The 53-year-old replaced Zoe Ball as the presenter of Radio 2’s breakfast show in January 2025 after a long career at the broadcaster.

The Eastleigh-born DJ was taken off air on his Radio 2 show last Tuesday (March 23) while the BBC assessed the information.

The Mirror reports that his contract was terminated over the weekend.

Scott Mills has been sacked by the BBC following allegations about his personal conduct.

The 53 year old took over the Radio 2 breakfast show from Zoe Ball in January 2025. https://t.co/ABGXXdtIwh

— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) March 30, 2026

In a statement, the BBC said: “While we do not comment on matters relating to individuals we can confirm Scott Mills is no longer contracted and has left the BBC”.

The career of Scott Mills

Mills began his career at the age of 16 as a DJ on his local Hampshire commercial radio station, Power FM.

He was given an opportunity to present a week’s worth of shows, and based on the success of this, he was offered the ‘graveyard’ slot of 1am to 6am.

This made him the youngest permanent presenter on mainstream commercial radio.

He moved from Power FM to GWR FM Bristol and then Piccadilly Key 103 in Manchester on the late-night slot.

Mills moved onto the mid-morning show there before working for new London station Heart 106.2 in 1995.

He then joined BBC Radio 1 in October 1998 to present the early breakfast show which was broadcast between 4am and 7am.

In January 2004, Mills moved to a weekend afternoon slot, which was followed by a further move later that year to the weekday early-evening slot, which was vacant due to Sara Cox’s maternity leave.

Cox did not return , and Mills became a permanent presenter of the early evening programme, which was renamed The Scott Mills Show.

The programme moved to an afternoon slot in April 2012 when Mills swapped presenting duties with Greg James.

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Whilst at Radio 1, Mills also provided holiday cover for other presenters as well as hosting The Official Chart between June 2018 and August 2022.

Mills joined Radio 2’s weekday schedule in 2022 when he replaced Steve Wright as the host of the afternoon slot.

Prior to that, he worked on Radio 1 and hosted a weekend show on BBC Radio 5 Live.

Russia has kicked out a British diplomat that Moscow has accused of spying.

The diplomat had his accreditation revoked and was told to leave the country within two weeks.

The FSB, Russia’s security service, claimed the British diplomat “provided false information about himself”.

Moscow also accused him of attempting to gather information about the Russian economy during informal meetings.

The FSB, the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said it had detected an “undeclared intelligence presence”.

It added the diplomat was “carrying out intelligence and subversive activities that threaten the security of the Russian Federation”, according to Russian media reports.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Affairs said Danae Dholakia, the British Chargé d’Affaires in Russia, was summoned over the claims that a diplomat had “knowingly provided false information about himself when applying for entry into our country”.

The statement read: “Russian authorities also received information indicating that this employee belonged to the British intelligence services and identified evidence of his involvement in subversive intelligence work in our country.”

It continued: “The British side was informed that previously uncovered instances of some British diplomats deliberately providing false information about themselves had already prompted our harsh response.

“They were also urged to convey to London a strong recommendation that British citizens, especially embassy staff, provide only accurate information about their past when applying for visas.

“It was particularly emphasized that Moscow will not tolerate the activities of undeclared British intelligence officers in Russia, and our uncompromising position on this issue will continue to be formulated in accordance with national security interests.

“Furthermore, a warning was issued that if London escalates the situation, the Russian side will immediately respond accordingly.”

Russian state media published a photograph of the diplomat accused of attempting to obtain information.

“In order to avoid negative consequences, including criminal liability, the FSB of Russia recommends that compatriots refrain from holding meetings with British diplomats,” the FSB said.

Britain dismissed the claims as “complete nonsense” and accused Russia of an “aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment”.

A Foreign Office spokesman said: “The accusations made today by Russia against our diplomats are complete nonsense.

“Russia has pursued an increasingly aggressive and co-ordinated campaign of harassment against British diplomats, pumping out malicious and completely baseless accusations about their work.

“The UK does not stand for intimidation of British embassy staff and their families.”

Read more from Sky News:
Trump says he wants Iran’s oil and could seize key island
Fugitive accused of killing two police officers ‘shot dead’

When a British diplomat was expelled in January for spying, London branded the claims “baseless accusations”.

