A flat tyre meant Mitchell Mann was docked a frame after starting his British Open match against Gao Yang late – but he rallied to win 4-3.
The 33-year-old had to abandon his car and started 10 minutes late and already 1-0 down before fighting his way into the third round.
“I was on the hard shoulder and had no spare tyre, I was completely stranded,” said the world number 91.
“Luckily my friends answered my call and they came to pick me up. One of them drove me to Cheltenham and the other waited with my car for the RAC.
“I should have driven down last night, it’s a lesson learned. I have no idea where my car is now!”
Mark Allen is through to the third round with a 4-1 win against Hungary’s Bulcsu Revesz.
The Antrim man made it two wins in as many days, following his victory over Jiang Jun on Tuesday.
Allen made an excellent start by banking the opening two frames, including a break of 60 in the second.
Revesz, who shocked Ali Carter in the same tournament last year, recovered well in the third to pull a frame back.
However, the English Open winner hit back in the fourth and sealed his passage into the third round with a 69 break in the fifth.
He will now face Wales’ Mark Williams on Thursday, while fellow Antrim man Robbie McGuigan faces Ben Mertens in his third-round match following the Belgian’s 4-0 win against England’s Reanne Evans.
Judd Trump beat Leone Crowley 4-1, Shaun Murphy beat Scott Donaldson 4-1 and defending champion Mark Selby hit a 115 break in a 4-3 win over Liu Hongyu.
It’s a nauseating, mind-boggling condition people literally lose sleep over, but help is at hand from a veteran of the skies who shares his best tips
Jetlag is a nightmare, but there are simple tweaks people can make to reduce its effects(Image: Marco Bottigelli/Moment RF/Getty Images)
Post-holiday blues are a nightmare, even more so if you suffer from jetlag after a long trip. Feeling like your body operates on a different time zone once you come back home is disorienting.
Al Smith is a seasoned pilot, currently working as senior first officer for British Airways. He is no stranger to jetlag, having flown across time zones and seen sunrises from the comfort of his own cockpit.
He follows a strict sleep routine to ensure he is fresh as a daisy whenever he is manning a plane. In a recent edition of British Airways’ High Life magazine, he said: “After years on short haul, I had a rhythm – early starts or late finishes, never both.
“But long haul is a different game. These days, I spend at least one night a week wide awake under the stars – but that doesn’t mean I have to lose a night’s sleep.
“I plan ahead: sleep before departure, nap after landing and squeeze in a siesta when I can. The key?
“Prioritising rest and making time for it, no matter what time zone I’m in.”
Top 10 tips to beat jetlag
If the hotel curtains don’t close properly, grab a coat hanger with trouser clips and clip the curtains together. It’s a lifesaver for daytime sleeping.
Limit alcohol.
Don’t sleep for more than three hours on landing day. If it’s after 3pm, try to stay up and just go to bed early.
If you’re a tea lover like me and nothing else will do, invest in quality decaf tea. It’s perfect for enjoying at any time of day or night.
Strategic napping is essential – just don’t do it on a subway in Tokyo.
Turn your phone to dark mode and switch on ‘Sleep’ or ‘Do Not Disturb’ at bedtimes.
Don’t go shopping just to kill time on landing day – you will only buy things you don’t need. Early in my career, I woke up to find I’d cleared out the entire miniature toiletries section of Walgreens after landing in Seattle.
Don’t oversleep while recovering from jet lag – in my experience, it prolongs my adjustment time.
Get outside and do some light exercise. Sunlight is a natural reset for me and is essential when it comes to acclimatising.
If you’re trying to stay up, never sit on the bed! Trust me – before you know it, you’ll be on your back and spark out. You’ve been warned!
Among the most important things for people to get right is their sleep hygiene. According to Al, it helps the body adjust to a new time zone easier and more effectively.
He said of his own experience: “Every time we’ve moved house, my first priority has been: ‘How do I make my new bedroom feel like the best hotel room ever?’ I prefer total darkness when I sleep – I highly recommend plantation shutters with a blackout screen.
“Zero light is incredible and allows me to sleep both day and night. Temperature is also vital.
“I think I have a two-degree tolerance before I’m either too hot or too cold. Yes, it’s the UK – but it reached 40°C in the last few years.
“Air-conditioning is the way forward! And quality bedding is another must.”
One of the main symptoms of jetlag is insomnia and it’s something Al also had first-hand experience of. He told the magazine: “There have been occasions where oversleeping on what we call ‘landing day’ – a sacred day that should be free of tasks – has led to bouts of insomnia.
“It’s taken me years of flying to figure out that if I check the clock twice and it’s still within the same hour, it’s time to get up, have a warm drink (obviously not caffeinated) and watch a bit of TV. Otherwise, I spend the entire night tossing and turning.”
The Jester from Leicester secured a 10-5 victory over the Scotsman as he went one better than the 2023 British Open, where he lost in the final to Mark Williams.
In 2024, World No1 Judd Trump became only the third player in history to reach 1,000 century breaks.
But in the very same match, he was eliminated by Mark Allen following a 5-3 defeat in the quarter-finals.
Trump has never won the British Open and will be looking to add the Clive Everton Trophy to his ever-expanding collection of titles.
Kyren Wilson also features in Cheltenham as he looks to put his poor display at the English Open last week behind him.
There will be no Ronnie O’Sullivan this week after the Rocket withdrew from the competition on medical grounds last Tuesday.
When is the British Open 2025?
The British Open 2025 will begin on Monday, September 22.
The tournament will run up until Sunday, September 28.
The Centaur in Cheltenham will host.
What TV channel is the British Open 2025 on and can it be live streamed?
The British Open 2025 will be broadcast live on ITV4.
You can live stream all the action for FREE via the ITVX app/website.
Alternatively, you can keep up to date with all the action by following SunSport’s live blog.
Megha MohanBBC World Service Gender and Identity correspondent
Wanjiru Family
Agnes Wanjiru, who was 21 when she was killed, had just recently become a mother
More than a decade after Agnes Wanjiru, a 21-year-old mother, was killed in Kenya, allegedly by a British soldier, a Kenyan court has issued an arrest warrant for a UK national. If there is an extradition, it would be the first time a serving or former British soldier is sent abroad to face trial for the murder of a civilian – a move her friends would welcome.
On the night she went missing on 31 March 2012, Agnes begged her childhood friends Friend A and Friend B to come out with her.*
Agnes and Friend A were both new mothers, both 21-years-old, both wanting to let off some steam.
Friend B was eager to go out too, and agreed to meet them at the bar at Lions Court Hotel – located in the business district of Nanyuki, a market town in central Kenya, around 124 miles (200km) north of Nairobi.
That evening, Friend B’s mother agreed to watch over Agnes’s five-month-old daughter for a small babysitting fee. With childcare settled, Agnes and Friend A set off, making their first stop at a bar called Sherlock’s.
“There were a lot of muzungu (white) men there,” says Friend A. “I remember some were in plain clothes and some were in army clothes.”
The British Army has a permanent training support base in Nanyuki, and white men, many of them soldiers, were a familiar presence. Locals referred to them as Johnnies, a nickname that carries unsavoury connotations.
“They made me uncomfortable because I’d heard bad things about muzungu men,” Friend A recalls.
“Muzungus don’t treat us Kenyan women well,” adds Friend B. “Johnnies, especially, mistreat us. They disrespect us.”
For young women like Agnes, the risks of engaging with these men were often weighed against the struggle to make ends meet.
