The World Cup is just nine days away and excitement is building. Each week our man in Brazil, Joe Callaghan, brings us the latest news and views from South America - as well as traveller tips for those heading out there - and provides a flavour of exactly how the World Cup in Brazil is shaping up.

The interest building society customers receive has been cut to ribbons ever since the 2008 financial crisis. But Yorkshire's Mike Regnier, for example, will keep his £20,000 bonus from 2019.

You may have a fight on your hands to book a room at The Pig Near Bath at the moment. And rightly so, because this discreet hideaway is a weekend dream, enthuses our impressed Inspector.

The new boutique hotel, The Zetter Townhouse Marylebone, opened this summer, offering 24 uniquely decorated rooms, which ooze comfort, yet offer plenty of modern touches.

There is something happily quaint about the Chequers Inn in Lincolnshire that is maybe summed up by the slope on the nearby cricket pitch. The Inspector beds down for a one-night innings.

Slap-bang next to the A12 in Dedham is the 15-bedroom Milsoms hotel but thankfully you won't hear the road due to the bar and brasserie throwing up its own cacophony of noise.

The Pembroke Arms in Wilton is a handsome boozer that is located on the outskirts of Salisbury and offers nine rooms and a 'spacious and informal' bar and restaurant area.

Blakes has long been a haven of upmarket accommodation in west London - but the cost may make you raise an eyebrow, says out hotel inspector, as he wonders where his wine went.

Barnett Hill Hotel, just outside Guildford, Surrey, is in the throes of a huge refurbishment, and while the noise wasn't ideal, The Inspector was extremely impressed by the high level of service.

The Inspector found that when he visited the Guildford Harbour Hotel did not have enough staff to deal with so many arrivals at a time when the hotel is hosting several Christmas parties.

The 31-year-old singer - said to be worth a cool £150million - has unveiled a dramatic makeover in recent months since the announcement of her split to charity CEO Simon Konecki, 45.

Chu posted a lengthy statement to Twitter on Monday that began: 'For those of you who are asking, you bet your a** I stand with Adele!'

Celebrities came out to see the French jewelers newly redesigned boutique in Beverly Hills, CA. Cara Santana led the pack in a multicolored pantsuit for the event on Thursday night.

Off-grid parents Matt and Adele Allen, from Brighton, are using housing benefits to build a 'remote' home where they can live off nature with their three children, so that they won't have to work full-time.

The presenter, 56, broke the tragic news in a statement on her website, revealing that she's decided to end her travel series after four and a half years to focus on her music career.

Missing boy William Tyrrell is the nephew of a 5 Seconds of Summer rock star. 5SOS guitarist Michael Clifford, 21, and the toddler's biological father Brendan, 36, share the same father.

The 24-year-old guitarist, who is engaged to model Crystal Leigh, told Fitzy & Wippa at the G'Day USA gala in Los Angeles on Saturday that he'd asked the 5SOS boys to be his groomsmen

5 Seconds of Summer guitarist Michael Clifford has reportedly snapped up a stunning $2.9million mansion in California. 

5 Seconds of Summer guitarist Michael Clifford proposed to his fiancée Crystal Leigh on a clifftop in Bali last year.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW BY OLIVER HOLT: When he returned from Rio, Sbihi's rocket trajectory began to flatten. Those astonishing ergo numbers dipped. His struggles became an open secret.

Sir Mark Sedwill's report found 'no evidence' to corroborate the allegations made by staff at the Home Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for International Trade.

In the UK there are two main contenders in the vaccine race: a team at the University of Oxford, and another at Imperial College London.

Neil Ferguson, who advised Boris Johnson to introduce lockdown measures to combat coronavirus, has resigned after his married lover travelled across London to meet him twice.

They've been published in a new book called Ruin and Redemption in Architecture, which charts ruined spaces around the world and the designs that have totally transformed them.

Dan Richards has spent years seeking the farthest-flung outposts — beacons, shebangs, mountain expedition stations, tundra, forests, and oceans. Here he reveals his favourite peaceful destinations.

Cruising from Sydney to Papua New Guinea isn't easy, UK walking breaks are perfect for singletons and attending a Papal ceremony requires lots of planning, the holiday guru explains.

Once a crucial cog in the wheel of British industry, Britain's 2,200 navigable miles of canals make for a brilliant staycation. Here Joanna Tweedy rounds up the best waterways to explore.

Norwegian Audun Amundsen first went to live with the Mentawai tribe for a month in 2004. He returned in 2009 for a three-year stay, during which time he would learn their unwritten language.

Wearing helmet cameras, local guides provide commentary to web audiences across the world, guiding them across the Danish semi-autonomous territory in the North Atlantic.

The Chicago-based carrier said that the 'proactive and aggressive' measure is to keep all staff and customers safe during the coronavirus crisis and follows the latest advice from the CDC.

The fastest time taken to complete the quiz was one minute 36 seconds, while the average is two minutes 12 seconds. More than two out of three people couldn't identify the flag for Belgium - can you?

Elizabeth Sobinoff and Seb Guilhaus will declare their love for each other at their final vows on Monday's episode Married At First Sight.

Married At First Sight's strongest couple from this season, Elizabeth Sobinoff and Seb Guilhaus, are still together.

They're the only couple to successfully survive Married At First Sight this season.

A team of researchers at the University of Sydney, University of Exeter and University of Adelaide has examined the potential for agave as an environmentally-friendly alternative to petrol.

The company was forced to close its factory in Salisbury, north of Adelaide, last week along with its network of retail stores across the world due to the coronavirus outbreak.

A South Australian Supreme Court jury returned the guilty verdict late on Tuesday after deliberating for about six hours in the case against Wendie-Sue Dent.

The 74-year-old man succumbed to the infection in the Royal Adelaide Hospital overnight, SA Health confirmed on Sunday.

SPECIAL REPORT BY DANIEL MATTHEWS AND TOM COLLOMOSSE: While keeping an eye on Liverpool - 'I am happy they won the Champions League,' he said - he is still trying to rebuild.

EXCLUSIVE BY SAMI MOKBEL AND GEORGE BOND: New Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has targeted Wales assistant coach Albert Stuivenberg to help lead his Gunners revolution.

Home buyers looking to get onto the housing ladder for the first time can now access a deal that will boost their deposit savings by £2,000.

The lowest rate on the market is now just 2.84 per cent - on offer from More to Life - making it cheaper than ever to borrow against your home after you retire. But there are catches.

Traore has enjoyed a breakthrough season which has seen the speedster score six goals and provide 10 assists for his team-mates to help keep Nuno's side firing in Europe and the league.

For Premiership chief executives during the coronavirus pandemic it is not so much that the management text-book has been thrown out the window.

The company announced it would raise £1bn from a public share sale, and by borrowing an additional £3.8bn on the bond markets. The money will be used for day-to-day spending.

Some HSBC directors are said to be furious at the Bank of England for forcing it to cancel its dividend and suggested the bank should move its headquarters from London to Hong Kong.

Bank of America alone has approved 177,000 loans worth $32.6 billion (£26.3 billion) in just over a week. The White House says that £56.5 billion of such loans have been sorted.

The group also said it had donated vast quantities of alcohol to help make over 8million bottles of hand sanitiser for healthcare workers globally.

RAF veteran Alan Fowler, 72, (pictured with his wife Lynda) has an annuity from Legal & General paying a pittance but it refused his pleas for a lump sum.

Entrepreneur Andy Yates shares his tips for small businesses to adapt, innovate and come through the coronavirus crisis - and what some of the firms he is working with are doing.