JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A charter plane carrying eight people crashed Thursday near a remote radar site in western Alaska, a federal official said.

Clint Johnson, the National Transportation Safety Board’s Alaska region chief, said two pilots and six passengers were on board. He did not immediately have details on their status.

The plane took off from Anchorage and is believed to have crashed early Thursday afternoon on approach to Cape Newenham, he said.

The information received so far is preliminary, he said.

The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center said it launched a search and rescue mission after receiving a report of an “aircraft incident” near the Cape Newenham Long Range Radar Site. It said additional information would be released as it became available and did not respond to questions.

Jenna Bush Hager and Sheinelle Jones called out Meghan Markle and Prince Harry for blowing up their life in the UK only to return six years later.

On Wednesday night, Meghan and Harry shocked the world with the announcement that they would be relocating back to Britain along with their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five.

The news comes just six years after the couple left their life as royals to live in California in an explosive move that reportedly tore Prince Harry’s family apart.

And it looks like both Bush Hager and her co-host Jones were just as shocked by the news as the rest of the world.

They discussed the hot topic on the August 20 episode of Today with Jenna & Sheinelle, and Bush Hager admitted that when she first got the alert about the former royals, she thought it was a ‘prank.’

‘This is what we do know, which is very little. They visited the King and Queen Camilla in July,’ Bush Hager said of the couple’s recent July trip to the UK to visit King Charles III and Queen Camilla. 

‘It was the first time that they have taken their kids to go visit their grandparents in four years. 

‘Think about little kids’ lives, how much changes in four years. It’s like, [they’re] totally different humans,’ she continued.

On Wednesday night, Meghan and Harry shocked the world with the announcement that they would be relocating back to Britain along with their two children, Prince Archie , seven, and Princess Lilibet, five 

They then started discussing Harry and Meghan’s dramatic move to the US six years ago, claiming it felt like the former royal couple ‘lit a match’ and blew everything up when they fled the UK.

The two co-hosts said that Meghan and Harry’s move back to Britain should be a ‘lesson’ to others. 

‘It’s a lesson for everybody. When you leave something and say you’re never going back… [don’t] light a match,’ Jenna said.

‘They sort of threw whatever at the institutions that exist in the UK. It’s hard to say things like that and then be like, well…’ the host trailed off, as she threw her hands in the air. 

‘They were like, “We’re out, hello US,”‘ Sheinelle interjected. 

‘I also think, good for them for living their life,’ Jenna added.

Sheinelle suggested that they may have moved back to the UK to spend more time with family.

‘I feel like our parents aren’t getting any younger, our grandparents, and so you want your kids to know their grandparents and their cousins and their family members,’ Sheinelle theorized.

‘I totally understand the move, but I think the reason people are surprised was because there was a little bit of…’ Jenna trailed off again.

They then started discussing Harry and Meghan’s dramatic move to the US six years ago, claiming it felt like the former royal couple ‘lit a match’ and blew everything up when they fled the UK. Meghan is seen in 2023 

The two co-hosts (seen in 2019) said that Meghan and Harry’s move back to Britain should be a ‘lesson’ to others 

Prince Harry and Meghan are expected to move back to the UK this month.

It is understood that they will enroll their children in a UK school and will establish a private, non-royal home base in Britain while still maintaining their residences in Montecito, California, and Portugal.

King Charles III, who is understood to have been informed of Harry’s plans only on Sunday, is said to welcome the opportunity to spend more time privately with his younger son and grandchildren.

But Buckingham Palace’s position on Harry and Meghan’s official status is understood to be unchanged.

Prince Harry is still reportedly estranged from his older brother, Prince William, and his wife, Catherine, Princess of Wales.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex moved to California in 2020 with Hollywood seemingly at their feet, armed with their royal titles, global fame and blockbuster deals worth tens of millions of dollars.

There was a reported $100 million Netflix agreement and a $20 million Spotify contract – while podcasts, documentaries and television shows were promised. 

But in the years since, their original Netflix contract ended, and the Duchess’ series, With Love, Meghan, lasted just two seasons.

Lee and Chow were also leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance (HKA).

The HKA was founded in May 1989 to support students holding pro-democracy rallies. Weeks later, the Communist Party crushed pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square with troops and tanks. Estimates of the death toll range from a few hundred to many thousands.

Over the next three decades, HKA called on authorities to accept responsibility for the crackdown, free dissidents and introduce democratic reform.

The Alliance’s leaders were charged in 2021 and have been behind bars since.

Rights group Amnesty International has said the case “relies on vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’”.

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, said Chow and Lee had “not committed any recognisable crime”.

“Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan are prisoners of conscience who should never have been prosecuted in the first place. They must be released immediately and unconditionally”, she added.

In a separate case, Chow was arrested in June 2021 for “inciting” the public to take part in that year’s vigil and later found guilty.

However, Hong Kong’s top court overturned that conviction in 2022, with a judge ruling the police hadn’t properly justified the vigil’s ban.

Chow Hang-tung spoke to the BBC in 2021, weeks before her arrest on 4 June 2022.

“I am prepared to be arrested. That is how Hong Kong is now,” she had said.

