UK

A man has been found guilty of attempted murder for attacking author Sir Salman Rushdie. The 77-year-old British-American writer was stabbed multiple times as he was preparing to give a speech in New York in 2022. He was blinded in his right eye in the incident, suffered a severely damaged hand, and spent months recovering.

The British Army’s failure to properly deal with a soldier’s sexual assault complaint played “more than a minimal” role in her death, a coroner has said. Royal Artillery Gunner Jaysley Beck, 19, was found dead in her room at Larkhill Camp in Wiltshire on 15 December 2021. An inquest on Thursday recorded a conclusion of

Thousands of men are to be checked for prostate cancer in one of the first large-scale European trials of smart screening. The pilot study, starting next week in Ireland, will combine a blood test with personal risk factors and an MRI scan to increase the accuracy of screening men in their 50s and 60s. Up

British and other European troops could be deployed to Ukrainian cities, ports and nuclear power plants to help secure the peace following any ceasefire deal with Russia, Western officials have said. Protecting Ukraine’s skies and coastline will also be key. The officials declined to give numbers on the size of any potential force but signalled

Emma Raducanu has said she will “be okay” after being approached by a man displaying “fixated behaviour”. The British tennis star was later visibly upset during a game at the Dubai Tennis Championships after the man was among the crowds in the first few rows. On Instagram on Wednesday, she wrote: “Thank you for the

It is easier for children to buy knives than it is to purchase paracetamol a police review has concluded. The damning assessment came as the government launched a crackdown on the sale of bladed weapons to under-18s as part of a series of new anti-knife measures. Tougher prison sentences will be introduced for selling knives

The British couple detained in Iran have been charged with espionage, according to the Iranian judiciary news agency. The pair, named by their family on Monday as Craig and Lindsay Foreman, are accused of “cooperating with covert institutions linked to the intelligence services of hostile and Western countries”. Iranian state media said last week that

On a bright but chilly February morning, around a dozen volunteers gather by the beachfront at Minster, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. In bobble hats and walking boots, they carry blue plastic bags and litter pickers. They wander slowly past the dog walkers and brightly painted beach huts, combing the pebbles for waste.

A “US security guarantee” is the only path to peace in Ukraine, Sir Keir Starmer has said. Speaking in Paris after an emergency summit with European leaders, the prime minister said a “US backstop” is the “only way to effectively deter Russia from attacking Ukraine again”. And he said the future of Ukraine is not

Sir Keir Starmer is under pressure to quickly lift defence spending to 2.5% of GDP or face new military cuts this year – even as he considers deploying troops to Ukraine, Sky News understands. Defence sources said such an increase – which would amount to about an extra £5bn annually – is still far short

The landlady of a village pub where a woman was killed on Valentine’s Day has told Sky News the victim was drinking in the pub before she was shot dead in the car park. Michelle Thomas, who runs The Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt, Kent, said she was printing off menus and preparing for the

The FBI and US Justice Department are helping the UK police to investigate Southport killer Axel Rudakubana. The 18-year-old was jailed for a minimum of 52 years in January after murdering three girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class in July last year. In a joint statement, Merseyside Police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)

The suspect in the fatal shooting of a woman at a pub in Kent “may have entered the water” at the Dartford Crossing, Kent Police have said. The suspect, who is believed to be known to the victim, a woman in her 40s, left the area after the incident outside a Kent pub on Friday

A manhunt has been launched after a woman was seriously injured in an incident at a Kent village on Valentine’s Day. Police were called to a report of a disturbance at The Three Horseshoes pub in Knockholt near Sevenoaks on Friday evening just after 7pm. A male suspect, who is thought to be known to

Ukraine is still on an “irreversible path” to joining NATO, Sir Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The UK and Ukrainian leaders spoke on the phone early on Friday, according to Downing Street. The conversation came less than 24 hours after Donald Trump told reporters at the White House that he didn’t see any way

Almost one in five (18%) secondary school teachers in England have seen pupils with knives in school, according to a special survey commissioned by Sky News. More than 4,000 teachers responded to our questions, asked via the survey tool Teacher Tapp, which asked about their first-hand experiences of pupils with weapons. This academic year, 6%

Two brothers have pleaded not guilty to assaulting police officers in a disturbance at Manchester Airport. Footage of the incident at the airport’s Terminal Two building on 23 July was widely shared online. Mohammed Fahir Amaaz, 20, of Rochdale, Greater Manchester, is alleged to have assaulted PC Zachary Marsden and PC Lydia Ward, causing them

