Paul Allen, 46, was shot twice as he stood in his kitchen in Woodford, east London, on 11 July 2019. He was a member of the Securitas heist gang that stole £54m from a cash depot in Tonbridge, Kent, in 2006. The former cage fighter was living in a large detached rented house with his partner and three young children after being released from an 18-year prison sentence over the raid. The attack at his home has left him paralysed from the chest down. Louis Ahearne, 36, Stewart Ahearne, 46, and Daniel Kelly, 46, denied conspiring to murder Allen but were found guilty last month following a trial at the Old Bailey. The trio were sentenced at the Old Bailey in central London on Friday. Kelly was sentenced to 36 years in prison and an extra five years on licence, Louis Ahearne was jailed for 33 years, and his sibling Stewart Ahearne - 30 years. Prosecutors did not give a motive for the murder plot, though they described the victim as a "sophisticated" career criminal. Detectives said the shooting could seem like "the plot [of] a Hollywood blockbuster" but added it was actually "horrific criminality" from "hardened organised criminals". In her sentencing remarks, the judge said she believed the trio "were motivated by a promise of financial gain". Judge Sarah Whitehouse KC said: "I have no doubt that this agreement to murder Paul Allen involved other people apart from the three of you and that you three were motivated by a promise of financial gain. "The culpability of each one of you is very high. "The harm caused to the victim was very serious - indeed, short of killing him it could hardly be more serious. He is currently paralysed and relies on others for every single need." The shooting was just the latest act in a long list of criminal deeds. The day before, Kelly and Louise Ahearne used a rented car to carry out a burglary in Kent, accessing the gated community by pretending to be police officers. A month before that, the trio had stolen more than $3.5m (£2.78m) worth of Ming dynasty antiques from the Museum of Far Eastern Arts in Geneva, for which the Ahearne brothers had been jailed in Switzerland. Kelly is also wanted in Japan over the robbery of a Tokyo jewellery store in 2015 in which a security guard was punched in the face.

The first is that the US remains a vital customer for UK businesses, the largest single-nation export market for British goods and the third-largest import partner, critical to the UK automotive industry, already landed with a 25% tariff, and pharmaceuticals, which might yet be. In 2024, the US was the UK's largest export market for cars, worth £9bn to companies including Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley and Aston Martin, and accounting for more than 27% of UK automotive exports. Little wonder the domestic industry fears a heavy and immediate impact on sales and jobs should tariffs remain. Money latest: '14 million Britons on course for parking fine this year' American car exports to the UK by contrast are worth just £1bn, which may explain why the chancellor may be willing to lower the current tariff of 10% to 2.5%. For UK medicines and pharmaceutical producers meanwhile, the US was a more than £6bn market in 2024. Currently exempt from tariffs, while Mr Trump and his advisers think about how to treat an industry he has long-criticised for high prices, it remains vulnerable. The second point is that the US is even more important for the services industry. British exports of consultancy, PR, financial and other professional services to America were worth £131bn last year. That's more than double the total value of the goods traded in the same direction, but mercifully services are much harder to hammer with the blunt tool of tariffs, though not immune from regulation and other "non-tariff barriers". The third point is that, had Donald Trump stuck to his initial rationale for tariffs, UK exporters should not be facing a penny of extra cost for doing business with the US. The president says he slapped blanket tariffs on every nation bar Russia to "rebalance" the US economy and reverse goods trade 'deficits' - in which the US imports more than it exports to a given country. That heavily contested argument might apply to Mexico, Canada, China and many other manufacturing nations, but it does not meaningfully apply to Britain. Read more: Could Trump tariffs tip the world into recession? Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the US ran a small goods trade deficit with the UK in 2024 of £2.2bn, importing £59.3bn of goods against exports of £57.1bn. Add in services trade, in which the UK exports more than double what it imports from the US, and the UK's surplus - and thus the US 'deficit' - swells to nearly £78bn. That might be a problem were it not for the US' own accounts of the goods and services trade with Britain, which it says actually show a $15bn (£11.8bn) surplus with the UK. You might think that they cannot both be right, but the ONS disagrees. The disparity is caused by the way the US Bureau of Economic Analysis accounts for services, as well as a range of statistical assumptions. Read more from Sky News:Water regulation slammed by spending watchdogRate cut speculation lights up as economic outlook darkens "The presence of trade asymmetries does not indicate that either country is inaccurate in their estimation," the ONS said. That might be encouraging had Mr Trump not ignored his own arguments and landed the UK, like everyone else in the world, with a blanket 10% tariff on all goods. Trade agreements are notoriously complex, protracted affairs, which helps explain why after nine years of trying, the UK still has not got one with the US, and the Brexit deal it did with the EU against a self-imposed deadline has been proved highly disadvantageous.