“I am willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy”.

The National Drought Group, which brings together the Met Office, regulators, government, water companies, farmers, scientists and conservation organisations several times a year, said this week’s rainfall and cooler temperatures will not make any significant impact on current water scarcity.

“I think it is very misleading of the council to create that perception to the public in order to get support for this policy.”

A Northern Ireland council has been accused of “misleading” the public to support its new climate change policy.

Newry, Mourne and Down District Council is due to publicly launch its updated strategy towards a pathway of net zero carbon emissions.

However, a DUP elected member has claimed flooding images of local town centres have been used to give people an “untrue” climate picture.

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Mournes DUP councillor Henry Reilly said: ”I am very concerned that some of the material in the sustainability report and I actually find it misleading.

“There are photographs of a flooded town centre in Downpatrick and Newry and that is giving the impression that if we penalise our own people through more expensive energy supplies that it (flooding) will stop. That is quite untrue.

“The reason why the Clanrye and Quoile rivers flooded is because they haven’t been dredged in 40 years, because of EU legislation under the Rivers Directive, that you can’t touch those rivers to dredge them.”

Councillor Reilly added: “So, all the carbon reduction that Newry, Mourne and Down will do will not stop flooding in Downpatrick and Newry.

“I think it is very misleading of the council to create that perception to the public in order to get support for this policy.

“Carbon molecules do not stay in China or India where they are increasing their use of fossil fuels, so for us to penalise our people with very expensive de-carbonisation methods, does not make sense.”

Newry and Downpatrick have both flooded in recent years with the latest occuring in late 2023.

A report before the chamber shows a draft climate change strategy was approved for public consultation by the committee in October 2025.

This was then sent out for public consultation taking place from December 2025 to March 2026. The final strategy has received support from all other political parties at the committee.

Mournes Alliance councillor Jill Truesdale said: ”The targets are tied to real statutory drivers such as the Climate Change Act rather than just an unrelatable aspiration It is a really solid piece of work.”

Council deputy chairperson, SDLP councillor Doire Finn added: ”Climate change doesn’t recognise borders and we have seen this summer as one of the hottest on record across Ireland and the UK.

“It is really important that we are leaders on this and we recognise the impact climate change will have, whether it be hotter summers or wetter winters. This is effectively the biggest challenge that our generation is likely to face.”

A council officer responded: “It will be a matter of prioritising what we do in order to get the biggest bang for the buck to bring all the business cases on carbon reduction through as no doubt the funding is going to be a bit of a challenge.

“There will be a year on year review on progress and action plans to be developed.”

A majority vote of 11 for and two against carried the strategy forward for full council to ratify.

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The recent heatwaves mean that many people in northern Europe are now looking at new ways to cool their homes.

Historically, northern European building design has prioritised heating, but more home owners are considering adding air conditioning.

While 88% of US homes have air conditioning, only about 3% of UK homes have it.

What are the big issues?

Fitting an air-conditioning system to an existing home is likely to cost more than £6,000 for a whole house. It will also mean running pipework through walls, which may require renovation afterwards. Running costs range from a few hundred pounds to a few thousand per year depending on the size of the UK property. It is worth remembering that electricity in the UK is twice the cost of the US, where more homes have air conditioning.

Typically, to fit air conditioning you have an outdoor unit (the condenser) and a fan unit mounted on the wall or in the ceiling, connected by pipes. These pipes feed cold water from the condenser into the fan unit, which cools the air (which can be reversed in winter to provide heating). This is known as a split system.

Then there’s planning and consent. Condensers generate noise and can be unsightly. You generally don’t need planning permission if units are discreetly located. But this is difficult to do with flats, as the units create noise which may disturb nearby properties. Planning consent is likely to be required, so it’s worth checking. Air conditioning must also comply with various building regulations, for instance those related to safety.

Adding to historic homes

Another factor is the age and construction of the existing home. Historic buildings have thick stone walls and a large thermal mass, so they take longer to cool down or heat up. Often, they are deliberately designed to be airy and well ventilated, as this helps control problems like high humidity. However, this means a higher rate of air leakage, so air conditioning units have to work harder. Plus those high ceilings means a larger air volume to cool. Installation may also require special planning permission and may be more complex and expensive.

It is also worth considering the levels of humidity. This may rise depending on the air conditioning system used, and could be a particular problem in historic buildings. When air temperature drops, as happens if you cool it, the humidity inside a room increases. This may mean a dehumidifier is needed.

Another air conditioning option is to use portable units. These combine everything in a single machine. However, they are only intended to cool small spaces and would tend to be less energy efficient, with higher running costs. They also need a duct to dump the heat, which typically means fitting a vent to an outside wall or window. Sticking the pipe out of an open window will let the heat in and the chilled air escape. Installing US-style window units may require a chat with a planning department first to check on restrictions. These also need windows that open vertically (such as sash windows), which isn’t typical in many modern UK homes.

When shopping for air conditioning, much like “miracle” heater scams, also be wary of similar scams regarding “miracle” coolers at cheap prices.

