The King’s brother was arrested at 08:00 GMT on Thursday morning at the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk – here’s how the news broke

Meanwhile, King Charles does not respond to questions about Andrew’s arrest as he attends an event in central London – watch the moment.

Earlier, the King, who was not told of the arrest in advance, released a statement saying “the law must take its course”. Prince William and Catherine are understood to support his remarks.

Police are searching addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk, including the Royal Lodge in Windsor where the former prince lived until recently.

It comes after Thames Valley Police said they were assessing a complaint over the alleged sharing of confidential material by the former prince with late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Andrew, who turns 66 today, has previously denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein; he has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment on the specific allegations in relation to the release of millions of Epstein files in January.

Source: BBC

Former Norwegian Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland has been charged with “gross corruption” over his ties with the US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, police have said.

The charge was brought after the Council of Europe lifted Jagland’s immunity, which he enjoyed because of his past diplomatic role. He denies criminal liability and is willing to cooperate, his lawyer says.

Emails released by the US government are thought to show that Jagland planned solo and family visits to Epstein’s homes in Paris, New York and Palm Beach after the billionaire was convicted of a child sex offence.

Three of Jagland’s properties were searched by Norwegian crime unit Økokrim and he is now expected to be questioned.

As well as serving as prime minister from 1996 to 1997, Jagland is also a former head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee and spent a decade as secretary general of the Council of Europe.

Jagland had diplomatic immunity from heading the Council, Europe’s watchdog for democracy and human rights, for alleged acts carried out during his 2009 to 2019 tenure.

Økokrim requested the Council revoke his immunity after it launched an investigation earlier this month into allegations of gross corruption made against him between 2011 and 2018.

The so-called Epstein files appear to show instances where the late financier covered the travel expenses to his properties for Jagland and his family.

The former leader had planned a family trip to Epstein’s private Caribbean island in 2014, but it was ultimately cancelled after Epstein fell ill.

Jagland also faces allegations that he solicited Epstein’s help in obtaining a bank loan in another exchange, although it is not clear whether this materialised, according to Norwegian broadcaster NRK. Police have not confirmed whether this allegation is part of the gross corruption charge.

Mention in the Epstein files – which have been released by the US Department of Justice (DOJ) – does not indicate any wrongdoing.

Jagland was seen walking out of his home alongside his lawyer in Oslo on Thursday, one of the properties – alongside two in Risør and Rauland – that Økokrim confirmed it had searched.

Politicians, celebrities and royals have been caught up in the turmoil after the US DOJ published the latest tranche of files last month, containing millions of private emails, images and FBI reports into the late sex offender – who died in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking.

The Nordic country has seen several public figures drawn into the widening scandal, including Crown Princess Mette-Marit, diplomats Mona Juul and Terje Rød-Larsen, and chief executive of the World Economic Forum (WEF), Borge Brende.

Mette-Marit gave a “profound apology” to Norwegians for her friendship with Epstein, after it emerged they had exchanged messages for three years.

Mona Juul and her husband Terje Rød-Larsen are also being investigated by Norway’s Økokrim for “aggravated corruption” following Norwegian media reports, that each of her children would receive $5m (£3.6m) in a will allegedly signed by Epstein days before he died.

Juul’s lawyer has said she “does not recognise the accusations made against her” and Rød-Larsen’s lawyer said he is confident the investigation will clarify “there is no basis for criminal liability”.

The WEF ordered an independent review into Brende – who also served as the Norwegian foreign minister – over his interactions with the paedophile.

Brende has acknowledged dining with Epstein three times in 2018 and 2019 and communicating with him by email and text, but said he was “completely unaware” of his past criminal activity. He added that he welcomes the WEF’s decision to launch a review.

Source: BBC

At least 21 people have been killed and several injured after two trains collided in southern Spain, the emergency services said Sunday.

A police spokesman initially told AFP there were five dead after the accident in the province of Cordoba, but soon after updated the toll to 21.

A train travelling from Malaga to Madrid derailed near Adamuz, crossing onto the other track where it hit an oncoming train, which also derailed, Spain’s ADIF rail body posted on X.

“We have received calls from people reporting that there were injured and trapped,” a spokesperson for the Andalusian emergency services told AFP.

One witness told public broadcaster TVE that one of the carriages of the first train had completely overturned.

Television images showed medical crews and fire services at the scene.

A journalist from public broadcaster RNE who was travelling on one of the trains said the impact had felt like “an earthquake”.

Passengers had used emergency hammers to break carriages windows and get out, he said.

