Friday evening news briefing: BBC names royal figures at centre of racism row
Good evening. The BBC has named the King and the Princess of Wales as the members of the Royal family at the centre of a racism row.
Elsewhere, flurries of snow have fallen on London for the first time this year.
BBC names King and Princess of Wales as royal figures at centre of racism row
The BBC has named the King and the Princess of Wales as the members of the Royal family at the centre of a racism row. Radio 4’s Today programme announced the names to its listeners, just an hour after saying the corporation would not be disclosing them. The decision is understood to have been taken by senior news executives, after multiple British newspapers and broadcasters identified the pair as the royal figures said to have commented on the colour of Prince Archie’s skin.
Snow hits London as temperatures plummet
Flurries of snow have fallen on London for the first time this year. The first sightings of snowflakes were reported at midday from West Hampstead to the City of London. Last year, snow blanketed London on Monday 12 December bringing both festive cheer and travel disruption. London has not had a truly white Christmas since 1999, and the Met Office has said it is too early to predict this year’s chances.
Israel warns Gaza residents to flee towards Egypt border
Israel struck Hamas targets in Gaza after a week-long ceasefire with the terror group ended on Friday. Palestinians in the south of the strip said they had been warned to flee towards the border with Egypt. Explosions were heard throughout the Gaza Strip and air-raid sirens sounded in southern Israel, piercing a relative silence that had fallen over the area in recent days during a tenuous, temporary truce.
Live updates: Hamas now faces ‘the mother of all thumpings’, says Israel
Evening Briefing: Today’s essential headlines
Lincolnshire | A man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after an assault at a National Trust house. Police were called following reports of an altercation at Grade I-listed Belton House, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, on Thursday.
Telegraph takeover | Abu Dhabi fund blocked from taking control
Politics | EU should be ‘single megastate’, says former Italian PM
Watch | DeSantis holds up map of ‘human faeces’ during debate
Matt Hancock | Discharging patients into care homes saved lives
Defence in Depth | The demise of US superpower - ‘It’s not just China, Russia and Iran’
Pictured: The greatest karaoke band of all time?
It might just be the greatest karaoke band of all time. Gary Barlow, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, Geri Horner and Emma Bunton formed a ‘supergroup’ as they gathered around the piano for a sing-along at a surprise birthday party on Wednesday night.
Battle Lines Podcast | As the ceasefire ends we reflect on the hostage releases - and those left behind
In this episode of Battle Lines, Middle East Correspondent Natalia Vasilyeva and Senior Reporter Henry Bodkin join us from on the ground in Israel, where they reflect on a week of hostage releases, and consider what the West Bank settlement of the Israeli finance minister can tell us about Gaza’s future.
Comment and analysis
Bjørn Lomborg | Cop28 won’t acknowledge the real cost of net zero
Kathleen Stock | A new NHS trans scandal is now unfolding across the country
Tom Harris | Travellers must consider the human rights of the people they disrupt
Judith Woods | Nobody asked the Krays about their testosterone levels, so why ask women?
Telegraph readers | ‘Omid Scobie’s book is a hatchet job on the Royal family’
World news: Putin’s forces ‘advancing on all fronts’
Russia has claimed its troops are advancing along every section of the Ukrainian front, despite observers seeing little movement. “Our servicemen are acting competently and decisively, occupying a more favourable position and expanding their zones of control in all directions,” Russia’s defence minister, General Sergei Shoigu, said.
Feature of the day
The Crown’s Ed McVey: ‘I was able to connect with William as a person’
Plucked from obscurity to play his dream role, The Crown’s Ed McVey explains how he immersed himself in the world of the Windsors.
Business news: Ryanair finds ‘fake parts’ in aircraft engines
Ryanair has found “fake parts” in two of its aircraft engines during scheduled maintenance checks, becoming the latest airline to be impacted by a brewing scandal. The parts were discovered during assessment in Texas and Brazil over the past few months and have since been removed from the engines, the low-cost carrier’s chief executive Michael O’Leary told Bloomberg News.
Live business news: Pfizer abandons plans for twice-daily weight-loss pill over side effects
Editor’s choice
Paris Hilton | I was abused as a teenager. No child should suffer like I did
Money | ‘My job is to tell people they’ve won £1m – but not everyone is pleased to see me’
Tim Stanley | We reveal the best (and worst) politics books of 2023
Sport briefing: Today’s essential headlines
Exclusive | Owen Farrell to miss England’s All Blacks tour
The ‘Blackbirds’ | Adam Radwan’s all-female fan club
Football | Burnley in danger of Premier League’s worst ever season
Cricket | Gloucestershire consider selling Bristol County Ground
Erik ten Hag | Andre Onana is the second-best goalkeeper in the Premier League
Sign up to our free Sport Briefing Newsletter to receive the latest sporting news, direct to your inbox every weekday morning.
Three things for you
Two-in-one | Europe’s best twin-city breaks
Telegraph readers | You debate where England’s new national park should be
If you want to receive twice-daily briefings like this by email, sign up to the Front Page newsletter here. For two-minute audio updates, try The Briefing - on podcasts and smart speakers.