“When women are financially desperate, they will do almost anything to survive,” Friend A says. “I don’t believe Agnes was a sex worker though. I never saw her do that. She was very poor.”
Wanjiru Family
The young Agnes struggled to make ends meet to provide for herself and young child
Her friends say that on a good day Agnes would earn around 300 Kenyan shillings – less than £1 ($1.35). On a bad day there was nothing at all, and she relied on the goodwill of her loving elder sister.
Agnes did not have any financial support from the father of her child, and her friends say she was constantly trying to earn money, mostly working in salons and braiding people’s hair, at times turning to more unconventional means.
One method, Friend A recalls, was simple: Agnes would befriend someone who offered to buy her a drink, then quietly ask the bartender to skip the drink and hand her the cash instead.
At Sherlock’s bar that night, Friend A was scrolling through Facebook when she noticed Agnes in what appeared to be a tense exchange with a white man.
“When I approached her to ask her if she was OK, she told me to go to Lions Court as planned and that she would join me shortly.”
Friend A continued on to the hotel, where Friend B and several others were already dancing. A crowd of white men was also present.
Agnes joined them a little while afterwards.
She told her friends she had “cheekily” tried to take a muzungu’s wallet, but a bouncer had intervened. The matter seemed resolved, her friends say. And to her friends, Agnes seemed relaxed.
“She was in high spirits,” says Friend A. “She was joking around.”
At around midnight, Friend A left for home, leaving Friend B and Agnes and their friends dancing.
“The muzungus were buying us drinks, and Agnes was returning them to the bar in exchange for money,” Friend B adds. The two started mingling with other friends. A little while later, Friend B says she saw Agnes leave the bar with one of the white men and assumed that they had come to a consensual arrangement. Other reports say that Agnes was seen leaving with two men.
The next morning, Friend B went to Agnes’s house and saw her worried sister, who told her that Agnes had not returned. She rushed to her own mother’s house, where she found Agnes’s baby still in her care.
By early evening when Agnes had still not returned, Friend B and another friend went to Nanyuki police station to report her missing, and return the baby to Agnes’s sister.
For days, Agnes’s friends searched for her. At Lions Court, a watchman told them there had been “a big fight” in one of the hotel rooms that weekend and a window had been broken.
Nearly three months later, Agnes’s body was discovered in a septic tank near the hotel. She had been stabbed. Friend B and another friend went to the mortuary to see Agnes’s body.
“I felt terrible,” Friend B says. “I couldn’t imagine something like this could happen.”
It would take years before Agnes Wanjiru’s murder drew wider attention.
This prompted an internal investigation in August 2025, which revealed that some soldiers at the base were still engaging in transactional sex with women, many of whom were vulnerable, coerced, or trafficked into sex work.
In April this year, UK Defence Secretary John Healey met Agnes’s family, in Kenya to offer his condolences and issue a statement saying the British government “will continue to do everything we can to help the family secure the justice they deserve”.
British High Commission Nairobi
John Healy met Esther Njoki in April – the first time any UK government minister had met the Wanjiru family
If extradited, it would be the first time a serving or former British soldier is sent abroad to stand trial for the killing of a civilian.
“It is highly welcome and a positive step towards the arch of justice,” says Kelvin Kubai, a lawyer at the African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action. “However the battle isn’t yet won, given the legal hurdles of extradition proceedings, and we hope the relevant government institutions of both states shall continue cooperating to meet the ends of justice.”
Agnes’s niece, Esther Njoki, has created a GoFundMe page in order to raise money to support the family, travel to the UK and create more awareness about the murder of her aunt.
“We need to push for financial security for Agnes’s daughter,” Esther says, adding that she is now a teenager.
And Agnes’s friends agree that justice has been delayed too long.
“The British Army cannot keep ignoring the murder of our friend,” Friend A says. “We want justice for Agnes and her daughter.”
The BBC has asked the Ministry of Defence for comment.
*The BBC has changed the name of all people listed as witnesses by a Kenyan High Court
Watch: Hugs on tarmac as family reunite after Afghan ordeal
A British couple freed by the Taliban after being detained for nearly eight months have emotionally reunited with their daughter, sharing hugs after landing in Qatar.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbie, 76, who lived in Afghanistan for nearly two decades, were on their way home when they were stopped on 1 February.
The couple were released on Friday morning through Qatari mediation, and later landed in Doha where they were met by their daughter. After medical checks they will travel to the UK, despite their long-term home being in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province.
The Taliban said the pair had broken Afghan laws and were released after judicial proceedings – but has never disclosed the reason for their detention.
There were emotional scenes in Doha as the couple’s daughter, Sarah Entwistle, met her parents as they stepped off of the plane. They shared long hugs before walking together towards the airport building.
AFP via Getty Images
Barbie Reynolds hugs her daughter, Sarah Entwistle, after arriving in Qatar
AFP via Getty Images
Peter Reynolds also hugs his daughter
Shortly after landing in Doha, Mrs Reynolds said it was “wonderful to be here”. The couple were also seen greeting Qatari and British representatives.
Before her parents landed, Ms Entwistle told reporters she most recently spoke to them last Saturday and they were “ready to come home”.
Earlier, the family said they were “overwhelmed with gratitude and relief” at the couple’s release.
They said it was “a moment of immense joy”, adding in a statement that they were “deeply thankful to everyone who played a role in securing their release”.
“While the road to recovery will be long as our parents regain their health and spend time with their family, today is a day of tremendous joy and relief.”
The family paid particular tribute to the “unwavering support” of the Qatari mediators, as well as the diplomatic efforts of the UK government and the support of the US and the UN.
Peter and Barbie Reynolds married in Kabul in 1970 and spent the past 18 years running a charitable training programme that had been approved by local Taliban officials when the armed group reclaimed power in 2021.
They have been described by family as having a lifelong love of Afghanistan, typified by their decision to remain there after the authoritarian regime seized control in August 2021, when many other Westerners left.
Their release follows months of public lobbying by their family, who have described the harrowing conditions of their detention.
The couple’s son, Jonathan Reynolds, said in July that his father had been suffering serious convulsions and his mother was “numb” from anaemia and malnutrition.
“My dad was chained to murderers and criminals,” he said at the time, adding that they had at one point been held in a basement for six weeks without sunlight.
Reacting to the news of their release on Friday, Mr Reynolds told BBC Breakfast: “I cannot wait to put my arms around them and give them a hug.”
Ms Entwistle previously said her father had suffered a mini-stroke, while the UN warned that without medical care the couple were at risk of irreparable harm.
QATARI GOVERNMENT
Barbie and Peter Reynolds (right) will first fly to Qatar for medical checks, before returning to the UK
Just six days ago, an American woman who was detained with them and subsequently released told the BBC they had been “literally dying” in prison and that “time is running out”.
Faye Hall, who was let go two months into her detention, highlighted that the elderly couple’s health had deteriorated rapidly while in prison.
A Qatari official told the BBC the couple were moved from Kabul’s central prison to a larger facility with better conditions during the final stage of negotiations over their release.
Handout
The pair have a lifelong love of Afghanistan, family say
The official also said the Qatari embassy in Kabul had provided them with medication, access to a doctor and means of communicating with their family while in prison.
Taliban officials maintained they received adequate medical care in prison and their human rights were respected.
The UK does not recognise the Taliban government and closed its embassy in Kabul when the group returned to power.
The Foreign Office says support for British nationals in Afghanistan is therefore “severely limited” and advises against all travel to the country.