The 26-year-old defendant appeared in Manhattan federal court for an arraignment over the killing of Brian Thompson in New York last year. Mangione has previously pleaded not guilty to a separate New York state indictment he faces over the murder of Mr Thompson, the boss of UnitedHealth's insurance division. While public officials condemned the killing, some Americans - and people elsewhere across the world - have lauded Mangione, saying he drew attention to steep US healthcare costs and the power of health insurers to refuse payment for some treatments. In justifying their decision to seek the death penalty, prosecutors wrote in their filing that Mangione "presents a future danger because he expressed an intent to target an entire industry, and rally political and social opposition to that industry, by engaging in an act of lethal violence". US attorney general Pam Bondi earlier this month announced that the Justice Department would seek the death penalty for Mangione. Mangione's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. They have said Bondi's announcement on 1 April was "unapologetically political" and breached government protocols for death penalty decisions. Read more:Dozens turn out in support of Luigi Mangione at court appearanceUS prosecutors directed to seek death penalty for Mangione If Mangione is convicted in the federal case, the jury would determine in a separate phase of the trial whether to recommend the death penalty. Any such recommendation must be unanimous, and the judge would be required to impose it. Mr Thompson was shot dead on 4 December outside a hotel in Midtown Manhattan, where an investor conference for the company was planned. The killing sparked a five-day manhunt that captivated Americans. Police officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, found Mangione with a 9mm pistol and silencer, clothing that matched the apparel worn by Thompson's gunman in surveillance footage, and a notebook describing an intent to "wack" an insurance company CEO, according to a court filing.

At least 26 people, most of who were Indian tourists, were shot dead by gunmen at a beauty spot near the resort town of Pahalgam in the Indian-controlled part of the region on 22 April. India described the massacre as a "terror attack" and said it had "cross border" links, blaming Pakistan for backing it. Pakistan denied any connection to the atrocity, which was claimed by a previously unknown militant group called the Kashmir Resistance. It was one of the worst attacks on Kashmir, which is split between the two countries, in recent times and, as Pakistan's defence minister told Sky's The World With Yalda Hakim, has the potential to lead to a full-scale conflict involving the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Here is everything you need to know. What happened during the attack? At least four gunmen fired at dozens of tourists who were enjoying their holidays in Baisaran meadow, which is three miles (5km) from Pahalgam, and known as 'mini Switzerland'. At least 26 people were killed, and three dozen others were injured, according to police officers. Sky News' India correspondent Neville Lazarus said on 23 April that security forces had been called to the area and an anti-terror operation was ongoing. It is believed police and soldiers are continuing to search for the attackers. Funerals for several of those killed have been held in some Indian cities, and people took part in candle-lit vigils at several places, including in Srinagar, the main city in Kashmir. Locals shut down markets, businesses and schools the day after the attack in protest, amid worries that it would hurt the region's tourism economy. What is the Kashmir Resistance? The Kashmir Resistance, also known as The Resistance Front, has claimed responsibility for the attack. The group, which emerged in 2019 is considered a splinter group of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), according to the South Asia Terrorism Portal, a Delhi-based think-tank. LeT is listed as a terrorist organisation by the US. The same group was accused of killing 166 people during a four-day attack on Mumbai in 2008. At the time, the group was alleged to have close ties to Pakistan's spy agency, the Inter-Service Intelligence - an accusation Islamabad denied. Ajai Sahni, head of the South Asia Terrorism Portal, told Reuters that groups like these have been created by Pakistan particularly as a way to create a "pattern of denial that they were involved in terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir". Pakistan has always denied that it supports and funds militants in Kashmir, saying it offers only moral and diplomatic support. How have India and Pakistan