The Cairngorms has received a £10.7m funding boost as part of plans to transform it into the UK’s first net zero national park.
The National Lottery Heritage Fund has awarded the cash to Cairngorms National Park Authority to help deliver its Cairngorms 2030 action plan.
The five-year initiative – seeking to tackle the nature and climate crisis – brings together 20 long-term projects and could reach up to £42.3m in costs.
The programme’s goals include: • To become the first national park in the UK to reach net zero. • Create the equivalent of 1,500 football pitches of new woodland. • Develop the world’s first outdoor dementia resource centre. • Transform the way people get around the Cairngorms. • Pioneer nature-friendly farming and green finance. • Foster meaningful relationships with under-represented communities. • Restore 6,500 hectares of carbon-storing peatland. • Prescribe nature on the NHS. • Empower communities to shape the future of their area. • Restore and enhance three iconic rivers – the Spey, Dee and Esk.
The Cairngorms – which covers parts of Aberdeenshire, Moray, Highland, Angus and Perth and Kinross – is the largest national park in the UK.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once
Click to subscribe to ClimateCast with Tom Heap wherever you get your podcasts
The funding was announced as First Minister Humza Yousaf visited the area on Monday along with Scottish Greens co-leader Lorna Slater, minister for green skills, circular economy and biodiversity.
He said: “The Cairngorms 2030 project is an excellent example of over 70 partners working together to deliver benefits for rural communities, businesses and the natural environment.
“Our national parks create new employment opportunities and promote green skills and jobs. They also help to generate and channel investment into the area’s natural resources.
“Investing in protecting and enhancing Scotland’s precious environment creates great opportunities that will benefit people and communities throughout the country, particularly in rural areas.”
Read more from Sky News: Beavers return to Cairngorms after 400 years
Sandy Bremner, convener of Cairngorms National Park Authority, said they were “delighted” to receive the lottery funding.
He added: “This five-year, £42.3m initiative will put the power to tackle the nature and climate crisis in the hands of the people in the park.
“It will benefit people’s health and wellbeing, develop sustainable transport solutions and help nature – and we are ready to get going on delivering for all those who live, work and visit this very special place.”
A yellow weather warning for snow has been issued for large parts of England and Wales.
The Met Office said snowfall could bring some disruption on Thursday and into Friday morning.
It warned there was a chance of travel delays on roads, along with delayed or cancelled rail and air travel.
There was also a chance some rural communities could become cut off, it said.
“A band of rain, sleet, and increasingly snow, will push north on Thursday bringing up to 2cm snow at lower levels, 2-5cm on ground above 200m, and perhaps as much as 10-20cm above 400m,” the Met Office said.
“The snow will ease later in the day, and may turn back to rain or drizzle, especially in the south and east of the area.”
It said there was some uncertainty about the northern limit of the snow and said details may change in the coming days.
The warning will be in effect for 24 hours from 3am on Thursday.
It comes after a yellow weather warning remains in place for Scotland until 9pm on Monday night, with up to 170mm (6.7in) of rain possible.
The Met Office said there is a “small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded”, which may result in damage to buildings.
The warning covers most of the Scottish Highlands but reaches as far south as the outskirts of Glasgow.
There is also a yellow warning for ice covering northern Scotland from midnight on Tuesday until 9am.
A jockey has died after falling from a horse during a race in Kent.
Keagan Kirkby was riding in the Charing point-to-point on Sunday when his horse ran through the wing of a fence.
Wings, usually made out of metal or wood, sit at both ends of a fence and guide horses towards a jump.
Following the fall, on-site paramedics, as well as a team from the air ambulance, attempted to treat the 25-year-old.
However, Mr Kirkby, who worked at the stables of leading trainer Paul Nicholls, succumbed to his injuries.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Nicholls paid tribute to Mr Kirkby, who he described as “one of our best, hard-working lads”.
“All at team Ditcheat are mortified,” he said.