Spanish media reports suggested that a total of 400 people have been on the two trains.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement he was “closely monitoring” the situation.

The president of the Madrid region, Isabel Diaz Ayuso said its hospitals were available to the Andalusia region if required.

Rail travel between Madrid and Andalusia has been suspended.

Source: AFP

Russia’s battlefield gains in Ukraine last year were the highest since 2022, an AFP analysis showed, as Kyiv was set to host security advisers from allied states on Saturday despite Moscow’s unrelenting strikes.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said around 15 countries would attend the talks, along with representatives from the European Union and NATO, with a US delegation joining the meeting via video link.

The talks – and a subsequent summit of leaders from the so-called coalition of the willing planned for next week in France – are the latest in a flurry of efforts to end the nearly four-year war.

Zelensky said in a New Year’s Eve address that a US-brokered peace deal was “90 percent” ready, though the important issue of territory remains unresolved.

The diplomatic push comes as Russia presses its advantage against outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.

The Russian army captured over 5,600 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in 2025.

The Russian army captured more than 5,600 square kilometres, or nearly one percent, of Ukrainian territory in 2025, according to an analysis of data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), which works with the Critical Threats Project.

This includes areas that Kyiv and military analysts say are controlled by Russia, as well as those claimed by Moscow’s army.

The land captured is more than in the previous two years combined, though far short of the more than 60,000 square kilometres Russia took in 2022, the first year of its all-out invasion.

Source: AFP

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has met President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, days before Russia holds talks on a US push to end the war in Ukraine.

Orban is seen as one of Putin’s closest allies in Europe and he has consistently angered his Nato and EU allies by undermining solidarity against Russia.

“We are aware of your balanced position on the situation in Ukraine,” Putin told Orban in remarks carried by Russian state TV.

Posting later on social media, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said the Hungarians had got what they came to Moscow for: guaranteed supplies of Russian oil and gas, and agreement to continue the construction of the Paks nuclear power station.

Reacting to news of Orban’s visit, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, the EU’s biggest member state, told reporters: “He is acting without a European mandate and he is doing so without consulting us but that is nothing new.”

Referring to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Merz said of Orban: “He has his own ideas about ending this war. So far, they have not been realised. If someone has a better idea than us, then that is very welcome. Unfortunately I just doubt that this time will be more successful than last time.”

Putin thanked the Hungarian prime minister for proposing Budapest as a potential venue for a Russia-US summit with President Donald Trump.

“Trump immediately said: ”We have good relations with Hungary, you have good relations with Viktor, and I do too, so I suggest this option.’ Of course, we happily agreed,” Putin said.

According to Reuters news agency, Orban told Putin that Hungary was “interested in peace” and added: “Our meetings today give me the opportunity to confirm, Mr President, that Hungary is ready to provide a platform for such negotiations.”

However, the atmosphere when the delegations met in Moscow appeared surprisingly frosty and at one point Orban inadvertently bumped into his Russian host, after shaking hands with other members of the Russian delegation.

One independent Hungarian media outlet also suggested that Putin’s words had been mistranslated into Hungarian, to sound more positive.

Plans for a Budapest “peace summit” were proposed last month but they were shelved, reportedly because the Russian side had refused to compromise on Putin’s maximalist demands for an end to the war.

The Hungarian leader’s Fidesz party faces parliamentary elections in April and polls suggest that for the first time in 15 years it could be defeated at the ballot box. If he were to host a Trump-Putin summit in Budapest, it could help boost his chances of re-election.

Orban, who last visited Moscow in July 2024, has repeatedly challenged EU attempts to end European imports of Russian oil and gas.

He billed Friday’s visit as the second leg of a strategy to ensure Russian energy supplies this winter, for Slovakia and Serbia as well as Hungary.

Earlier this month in Washington, he secured exemption from US sanctions on Russian fuel – but only as long as he remains in power.

Ever since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Orban has claimed to have been on the side of peace and told Hungarian state radio last week that “Europe has decided to go to war in Ukraine”.

He has strongly backed Trump’s 28-point peace plan to end the war and during frantic diplomacy after it emerged, the Orban government and pro-Orban media have accused EU leaders of “war-mongering” for trying to adapt the plan to take account of Ukraine’s objections.

Joining Orban and Putin in the Kremlin were leading Russian officials, including Putin aide Yuri Ushakov, who is part of Russia’s negotiating team with the US.

In a letter this week to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the Hungarian leader called for immediate, unconditional peace talks, for the EU to launch direct negotiations with the Kremlin. He stressed his opposition to further EU funds for Ukraine, and rejected the use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukrainian defence.