Western diplomats in Moscow say intrusive surveillance and harassment are frequent, and a guide known as “Moscow Rules”, developed by Western spies in the Soviet era to guard against complacency, has been updated for modern Russia.

Russia has imposed Soviet-style restrictions on most British diplomats, requiring them to give notice of plans to travel beyond a 75-mile radius.

The entry of Yemen’s Houthi rebels into the war on the side of Iran has stoked fears that the oil crisis affecting global trade could get worse.

Threats of Iranian mines and missiles have kept the crucial Strait of Hormuz largely closed, with oil tankers held up leaving the Gulf and sending the price of a barrel skyrocketing.

Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest exporters of oil in the world, has instead been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through Bab el Mandeb, another narrow waterway on the other side of the country.

This avoids Hormuz and takes ships further away from Iran.

However they still pass close to Yemen, where the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have stocks of missiles and drones that can be used to harass shipping – as they did between 2023 and 2025.

If shipping through the Bab el Mandeb Strait – which connects to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal – is disrupted, it could exacerbate the already fraught economic situation caused by issues with the Strait of Hormuz.

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What have the Houthis done before?

Between November 2023 and January 2025, the Houthis attacked more than 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones.

Two vessels were sunk and four sailors killed during the campaign.

Military ships were deployed to the area to try and safeguard commercial shipping, including the UK’s HMS Diamond Type 45 destroyer.

While there, it shot down Houthi drones, including one notable operation where it shot down seven.

Closure of Bab el Mandeb strait could have ‘clear and significant’ economic effects

Sarah Taaffe-Maguire

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Business and economics reporter

@taaffems

A full or even partial shutdown of shipping through the Red Sea would have clear and significant economic effects globally and here in the UK.

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Even renewed attacks, without the militant group taking over the key shipping route, would have major impacts.

We don’t even have to imagine what they may be; we need only look back a few years.

Houthi attacks around Christmas 2023 resulted in more dangerous conditions, which led insurance costs to spike.

Adding to this cost pressure was the fact ships were routed around Africa via the Cape of Good Hope, adding between 10 and 14 days to a journey.

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As a result, booking a slot to ship goods shot up in price.

Longer journey times and changed routes also led to supply chain disruption, with businesses scrambling to get items on ships and onto shelves in time.

Supply chain woes also resulted from the Ever Given container ship blocking a vital entry point to the Red Sea, the Suez Canal.

It was this blockage that formed part of the initial surge in price rises in 2021 and 2022 that gave rise to the cost of living crisis.

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Major container carriers rerouting to avoid Red Sea

Africa’s largest container port – Tanger Med in Morocco – said on Monday that it is preparing for increased calls by ships as tensions in the Middle East continue.

It comes as major ​container carriers including Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd and CMA CGM said they are rerouting vessels around the Cape ​of Good Hope in South Africa, avoiding the Bab el Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea.

Idriss Aarabi, managing director of Tanger Med, said higher fuel costs have added further pressure on freight rates due to the longer voyages.

He said carriers have introduced war-risk, emergency conflict and deviation surcharges of between $1,500 (£1,133) and $3,300 (£2,493) per standard container.

Bab el Mandeb: In numbers

20: That’s how many miles wide the strait is.

25%: Around a quarter of global container trade passes through the strait on its way to and from the Suez Canal.

12%: How much of the world’s total trade typically passes through the Suez Canal.

The southbound carriageway was closed between junction 5 for Westhoughton and junction 4 for Farnworth after a police incident was reported at 7.35am.

Police confirmed the woman was injured following reports of a concern for welfare.

The road closure caused severe delays throughout the morning, with all traffic temporarily held in both directions.

A spokesman for National Highways said: “The M61 in Greater Manchester is closed southbound between J5 (Westhoughton/ Bolton) & J4 (A6) due to a police led incident.

“Traffic is stopped northbound between J4 & J5. Emergency services are in attendance.”

Traffic monitoring service Inrix also reported “severe delays” and a full closure on the southbound side from J5 to J4 during the incident.