The British Horseracing Authority (BHA), the regulatory body for horse racing in Great Britain, said it was “devastated to hear the tragic news”.
Read more from Sky News: Reward offered in hunt for Clapham chemical attack suspect Woman dies after being mauled by ‘XL bully’ dogs
BHA chief executive Julie Harrington said: “The entire racing industry will be in mourning at the loss of someone so young and with such potential.”
Ms Harrington said Mr Kirkby was nominated for the Rider/Groom category of the 2024 Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards and made it through to the final 10 in his category.
“The nomination spoke of Keagan’s qualities as a thoughtful rider who develops a personal bond with his horses, understands their characters and adapts his riding accordingly, as well as his affable, helpful nature and popularity on the yard,” she said.
In a statement, the Injured Jockey Fund described Mr Kirkby as a “respected member of the Paul Nicholls team, who joined in 2019 and who had been awarded employee of the month in December 2021”.
The incident happened during a point-to-point, a form of amateur horse racing over fences held at a variety of racecourses throughout the UK, as well as Ireland – where the sport is open to licensed professional trainers.
A yellow weather warning is in place for rain in Scotland until 9pm on Monday night, with up to 170mm (6.7in) of rain possible.
The Met Office said in its warning there is a “small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded”, which may result in damage to buildings.
X
This content is provided by X, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable X cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to X cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow X cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once
Between 40 to 80mm (1.6-2.4in) of rain is expected, with 120 to 170mm (4.7-6.7in) possible overnight in the wettest areas, which may include parts of Argyll, Lochaber and Wester Ross. Strong winds are also forecast.
Where flooding occurs it could also lead to delays or cancellations on train or bus services, as well as difficult driving conditions, the Met Office warned.
The warning covers most of the Scottish Highlands but reaches as far south as the outskirts of Glasgow.
As of 9.30pm on Sunday, there were 10 flood alerts and six flood warnings across Scotland.
Heavy rain and wintry conditions are also due later in the week across the whole of the UK.
Image: A Met Office yellow rain warning for Scotland. Pic: Met Office website
“It turns colder across northern areas with showers, which will turn wintry at times especially over higher ground but potentially to lower levels too as the week progresses,” the Met Office said in a statement.
“There is a chance of wintry conditions developing more widely through the second half of next week as rain pushes up from the south for a time, but there is still uncertainty about the details of this.”
Scotland has had to endure repeatedly wet conditions that have resulted in flooding this winter, including after Storm Babet in October when four hundred properties across Angus had to be gutted.
Achfary in northwest Scotland recently recorded a new provisional maximum temperature record of 19.9C for January.
A reward of up to £20,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest of Clapham chemical attack suspect Abdul Ezedi, as police release new information about his movements.
Police have also released new information about the alkaline substance that was used for the attack – saying laboratory analysis shows it was either liquid sodium hydroxide or liquid sodium carbonate.
Investigators believe there are people who know the location of Ezedi who have not come forward.
They warned anyone found “harbouring or assisting him” will be arrested, as the search is now in its fifth day.
Ezedi, 35, has been urged by police to hand himself in after going on the run following the attack involving a corrosive alkaline substance in Clapham, southwest London, on Wednesday 31 January.
Twelve people were injured, including a mother, 31, and her two daughters, aged three and eight. All three remain in hospital, with the mother’s injuries thought to be “life-changing”.
Ezedi and the mother were in a relationship, a relative of the suspect has told Sky News.
Police have released CCTV images of Ezedi during the search which appear to show extensive injuries to the right side of his face.
Image: Abdul Shokoor Ezedi is seen on the London Underground network after the attack. Pic: Met Police
The Metropolitan Police said today that the last confirmed sighting of him is now at 9.33pm on the day of the attack, when he exited Tower Hill Underground station, on the eastern edge of the City of London.
He had changed trains at Victoria, after arriving at the Tube station on the Victoria Line at 9.10pm and departing on the eastbound District Line at 9.16pm.