reacted? India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who cut short his visit to Saudi Arabia and returned to India, "strongly" condemned the attack. Addressing a rally in the east Indian state of Bihar on 24 April, he said his government will "identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers". "We will pursue them to the ends of the earth," he said, adding: "Terrorism will not go unpunished. Every effort will be made to ensure that justice is done." India also announced a number of punitive measures against Pakistan, including revoking visas issued to Pakistan nationals, expelling military advisers, closing a border crossing and suspending a crucial water-sharing treaty known as the Indus Water Treaty. Both the US and UK have publicly supported India. During a phone call with Mr Modi, Sir Keir Starmer "expressed his deep condolences" to all those affected and agreed to stay in touch with the Indian leader. India has accused Pakistan of harbouring and arming militant organisations whose members infiltrate the almost 500-mile border in Kashmir and attack the state. Speaking to Sky News' Yalda Hakim, Pakistan's defence minister Khawaja Asif denied his country was behind the Pahalgam attack. In a meeting of the country's national security committee, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif passed reciprocal measures on India including cancelling visas, closing its airspace for all Indian-owned or Indian-operated airlines and suspending all trade with India, including to and from any third country. He also warned that the suspension of the Indus Water Treaty would be considered an act of war. The treaty, which was brokered by the World Bank in 1960, is essential for supporting agriculture and hydropower for Pakistan's 240 million people. Suspending it could lead to water shortages at a time when parts of the country are already struggling with drought and declining rainfall. 'Brief exchange of fire' Days after the attack, three Indian army officials said that its army had a brief exchange of fire with Pakistani soldiers along the highly militarised border of Kashmir. The officials claimed Pakistan soldiers used small arms to fire at Indian positions in Kashmir late on 24 April, to which Indian soldiers retaliated. No casualties were reported. Pakistan's foreign ministry declined to confirm or deny the report. Ministry spokesman Shafqat Ali Khan told a news conference: "I will wait for a formal confirmation from the military before I make any comment." The exchange of fire followed Pakistan's defence minister Mr Asif warning that the attack could lead to an "all-out war" between his country and India and that the world should be "worried". Mr Asif suggested India had "staged" the shooting in a "false flag" operation. He warned his military was "prepared for any eventuality" amid escalating tensions and diplomatic measures from both sides. "We will measure our response to whatever is initiated by India. It would be a measured response," he said. "If there is an all-out attack or something like that, then obviously there will be an all-out war... If things get wrong, there could be a tragic outcome of this confrontation." The United Nations has urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint and to ensure that the situation and the developments we've seen do not deteriorate any further". What caused the two country's tensions? India and Pakistan have fought several wars and conflicts since their independence from Britain in 1947, primarily due to territorial disputes over Kashmir. Both countries claim the Himalayan region as their own, but in reality control different sections of the territory. Armed insurgents in Kashmir have resisted New Delhi for decades, with many Muslim people in the region supporting the rebels' goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistan's rule or as an independent country. The dispute over the land has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people over the past three decades, although outbreaks of sporadic violence did seem to have eased in recent years. In 2019, a suicide bomber in a vehicle killed 40 paramilitary soldiers in a military convoy, which brought the two countries close to war. Read more from Sky News:A 'barbaric' 24 hours in the 'horrendous' Russia-Ukraine warThere are signs the world is losing faith in the dollar Before that, there was the Mumbai terror attack in 2008 and in 1999, the 10-week-long Kargil War. The conflict began after Pakistan's military covertly occupied Indian posts across the line of control (LoC) in the Kargil region. At least 1,000 combatants were killed on both sides. The fighting stopped after Pakistan asked then US president Bill Clinton to help de-escalate the conflict.