A Taliban official said Peter and Barbie Reynolds were handed over to the UK’s Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Lindsay, who was pictured with the couple aboard their flight to Qatar.
The UK’s Middle East minister Hamish Falconer said he was relieved that the pair had now been freed, adding: “I look forward to them being reunited with their family soon.”
He said the UK had “worked intensively” to secure their release, while Qatar “played an essential role in this case, for which I am hugely grateful”.
UK thanks Qatar for leading negotiations for the release of the pair after their arrest in February.
Published On 19 Sep 202519 Sep 2025
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Afghanistan’s Taliban government has released a British couple held for almost eight months on undisclosed charges.
Peter Reynolds, 80, and his wife Barbara, 76, were released from prison on Friday after a court hearing and handed over to the United Kingdom‘s special representative to the country, Richard Lindsay. The move followed negotiations led by Qatar.
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Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi said on social media that the couple had been arrested in February for “violating” Afghan law, but did not say which legislation had been broken.
UK officials were quick to express relief and to thank the mediating country.
“I welcome the release of Peter and Barbara Reynolds from detention in Afghanistan, and I know this long-awaited news will come as a huge relief to them and their family,” said Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “I want to pay tribute to the vital role played by Qatar.”
In a statement on Friday afternoon, the Qatari Foreign Ministry said the couple had arrived in Qatar’s capital, Doha, and would depart for London later. It also expressed its appreciation for the “fruitful cooperation” between the Afghan and UK officials.
‘Looking forward to return’
United Nations human rights experts had called on the Taliban in July to free the pair, having warned of the “rapid deterioration” of their physical and mental health, and stating that they “risk irreparable harm or even death”.
Images of the couple standing together on Friday with the UK’s special representative to the country, Richard Lindsay, at Kabul airport before their departure to Doha were broadcast on British broadcaster Sky News.
“We’ve been treated very well. We’re looking forward to seeing our children,” said Barbara, adding: “We are looking forward to returning to Afghanistan if we can.”
The couple were married in Kabul in 1970 and have spent almost two decades living in Afghanistan’s central province of Bamiyan, running educational programmes. They also became Afghan citizens.
When the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan in 2021 they remained in the country against the advice of British officials.
The Reynolds’ family in the UK had made repeated calls for the couple’s release, saying they were being mistreated and held on undisclosed charges.
Hamish Falconer, the UK’s minister for the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, said in a statement that he was “relieved… their ordeal has come to an end,” noting that the government in London had “worked intensively since their detention and has supported the family throughout”.
The release comes after Washington’s special envoy on hostages, Adam Boehler, made a rare visit on Saturday to Kabul to discuss the possibility of a prisoner exchange.
At least one United States citizen, Mahmood Habibi, is held in Afghanistan.
Dozens of foreign nationals have been arrested since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the withdrawal of the US military.
WASHINGTON — At a banquet table fit for a king, but set specially for him, President Trump called his state visit to the United Kingdom this week “one of the highest honors of my life.”
He then proceeded to tell guests at the white tie event that the United States was “a very sick country” last year before becoming “the hottest” again under his rule.
During a news conference with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the Chequers estate Thursday, hailing a bilateral deal on artificial intelligence investments said to be worth hundreds of billions of dollars, Trump called America’s relationship with Britain “unbreakable,” bigger than any single esoteric policy disagreement.
But he quickly pivoted from magnanimity on the world stage, denying the results of his 2020 election defeat and calling exclusively on conservative reporters, who asked questions about Britain’s Christian nature and his predecessor’s alleged use of an autopen.
It was a familiar study in contrasts from the president, who routinely mixes diplomacy with domestic politics in his meetings with foreign leaders. Yet the sound of Trump engaging in fractious political discourse — not at the White House or a political event in Florida or Missouri, but inside Britain’s most revered halls — struck a discordant tone.
The Mirror, a national British tabloid aligned with Starmer’s Labour Party, wrote that Trump’s “wild … political rant” at Windsor Castle alongside King Charles III “seriously broke royal protocol.”
On Wednesday evening, as the formal banquet concluded, Trump took to his social media platform to designate a far left-wing political movement called Antifa as “a major terrorist organization,” describing the group as “A SICK, DANGEROUS, RADICAL LEFT DISASTER.”
President Trump appears with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at a news conference Thursday at Chequers near Aylesbury, England.
(Evan Vucci / Associated Press)
The move prompted a question to Starmer at the Chequers news conference from a right-ring reporter on whether he would consider taking similar action against leftist British groups.
“We obviously will take decisions for ourselves. I don’t want to comment on the decisions of the president,” Starmer said. “But we take our decisions ourselves.”
In another exchange, Trump repeated dramatically exaggerated figures on the number of undocumented migrants who entered the United States during the Biden administration, as well as false claims about the 2020 presidential election.
“I don’t want to be controversial, but you see what’s happened, and you see all the information that’s come out,” Trump said. “We won in 2020, big. And I said, let’s run. We gotta run. Because I saw what’s happening.”
The Royal Family went beyond its own rule book to show Trump extraordinary hospitality, honoring the president’s arrival with a 41-gun salute typically reserved for special, domestic occasions, such as the king’s birthday.
King Charles was hosting Trump for an unprecedented second state visit — a gesture never before extended to an American president — after the king’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, greeted him at Windsor in 2019.
“That’s a first and maybe that’s going to be the last time. I hope it is, actually,” Trump said in his banquet speech, prompting the king to chuckle and balk.
At the stunning dinner, along a table seating 160 people in St. George’s Hall, guests were offered a 1912 cognac honoring the birth year of the president’s Scottish-born mother, as well as a whiskey cocktail inspired by his heritage. The president, for his part, does not drink.
First Lady Melania Trump, left, President Trump, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria Starmer watch the Red Devils parachute display team at Chequers, the country home of the British prime minister, on Thursday.
(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
But it is unclear whether the king’s soft-power diplomacy helped shift Trump closer to London’s priorities on foreign affairs. A growing chorus in Britain opposes Israel’s continued military operations in Gaza, and major U.K. parties are aligned on a moral and strategic need to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.
“Our countries have the closest defense, security and intelligence relationship ever known,” Charles said at the dinner. “In two world wars, we fought together to defeat the forces of tyranny.
“Today, as tyranny once again threatens Europe, we and our allies stand together in support of Ukraine, to deter aggression and secure peace,” the king added.
A king’s request for Europe
Trump’s reciprocal remarks did not mention Ukraine. But at Chequers, the president repeated his general disappointment with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the ongoing war, a conflict Putin has escalated with attacks on civilians and the British Council building in Kyiv since meeting with Trump in Alaska a month ago.
“He’s let me down. He’s really let me down,” said Trump, offering no details on what steps he might take next.
Starmer, pressing to leverage the pomp of Trump’s state visit for actionable policy change, said that a coordinated response to Putin’s aggression would be forthcoming and “decisive.”
“In recent days, Putin has shown his true face, mounting the biggest attack since the invasion began, with yet more bloodshed, yet more innocents killed, and unprecedented violations of NATO airspace,” Starmer said, referencing Russia’s Sept. 9 drone flights over Poland. “These are not the actions of someone who wants peace.”
“It’s only when the president has put pressure on Putin,” Starmer added, “that he’s actually shown any inclination to move.”
The analysis looked at departure data for six of the biggest airlines – British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air – between May 2024 and April 2025. They show that all of the airlines were less punctual now than before the pandemic in 2019
Standards have slipped over the past six years(Image: Getty Images)
The worst offending airlines for delays have been revealed amid an industry-wide slipping of standards.