The Met has said it is continuing to analyse CCTV footage alongside “many other lines of inquiry” as they attempt to locate Ezedi.
Image: Abdul Shokoor Ezedi.
Pic: PA
The force has released new video filmed at around 8.45pm showing him in a Tesco on Caledonian Road in north London shortly after the attack. The Met had earlier released images of him from the same visit to the supermarket.
The Met has said dozens of officers are working to trace Ezedi.
The force is also working with the Home Office, UK Border Force, UK Visas and Immigration, the National Crime Agency, British Transport Police and several other police forces.
Detectives may fear Ezedi has been smuggled out of the country
It’s a carrot-and-stick approach from the police – a big reward for information, but if you have it and you don’t give it to us you’ll be arrested.
Detectives are struggling and must have thought that after four days they would have found their suspect, a desperate man with the best-known facial blemish in Britain, an image that leaps out daily from newspapers and TV screens.
But how desperate is he? New CCTV footage shows him wandering nonchalantly around Tesco two hours after the chemical attack on the woman he was in a relationship with.
And maybe he isn’t having to fend for himself and is being harboured by contacts he has made in the past.
The manhunt has been joined by the National Crime Agency, whose core focus is on organised crime.
Police may fear Ezedi is getting help from the people who helped smuggle him into the UK from Afghanistan in the back of a lorry in 2016.
Met Commander Jon Savell said: “I am hugely grateful to the public for the significant number of calls that we have received.
“Your help is critical. A reward of up to £20,000 is now available for information leading to his arrest.
“I must warn anyone who is helping Ezedi to evade capture – if you are harbouring or assisting him then you will be arrested.
“Our inquiry line is staffed 24/7 by specialist detectives who are progressing enquiries around-the-clock.
“If you know where he is or have information that may assist call them now.”
Read more: How was convicted sex offender Ezedi granted asylum in the UK? Police hunting Clapham chemical attack suspect raid ‘brother’s home’
Image: Officers have found containers with corrosive warnings on at an address in Newcastle. Pic: Northumbria Police
Image: Ezedi at King’s Cross station after the attack. Pic: Met Police
On Saturday, police said officers have searched five addresses – two in east London and three in Newcastle – in their efforts to locate Ezedi.
Police bodycam footage showed officers entering a flat in Newcastle where empty containers with corrosive warnings were found.
A laboratory has now carried out analysis of the substance found at the scene of the attack.
Commander Savell said on Sunday: “The liquid used in the attack was a very strong concentrated corrosive substance, either liquid sodium hydroxide or liquid sodium carbonate.
“Further enquiries are ongoing including comparison with the containers seized from Ezedi’s address in Newcastle.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:25
Police search for chemical attack suspect
The attack has raised questions about the asylum process in the UK, with Ezedi having arrived in the UK on a lorry in 2016 after fleeing Afghanistan.
After two failed attempts, his asylum claim to stay in the UK was granted in 2020.
This was despite the fact he was handed a suspended sentence for a sexual offence in November 2018.
Ezedi was allowed to stay in the country after a priest confirmed he had converted to Christianity and had said he was “wholly committed” to his new religion, Sky News understands.
An asylum seeker can claim asylum in the UK on the basis of religious persecution in their native country.
A woman has died after being mauled by two dogs and a man has been arrested, police have said.
Essex officers were called to Hillman Avenue, Jaywick, shortly after 4pm on Saturday where they found the victim seriously injured.
She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Image: Experienced detectives are leading the investigation. Pic: Essex Police
To secure the area and ensure there was no risk to the wider public, both animals were destroyed.
A 39-year-old man from Jaywick has been detained on suspicion of dangerous dog offences and remains in custody.
Chief Superintendent Glen Pavelin said: “My thoughts, and those of our officers and staff, are with the family of the woman who died yesterday.
“This incident will be a huge shock to the community and I understand their concerns.
“We’ll have officers in the area throughout today so please come and speak to them if you have any information or are worried.
