Ciaran Jenkins , North of England Correspondent

The largest rise in crime for a decade has been recorded in England and Wales, with the biggest increase in violent and sexual crime. This, as the Home Office revealed police numbers are at their lowest since 1985.

It is now thought Abedi made the bomb alone and carried the device through the city centre for several hours before the attack that killed 22 on May the 22nd.

In celebration of a beautiful city and the people who make it special: Manchester’s International Festival has just opened tonight – kicking off with a live performance show featuring taxi drivers who rushed to help on the night of the Manchester terror attack.

The leader of resurgent Scottish Conservatives – Ruth Davidson has said she won’t be breaking away from the main UK party. There were suggestions that the Scottish Tories, who won an additional 12 seats and fought their campaign with a rather different tone might want to move their branch of the party away from English…

In the midst of this latest tragedy, it’s important to remember that less than two weeks ago, 22 people lost their lives in the Manchester suicide bombing. Tonight the US star Ariana Grande will be back in the city for the One Love Manchester concert. Her manager says it now has a “greater purpose”, and…

In Manchester, police have said that Salman Abedi bought most of the components for his suicide bomb himself. But they’re keeping an open mind on whether he was acting alone or was part of a wider network.

MI5 is carrying out a review of its procedures after concerns over security and reported intelligence blunders surrounding the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi. In the campaign against terrorism it is one of the most difficult questions: when do the authorities act on the flood of information about potential extremists. We now know that members of…

British police say they have arrested a 14th suspect in connection with the Manchester attack. 12 people are now in custody as the hunt for accomplices behind the atrocity continues and the Home Secretary warns the terror network could still be at large. Amber Rudd said the militant Islamic State group was trying to “weaponise”…

The police have identified a “large part of the network” linked to the Manchester bomber Salman Abedi. They said some of their arrests – eight since Monday – are significant, as are the materials that have been found in their searches. But the UK terror threat is to remain at critical for the time being,…

With the UK threat level still set at critical, British Transport Police say for the first time they will put armed officers on trains, while NHS emergency departments have been told to prepare to deal with possible further terrorist attacks.

More armed officers are being bussed in, as Greater Manchester Police say they are now investigating a terror network.Those officers are being freed up around the country by the deployment of troops to guard key sites following the upgrading of the terror threat level from “severe” to “critical”.

It was the worst terror attack in the UK since the London bombings of 2005. And this time the target was a pop concert that was guaranteed to bring an audience mostly of children and young people. The youngest to die was just eight years of age. Police this evening named the suicide bomber as…

The body of moors murderer Ian Brady will not be released until assurances are given that his ashes won’t be scattered on Saddleworth Moor, a senior coroner has said. The 79 year old was pronounced dead at a secure psychiatric institute in Merseyside last night.

As well as correcting the record on police numbers, Labour has been trying to fend off claims that it’s heading for a wipeout in Scotland before local elections there on Thursday.

The Muslim Rohingya people have for many years lived in a kind of internal exile in the state Rakhine in western Myanmar – or Burma, as it is often still known.