Take-offs within 15 minutes of planned departure times are down significantly pre-Covid compared to now for almost all major airlines flying through UK airspace, according to Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data.
There are several factors in play, including a rise in the number of flights taking off, airspace restrictions as a result of military conflicts and issues with air traffic control (ATC) staffing.
Which? studied checked departure data for six of the biggest airlines – British Airways, easyJet, Jet2, Ryanair, Tui and Wizz Air – between May 2024 and April 2025. They show that all of the airlines were less punctual now than before the pandemic in 2019.
The experience of being stuck at the airport is becoming a more regular one(Image: Press Association)
Out of the six big UK airlines, Tui was the worst for punctuality according to the analysis, with the lowest average percentage of on-time departures. Back in 2019, an average of 67.2 per cent of Tui’s departures were on time, but by 2024–25, that had slipped to 59.2 per cent.
Second-worst for punctuality for the time period Which? looked at was Wizz Air. Its average on-time rate was already as low as 66.8 per cent back in 2019, and by 2023 it had plummeted to 55.6 per cent. In 2024–25 it now has fewer delays with 66 per cent, almost back to its pre-pandemic level.
It’s a similar story for Ryanair, whose average on-time departures were at 77.8 per cent in 2019 but fell to 63 per cent by 2022, only recovering to 66.5 per cent by 2024–25.
easyJet’s punctuality was 70.6 per cent in 2019 but dropped to 67.8 per cent in 2024–25, while the CAA data also showed a decline in Jet2’s punctuality. In 2019 departures punctuality was 81.8 per cent, and in 2024–25 was 68 per cent.
British Airways’ punctuality was at 71.5 per cent in 2019, and as high as 75.8 per cent the year before. By 2024–25 it had fallen to 68.7 per cent.
Some airlines are blaming air traffic control (ATC) for these delays. In May, Ryanair launched a website called ‘Air Traffic Control Ruined Your Flight’, along with a ‘League of Delays’ claiming to expose the worst ATCs across Europe for delays ‘due to mismanagement and staff shortages from January to May 2025’.
Eurocontrol, which speaks for the European network of air traffic controllers, admitted that in some parts of the network, the number of ATC officers is 10–20 per cent lower than would be needed to manage the demand.
The UK’s own ATC body, NATS (formerly known as National Air Traffic Services), said that it is “fully staffed and operating normally”.
Any other air traffic control delays are only exacerbated by other factors at play. Some parts of the airspace, through which major airlines fly, are closed off for military or geopolitical reasons.
Eurocontrol has said that the crisis in the Middle East has led to traffic becoming unevenly spread – after already losing 20 per cent of airspace following the war in Ukraine. Those complexities add to an already expanding ATC workload. Airport capacity is another issue.
And while delays are worsening, airlines are putting on record numbers of flights. Although Ryanair hasn’t returned to pre-pandemic levels of punctuality, it scheduled 162,411 flights in 2024, according to CAA data – 24,192 more than in 2019. Wizz Air put on 29,325 flights in 2024, up 3,534 from the 25,791 it flew in 2019.
A spokesperson for easyJet said: “easyJet always does all possible to get our customers to their destinations on time and minimise any delays despite flying in some of the most congested airspace in the world.”
A spokesperson for Tui said: “Punctuality is super important to us and has highest priority but there is one topic even more important: to operate each and every flight and to not cancel any flight. That’s what we do at TUI because we have holidaymakers onboard which we want to fly to their destination and also back.
TUI’s punctulatity record has slipped(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
“So, sometimes we have flights delayed by a couple of hours because we need to get a replacement aircraft ready. But for guests the good news is: their flight isn’t cancelled and they can still fly. Other airlines have or use the possibility to cancel flights which then would also not be part of the delay statistics anymore.
“And, one important point: within our overall fleet of 130 airplanes we have about 11 spare airplanes – the highest number we ever had and which helps us to keep a network alive without cancellations.
“So yes we want to be more punctual but we also keep our credo to never cancel, which is the even more important topic for our holiday guests.”
A spokesperson for Wizz Air said: “At Wizz Air, every minute matters, and that’s why we are committed to ensuring our customers reach their destinations as smoothly and as promptly as possible. Some delays are outside of our control, and we do whatever we can to avoid cancellations. Our completion rate (meaning completing the flights we schedule) was one of the best in the entire industry in 2024 at 99.4% – and that has increased to 99.9% for flights from the UK between January and April this year. While we know delays are frustrating and we always try our best to avoid them, we would rather delay than cancel a flight, as we know how important it is for our passengers to reach their destinations.
“Our on-time performance (flights arriving when they are scheduled to) continues to improve. From 2022 to 2024, our on-time performance for flights from the UK improved by more than 20%. We were also named the UK’s second-most punctual airline in Cirium’s 2024 On-Time Performance Review, achieving a 70.54% on-time arrival record. The percentage of delayed flights is also decreasing year-on-year. In particular, longer delays are a rare occurrence, with just 1% of flights from the UK in 2025* delayed for three hours or more.
“The facts speak for themselves, and this progress reflects the effort and investment we have made in improving our service, which is a daily focus for us. But we know there is more work to be done. Punctuality is a key priority of our Customer First Compass – a £12 billion framework to ensure we can deliver the best possible service for our customers. As part of this, we are enhancing the resilience of our operations to minimise cancellations, reduce delays and provide fast solutions in the event of a disruption.”
Demonstrators offer counterbalance to royal grandeur and flattery of US president at Windsor Castle.
Demonstrators have taken to the streets of London and Windsor to protest Donald Trump’s unprecedented second state visit to the United Kingdom, which human rights groups have condemned over US support for “the continuing genocide of the Palestinian people”.
Hundreds of protesters gathered at Portland Place in central London, near the BBC’s Broadcasting House, carrying banners reading “No to racism, no to Trump,” alongside smaller versions of the “Trump baby blimp” that became an icon of mass demonstrations against his first state visit in 2019. The protesters were also marching towards Whitehall and Parliament Square.
Other anti-Trump protests were also reported on Wednesday around Windsor Castle, located 40 kilometres (25 miles) west of central London.
Meanwhile, the UK government has rolled out the royal red carpet for the US president, holding meetings with US business executives and staging ceremonies designed to win favour from Trump on trade matters.
According to Al Jazeera’s Milena Veselinovic, official events were deliberately kept away from central London demonstrations “to spare Donald Trump the embarrassment of encountering a protest”.
Stop the War, one of the main organisers, said on X: “Genocide deniers not welcome! All out against Trump’s state visit! Demand US and UK stop arming the Israeli genocidal state!”
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign also encouraged Brits to speak up. “Trump’s deportations confirm he is a racist authoritarian at home and a warmongerer abroad. These are not things we should be honouring. Join us to demand our government cancel this visit.”
Al Jazeera’s Rory Challands, reporting from the protests, described them as “the counterpoint to all that flattery and pomp and grandeur that’s going on in Windsor at the moment”.
“There are no royal carriages here. There are no military parades. This is a very different England. This is the England of the left. It’s the England of Trades Unions. It’s the England of environmental groups and the Palestine solidarity campaign. And they say that Donald Trump is not welcome in this country.”
Challands said demonstrators accused the British government of honouring “a man who they say has basically been destroying human rights in the United States, destroying human rights around the world, denying climate change and enabling a genocide in Gaza”.
“They also point to him as basically the spiritual figurehead of a global far-right movement that is authoritarian and rolling back democracy,” he noted.