Northbound traffic was released shortly before 9am, but southbound lanes remained closed until just before 10.25am.

A diversion route was put in place during the closure, directing motorists off the M61 at J5 onto the A58 eastbound, then south onto the A6, before rejoining the motorway at J4 via Watergate Lane.

The M61 southbound has now re-opened, and traffic has returned to normal.

No further updates on the woman’s condition have been released.

It is easy to overlook the fact that over 90% of medical treatments are not backed by strong evidence. People can find it frustrating – even infuriating – when a review concludes that the evidence for a treatment is too weak to say whether it helps or harms.

This has been the case with the NHS England’s recent decision to restrict new prescriptions of cross-sex hormones for 16- and 17-year-olds.

The struggle to base clinical decisions on solid evidence is not new, nor is it unique to gender medicine. Archie Cochrane, a pioneering Scottish researcher, awarded obstetrics and gynaecology a wooden spoon in 1979 for the worst use of scientific evidence in clinical practice – a damning verdict that prompted the field to overhaul how it evaluated and applied research. It led to the first evidence-based textbook, a global movement and an online library.

Other medical fields have also struggled to meet this challenge, often through no fault of their own. Paediatrics, for example, faces a difficult balancing act when trying to produce clear, reliable studies.

To understand the complexities involved, look no further than your medicine cabinet. Paracetamol (acetaminophen) is considered the pain relief and antifever medicine of choice for infants and children. Weight-adjusted doses are scaled down safely from adult quantities, making it a versatile and trusted option across all age groups.

Aspirin, by contrast, occupies a more cautionary position. Its use in children and adolescents – particularly for viral illness, such as influenza or chickenpox – carries a well-documented risk of Reye’s syndrome – a rare but potentially fatal condition. Authorities actively advise against prescribing aspirin to anyone under 16, unless there is a specific clinical reason to do so.

These differences show that doctors cannot treat children as if they are just small adults. Evidence in children’s medicine is built up slowly. It includes treatments that work for all ages, some just for children, some with weak evidence, and some that cannot be fully studied for ethical or legal reasons.

In 2023, my colleagues and I at the University of Sheffield synthesised evidence on child and adolescent obesity to inform World Health Organization guidelines. While evidence on obesity treatments is generally plentiful, we faced challenges identifying published experiences of children regarding medical treatments.

Data for adolescents was limited and the experience of children of ten or under was entirely lacking. Without evidence, policymakers avoid “risky” options. But without policy support, researchers have little reason to study them.

How a verdict is reached

Looking beyond the complete absence of evidence, how does a health organisation decide evidence is “too weak”? Rather than a snap judgment, their verdict usually factors in four related concerns, each one lowering confidence a little further.

The first, most obvious reason is that studies may not have been designed or carried out very well. If parents know which children received the real medicine and which received the dummy version during a cough syrup trial, they may consciously or unconsciously report that the treatment looked better — or worse — than it really was. This design flaw makes it difficult to trust its conclusions.

Much of what medicine thinks it knows about treatments in children comes from observational data — records of what happened to patients in real-world clinical settings. Although valuable, these studies carry a trap. Children who receive a particular treatment are rarely typical. A rule of thumb is to ask whether a comparison is fair: were children who received the treatment genuinely similar to those who didn’t? If that question can’t be answered clearly, the finding deserves healthy scepticism.

A second concern arises when different studies asking the same question arrive at different conclusions. It is not enough to trust the majority verdict or the larger studies. It takes time to build a picture for each age group one study at a time — gathering enough to answer the question for an “average” child, if such a child ever exists.

Third, evidence may not match the question being asked. In the early 2000s, antidepressants were prescribed to children and teenagers with depression, largely based on evidence from adult studies. Close examination revealed that children taking some antidepressants showed higher rates of suicidal thoughts than those on a dummy pill.

Finally, studies need sizeable numbers of participants to narrow down uncertainty. Small studies of these antidepressants found that they appeared to reduce suicidal thinking. However, the true benefit of antidepressants lay somewhere between substantial and negligible – undermining confidence in study findings. Larger studies were needed.