“Experienced detectives are leading the investigation to identify exactly what has happened.
“I know there will be speculation about the breed of the dogs involved.
“We’re waiting for confirmation from experts about this before releasing further details and I’d ask people not to speculate.
“If anyone has any information about what has happened please contact us.”
Breed yet to be established
Although the breed involved is yet to be established, the attack comes just days after a ban on XL bully type dogs came into force, meaning it is now a criminal offence to own one in England and Wales without an exemption certificate.
Image: A man has been detained on suspicion of dangerous dog offences. Pic: Essex Police
Unregistered pets can be seized and owners fined and prosecuted.
Read more on Sky News: UK’s readiness for war in doubt, say MPs New images released by police hunting Clapham chemical attack suspect
Around 40,000 of the large bulldog-type American breed are believed to have been registered before Wednesday’s deadline, but there may be thousands more without certificates.
The ban on XL bully dogs was introduced after a spate of attacks in recent years involving the breed.
The breed was added to the Dangerous Dogs Act on 31 October last year when restrictions came into force dictating the dogs must be kept on a lead and muzzled in public.
Breeding, selling or abandoning the dogs also became illegal as of 31 December 2023.
Owners of XL bully dogs in Scotland will also be subject at a later date to the safeguards after Holyrood replicated legislation in place south of the border.
A decision on whether to add to the list of banned breeds in Northern Ireland is for locally elected ministers and is yet to be made.
People with dangerously out-of-control dogs can be jailed for up to 14 years and banned from owning animals, and their pets can be put down.
Protesters who climb on war memorials could face three months in prison and a £1,000 fine under plans being proposed by the home secretary.
Announcing the plans, James Cleverly said ascending memorials was “an insult” and “cannot continue”.
The cabinet minister vowed last year to look into giving police new powers to protect remembrance sites after pro-Palestinian protesters climbed on the Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner in London following a demonstration outside parliament on 15 November.
Downing Street at the time described the behaviour as an “affront”, but Metropolitan Police Sir Mark Rowley said arresting protesters for scaling the memorial would have been unlawful.
The Home Office said that, under the new plans, climbing on war memorials will become a specific public order offence.
It said the measure would “stop protesters disrespecting those who have given their lives for our country”.
The announcement comes after 10,000 Palestinian supporters marched in central London on Saturday calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
3:12
Do war memorials need protecting?
Mr Cleverly, who was a Territorial Army officer in the Royal Artillery, said: “Recent protests have seen a small minority dedicated to causing damage and insulting those who paid the ultimate price for their freedom to protest.
“Peaceful protest is fundamental in our county, but climbing on our war memorials is an insult to these monuments of remembrance and cannot continue.
“That is why I am giving police the powers they need to ensure they have the tools to keep order and peace on our streets.”
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
Enable Cookies
Allow Cookies Once
Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts
The measure, designed to apply across England and Wales, is scheduled to be introduced as an amendment at the report stage of the Criminal Justice Bill in the House of Commons.
The proposal will form part of a wider plan, due to be unveiled this week, aimed at tackling disorder at protests, the Home Office said.
Northern Ireland’s new first minister has told Sky News she “absolutely contests” the UK government’s claim that a referendum on Irish unity is decades away.
Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill, the first nationalist to occupy the office, described her elevation at Stormont as “a historic day, truly representing a new dawn”.
In a document, outlining the basis of the DUP’s return to power-sharing, the UK government said it saw “no realistic prospect of a border poll”.
But Ms O’Neill said: “I would absolutely contest what the British government have said in that document, in so far as my election to the post of first minister demonstrates the change that’s happening on this island.
“That’s a good thing. It’s a healthy thing because this change I think can benefit us all.
“I believe that we’re in the decade of opportunity and I believe, also equally, that we can do two things at once.
“We can have power-sharing, we can make it stable, we can work together every day in terms of public services, and whilst we also pursue our equally legitimate aspirations.
