The UK is to hit Russia with a "first barrage" of economic sanctions as Boris Johnson warned Vladimir Putin is fixed on a "full-scale invasion of Ukraine".

Columns of military vehicles including tanks and armoured personnel carriers have been seen on the outskirts of Donetsk, the capital of one of two breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine, according to a Reuters witness.

The US and the UK have led the condemnation of Russia after Vladimir Putin has declared he recognises the independence of two separatist-held regions in eastern Ukraine - and was sending in troops.

Villages in Shropshire and Worcester are facing "danger to life" conditions over worries that flood defences could fail today.

A 2.8 magnitude earthquake struck the West Midlands on Monday night, the British Geological Survey (BGS) said.

The low number of rape cases that end up in court has led to a "crisis in public trust", the director of public prosecutions (DPP) has said.

There has been a dramatic decline in hedgehog numbers in the countryside in the last 20 years, but things are more encouraging in towns and cities, a new study has suggested.

Stock markets are plunging and Brent crude oil costs are nearing $100 a barrel as the crisis over Ukraine deteriorates.

A five-year-old boy whose body was found dumped in a river near Bridgend had suffered 56 external injuries consistent with a fall from height or a serious road traffic accident, a jury has heard.

The prison sentences handed down to two kidnappers who bundled a teenager into a van before she was found seriously injured have been referred to the Court of Appeal for being "unduly lenient".