News 23/01/26

The Duke of Sussex has said the sacrifices of British soldiers who served and died in Afghanistan deserve to be recognised truthfully and with respect.

His comments follow US President Donald Trump’s claim that NATO allies stayed away from the front lines. Prince Harry served as an Army Air Corps co-pilot gunner and undertook two frontline tours in Afghanistan.

Labour is giving Andy Burnham just 24 hours to decide whether to return to the Commons in a by-election.

The party has published a timetable aiming to complete the selection process by next Saturday, raising the possibility of a poll as early as next month. Former deputy prime minister Angela Rayner said Burnham should be allowed to stand, while allies suggest his return could help challenge Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

Sir Keir Starmer criticised Donald Trump’s comments about British troops in Afghanistan, calling them insulting and appalling and saying an apology is needed.

Veterans, families and MPs reacted angrily after the US president said NATO forces stayed off the frontlines. Speaking to Fox News in Davos, Mr Trump said he was unsure the alliance would be there if needed.

Police have released an e-fit image after a report of indecent exposure in Berkshire.

Officers say a man in a small white van exposed himself on Gringer Hill in Maidenhead at about 5.30pm on Tuesday December 9 2025. He is described as white, late twenties to thirties, five feet six inches tall, with a slim build, blue eyes and short scruffy brown hair.

A former Conservative councillor has admitted drugging and raping his ex-wife over more than a decade.

Philip Young, forty nine, pleaded guilty to forty eight offences committed against Joanne Young between 2010 and 2024. She has waived her right to anonymity. The offences include rape, sexual assault, voyeurism, and administering substances to stupefy her to enable sexual activity involving himself or other men over many years repeatedly there.

A man with paranoid schizophrenia who stabbed a grandmother to death at a north London bus stop has been detained indefinitely.

Jala Debella, twenty four, killed sixty six year old Anita Mukhey on May 9 2024. He stabbed her eighteen times before walking away. At the Old Bailey he was given a hospital order with restrictions.

A driver has admitted killing Marcus Fakana in a crash while fleeing police.

Marwaan Mohamed Huseen, twenty, was driving a BMW away from officers when it hit a lorry, killing the nineteen year old passenger. Another person was badly injured. The crash happened in the early hours of October 3 last year in Tottenham, north London.

Cambridgeshire Police have launched a murder investigation following the death of a three-month-old baby boy.

Atijus Elertaite was taken to hospital in a life-threatening condition on January 3rd after officers were called to a property in St John’s Chase, March. Atijus tragically died five days later. A post-mortem examination recorded a head injury as the preliminary cause of death, pending further medical inquiries.

Heathrow has become the world’s largest airport to fully roll out high-tech CT scanners across all terminals.

Passengers can now leave liquids in containers up to two litres inside their bags, and electronics no longer need to be removed for security screening. While Heathrow is the biggest to complete the upgrade, it follows Gatwick, Edinburgh, and Birmingham in adopting the new technology.

Trilateral peace talks between Ukraine, Russia, and the United States have reportedly begun in Abu Dhabi.

These negotiations represent the first direct discussions of this kind since the war began. It remains unconfirmed if Ukrainian and Russian representatives are in the same room. President Zelenskyy suggested the meeting was arranged at short notice following a proposal from Washington.

The United States has formally withdrawn from the World Health Organization, removing one of the UN agency’s largest donors.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order a year ago, criticising the organisation for being too “China-centric” during the Covid pandemic. The US Department of Health and Human Services said the decision was driven by the WHO’s alleged mishandling of the pandemic, its inability to reform, and political influence from member states. The WHO has rejected these claims, with Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus saying the withdrawal represents a loss for both the US and the world.

The Kremlin has confirmed the first trilateral peace talks between the United States, Ukraine and Russia will take place today in Abu Dhabi.

Russian attendance was confirmed after Vladimir Putin met Donald Trump’s peace envoy Steve Witkoff and his son in law Jared Kushner in Moscow on Thursday night. The Kremlin said four hours of talks were exceptionally substantive, constructive, and extremely frank and trusting, while also warning there should be no expectation of a rapid breakthrough.

An investigation has found hundreds of illegal waste dumps operating across England, including at least eleven so called super sites holding tens of thousands of tonnes of rubbish.

More than seven hundred illegal tips were shut during twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five, but Environment Agency data shows five hundred and seventeen sites were still active at the end of last year. The largest include a two hundred and eighty thousand tonne site in Cheshire, two fifty thousand tonne sites in Lancashire and Cornwall, plus major dumps in Kent and Oxfordshire, often hidden on countryside farmland.

TikTok has announced it has sold its majority stake in the hugely popular social media platform.

Majority American ownership has now been established, largely through technology firms Oracle and Silver Lake. The move complies with US President Donald Trump’s executive order issued in September, bringing an end to a years long legal saga and removing the threat of a potential nationwide ban of the app.