A British beautician accused of smuggling £15million worth of cocaine in her suitcases, has said she accepted a free holiday to Cancun because it would be a ‘breath of fresh air’ during a difficult time at home — as she faces 60 years in jail. Kim Hall, 28, from Middlesbrough, was stopped at Chicago’s O’Hare airport as she prepared to board a connecting flight to Manchester on August 18. Homeland Security investigators found 43kg of cocaine packed in two suitcases and detained the young woman, who is being held in a safe house before her trial.

BBC presenter Gregg Wallace has stepped away from MasterChef after 13 people including Newsnight host Kirsty Wark accused him of ‘wrong’ and inappropriate ‘𝑠e𝑥ualised’ behaviour during filming, it was revealed today. Wallace, 60, has been accused of taking his top off in front of a female worker saying he wanted to ‘give her a fashion show’ and talking about his 𝑠e𝑥 life to others. On one occasion he allegedly told a junior female colleague he wasn’t wearing any boxer shorts under his jeans.

Keir Starmer admitted he must bring down immigration today after shock figures showed the annual record has been smashed again. The PM insisted Britain can no longer be a ‘soft touch’ after huge revisions to official data showed net inflows were 906,000 in the year to June 2023. Arrivals in the 12 months to June this year were 728,000 higher than those leaving the country. In itself that was almost as much as the previous long-term immigration record.

The Spanish government is bringing in new rules demanding hotels gather personal data on tourists – including family information, bank cards and addresses – and hand it over to security services. Spanish hotels already ask guests for their ID card or passport details, but the new rules are expected to be the strictest in the EU with up to 31 pieces of personal data collected. The legislation is set to come into force from Monday, and will require tour operators, holiday rental platforms and car hire companies to gather data on customers.

Russian forces are advancing westward in Ukraine at a rate faster than any other time after the initial days of the 2022 invasion, taking an area half the size of London over the past month as the return of Donald Trump to the White House looms large. Vladimir Putin’s troops swept through swathes of Ukraine in early 2022 and were bearing down on Kyiv in a matter of days, but they were held on the outskirts of the capital before being pushed back and retreating further east. Since then, the 1,000 km (620-mile) front line remained largely static save for some minor offensives one way or the other – that is until Ukraine launched a lightning incursion into Russia’s Kursk region this summer.

Police forces have stopped using Elon Musk’s X social media platform amid concerns about misinformation. X, formerly named Twitter before Musk’s takeover in 2022, was used to spread false information that sparked riots across Britain this summer. The app has also reinstated British based accounts that were previously banned for extremist content.