The death of Lieutenant General Yaroslav Moskalik is the second such fatal attack on a top Russian military officer in four months. The investigative committee said he was killed by an explosive device placed in his car in Balashikha, just outside the capital. He was a deputy head of the main operational department in the General Staff of the Russian armed forces. Committee spokesperson Svetlana Petrenko said the explosive device was rigged with shrapnel, adding that investigators were at the scene. Videos published by Russian media outlets showed a vehicle burning in the courtyard of an apartment building. The committee did not mention potential suspects. It comes after Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov was killed in December when a bomb hidden on an electric scooter parked outside his apartment building exploded as he left for his office. The Russian authorities blamed Ukraine for the killing of Kirillov, and Ukraine's security agency acknowledged that it was behind that attack. Kirillov was the chief of Russia's radiation, biological and chemical protection forces, the special troops tasked with protecting the military from the enemy's use of nuclear, chemical or biological weapons and ensuring operations in a contaminated environment. Latest updates on the Ukraine war His assistant also died in the attack. Friday's bombing came as US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff was expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow to discuss a US-brokered peace plan for Ukraine. The meeting is their fourth encounter since February.

Paul Butler, 53, was sentenced to a minimum term of 27 years for killing his estranged wife Claire Chick after a six-month campaign of stalking and harassment when he refused to accept their relationship was over. Ms Chick, 48, was found seriously injured on West Hoe Road just before 9pm on 22 January. She was taken to hospital, but died soon after. Previously known as Claire Butler, Ms Chick worked at the University of Plymouth. She died after a frenzied attack outside her home. The attack was the culmination of months of harassment, stalking and violence at the hands of Butler. Devon and Cornwall Police made a referral to the police watchdog due to previous contact with Ms Chick prior to her death. Jo Martin KC, prosecuting, said Ms Chick had made six statements to the police about Butler and he had been arrested three times before the attack. Victim's final statement to police In her final statement to police the day before he killed her outside her own home, she said: "I only feel that Butler will kill me if further action is not taken. I am in fear of leaving my house." Butler was arrested around 20 miles away in the Liskeard area on 24 January. He was sentenced on Friday at Plymouth Crown Court, having previously pleaded guilty to murder, and to one charge of possession of a bladed article. The court heard that after killing Ms Chick, Butler went to McDonald's for food and told a friend: "I am pretty certain I have ended her." After the judge handed down Butler's sentence, Devon and Cornwall Police said it had made "immediate changes" to its stalking and harassment procedures, to try and focus more on protecting victims and targeting perpetrators. 'I loved Claire' The family of Ms Chick told the court how her murder left a "huge void" in their lives. Her eldest daughter, Bethany Hancock-Baxter, described Butler as "evil". She said: "I want this evil man to listen to me. I want you to know what you have done to us as a family." Her sister, Lydia Peers, said Butler was a "parasite". After her short-lived marriage to Butler, Ms Chick began a relationship with another man, Paul Maxwell. Mr Maxwell spoke from the witness box and repeatedly stared at the defendant as he spoke. Butler stared back at him. "I loved Claire. She was beautiful, funny and kind," Mr Maxwell said. The attack Despite being on bail and banned from going near her, 6ft 5in Butler continued to stalk 5ft 2in Ms Chick, even putting a tracking device on her car, the court heard. When he learned she had begun a new relationship, he went to her flat and waited for her. He then attacked her in the street, stabbing her more than 20 times with a large kitchen knife he had bought from a supermarket that day. Before fleeing the scene, Butler chased Ms Chick's new partner, Mr Maxwell, who had returned from a regular evening run and witnessed the attack. 'She regretted getting married' Following the end of her first marriage, Ms Chick moved to the same street as Butler, leading to them meeting in 2021, the court heard. They became a couple by summer 2022 and married in June 2024. However, the prosecution said Ms Chick had "expressed some doubts" before the wedding, and the honeymoon was "the end of the relationship". Read more from Sky News:Inside Pope Francis's final farewellHeadteacher jailed for attacking his deputyLuigi Mangione due in court Ms Martin said: "They had a huge argument. She told friends she regretted getting married and everything was about him. "On August 23, she told him she wanted to live alone. He made it clear he would make her change her mind. "He would tell her he loved her, make threats of violence and threaten suicide. "He also expressed feelings of jealousy and thought she was seeing someone." It was amid this escalating behaviour that Ms Chick began contacting the police.