Despite efforts to cocoon Trump from demonstrations, hundreds of protesters from the Stop Trump Coalition gathered outside Windsor Castle. Thames Valley Police said four people were arrested on suspicion of malicious communications after they projected images of Trump and child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein onto the 1,000-year-old fortress.
Officers also spoke with the driver of a van carrying an advert that showed Trump alongside Epstein, who died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019. “No arrests were made, and no vehicles were seized,” police said of that encounter.
Trump’s visit comes as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces political difficulties at home after he recently dismissed the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Peter Mandelson, following a backlash over the diplomat’s connection to Epstein.
Trump’s friendship with Epstein has also exposed him to damaging headlines in recent weeks.
In 2012, Agnes Wanjiru was discovered in a septic tank at the Lion’s Court Hotel in central Nanyuki after she was last seen at the hotel with a group of British soldiers.
Published On 16 Sep 202516 Sep 2025
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A Kenyan court has issued an arrest warrant and requested the extradition of a British citizen over the murder of a 21-year-old woman near a UK army training camp in Kenya over a decade ago.
Nairobi High Court Justice Alexander Muteti announced on Tuesday that there was “probable cause to order the arrest of the accused” and issued a warrant for “one citizen and resident of the United Kingdom.”
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The case has strained relations between the two countries, which have argued over the jurisdiction to prosecute British soldiers in Kenya.
In 2012, Agnes Wanjiru was discovered in a septic tank at the Lion’s Court Hotel in central Nanyuki after she was last seen at the hotel with a group of British soldiers.
Wanjiru, the single mother of a then four-month-old baby, was beaten, stabbed and most likely still alive when she was thrown into the septic tank, a Kenyan magistrate said in a 2019 inquest.
After Muteti’s decision, the Office for the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) wrote on X that “extradition proceedings would now be initiated to ensure the suspect is brought before a Kenyan court”.
“The matter will return to court on 21st October 2025, for further directions,” the ODPP said.
DPP secures arrest warrant for Briton linked to Agnes Wanjiru murder
The pursuit of justice for Agnes Wanjiru, a young mother brutally killed in Nanyuki more than a decade ago, has gained fresh momentum after the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) successfully obtained a… pic.twitter.com/3Q5dPCwpLE
— Office of The Director Of Public Prosecutions (@ODPP_KE) September 16, 2025
Wanjiru’s sister, Rose Wanyua Wanjiku, 52, welcomed the ruling and said, “Let justice prevail.”
“As a family, we are very happy because it has been many years, but now we can see a step has been made,” she told the AFP news agency.
Wanjiru’s niece, Esther Njoki, also told the Reuters news agency that while she welcomed the news, it took too long.
“We are grateful to see the Kenyan government has acted, although it has taken too long and kept the family in darkness,” Njoki said.
A spokesperson for the British government acknowledged that the ODPP had “determined that a British National should face trial in relation to the murder of Ms Wanjiru in 2012”.
The spokesperson added that the government remains “absolutely committed” to helping Kenya “secure justice”.
Italian media reports that the pair, one of whom is from the UK and one from Romania, were fined £390 each and were ordered by authorities to leave the World Heritage city for 48 hours
A British couple has been kicked out of Venice and fined after they were caught jumping into the Grand Canal, local media has reported.
The 35-year-old man and his 25-year-old Romanian partner, both of whom live in the UK, launched themselves into the famous waterway on the final day of their holiday, it has been reported.
Gondoliers spotted the canal-clad couple and reported them to the police. Italian media reports that the pair were then fined £390 each and were ordered by authorities to leave the World Heritage city for 48 hours.
Security councillor Elisabetta Pesce told Il Gazzettino: “I thank the gondoliers for their cooperation and timely reporting.”
The couple have been temporarily banned from Venice, it was reported locally(Image: INTERNET)
Swimming in Venice’s 150 canals is strictly prohibited, in large part due to the dangers of the gondolas and motorboats that pass through the water. The floating city is crisscrossed by more than 150 canals and 400 bridges. Many of these were inlets that were turned into canals in the 5th century when inhabitants from the mainland first settled there.
While it might be possible to hop into the drink for a quick dip in one of the smaller waterways on the outskirts of the city, launching yourself into the Grand Canal – or Canalasso, as the locals call it – is going to be a little harder.
The central canal runs for 3km, forming a giant ‘S’ from the Santa Lucia train station to St. Mark’s Square and the beautiful church of Santa Maria della Salute. It’s also a major traffic artery lined with more than 170 buildings, including many of Venice’s architectural landmarks.
Swimming is also prohibited to protect people from pollution. Venice doesn’t have sewage pipes or conduits, as installing them would require raising the entire city by half a meter. While many houses are now equipped with septic tanks, most of the wastewater still ends up in the canals. The tides flush it out into the sea twice a day.
The Grand Canal is a busy waterway(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
The case has sparked anger from supporters of the action group Venice is not Disneyland. Some locals are demanding higher fines for those who break the swimming rules and a permanent ban from the city for transgressors.
This is not the first time that tourists have been caught jumping into Venice’s canals. In 2023, the mayor of Venice tweeted a video of a man jumping from a three-storey building into the water. The public official branded him an “idiot”.
Five years earlier, tourists jumped from the Rialto Bridge late at night, cheered on by their friends. In 2016 a New Zealand man received treatment in hospital when he hit a water taxi after diving off a bridge.
Two German tourists were filmed swimming in the Grand Canal under the iconic Rialto Bridge in 2020, just as the Italian city was taken out of lockdown.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
A U.K. Royal Air Force P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft was noted today flying in Polish airspace along the border with Russia and Belarus, apparently highlighting a significant, if overlooked, overland surveillance mission for the type. The unusual flight comes amid rising tensions between NATO and Russia in the region, following the Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace last week. Since then, more Russian drones have entered Romanian airspace, while NATO has begun deploying additional fighter jets to bolster Poland’s air defenses.
Evidence of today’s Royal Air Force P-8 mission appeared on publicly available flight-tracking websites, which showed the Poseidon, serial number ZP809, flying up and down the Polish side of the border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in the north and with Belarus in the south. The P-8 was operating from its home base of RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland.
The P-8 may be generally described as a maritime patrol platform, but is more accurately a multi-mission type with extensive intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities. These are equally relevant for missions over land or over water. Even without any specific modifications, the P-8’s standard electronic support measures (ESM) suite allows it to act in an electronic intelligence (ELINT) collection role, specifically on enemy air defenses and electronic order of battles. This is something we will come back to later in this story.
As its main operator, the U.S. Navy has further adapted a handful of P-8s for specialized ISR, with modifications such as a secretive radar system, the AN/APS-154 Advanced Airborne Sensor, or AAS. Even without AAS, the U.S. Navy regularly uses P-8s to execute intelligence-gathering duties, specifically ELINT, outside of its sea control/anti-submarine warfare/anti-surface warfare tasks.
Aircrew onboard a Royal Air Force Poseidon. According to the service, most missions have eight onboard: two pilots, two Weapons Systems Officers (WSOs), and four Weapons Systems Operators (WSOps) — two manipulating the EO/IR camera, two manipulating the complex series of acoustic sensors onboard. Crown Copyright
As for the Royal Air Force, however, the small fleet of just nine aircraft at Lossiemouth means that these have been primarily tasked with patrolling the North Atlantic, including the strategically vital Greenland, Iceland, United Kingdom Gap, better known as the GIUK Gap. This includes defending against potential Russian aggression and tracking Russian submarine activity, which has been a growing area of concern for some time now, as well as protecting the U.K. Royal Navy’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) when they go out on deterrence patrol.