Regulators in the US and the UK faced a dilemma: act on uncertain evidence or wait for better data while children continued to receive a potentially harmful treatment. Decisions still needed to be made. The regulators could not truly know when they decided to withdraw some of the antidepressants whether they had ultimately saved lives or denied young people much-needed treatment.

Thankfully, the evidence base in medicine, including paediatrics, is continually improving. Obsolete treatments are squeezed out of the health system, uncertainties about established treatments are reduced and new treatments are evaluated. A verdict for now is not a verdict forever. Identifying the causes of uncertainty helps direct attention to where future tipping points lie.

Thomas Tuchel has defended the decision to allow Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice return to Arsenal and skip England’s friendly with Japan.

The pair had already been granted permission to miss last Friday’s 1-1 draw with Uruguay and it had been anticipated that they would play some part in tomorrow’s game which represents the last time the Three Lions will be in action before Tuchel picks his World Cup squad.

Both players, however, have returned to Arsenal’s training base to receive treatment ahead of this weekend’s FA Cup tie against Southampton.

Saka and Rice, the latter of whom has played 50 games already over the course of a demanding campaign for club and country, are among a group of 10 Arsenal stars who have all pulled out of their international squads for various reasons but Tuchel is adamant there is nothing sinister afoot with two of his most senior players.

‘They wanted desperately to play to get the narrative straight, but it made no sense to make the risk,’ said Tuchel at his pre-match press conference.

‘If it was the last game of the season we would have kept them, but in this moment of the season it did not make sense. The risk for making it was way too big.

‘They were both clearly in discomfort when we did the medical assessment. It made absolutely no sense that they stayed.’

Noni Madueke has also returned to Arsenal after he suffered a knee injury against Uruguay and was seen wearing a cast as he trudged through the mixed zone.

‘It helps them go back to clubs and perform. We want them to perform in their clubs, but it is also our last camp before America, so we want to reconnect to our principles. I’m not upset or angry with the players,’ added Tuchel.

‘I got the feeling that everyone was desperate to come. Some of the injured players even stayed to do their treatment, that shows they want to be around the group.

‘No one left straight away, it’s a good spirit and that’s how it should be.’

Asked if he was disappointed at the disruption he has encountered as such a crucial point in his tenure, Tuchel said: ‘Not disappointed with the players, disappointed with the fact.

‘It’s the reality of the season, the reality of the end of March, reality of players involved in more than one competition.

‘We have players in camp that have already played more minutes than last season, so there is some concern.

‘The players deserve the mental break from football, and we could see the energy with which they came back to camp in a new environment.’

Tuchel will at least have his skipper, Harry Kane, to call on again after he missed Friday’s friendly.

‘I have some ideas, but I will not make them public,’ said Tuchel when asked if he was concerned England would again be overly reliant on their record goalscorer this summer.

‘I am happy Harry is back in camp, and he will lead the team tomorrow on the pitch. We have some options.’

MORE: Gary Lineker names two ‘favourites’ to win the World Cup ahead of England

MORE: David Beckham urges Thomas Tuchel to recall England star for the World Cup

MORE: Arsenal ‘injury crisis’ deepens but how worried should Mikel Arteta really be?

The crash, which took place on Saturday (March 28), involved a police car

A police officer has been injured in a crash. Cambridgeshire Police were called to a two-vehicle crash in Princes Street, near Huntingdon bus station, just after 9am on Saturday (March 28).

The crash involved a police vehicle. A police officer suffered minor injuries in the crash.

A police spokesperson said: “We were called at 9.12am on 28 March to a two-vehicle collision in Princes Street near the bus station, which involved a police vehicle. The officer received minor injuries, no one else was injured.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — One of the first things an Argentine emigre did after her son was born in Florida last year was get him a U.S. passport.

She saw the passport as tangible evidence that he’s an American. But now people like her are in a legal fight over President Donald Trump’s executive order that would deny U.S. citizenship to children born in the United States to people who are in the country illegally or temporarily.

“It’s funny because I actually booked him for his passport application appointment even before he was born,” the 28-year-old woman said, as her now 7-month-old son napped nearby. She spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity, insisted upon by her lawyers, out of fear of possible retribution by the Republican administration if she were publicly identified.

