UK

A senior Taliban leader has told Prince Harry that the militants he killed in Afghanistan were “not chess pieces, they were humans”. Responding to revelations in Harry’s forthcoming memoir that he killed 25 Taliban fighters, Anas Haqqani tweeted: “Mr. Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces, they were humans; they had families who

A senior Taliban leader has told Prince Harry that the militants he killed in Afghanistan were “not chess pieces, they were humans”. Responding to revelations in Harry’s new memoir that he killed 25 Taliban fighters, Anas Haqqani, a senior aide to the interior minister, tweeted: “Mr Harry! The ones you killed were not chess pieces,

Prince Harry has written about the moment he found out that his mother, Princess Diana, had been in a car accident. Other revelations in the book include:• The duke admits he took cocaine• He says he killed 25 people in Afghanistan• He says he asked his father not to marry Camilla• He says his father

Prince Harry reportedly claims he was physically attacked by his brother William during a row over his marriage to Meghan Markle. The Guardian has obtained a copy of Spare – the Duke of Sussex’s highly anticipated book – days before it was due to hit the shelves. In a leaked extract, it is alleged that

Rishi Sunak has pledged to boost the economy, cut hospital waiting lists and stop migrant crossings in the Channel in his first speech of 2023. Speaking in Stratford, the prime minister laid out his priorities for 2023 and asked the public to judge his premiership on five promises. These pledges are: to halve inflation; to

Rishi Sunak must “step up to the plate” and allow ministers to get around the table to negotiate with union leaders, the boss of the TUC has said – as he accused the PM of using the independent pay review bodies as a “human shield”. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak told Sky News the PM

Pupils in England will study maths up until the age of 18 under plans to be unveiled by Rishi Sunak. The prime minister will say there is a need to “reimagine our approach to numeracy” in his first speech of the year on Wednesday, adding: “Letting our children out into the world without those skills

There is “not a bottomless pit of money” to be spent on increasing workers’ pay, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has warned the RMT union – as rail staff undertake further strike action today. Mr Harper told Sky News “there is a fair and reasonable pay offer on the table” and said it is “deeply unhelpful”

A chief medical adviser has warned adults to stay at home when feeling unwell, or wear face coverings when going outside in order to minimise the spread of illness. Professor Susan Hopkins, Chief Medical Adviser at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), added that adults should not “visit vulnerable people unless urgent” when feeling unwell.

Pressure on the NHS is worse now than it was at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a leading doctor has said. Dr Tim Cooksley, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said “urgent action” is required to bring the NHS back from the brink. Speaking to Sky News, he said the National Health Service

Plummeting temperatures and icy conditions are sweeping parts of Britain after the country endured a cold snap and consistent downpours at the end of 2022. Yellow weather warnings for ice are in place for the North of England and across Northern Ireland until 11am today. The Met Office has also issued yellow weather warnings for

A tribute to the late Queen and a show of support for Ukraine featured in London’s New Year fireworks display, as more than 100,000 people gathered on the banks of the Thames to mark the beginning of 2023. Some 12,000 fireworks lit up the sky in the sold-out show, which was created with the theme

Two people have been charged with murder and affray after footballer Cody Fisher was stabbed to death in a nightclub on Boxing Day. Kami Carpenter, aged 21, and Remy Gordon, aged 22, both from Birmingham, have been remanded into custody to appear before Birmingham Magistrates’ Court on 2 January. It comes following the stabbing of

Rishi Sunak has warned the UK’s problems will not “go away” in 2023 after a “tough” 12 months. In his New Year message, the prime minister promised the “very best of Britain” will be on display in the coming months as he pledged continuing support for Ukraine. And he also predicted King Charles’s coronation on

The number of flu cases in hospital is seven times higher than last month, latest figures show. New data from NHS England shows there were 3,746 patients a day in hospital with flu last week, up from 520 a month ago. Of those in hospital last week, 267 were in critical care beds. The NHS

The family of a woman shot dead at a pub have described her as the “most beautiful and bright star” as police continue their hunt for her murderer. Elle Edwards, 26, was attacked on Christmas Eve at the Lighthouse Inn in Wallasey Village on the Wirral. Detectives say the beautician was not believed to have

Legendary British fashion designer Dame Vivienne Westwood has died age 81. A statement said she died today in London, surrounded by her family. Dame Vivienne found fame in the 1970s when she brought punk fashions into the mainstream, running a boutique on London’s King’s Road alongside Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren. She went on to

There are no plans to introduce mandatory COVID-19 tests for arrivals to the UK from China, after a series of other countries said they would impose controls. The news comes after China announced it was abandoning its COVID-zero policy and was preparing to reopen its borders in January. There are fears that the end of

Friends of footballer Cody Fisher have paid tribute to him, laying flowers outside the Crane nightclub, and calling his loss “a hole that can’t be filled”. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder over the stabbing of the 23-year-old in a Birmingham nightclub on Boxing Day. One friend, James Behan, told Sky News:

Police have issued a fresh appeal for information about the alleged murder of footballer Cody Fisher as a friend paid tribute to him, begging for him to come home. Mr Fisher, 23, was stabbed on the dancefloor of the Crane nightclub in the Digbeth area of Birmingham just before 11.45pm on Boxing Day. Despite efforts