The leader of the opposition criticised talk of "stitch ups" ahead of next week's local elections and said she was instead focused on ensuring that voters have a "credible Conservative offer". Speaking to reporters from Stratford-upon-Avon, she said: "We are not doing a deal with Reform. There's not going to be a pact. "What we need to do right now is focus on ensuring that voters have a credible Conservative offer. "When we start talking about stitch ups before an election it sounds as if we are not thinking about the people out there but just about how we win. "Winning is just the first step - we need to talk about how we are going to deliver for the people of this country." Her words come after Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen suggested his party may have to join forces with Nigel Farage's Reform UK. In an interview with Politico, he said: "I don't know what it looks like. I don't know whether it's a pact. I don't know whether it's a merger … [or] a pact of trust and confidence or whatever. "But if we want to make sure that there is a sensible centre-right party leading this country, then there is going to have to be a coming together of Reform and the Conservative Party in some way." He added: "What that looks like is slightly above my pay grade at the moment." The intervention from the Conservatives' last remaining mayor will create further trouble for Ms Badenoch after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick vowed to "bring this coalition together" to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer competing for votes by the time of the next election. According to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News, Mr Jenrick - who lost the Tory leadership campaign to Ms Badenoch - said he would try "one way or another" to make sure the two right-wing parties do not end up handing a second term to Sir Keir Starmer. Mr Jenrick has denied his words amounted to calling for a pact with Reform - and told Good Morning Britain: "I've said time and again that I want to put Reform out of business ... I want to send Nigel Farage back to retirement." Read more:Chancellor Rachel Reeves outlines red lines for US trade deal'Consensus has got to be rebuilt': Harriet Harman reacts to gender ruling Questioned about Mr Jenrick's remarks, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told Sky News he was not going to do a deal with the Conservative Party. He said: "I mean he's clearly shaping himself up to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. He doesn't care what internal division he causes within the Parliamentary Party. "But he's actually mistaken. We are not going to do a deal with a Conservative Party that gave us record tax levels since the war, mass migration, I mean I could go on."

Anthony John Felton previously pleaded guilty to one count of attempting to cause grievous bodily harm with intent to Richard Pyke, 51. The 54-year-old armed himself with the tool and sought out his colleague - attacking him from behind. Ieuan Rees, for the prosecution, said Felton believed Mr Pyke had slept with another teacher, with whom he had recently been in a relationship. Felton was sentenced to 28 months in prison at Swansea Crown Court on Friday. He was also given a restraining order. After the incident at St Joseph's Roman Catholic Comprehensive School in Aberavon, South Wales, on 5 March this year, Felton threw the wrench away and left the school premises in his car. He then sent an email to his staff, apologising "for the problems and distress his actions were likely to cause". Read more from Sky News:Trio jailed for plotting to murder man who took part in biggest-ever cash robberyMan shot dead by police called 999 himself, report indicates Sentencing Felton, Judge Paul Thomas KC said the attack was the result of "overwhelming sexual jealousy". "That a headmaster of a school should take and use a weapon to try to badly injure their deputy, is I suspect, entirely without precedent," he said. "You are more than intelligent enough to realise when you plotted this bizarre attack that the impact and ramifications would be immense and far-reaching." The judge said the attack "was in effect an ambush," with Mr Pyke believing his attacker to be his friend. In a victim impact statement, Mr Pyke told the court he would live with the attack for the rest of his life, saying it had taken "what made me, me". "I trusted you completely," he said. While John Hipkin KC, for the defence, said Felton had recently suffered due to the death of his mother and a cancer diagnosis, the judge argued his actions were due to jealousy. He said: "Ultimately, the trigger for your act of extreme violence was of your own doing, the overwhelming sexual jealousy arising from an adulterous affair and the uncontrollable rage it created in you." Following the incident, police said Mr Pyke was discharged from hospital after suffering minor injuries. Abul Hussain, of the Crown Prosecution Service, said: "Anthony Felton struck a defenceless man repeatedly to the head with a metal weapon, demonstrating he had an intent to cause his victim really serious harm. "The level of unprovoked violence, from a professional in the workplace, was shocking. "Too often we see attacks of this nature result in life-changing injuries or fatal consequences, and thankfully, that was not the result in this case." Felton was appointed headteacher in September 2023, according to an annual report from the governing body.

