Royal Bank of Scotland headquarters, Edinburgh. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

Royal Bank of Scotland has announced that it will close 162 branches across England and Wales, which means that 792 jobs will be lost.

The bank said that staff would be offered voluntary redundancy.

RBS were planning to launch a ‘challenger bank’ with NatWest, but this plan is no longer going ahead.

A spokesman said that RBS customers in England and Wales will be able to use NatWest branches for their everyday banking needs.

Conservative candidate for Lewisham suspended 

Lewisham High Street. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The Conservative candidate for Lewisham’s Council elections, Karen Sunderland, has been suspended following alleged links with ‘Islamophobic’ comments on social media.

One tweet compared Islam to Nazism, and another criticised wearing the hijab.

In December, it’s alleged she tweeted: ‘Religion is totalitarian. Islam has become the new Nazism.’

Ms Sunderland’s Twitter account is now private, and she will face an investigation.

Thousands of patients called for case review in Northern Ireland

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

More than 2,500 neurology patients in Northern Ireland have been called for a case review, following fears that some may have been misdiagnosed.

The recall of patients follows a review by Dr Michael Watt at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust.

Concerns were first raised in December 2016 by a GP who questioned a patient’s diagnosis and treatment.

The Belfast Health Trust apologised to patients and their families for the situation.

Sainsbury’s boss apologises for singing ‘we’re in the money’

The CEO of supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has apologised for being caught singing ‘We’re in the money’ on camera.

While waiting to be interviewed on ITV news, Mike Coupe was filmed singing the show tune.

The interview explained the details of Sainsbury’s merger with ASDA.

Mr Coupe has apologised for the incident, saying ‘It was an unfortunate choice of song.’

Books by women priced 45% lower than books by men, study shows

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

An analysis of more than 2 million books has revealed that, on average, books written by women are sold at just over half the price of books written by men.

Sociologist Dana Beth Weinberg and mathematician Adam Kapelner of Queens College, City University of New York, conducted the study which looked at titles published in North America between 2002 and 2012.

They suggested that part of the reason for the disparity is that there are more female authors writing in lower-priced genres, such as romance.

However, even after accounting for these differences, books by women were still priced 9% less than books by men.