality – like Monaco or Liechtenstein? 

The result will be announced, by-election style, on Wednesday morning. And I am more than happy to wager my house on the result.

Before this week’s gathering closes and people adjourn to the bar, I ask parish council chairman Tim McNally to read out the question on the ballot paper – ‘Yes or No: I support Piddington seeking to secede from the United Kingdom and pursuing self-determination’. 

I then ask those packed into the village hall (most of the electorate) to raise their hands if they intend to vote ‘Yes’. The result is a thumping Vladimir Putin/North Korea-style nem con slam dunk: 100 per cent in favour.

Nonetheless, the referendum will be held formally and correctly, under strict electoral protocols with numbered voting papers and a secret ballot. It will not be legally binding, since the Government has not authorised the vote.

One local council official has actually warned the villagers that it is illegal. So much for all that chips ‘n gravy baloney about localism and devolution from ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham. Here in rural Oxfordshire they want their own Prince of Piddington.

It is now two months since the Daily Mail first dropped in on this saga. Back then, I likened it, half-jokingly, to the plot of the old 1949 Ealing comedy, Passport To Pimlico – in which the residents of a small London district discover an ancient treaty which means they are still part of Burgundy and, thus, not British and not subject to post-war rations and taxes.

The Home Office announced plans to house more than one thousand asylum seekers on the edge of the village

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Our Piddington story captured the imagination of the national and international media, not least because it has all the essential ingredients – picture postcard village with funny name/medieval church/rolling acres/history/colourful cross-section of articulate locals. It could easily host an episode of Midsomer Murders, a series filmed just down the road.

Yet behind the good humour and the sensible jerseys, these locals are every bit as serious and angry as those Poundland paramilitaries in their balaclavas down on the South Coast.

Back in July, neither the local MP for Bicester and Woodstock, Lib Dem Calum Miller, nor Cherwell District Council, run by the Lib Dems with Green support, wanted to talk to me about this local uprising. 

They had voiced the mandatory dismay at the lack of consultation from the Home Office, having been told out of the blue that the old MoD depot on the edge of Piddington was scheduled to become an open-door migrant centre.

However, not wanting to look in any way xenophobic, the MP then signed a letter in support of the asylum seekers while the council steered all questions to the Home Office which, in turn, said it was committed to moving small boat arrivals out of hotels.

The official response, in other words, was to write off the story as a sweet little silly season spasm of local anger and let it all blow over in a week or two.

Except, the Piddington story has not gone away. The world’s media has followed the Daily Mail down here. TV networks from America to Australia have latched on to the story. Even the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has pitched in to voice support.

Here is a Government spin doctor’s nightmare: A grass-roots movement which resolutely refuses to fall into a stereotypical subset ripe for demonisation as either ‘Far Right’ or ‘Nimby’.

Robert Hardman attended a meeting hosted by Piddington locals, who are opposed to a migrant camp being set up next to their village

In light of the plans, Piddington voted to hold a symbolic referendum on leaving the UK 

You need only look at this week’s video message from the female half of the village which has already clocked up more than two million hits without even trying. It is accompanied by a letter to every female MP asking for solidarity in the face of an influx of single foreign young men with nothing to do except hang around a village.

As the 133-strong ‘Women of Piddington’ state in their appeal to the parliamentary sisterhood: ‘They would outnumber us ten to one. As fellow women, you will understand the serious risks.’

In fact, they could be outnumbered 26 to one if the Home Office opts to install 3,500 asylum seekers here, as an earlier blueprint suggested, although officials have now denied that this is the plan. 

The ‘Women of Piddington’ are not stopping there, of course. When Samantha Phillips stands up at this week’s meeting to offer a course in female self-defence, all 26 places are swiftly snapped up.

It is just another example of how this village has found a very effective alternative to blokes in balaclavas. Piddington is now on the map with a smile rather than a scowl. It also seems to have an uncanny knack for publicity.

It was back in July that the chairman of the parish council, management consultant Tim McNally, deliberately chose July 4 for a vote on whether to stage a referendum at all. ‘The USA was celebrating 250 years of independence on the same day and we thought we’d model ourselves on them,’ he told me at the time.

A polling booth was set up at the village hall for the day – all of it monitored on CCTV – and the result was an overwhelming vote in favour of holding an independence referendum (plus one invitation to a barn dance).

The campaigners then fixed a date for that plebiscite. Next Tuesday, September 15, seemed perfect. It comes ahead of Thursday’s deadline for contributions to the ‘public consultation’ on the quadrupling of the local population. 

The tiny Oxfordshire village has a population of just 350

Everyone accepts that this process is merely a box-ticking exercise which the Government must always undertake before pressing ahead with whatever it has decided to do in the first place.