Indeed, the small size of the Royal Air Force P-8 fleet saw the United Kingdom discuss plans to team up with Norway to cooperate on Poseidon operations, and, in the future, Germany will be added to this group. This will provide a further boost to NATO’s ability to effectively patrol the North Atlantic.
As regards using its P-8s for overland ISR, the Royal Air Force has previously been lukewarm on this.
According to Gareth Jennings, the aviation desk editor at Janes, the Royal Air Force once planned to use the P-8 for overland surveillance, but shelved the idea due to the small number of aircraft being purchased
Was told not all that long ago that, although the RAF originally intended the P-8 to have an overland surveillance capability, this would not now be the case owing to the relatively few aircraft being procured and commitment to its core-carrier protection/MPA and ASW tasks. Seems… https://t.co/8iCZ3RshAP
Whether the mission over Poland today signals some kind of change is unclear, but we have reached out to the U.K. Ministry of Defense and NATO to try and find out more about this flight.
Suffice it to say, activities in Kaliningrad and Belarus right now mean there are plenty of points of considerable interest to NATO.
Currently, the armed forces of Russia and Belarus are conducting the first iteration of their joint Zapad maneuvers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Zapad drills — meaning ‘West’ — are widely seen as intimidation exercises directed against NATO’s eastern flank. Ahead of the exercise, Poland said it was deploying 40,000 troops along its borders with Belarus and Russia. Poland had previously closed most border crossings with Belarus, leaving only two in operation.
It’s also worth recalling that the Zapad-2021 exercise was used, in part, as cover for the westward movement of troops and equipment months before Moscow launched its all-out assault on Ukraine.
The scenario for Zapad-2025 involves an imagined Western invasion of Belarus. Although much smaller than in pre-2022 editions, the close coordination of Russian and Belarusian forces, including armor, crewed and uncrewed aircraft, air defense systems, and naval assets, provides an ideal opportunity for intelligence gathering.
Russian tanks move during the Zapad-2025 joint Russian-Belarusian military drills at a training ground near the town of Borisov, east of the capital Minsk, on September 15, 2025. Photo by Olesya KURPYAYEVA / AFP OLESYA KURPYAYEVA
🇷🇺⚡🇵🇱 Russia deployed nuclear capable SRBM “Iskander” on a highway in the Kaliningrad region near the Polish border, as part of #Zapad 2025 exercises with Belarus. pic.twitter.com/QOdODGfTaE
While we cannot know for sure at this point, today’s P-8 flight would appear to be entirely in line with that kind of intelligence-gathering mission.
Elsewhere in Poland, Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski reiterated that, while the drones that entered Poland last week were capable of carrying warheads, they were not loaded with explosives.
Increasingly, NATO leaders in Europe are seeing the Russian drone incursions as a deliberate, incremental escalation directed against NATO. This kind of approach is very much in line with an escalating campaign of hostile activities short of all-out war across Europe, of which Russia has been accused. The tempo of the operations has stepped up since Moscow launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine. Even before then, Russia had a long history of so-called hybrid or gray-zone warfare operations that fit this same description.
The weekend saw another Russian drone incursion, this time in Romania and much smaller in scale than last week’s in Poland.
At least one Russian drone entered Romanian airspace at 6.05 p.m. local time on Saturday during a strike on neighboring Ukraine.
According to the Romanian Ministry of Defense, the drone was intercepted by two Romanian F-16s, which were carrying out an air patrol mission in northern Dobruja and which came close to downing it, after gaining both radar and visual contact.
Forțele Aeriene au interceptat o dronă în spațiul aerian 🇷🇴 2 aeronave F-16🇷🇴din Baza 86 Aeriană au decolat azi la ora 18:05, pentru monitorizarea situației aeriene la granița cu 🇺🇦, ca urmare a unor atacuri aeriene 🇷🇺asupra infrastructurii 🇺🇦 de la Dunărehttps://t.co/uGPjZVDt07pic.twitter.com/95XooGzfX5
The drone orbited for about 50 minutes, according to the defense ministry, before leaving Romanian airspace near the town of Pardina in northern Dobruja, heading toward Ukraine.
A library photo of a Romanian Air Force F-16. U.S. Air Force A Romanian Air Force F-16. Romania is another country that is part of the coalition of countries that have pledged to help train Ukraine’s future Viper pilots. USAF
The Romanian foreign minister summoned the Russian ambassador to protest the incident, which also drew further condemnation from European Union leaders.
In a statement, the Romanian Ministry of Defense said that the various drone incursions in recent days “represent a new challenge to regional security and stability in the Black Sea area.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Russia’s incursion into Romanian airspace is once again a blatant violation of EU sovereignty and a serious threat to regional security.”
This morning, Russia attempted to deflect the blame, describing the drone incursion as “a provocation” by Kyiv, but providing no evidence to back this up.
The first additional NATO fighters have now arrived in Poland to help bolster air defenses on the alliance’s eastern flank. These are French Air and Space Force Rafales from Escadron de Chasse 2/4 “La Fayette,” which are now at Mińsk Mazowiecki Air Base in eastern Poland. While there has been some surprise in certain quarters that this is a unit with a nuclear tasking, it’s one of two units that have a nuclear mission alongside other roles, including air defense.
French Dassault Rafale fighter jet armed with MICA air-to-air missiles taking off from the Minsk Mazowiecki Air Base in eastern Poland.
A NATO spokesperson told TWZ today that the first activation of Eastern Sentry saw the alliance scramble fighters in both Poland and Romania over the weekend, including the newly arrived French Rafales, and also placed ground-based air defenses on alert. In related news, German Eurofighters are now under NATO control too, but they have, so far, not scrambled as part of this operation.
Today, the United Kingdom confirmed its plans to add Royal Air Force Typhoon fighters to Eastern Sentry, with the U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey writing on X that “Russia crossed a line with the reckless drone incursions into NATO airspace.” The deployment of Typhoons to help defend Polish airspace “is a message to Moscow: you tested NATO, we responded with strength and unity, Healey added.”
Russia crossed a line with the reckless drone incursions into @NATO airspace.
The UK will fly @RoyalAirForce Typhoons on NATO air defence missions over Poland, deterring Russian aggression.
This is a message to Moscow: you tested NATO, we responded with strength and unity.
Also now in Poland are the three Mi-17 Hip helicopters that the Czech Republic also pledged to help defend NATO’s eastern flank. The rotorcraft are assigned to the Special Operations Air Task Unit (SOATU).
“We are fulfilling the promise we made to our close ally. Our soldiers are already in Poland and are ready to participate in strengthening the protection of airspace on Poland’s eastern border,” said Czech Minister of Defense Jana Černochová.
As to what happens next in NATO’s response to the drone incursions, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski has suggested that NATO should consider imposing a ‘no-fly’ zone over Ukraine to protect the alliance from Russian drones. As we have explored in the past, establishing something like this over Ukraine would be no easy task, and the alliance previously rejected such a proposal amid fears that it could lead to direct confrontation with Russian combat aircraft.
Speaking about extending such missions into Ukrainian airspace, Sikorski told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine: “We as NATO and the EU could be capable of doing this, but it is not a decision that Poland can make alone; it can only be made with its allies.” He continued: “Protection for our population — for example, from falling debris — would naturally be greater if we could combat drones and other flying objects beyond our national territory. If Ukraine were to ask us to shoot them down over its territory, that would be advantageous for us. If you ask me personally, we should consider it,” Sikorski added.
