MORE EX-FOOTBALLERS SPEAK OUT ABOUT 'ABUSE' AS EIGHT POLICE FORCES INVESTIGATE

Eight police forces are now looking into allegations of historical child sex abuse in football.

There have been 250 reports made to police and more than 50 calls were made to an NSPCC hotline set up for sexual abuse victims in football in the initial hours of opening.

More than 20 former players have now spoken out about alleged abuse, including former Newcastle United footballer Derek Bell, who waived his anonymity to the Guardian.

MINISTERS URGED TO 'GET A GRIP' AFTER CRITICISM OF BENEFIT SANCTIONS

Benefit sanctions that can plunge claimants into hardship, hunger and depression are being handed out with little evidence they work, a scathing report by the public spending watchdog has found.

Use of the penalties also varies "substantially" across the country and referral rates have changed significantly over time, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).

It accused the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) of not doing enough to find out how sanctions affect people on benefits.

FOUR MEN TOOK OWN LIVES AFTER 'SEXTORTION' BLACKMAILING

Four men killed themselves in the last year after being blackmailed as part of an increasing cyber "sextortion" racket.

International gangs of organised criminals are targeting more and more young men by luring them into potentially compromising positions, the National Crime Agency said.

The number of people reporting financially-motivated cyber enabled blackmails more than doubled from 385 in 2015 to 864 up to November 2016.

LABOUR MPs WILL NOT BE FORCED TO BLOCK SNP OVER TONY BLAIR PROBE

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will not force his MPs to block an SNP attempt to trigger a parliamentary investigation into whether Tony Blair misled the Commons in the run-up to the Iraq war.

Mr Corbyn has decided to impose only a one-line whip on his MPs for Wednesday's vote on the SNP bid, meaning they are not obliged to attend, and could even back the former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond's motion without fear of sanction.

Mr Salmond has drawn cross-party support for his motion calling on the Commons Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee to probe any differences between Mr Blair's public statements in the lead-up to the invasion, and private correspondence with then US president George Bush revealed by the Chilcot inquiry.

WORLD LEADERS HONOUR FIDEL CASTRO AT HAVANA RALLY

World leaders joined tens of thousands of Cubans in Havana's Plaza of the Revolution, celebrating Fidel Castro on the spot where he delivered fiery speeches to mammoth crowds in the years after he seized power.

The presidents of Mexico, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela and South Africa, along with leaders of a host of smaller nations, offered speeches paying tribute to Castro, 90, who died on Friday night.

South African president Jacob Zuma praised Cuba under Castro for its record on education and health care and its support for African independence struggles.

EXPERTS PROBE AIR CRASH THAT WIPED OUT 'CINDERELLA' FOOTBALL TEAM team

Colombian authorities are searching for answers after a charter plane carrying a football team whose Cinderella story took them to the finals of one of South America's most prestigious regional tournaments slammed into Colombia's Andes mountains, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.

The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane's crew declared an emergency and lost radar contact just before 10pm local time on Monday (3am GMT on Tuesday), according to Colombia's aviation agency. It said the plane's black boxes had been recovered and were being analysed.

The aircraft, which departed from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was carrying the Chapecoense team from southern Brazil for Wednesday's first leg of the two-game Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional of Medellin. Twenty-one Brazilian journalists were also on board.

STRAINED AMBULANCE CREWS TOO SLOW TO REACH CRITICAL PATIENTS - REPORT

Ambulances are failing to reach dying and seriously-ill patients fast enough as the service creaks under the strain of high demand, according to a report.

Only one of the UK's 13 ambulance services, the Welsh Ambulance Service, is meeting the target to reach patients with life-threatening conditions within eight minutes, a BBC investigation has found.

Freedom of Information requests by the broadcaster found more than 500,000 hours of ambulance crews' time in England, Wales and Northern Ireland was wasted waiting at A&E to hand over patients to hospital staff.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOMS EROSION 'ENDANGERS FAITH COMMUNITIES' HELP TO COMMON GOOD'

Religious freedoms in everyday life are being eroded in modern Britain, a new report warns.

Magistrates, teachers, foster parents, doctors, and therapists have been disciplined, demoted, or sacked for living in accordance with their beliefs, the paper from think tank ResPublica said.

Compromises to religious freedom "seriously endanger" the contributions of faith communities to the common good, the study argued.

POLICEMAN INJURED IN LORRY DRIVER CHASE DRAMA

A police officer was seriously injured when he was struck by a passing car after being threatened by the driver of a "suspicious" lorry during a chase, his force has said.

The Staffordshire Police officer was taken to hospital after stopping the HGV at around 6.15pm on Tuesday.

The lorry driver ran off and the officer followed him on foot along the A5 near Lichfield.

JORDAN BANJO JOINS JUNGLE EXODUS AS HE HAILS FORMER CAMPMATES

Dancer Jordan Banjo described his experience on I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here! as "overwhelming" as he became the fourth celebrity to leave the show.

The 23-year-old was eliminated from the ITV programme after a public vote following the departures of Ola Jordan, Lisa Snowdon and DJ Danny Baker.

Banjo - who is a member of dance troupe Diversity - was greeted by his younger sister after crossing the rope bridge.