HERE are some of the national news headlines for Sunday.

Foreign Office condemns North Korea rocket launch

The Foreign Office has "strongly" condemned North Korea's launch of a long-range rocket thought to have been a test of its ballistic missile technology.

Pyongyang defied international warnings in going ahead with the launch just over a month after the secretive state carried out what it claimed was its first successful test of a hydrogen bomb.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: "We strongly condemn North Korea's missile launch."

PM faces grassroots backlash over EU vote

David Cameron faced a Tory grassroots revolt over the European Union referendum, with local party chiefs complaining about his direction to MPs not to worry about their views on Brussels.

The prime minister was accused of showing "disrespect" to party activists in a letter signed by representatives from more than 40 local Conservative associations.

But in a boost to Mr Cameron, one of Margaret Thatcher's closest advisers suggested the former prime minister would have backed his proposed deal for a new relationship with Brussels. 

Stranger rape claims linked to dating websites soar sixfold

The number of allegations of stranger rapes linked to dating websites has soared sixfold in five years, Britain's top crime-fighting body has warned.

National Crime Agency (NCA) figures show that 184 people reported being raped by someone they had met on a dating app or website in 2014 - up from 33 in 2009.

Sean Sutton, head of the NCA's Serious Crimes Analysis Section, said we could be seeing the emergence of a "new breed" of rapist as these alleged sex offenders are less likely to have a criminal record.

Cameron asked to address plight of Syria's orphaned refugees

David Cameron has come under fresh pressure to allow 3,000 orphaned Syrian refugees in Europe to come to the UK.

The prime minister has a "moral duty" to accept the unaccompanied children, with families and councils waiting with "open arms" to welcome them, Liberal Democrat peers said.

Mr Cameron has insisted that Britain should concentrate on re-settling orphans from the camps in the region rather than those who had made the crossing to Europe.


<strong>Many social housing tenants 'will be unable to afford market rents'</strong>

Thousands of families face being forced out of council homes and will be unable to afford an alternative property in the same region under government plans to end subsidised rents for high-earners, according to new research.

The figures, from a study commissioned by the Local Government Association (LGA), indicate almost 60,000 households will not be able to afford to pay rents at the market rate or take advantage of the right to buy.

The figures, compiled by the estate agent Savills, show that almost 215,000 social housing tenants will be affected by the "pay to stay" policy.