The potential risks involved in such an initiative were reinforced today by a statement from top Kremlin official Dmitry Medvedev, who warned that the establishment of a ‘no-fly’ zone in Ukraine and allowing NATO allies to shoot down Russian drones would amount to a “NATO war with Russia.”
It appears that the kind of ‘no-fly’ zone that Sikorski is proposing would only shoot down Russian drones that were understood to be heading toward NATO airspace, although determining this would also not always be straightforward, with plenty of potential for misunderstanding between the alliance, Russia, and Ukraine.
The small town of Thirsk in North Yorkshire has been described as a “gem” and a “charming” place to visit, with a bustling market square and a selection of independent shops
Thirsk, Yorkshire is situated by the A19, close to the main A1(Image: Getty)
This delightful UK town featured in Channel 5’s All Creatures Great and Small, with the hit programme recently wrapping up filming across Yorkshire for its sixth series.
Nestled between the North Yorkshire Moors and Yorkshire Dales lies the quaint town of Thirsk, now renowned for its appeal and “wonderful” character.
Perfectly positioned near Harrogate and Ripon, Thirsk can be reached via the A19, close to the major north-south A1 route.
The official Visit Thirsk website revealed that international visitors continue to be “impressed by the warm and friendly welcome of the residents of this gem of a town”.
Straight out of a Tolkien novel, the rolling hills feature The White Horse of Kilburn(Image: Getty)
York Press’s tourism team noted: “Thirsk has a charm of its own, essentially unchanged and uninfluenced by the world. It centres around a bustling cobbled market square, dominated by the town clock, with its Monday & Saturday markets” that stretch back to Medieval times, reports the Express.
Residents and holidaymakers can find everything from handcrafted keepsakes to fresh produce along its high street packed with “incredible, independent shops” and dining spots, according to Visit Thirsk Town.
Meeting visitors’ tastes, the town boasts beloved cafés, restaurants and pubs, ideal for a traditional English breakfast, Sunday roast, or classic Northern pint.
Robert Hardy and Christopher Timothy on the BBC set for All Creatures Great And Small(Image: Getty)
York Press’s top recommendations include Yorks Of Thirsk, The Pantry and Tea Time Cafe for a delicious treat. Thirsk is not just a market town, it’s also the home of author James Herriot (Alf Wight), famed for his literary series All Creatures Great and Small.
The series, penned under the name of Wight, has been picked up by Channel 5 to celebrate Yorkshire’s diverse wildlife. And if that wasn’t enough, Thirsk is also home to a historic country racecourse, established in 1855 and described as a “beautifully maintained paddock [with] idyllic country charm,” according to the town’s website.
Take a stroll along the Cod Beck River or challenge yourself with a hike on Hambleton Hills or the moorland tracks of The Drove Road and The Swale Way that run from Boroughbridge to Kirby Stephen. Keep an eye out for the legendary White Horse of Kilburn perched on Thirsk’s hills and marvel at the sandstone homesteads that look like they’ve been lifted straight from a novel.
Callum Makin had to settle for a bronze medal at the World Boxing Championships after a semi-final defeat in the men’s 75kg division.
The 21-year-old middleweight was beaten by Rami Kiwan at the M&S Arena in Liverpool on Friday – the judge scoring all five rounds to his Bulgarian opponent.
Makin’s fellow Liverpudlian Odel Kamara is one of five other British fighters already guaranteed bronze before their semi-finals at the weekend.
Kamara faces Torekhan Sabyrkhan of Kazakhstan on Saturday in the men’s 70kg semi-final after his win over Mongolia’s Byamba-Erdene Otgonbaatar.
Teagn Stott is through to the semi-finals in the men’s 85kg following a second-round stoppage against Semion Boldirev of Bulgaria and will now take on Ukrainian Danylo Zhasan.
Elsewhere, Chantelle Reid will square up against Natalya Bogdanova in the semi-finals of the women’s 70kg after beating Mengge Zhang.
Emily Asquith beat Turkey’s Elif Guneri in the women’s 80kg to secure a last-four meeting with India’s Pooja Rani.
Downing Street later stressed that ‘the UK and Israel are longstanding allies’ despite their differences.
Published On 11 Sep 202511 Sep 2025
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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has criticised Israel’s “man-made famine” in Gaza following a controversial meeting with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in London.
“They must stop the man-made famine from worsening further by letting aid in and halting their offensive operations,” a Downing Street spokesperson said following the meeting on Wednesday.
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Starmer “implored Israel to change course” in Gaza, the spokesperson said.
The rare rebuke marks one of Starmer’s strongest criticisms of Israel since taking office in July 2024. It also comes as aid groups warn that hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza face catastrophic hunger after nearly two years of bombardment and blockade.
Herzog’s visit to London drew widespread criticism in the United Kingdom, with thousands demonstrating outside Downing Street for a second consecutive day, according to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
Protesters also gathered at the London-based think tank Chatham House, banging pots and pans as Herzog delivered a speech.
“There’s a genocide happening and the president of that country is in our country and being welcomed here, when nobody is happy about it,” a protester told Al Jazeera.
“This is not diplomacy,” said another protester.
“You are aiding and abetting a genocide – and this man is not welcome in our country.”
The meeting between Herzog and Starmer came a day after Israel launched an air strike on Qatar, a close ally of the United States and the UK, that targeted a Hamas leadership delegation.
The Downing Street spokesperson said Starmer told Herzog the strike on Doha was “unacceptable” and condemned it as “a flagrant violation of a key partner’s sovereignty”.
Despite the sharp words, the spokesperson added that “the UK and Israel are longstanding allies”.
Speaking after his meeting with Starmer, Herzog confirmed the two leaders had “argued out of respect”.
“Things were said that were tough and strong,” Herzog said, adding, “Clearly, we can argue, because when allies meet, they can argue. We are both democracies.”
Herzog also said that he had invited the UK to send “a fact-finding mission” to Israel “to study the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.
Herzog previously said publicly that the “entire [Palestinian] nation” was responsible for the October 7 attacks on Israel, and two months later, he was witnessed personally signing artillery shells due to be fired into Gaza.
In parliament earlier on Wednesday, Scottish National Party leader Stephen Flynn asked: “What does it say of this prime minister that he will harbour this man whilst children starve?”
Starmer defended his decision to meet Herzog, rejecting calls to cut diplomatic ties. “I will not give up on diplomacy,” he said.
Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has become the first British athlete to join the controversial Enhanced Games – but says he would never do anything to undermine ‘clean’ sport.
But he has now committed to an event which allows athletes to take banned performance-enhancing drugs.
He never won Olympic gold or broke the 50m freestyle world record, which has stood since 2009, but feels that the Enhances Games “give me a new opportunity to continue this pursuit and see how far I can take things”.
Asked if he thinks the event undermines clean sport, Proud told BBC Sport: “No. I think it opens up the potential avenue to excel in a very different way.
“Speaking for myself, I think realistically I’ve achieved everything I can, and now the Enhanced [Games] is giving me a new opportunity. I definitely don’t think that’s undermining a clean sport.
“I really respect the sport I’ve been part of, and I would never step back in knowing I’ve done something which isn’t in the rules.”
Proud said he sees ‘traditional sport’ and the Enhanced Games as “two very separate entities”, and that he found athletes breaking the rules “incredibly frustrating”.
“I see doping in clean sports as a complete no-go,” he said. “I don’t have any time for that.