Sir Keir Starmer has told the families of those killed in the Nottingham attacks that a judge-led public inquiry will start in “a matter of weeks”. The families of Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar and Ian Coates were told at an emotionally charged meeting at Number 10 that a “number of different agencies” would be scrutinised

Marina Strange is 90 and lives alone. She had a heart attack last week, her third in two years. It took two hours for an ambulance to reach her. Marina was impressed. “I was surprised the ambulance came within two hours. I thought that was very good,” she told Sky News. Marina also has an

Police investigating the deaths of a British couple at their home in rural France have released details from a post-mortem examination. Prosecutors say Dawn Searle, 56, was found at their property in Les Pesquies with “several” injuries to her head, while her husband, Andrew Searle, 62, was found hanged with no visible defensive injuries. They

Assisted dying cases would not need to be signed off by a High Court judge, the MP behind a new bill has proposed. Labour MP Kim Leadbeater is expected to bring forward amendments to her proposal so a multi-disciplinary panel of experts will examine cases and have the power to grant permission for assisted death.

An NHS trust has admitted it failed to provide safe care and treatment to three babies who died within days of their births. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) charged Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust over the deaths, which all occurred in 2021. At Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Monday, the trust admitted six charges of

More than 600 immigration arrests were made last month, as authorities carried out more than 800 raids, the Home Office has said. The Labour government points out this was a 73% increase compared to January last year – when the Conservatives were in power – and 352 arrests were made across 556 visits. Labour have

Labour will punish any other MP or minister caught up in the Andrew Gwynne WhatsApp group scandal, a senior official has told Sky News. The health minister was sacked over leaked comments he had posted on a group chat. He reportedly made antisemitic comments and “joked” about a pensioner constituent, saying he hoped she died

Reports of “ghost broking”, scammers selling fake car insurance, have risen by 30% over the last five years, exclusive data obtained by Sky News reveals. Ghost brokers sell false policies to drivers, manipulate information given to genuine insurance companies, or take out insurance and cancel it straight away. This leaves people without valid car insurance,

The parents of two of the girls murdered at a dance class in Southport have spoken of the moment they were told “something awful has happened” to their children. In an interview with The Sunday Times, the parents of Bebe King and Elsie Dot Stancombe paid tribute to their daughters, while recalling what happened on

Two years ago, Dayni suffered the sudden and unexpected loss of her mother, Janice. The shock of her passing was traumatic enough – but what followed made the grieving process even more unbearable. Warning: this story contains details some readers may find upsetting Dayni was in hospital when her mother died, so it was a

Grenfell Tower will be demolished, Angela Rayner has confirmed. The demolition is expected to take “around two years” and be carried out “sensitively”, the government said. The official announcement comes after the deputy prime minister met with campaigners to tell them of the decision on Wednesday evening – sparking an angry reaction. Grenfell United has

Let’s start with the simple bit: interest rates have been cut – down by another quarter percentage point to 4.5%. But what happens next? Not long ago, the answer was quite simple: the Bank of England would carry on cutting borrowing costs, one quarter point cut every three months, until they reached, say, 3.5%. That,

Grenfell campaigners have reacted to the “deeply sensitive decision” by the deputy prime minister to demolish the tower block. Victims’ families and survivors were given the news in a meeting attended by Angela Rayner on Wednesday night. Grenfell Next of Kin, which represents some of the bereaved families, described it as a “deeply sensitive decision…

The families of the victims of the Nottingham attacks have said the killer should face a retrial on a murder charge. Findings from a new independent review published on Wednesday mean Valdo Calocane should be retried on the more serious charge, the families told Sarah-Jane Mee. Valdo Calocane, who had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia,

The man who killed three people on the streets of Nottingham was allowed to avoid taking long-lasting antipsychotic medication because he did not like needles. An independent review also reveals that Valdo Calocane punched a police officer in the face and held his flatmates “hostage”. He frightened one neighbour so much, she jumped out of

Ian Percival was walking his dog, Snowy, along the coast near his home in South Wales, when he met Anita George, a cancer nurse at a local Swansea hospital. It was the same route he took every night, but this time he stopped.  “She happened to be on the promenade and crying about her relationship,