“I would say that I am definitely relieved that at least he is protected,” she said.

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Wednesday over whether Trump’s order, signed on Jan. 20, 2025, his first day back in office, comports with the post-Civil War 14th Amendment and an 86-year-old federal law that has been widely understood to make citizens of everyone born in the country, with narrow exceptions for the children of foreign diplomats and invading armies. Every court to have considered the issue has found the order to be illegal and prevented it from taking effect.

The call to repeal birthright citizenship is part of the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on immigrants that has included stepped-up deportations, drastic reductions in the number of refugees allowed into the U.S., suspension of asylum at the border and stripping temporary legal protections from people fleeing political and economic instability.

The case presents another test for a high court that has allowed some anti-immigration efforts to continue, even after lower courts had blocked them.

Constitution vs. executive order

The first sentence of the 14th Amendment, the Citizenship Clause, makes citizens of “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof.” The case turns on the meaning of the final phrase about jurisdiction, which also was used in citizenship laws enacted in 1940 and 1952.

Trump’s view, asserted in the order titled “Protecting the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship” and backed by some conservative legal scholars, is that people here illegally or temporarily are not “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States and therefore their U.S.-born children are not entitled to citizenship.

The court should use the case to set straight “long-enduring misconceptions about the Constitution’s meaning,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote.

In that regard, Sauer likened the case to the seminal 1954 decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public schools, and the landmark 2008 Heller case, which declared that people have a constitutional right to keep guns for self-defense.

Last year, Justice Sonia Sotomayor called the Trump administration’s effort to defend the order “an impossible task in light of the Constitution’s text, history, this Court’s precedents, federal law, and Executive Branch practice.”

Sotomayor was joined by the other two liberal justices in a dissent from a decision by the court’s six conservative justices that used an earlier round of the birthright citizenship dispute to limit the use of nationwide injunctions by federal judges.

Challenging Trump

The pregnant mothers and their advocates challenging the order, as well as lower-court judges who have blocked it, have said the Trump administration’s arguments lack merit.

“We have the president of the United States trying to radically reinterpret the definition of American citizenship,” said Cecillia Wang, the American Civil Liberties Union legal director who will face off against Sauer on Wednesday.

More than one-quarter of a million babies born in the U.S. each year would be affected by the executive order, according to research by the Migration Policy Institute and Pennsylvania State University’s Population Research Institute.

While Trump has largely focused on illegal immigration in his rhetoric and actions, the birthright restrictions also would apply to people who are legally in the United States, including students and applicants for green cards, or permanent resident status.

‘The most beautiful thing’

The woman from Argentina said she came to the U.S. in 2016 on a visa to attend college and has since applied for a green card.

She described a moment of panic following the court’s June ruling, when it was at least possible that the restrictions could take effect, particularly in states such as Florida that had not challenged Trump’s order. Lower-court rulings over the summer ensured the order remained on hold and set up the current Supreme Court case.

On top of the predictable worries of a first-time mother, she said, “I never thought that, you know, so close to the end of my pregnancy that I would have to be even thinking about … the executive order and how it would have impacted my baby.”

She has not reconsidered her decision to come to the United States or her desire to stay, she said, as her son stirred.

“And so nothing that happens, politically or otherwise, would have changed my views of the country, I mean, because it gave me the most beautiful thing I have today, which is my family,” she said.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the U.S. Supreme Court at https://apnews.com/hub/us-supreme-court.

Manchester United can facilitate Marcus Rashford’s Barcelona transfer this summer in a deal where everyone comes out a winner

Both Manchester United and Barcelona find themselves in an odd position concerning Marcus Rashford‘s summer fate. It would appear there are figures at both organisations who want a permanent transfer to happen, yet the logistics behind the deal remain complicated.

Los Cules are fully aware of what is required of them to land the England winger on a permanent move. The terms have always been clear that a £26million fee will get the deal done, but Barca aren’t necessarily in a position to fork out big sums in light of the Camp Nou renovation.

But what Barcelona do have is a steady flow of homegrown talent, which could make up any deficit, with the Daily Mail reporting that the Catalans are open to sales to raise funds. And in Marc Casado, there’s one realistic target who could well function as the perfect makeweight this summer.