“There are so many things that are changing. All the old norms, the nature of this state, the fact that a nationalist republican was never supposed to be first minister. That all speaks to the change,” she added.
Ms O’Neill grew up in the “murder triangle” in County Tyrone. Her father was an IRA prisoner and her cousin was shot dead by the SAS.
But having pledged to be a “first minister for all”, she broke with republican tradition by using the term “Northern Ireland” in her acceptance speech.
“I’m somebody who wants to be a unifier. I’m somebody that wants to bring people together.
“We’ve had a difficult past, a turbulent past. A lot of harm was caused in the past and I think it’s so, so important that here in 2024, and we’ve just celebrated the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement last year, that we very much look towards the future.
“I hope I can represent the future. I believe I can represent the future, as somebody who wants to work with all communities.
“I obviously am a republican, a proud republican, but I think it’s really, really important that I can look towards those people who identify as Irish republicans, but also those of a British identity and unionist identity and tell them that I respect their values, I respect their culture.”
Asked if her pledge meant she would consider attending a Protestant Orange Order march, she said: “I will consider every invitation that comes my way.
“I’m hoping that I get invitations. I want to step into ground that republicanism hasn’t stepped into before,” she added.
Watch the full interview with Michelle O’Neill on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News from 8.30am.
A murder investigation has been launched after a 17-year-old boy was stabbed to death in Northern Ireland.
The boy was stabbed in the Woodland Walk area of Limavady, a town in County Londonderry/Derry, at around 9.30pm on Friday night.
He later died in hospital from his injuries.
Another man, in his 50s, was also taken to hospital. Police said he was in a stable condition.
Read more from Sky News: Northern Ireland appoints first nationalist first minister Brexit-backers unwittingly hand more control to Irish unity cause Relative of chemical attack suspect speaks out
Five males have been arrested as part of a murder investigation by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), the force said.
PSNI Detective Chief Inspector Mark Gibson said the five are helping police with their inquiries.
Police also appealed for anyone with information about what happened to contact them.
A power-sharing government will return to Northern Ireland today, as Michelle O’Neill makes history as the first nationalist first minister.
Politicians will gather at Stormont later for a sitting at which a series of ministers will be appointed to the executive, bringing an end to a two-year political quagmire.
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the country’s largest unionist party, had signalled it was ready for the recall of the political institutions after forging a deal with the UK government on post-Brexit trade, which party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson says has effectively removed the so-called Irish Sea trading border.
Two pieces of legislation contained in the agreement were fast-tracked through the House of Commons on Thursday, paving the way for the Assembly at Stormont to return.
MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) will elect a new Stormont speaker, followed by nominations for the offices of first and deputy first minister.
Sinn Fein’s Ms O’Neill will take the first minister role, but the DUP has not yet said who it will nominate for deputy first minister. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the deputy has an authority equal to that of the first minister.
The power-sharing arrangement brought in by the agreement played a key role in ending the sectarian violence of the Troubles.
A series of ministerial positions across Stormont will also be filled.
After a meeting of party leaders at Stormont Castle on Friday, DUP leader Sir Jeffrey said: “It is important when the executive meets that we have a real sense of what those priorities are for everyone in Northern Ireland.
“We are looking forward to the Assembly meeting, going through the formalities, getting devolution restored.”
Read more: Why Northern Ireland’s new first minister is hugely symbolic
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:41
Stormont deal divides MPs
Budget crisis is key priority
A key priority will be dealing with the budget crisis affecting public services in Northern Ireland.
The UK government has offered a £3.3bn package to secure Northern Ireland’s finances when the Assembly returns, including £600m to settle public sector pay claims.
But Sir Jeffrey indicated the parties would work together to secure more money from the Treasury, adding: “The finance piece is unfinished business which we intend to finish.”
Ms O’Neill’s selection as first minister, made possible after she led Sinn Feinn to victory in the 2022 Assembly elections, will mark the first time the post has been held by a nationalist committed to seeing Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland united as one country.