Piddington therefore picked Tuesday so that the vote can be announced before the deadline.

‘I was on TV explaining that we would be holding our vote on September 15,’ recalls Mr McNally. ‘Then the presenter said, ‘So you have chosen Battle of Britain Day’. It was only then that I realised that we really had. So we are now calling ourselves ‘Ground Zero for the Battle of Britain’.’

September 15 is, indeed, the official anniversary of the 114-day battle in 1940. The Home Office spin doctors will be displeased to hear that a supporter has offered to fly a Spitfire over Piddington next week. ‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. It will depend on the weather,’ adds Mr McNally.

This is a slick operation in every regard. This week’s meeting includes media training. Villagers are told to expect saturation press attention and ‘to speak from the heart’ about what they want for the principality of Piddington. ‘Tax-free shopping!’ shouts one old chap at the back to gales of laughter.

Mr McNally is recruiting local children to design a new flag for an independent Piddington. This is a canny electorate. Many are boffins from the world of Formula One, given the concentration of motor racing teams in and around Oxfordshire.

Engineer James Burton has designed a very professional new Tiktok video to go with the new Piddington song – ‘It’s the Battle for Britain’ – complete with computer-generated wartime scenes and a dazzling heroine in Forties chic.

‘Everyone in this hall is of a certain age, let’s face it,’ he says. ‘We want to reach 16-24-year-olds all over the country.’

Pictured: A security guard is pictured at the entrance of the proposed migrant camp  

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The village is scouring the Whitehall rulebook to use it against Whitehall, not least draconian bat protection legislation. 

Farmer Joy Haw-Cook, 56, has been put in charge of the bat survey and stands up to report on her findings with a local bat expert in to help. ‘One of them is incredibly rare and is on the Red List as ‘one of the rarest and most elusive mammals in the UK’. So that is really great news for us!’ She receives a hefty round of applause.

‘Call me Batwoman or ‘Old Bat’,’ she jokes. ‘I didn’t know much about bats before but I do now and you can’t disturb very rare bats until the breeding season is over. A judge could put an injunction on the site until May.’

‘People just feel the Government is not listening,’ says accountant and deputy chair of the parish council, Susannah Parden, who has been appointed returning officer for the referendum.

‘We are giving all our freedoms to people who have simply broken into the country and we feel unsafe,’ says Krissy Honour, a farmer with a 13-year-old daughter. ‘She’s got her own flock of sheep on our smallholding right next to the MoD. I won’t be letting her out to look after them if we have no idea who these men are.’

Communities in the same boat from across Britain have been in touch with the Piddington team to discuss tactics.

The campaigners here are also feeding their research and ideas into a broader protest group drawn from across the Bicester area. Called ‘Wrong Plan. Wrong Site’, it is seeking a judicial review of the Home Office’s decision.

More legalistic in tone, this has the support of the local MP. 

‘Residents across our community have worked to expose the serious flaws in the proposal to build an asylum centre at MoD Bicester,’ says Calum Miller in a written statement. 

‘My goal has been to unite the various local groups around a community-based, inclusive campaign so that our area speaks with one voice to Government in expressing our opposition. I have challenged the Prime Minister to live up to his pledge to give agency and control back to local areas.’

He declines to say how he would vote in the referendum, if he lived in Piddington.

I get no response from Cherwell Council, although Mr McNally says he received a ‘curious’ call from them. ‘We got a missed call and rang it straight back and it was the council’s electoral services department. They said they hadn’t called but then said that the referendum was against the law. We are only allowed to hold a vote on things like what colour to paint the church gates.’

Ultimately, last week’s scenes on the coast and next week’s vote in Piddington all underline the same point: No one in Britain is buying the old liberal narrative that the (ever-expanding) small boats are packed with doctors, engineers and families fleeing war and oppression. Nor do people believe that they are ‘frontline’ workers without whom the NHS will implode.

It is accepted that these are, simply, people – many from peaceful Commonwealth countries – with an unimpeachable aspiration to make a better life for themselves and also the wherewithal to pay a people smuggler £3,000 for a ride on a boat.

Once they land, they can pretend to be whatever and whoever they like and, according to a Home Office whistleblower, they will be believed. As The Times revealed this week, the number of those granted asylum who are actually in genuine need of asylum stands at just 1 per cent.

None of which is the primary concern of the ‘Women of Piddington’ whom I meet.

 What concerns them most is the fact that their future neighbours have such a limited grasp of British culture and norms that the Government now feels the need to issue them with leaflets informing them that rape is illegal.

That is why, come Wednesday morning’s referendum result, Piddington will be casting around for a prince.