In a dream scenario, United might love to poach a player like Alejandro Balde, Fermin Lopez or Marc Bernal to fit certain needs at left-back and central midfield. However, each of those players has either signed a new contract in the past 12 months or is otherwise unlikely to be obtainable without forking out a sum far beyond Rashford’s valuation.

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The same wouldn’t be said for Casado, whose deal is set to expire in the summer of 2028. The defensive midfielder made his senior debut for Barca back in 2022, but it wasn’t until 2024 that he really started to embed himself within Hansi Flick’s senior setup.

He earned his first senior Spain cap in the same year. And although he hasn’t kept his place in Luis de la Fuente’s squad since then, that achievement nonetheless serves as another stamp of his quality.

United are already sourcing options for midfield as Michael Carrick seemingly prepares to oversee a rebuild of his own this summer. And one of those who arrives at Old Trafford must be able to function in the same role Casemiro has operated with such efficiency.

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Despite calls for the Brazilian to reverse his decision, Casemiro will indeed leave United when his contract expires this summer. And Rashford’s projected permanent move to Catalonia could help the squad in other areas.

The overarching positive from United’s perspective is that they already have a capable Rashford replacement in Matheus Cunha. That allows the club to use Rashford’s sale strategically and focus on reinforcing another area of Carrick’s team in greater need.

Any move for Casado wouldn’t be a straight trade but rather two separate transfers, especially as it might mean United having to fork over a little cash on top. Casado may not have the same excitement around him like Fermin or Bernal, but he’s a 22-year-old Barcelona regular with 29 appearances this season – and those never come cheap.

England’s 2026 World Cup kits

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That being said, Casado has found himself on the fringes more often since Frenkie de Jong’s return to fitness. And the allure of becoming a part of United’s resurgence, with a greater chance at starting minutes, might appeal.

The youngster has already won a domestic treble with Barca in 2025, with European glory perhaps the glaring achievement missing. Nevertheless, that sense of accomplishment may smooth over United’s hopes of tempting him from the Camp Nou.

By no means would United’s summer expenditure stop with Casado, but he could make for a convenient start to expedite Rashford’s exit.

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At least 22 people have died in Afghanistan so far due to multiple natural disasters including heavy rain, flooding, and landslide, officials said, warning of worsening bad weather in the region.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in Afghanistan on Monday said nearly two dozen people have died and 32 have been injured over the past two days, taking the death toll up from 17 reported on Sunday.

“Twenty-two people were ‌killed, 32 injured and 241 houses damaged in flooding and other weather-related incidents across 13 provinces over the past two ⁠days,” an NDMA official told Reuters on the condition of anonymity.

Torrential rains have triggered major flash floods and caused houses to collapse in rural and mountainous regions of central and eastern provinces of Afghanistan, the NDMA said. It added that this has caused most deaths in the Parwan, Maidan Wardak, Daykundi and Logar provinces.

There is a continued risk of further rain and flooding in some areas as conditions remain “unstable” in parts of the country recovering from conflict, the agency said.

Afghanistan is geographically placed in a region which is prone to natural disasters and experiences flooding, drought and earthquakes which routinely cause heavy damage to the country.

Earlier this year, heavy snowfall and flash floods left dozens of people dead across the country.

The extreme weather events, especially the snow and heavy rain that trigger flash floods, often kill dozens, or even hundreds, of people at a time.

A United ⁠Nations Development Programme report in November said earthquakes, floods, and drought ‌had destroyed ​8,000 homes in Afghanistan in ‌2025 and strained public ​services “beyond their limits”.

In 2024, more than 300 people died in springtime flash floods. Decades of conflict, coupled with poor infrastructure, a struggling economy, deforestation and the intensifying effects of climate change have amplified the impact of such disasters, particularly in remote areas where many homes are built of mud and offer limited protection against sudden deluges or heavy snowfall.

This has further aggravated the challenges for millions of Afghans who are under the Taliban-run government which has no formal recognition.

Afghanistan receives international humanitarian aid which primarily forms the backbone of ​the government’s finances but that has been slashed since the Taliban seized power in 2021, leaving millions of Afghans to cope.