Source: BBC

France’s top appeals court on Wednesday rules in a case of alleged illegal campaign financing against former president Nicolas Sarkozy – his last chance to escape adding a second definitive conviction to his growing rap sheet.

The Court of Cassation in Paris will rule on whether a lower court was right to convict him of illegal financing in his failed 2012 re-election campaign.

If it upholds Sarkozy’s conviction, he will serve a six-month term, possibly with an electronic bracelet.

Sarkozy, a one-term president from 2007-2012, has faced a series of legal challenges since leaving office.

Wednesday’s hearing is his last chance to escape a second conviction after he was sent to jail last month in a separate case related to an earlier election campaign.

In that trial, the 70-year-old was found guilty of allowing aides to seek to collect money for his 2007 presidential run from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

His 20 days behind bars made him the first post-war French leader to serve jail time before he was released on November 10 under judicial supervision pending an appeal in that case also.

In December last year, he exhausted his last legal recourse in a third case, after being convicted of trying to extract favours from a judge.

He served that sentence with an electronic ankle tag, which was removed in May after several months.

Campaign funding accusations

The case under review on Wednesday focuses on charges that Sarkozy’s right-wing party worked with a public relations firm, Bygmalion, to hide the true cost of his 2012 re-election bid.

Prosecutors said Sarkozy spent nearly €43 million (almost $50 million) on his 2012 campaign, nearly double the permitted amount of €22.5 million.

Unlike his co-defendants, he was not implicated in the double-billing system allegedly used to cover costs but was held accountable as the beneficiary of illegal campaign financing in his capacity as a candidate.

Sarkozy has denied “any criminal responsibility” in the case, denouncing the allegations as “lies”.

A lower appeals court in February last year confirmed his conviction in the case, but the Court of Cassation could order a retrial if the appeal is found to be valid.

Despite his legal problems, the ex-leader remains an influential figure on the right.

He was received by President Emmanuel Macron before entering prison and Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin, a former protege, sparked criticism by meeting Sarkozy inside Paris’s La Sante jail.

A court later barred Sarkozy from seeing the minister and other officials as part of restrictions tied to his release from prison.

A fortnight after his release, the ex-leader announced he would publish a book next month about his experience of serving three weeks in jail.

Source: AFP

Stamps in people’s passports will be replaced by biometric checks for people travelling in and out of the EU from 12 October, officials have confirmed.

The Entry/Exit System (EES) will replace the current paper checks and will mean passengers from the UK will need to have their fingerprints and faces scanned to cross an EU border.

The scheme will be rolled out across member nations over six months, meaning it will not be fully implemented until 10 April 2026.

It was due to come into effect last November but has been beset by technological delays.

Under the new system, non-EU citizens, including people from the UK, will need to register their biometric data along with their passport details to enter an EU country.

Anyone who refuses to provide the biometric data will be denied entry into the EU.

Currently, travellers have to present their passport to a border official to be checked and stamped.

The data will be collected at the point of departure – either at an airport, port or train station – where there will be dedicated booths for scanning fingerprints and taking a photo.

This record will then be valid for three years and means on later trips border officers will only need to verify a person’s biometrics, which the EU hopes will take less time. People with ePassports will also be able to use e-gates.

There is no cost for EES registration.

For most tourists, digital records will only be held for three years and a day – but for those who overstay the 90-day limit without a visa will have their data held for five years.

The system aims to tighten border security but has raised concerns of long queues. The UK government has warned travellers to “be prepared to wait during busy times” when the scheme begins, as the checks will take several minutes to complete.

However, the EU has said that, once implemented, the EES will shorten waits at the border by enabling faster checks and allowing passengers to provide their information in advance.

Since the UK left the EU, airports at many popular European holiday destinations have seen long queues of British travellers as their passports have required checking and stamping.

There have also been long queues at the Eurotunnel, and the new system sparked concerns that waiting times for people travelling to and from France by car would only be exacerbated by the new system.

Passengers will be given hand-held devices to register in their cars, while French border checks have been implemented on British soil at the Port of Dover, the Eurotunnel’s Folkestone end and Eurostar’s St Pancras terminal.

In May, the UK and EU struck a deal which allowed for UK nationals to use EU e-gates – but only after the EES is introduced.

“Once the EES is in place, UK nationals will therefore be able to use e-gates where they are available, provided they are registered in the system,” an EU Commission spokesperson told the BBC at the time.

Some European countries, including Germany and Bulgaria, already allow e-gate access for UK citizens.

Source: BBC