Karolina Zurawska, 42, previously pleaded guilty to the manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility of Alexander Zurawski. Alexander was found dead at a property in the Gendros area of Swansea on 29 August last year. His mother was found next to him with a handsaw at her side. At Swansea Crown Court on Friday, Zurawska was also sentenced for the attempted murder of her 67-year-old father, Krzysztof Siwi, earlier the same day. She was handed an indefinite hospital order. The manslaughter charge was accepted by the prosecution, with three psychiatric experts concluding Zurawska had been suffering from a "psychotic episode" at the time. It affected her mental state so greatly that she was unable to understand what she was doing, the court heard. Judge Paul Thomas KC told her there was "strong and compelling evidence" she was acting in an "uncharacteristic manner", but no one could have foreseen what would happen before that day. Zurawska had hugged her father, told him she loved him, before "launching three attacks on him" intending to kill him, the judge said. The court heard Zurawska had previously been the "best mother" to her son, who was recovering from a brain tumour which left him partially sighted and requiring a cane to walk. The judge said he did not believe harming Alexander would have entered the defendant's mind if she had not been mentally unwell. "You were suffering from the delusion of hearing voices, you believe that you were being instructed by a demonic force," he said. "You are not a wicked mother, far from it." He said he "entirely agreed" with the psychiatrists that Zurawska needed indefinite hospital treatment. The judge added: "I cannot end without mentioning Alexander, his all too brief life was one of bravely battling medical issues. "It was a life filled with love. I know that those that knew him well will never forget him, nor ever stop loving him." In a tribute released after his death, Alexander's family said he was a "very kind child" who was "very clever and very mature for his age". "Alexander was always well behaved and never naughty," the statement added. "He was amazing."

Maashorst municipality said it believes the missing works of art were "accidentally disposed of with bulky waste". "It is not expected that the works of art will be found again," the Dutch authority admitted. It added: "The board of mayor and aldermen regrets this very much." The artworks included a 1980s silkscreen print of the former Dutch monarch, Queen Beatrix, by Warhol. Dutch media reported that 46 pieces of art were lost in total, and some of these had been stored in wheelie bins in the basement of the town hall. Read more from Sky News:Inside Pope Francis's final farewellKashmir row could lead to 'all-out war' The pieces of art disappeared after a reorganisation of two previously separate municipalities, Uden and Landerd, and the renovation of a town hall. Various pieces of art reportedly suffered dust and water damage during the renovation, including the Warhol, which was last seen in September 2023. A month later, it was said to be gone. Explaining how this might have come about, Maashorst said that no one was properly assigned as responsible for the art, with a failure of policy and procedures. There was also said to be "insufficient rapid action" when it was first discovered that the artworks were missing. The conclusions were reached after an independent agency conducted a months-long investigation into the incident. In November last year, "amateurish" thieves blew open the doors of a gallery in the Netherlands and made off with a number of Warhol prints. They got away with prints of Queen Elizabeth II and Margrethe II of Denmark, but prints of Queen Beatrix and Ntombi Tfwala, who is now known as the queen mother of Eswatini, were abandoned.