“The fact it’s still happening is a problem. It’ll always be a cat and mouse game, there will always be people developing new techniques or people getting away with things.
“That’s one thing that has ruined sport for a lot of people. The anti-doping agencies just don’t have the ability to completely make sure everyone is clean and on a level playing field, and that to me has always been the biggest frustration.
“If you were part of my life for the past 12, 13 years, you’d see how much time you have to allocate to making sure we’re available to be tested on a daily basis, making sure we’re constantly giving our samples.”
BBC Sport has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) for comment.
Wada’s latest Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) report, external was published in July, covering 2022. It said that from 241,143 samples, 1,979 (0.82%) were reported to be adverse findings, of which 1,376 (69.5%) resulted in an ADRV.
Jockey Tom Marquand said he and wife Hollie Doyle, also a leading rider, could be forced to move abroad if the funding of British racing is hit.
“It seems pretty sad we might have to think about emigrating somewhere else to make a living out of the sport that we so enjoy,” he told BBC Sport.
“It’s an important day for racing and hopefully a step in the right direction. It’s a huge industry employing 85,000 people. The effect would be enormous.”
When the BBC filmed at Windsor races on Monday, many punters were supportive of the action.
“It’s a wonderful day out and we have a little flutter,” said racegoer Alan Mills.
“Bookmakers need the money to come in to keep the business going. The sport should be promoted, rather than taking people’s livelihoods away.”
But the Betting and Gaming Council (BGC) – which represents betting shops, online betting and gaming operators and casinos – says it was not consulted.
“Racing’s decision to reschedule fixtures was taken without consultation with betting operators, whose support for the funding of the sport is mission critical,” it said in a statement.
“We are concerned that futile political gestures will only antagonise the government and frustrate punters instead of delivering a solution to a shared challenge facing both racing and betting.”
Police arrested about 425 people at a demonstration in support of Palestine Action in the United Kingdom, in the latest round of detentions of its supporters since the pro-Palestinian group was banned by the government as a “terrorist” organisation.
Defend Our Juries, the organising campaign, estimated 1,500 people joined the London demonstration on Saturday, assembling with placards stating “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action”.
Police immediately began detentions while crowds chanted “Shame on you” and “Met Police, pick a side, justice or genocide”. Confrontations intensified as officers removed nonresistant protesters who became passive during arrest.
Following the eight-hour protest, authorities confirmed more than 425 arrests, with at least 25 people facing charges of assaulting officers or public order violations, while the remainder were held under the Terrorism Act.
The UK-based PA Media reported that police drew their batons during the clashes, and one protester was seen with blood streaming down his face behind a barrier after being arrested.
The agency also reported that police had screaming arguments with demonstrators and had water and plastic bottles thrown at them while several protesters fell over in a crush at one point.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Claire Smart said, “In carrying out their duties today, our officers have been punched, kicked, spat on, and had objects thrown at them by protesters.” She described the treatment as “intolerable”.
Defend Our Juries disputed the narrative, asserting that police initiated the aggression and calling claims of protester violence “frankly laughable”.
Earlier, related demonstrations had resulted in more than 700 arrests, of which 138 individuals were charged under the Terrorism Act.
Mike Higgins, a 62-year-old blind wheelchair user previously arrested at a protest, returned to demonstrate on Saturday.
“And I’m a terrorist? That’s the joke of it,” he said. “I’ve already been arrested under the Terrorism Act, and I suspect I will be today.
“Of course I’ll keep coming back. What choice do I have?”
The United Nations human rights chief has criticised the British government’s approach, stating the new law “misuses the gravity and impact of terrorism”.
The classification of Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation “raises serious concerns that counterterrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK”, Volker Turk warned.
He further noted that by international standards, “terrorist” acts should be limited to crimes such as those intended to cause death or serious injury or the taking of hostages.
Huda Ammori, Palestine Action’s cofounder, denounced the government’s ban as “catastrophic” for civil liberties, creating a “much wider chilling effect on freedom of speech”.
The organisation has received support from notable cultural figures, including bestselling Irish author Sally Rooney, who stated she planned to use the proceeds of her work “to keep backing Palestine Action and direct action against genocide”.
Israel strongly rejects accusations of committing genocide, though numerous countries, rights groups and scholars have confirmed it is carrying out a clear and systematic genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The government emphasised that designating Palestine Action as a “terrorist” group does not impact other lawful organisations — including pro-Palestinian or pro-Israel voices — campaigning or peacefully protesting.
A separate pro-Palestinian march in London on Saturday attracted approximately 20,000 participants, according to police estimates.
A popular Spanish city that was once bustling with tourists is now “dead” as Brits have allegedly ditched the destination to holiday elsewhere, and it’s not the first time Spain is said to have been quiet this year
09:26, 07 Sep 2025Updated 09:26, 07 Sep 2025
The once popular city is said to be “dead” (stock image)(Image: Prasit photo via Getty Images)
A once bustling Spanish city is now “dead” as Brits have reportedly abandoned the destination for other holiday spots, marking another quiet period for Spain this year. Footage has surfaced online showing the area’s completely deserted streets.
Laura, who goes by lauratravelvlogs on TikTok, has been chronicling the stark changes in Barcelona this year, having resided there herself for over two years. She noted a significant drop in visitor numbers and, for months, she’s been posting videos of Spain‘s vacant streets, silent roads and empty beaches – all to illustrate the drastic shift in the country’s tourism landscape.
Laura mentioned that there are still some tourists “for now” at popular spots, but claimed spending is at an “all time low”. She has noticed a substantial change over the past two years, and is astounded by how tranquil the city has become.
In an earlier video, Laura highlighted how deserted the city centre was during the summer because “tourists don’t feel welcome”. She suspects the protests that have occurred in Spain have deterred people from visiting altogether.
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Hundreds of people have responded to the footage since it emerged online, with many eager to voice their opinions. Their reactions were quite split.
One viewer commented: “One by one businesses from all sectors will start to close – that’s the sad thing.” Another chimed in with: “There’s already a lot of smaller towns that have fallen into despair.
“So many people have lost their jobs due to the drop in tourism. It’s madness – they’ll be begging people to go back in a few years.”
A third responded: “Tourism is Spain is 40% down. The south coast of Spain was eerily quiet last week.”
Meanwhile, a fourth also remarked: “Spain is old news – there are far nicer countries to spend your money in.”
Some viewers questioned what time of day the footage was captured though, with others suggesting it’s not entirely doom and gloom. One individual said they visited in March and there were “hundreds more” people about, even though some Brits believe the resort is “finished” when it comes to tourism.
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Overall, it’s been documented that Spain has been deserted by numerous holidaymakers, with eateries and coastlines appearing virtually deserted. Areas of the nation have been witnessing a drop in visitor figures for the first time since the pandemic, alongside years of anti-tourist demonstrations by residents.
In August, images from Benidorm showed a multitude of vacant seats outside various establishments and rather deserted beaches. This is particularly unusual for major holiday hotspots during the summer period.
Miguel Pérez-Marsá, the head of the nightlife association, previously told Majorca Daily Bulletin: “The tourists we’re interested in are being driven away; they don’t feel welcome and are going to other destinations.” The impact is also being felt by tour guides.
Pedro Oliver, president of the College of Tour Guides, disclosed that excursion sales have plummeted by 20% this summer. “If you generate negative news, which has repercussions in other countries, tourists opt for other destinations when choosing their holidays,” he stated.
“We are sending the message that we don’t want tourists and that everything is too crowded.”