Environmental consequences

Environmental impact has long been another concern. Historically air conditioning used ozone-eating CFCs as a refrigerant, but these are no longer used in units on sale today. Air conditioners still do contribute to the urban heat island effect, which makes cities hotter, as the heat from the building is released via the condenser into the surrounding air. This heat island effect is likely to be a factor in making heatwaves worse.

Carbon emissions will vary, depending on the source of electricity. In France or Portugal, where the grid is nearly all carbon neutral (nuclear, hydro, solar or wind), emissions would be low. But they’d be much higher in Poland or Cyprus, for instance, which use relatively few renewables and limited or no nuclear sources in their national electricity mixes.

Other options?

Given that heat pumps are increasingly standard in new UK homes, configuring them to also provide cooling in the summer could become the way forward. Most existing UK systems are not set up to do this, but more are likely to go on sale if demand rises.

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Another option that will save on your energy bills is to try to cope with summer heat using what is called passive cooling, by adding awnings, external shutters or shading your windows. These are definitely the lowest cost options and can be easiest to install, and should bring the temperature down. This is traditionally how buildings were kept cool in summer.

Heatwaves are part of the cost of climate change. And while weighing up the ways to cope with it, it’s also vital to think about how our choices could also escalate the continuing extreme weather, particularly given that it will affect older and more vulnerable people more adversely.

In London, 71.7 per cent of pupils passed, compared to 65.2 per cent in the North East and just 62.4 per cent in the West Midlands, the worst performing region – a gap that has widened to 9.3 percentage points from last year’s 8.7.

In London, 28.6 per cent of grades were at the top ones at seven and above, compared to just 17.7 per cent in the North East, a gap that in the last year has widened from 10.6 per cent to 10.9 per cent.

Why is this? Unless pupils in the regions are substantially thicker than in London, which we do not believe, there have to be profound social and educational reasons for this. Are our schools demonstrably worse? Do we not have a fair share of resources? Is the fact that so many more children are growing up in poverty hampering their live chances?

It is wrong that in 21st Century Britain, an accident of geography should have such an impact on educational outcomes, and we suspect that at the heart of these figures there are small pockets of deprivation where children are denied any opportunity.

This is not just a question for the North East: can the country as a whole afford so much talent to be overlooked? It is a waste of their live chances and the whole nation’s potential prosperity.

Levelling up, the Conservatives’ idea of bringing the regions up to the levels of the south east, has failed to address this problem, and last year, Bridget Phillipson, a Sunderland MP, was Education Secretary and made all the right noises about tackling it – and yet the gap has widened.

Will the new devolution agenda of the new Prime Minister and the new Education Secretary – the 11th in the last 12 years – bring fairness and equal opportunity to our next generation?

Whatever you call the great ‘freedom flight’ U-turn, the bombshell decision by Harry and Meghan to move back to Britain heralds another supremely tricky moment for the British monarchy.

And for all the honeyed words overnight about the King naturally welcoming the opportunity to see more of the Sussex family in a private and personal capacity, there is no doubt the news is being greeted by many in royal circles with an element of gritted teeth.

It’s one thing for the King to quietly patch up their relationship from the opposite side of the Atlantic. But it’s quite another to have the entire family suddenly pitch up with a loud ‘howdy Grandpa!’ in your own back yard – particularly when wider family relations are still so delicate.

Already the news – carefully leaked by Team Sussex to a small number of sympathetic journalists in the UK and abroad – has started a hundred different hares running, with a wave of online vitriol about His Majesty’s (supposed) role in enabling his younger son’s return, to the detriment of his heir.

He has been variously described as weak and manipulated but also, inexplicably, as working hand-in-glove with the Sussexes.

It has sparked distasteful speculation about King Charles‘s health and whether Harry has taken a decision to ‘shore up’ his position before it is too late. 

For the record, although gruelling at times, doctors have been delighted at the progress of his cancer treatment, which has been drastically scaled back and is currently being administered on a precautionary basis.

Sources have scoffed at renewed claims that the King’s right-hand man, Sir Clive Alderton, is leaving as private secretary to the King and Queen because of his opposition to any reunion – calling it ‘another mad conspiracy theory’.

Indeed, I can reveal that Sir Clive was actually integral to last month’s meeting between Harry and his father, despite being the victim of so much of the prince’s ire in recent years.

There has been a deafening silence from Kensington Palace over the news. Pictured: The Prince and Princess of Wales

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The news has sparked distasteful speculation about King Charles’s health and whether Harry has taken a decision to ‘shore up’ his position before it is too late

And yet it seems quite remarkable, does it not, that Harry brought his family to meet with his father for the first time in four years at Highgrove in early July and never thought even to mention that this plan was even on his radar?

But that, my sources insist, is the truth of it. Not once was the issue raised or discussed, they say. And the move has now been presented to the sovereign as a fait accompli.

It seems even stranger if what another source has told me is true: that Meghan privately visited two potential schools in the Cotswolds region for Archie and Lilibet during their visit here – and they had already earmarked a potential home belonging to a celebrity (for the record, I have not been able to independently verify either of these claims).

So while Harry has made no secret of his desire to spend more time in the UK moving forwards, it’s fair to say that this week’s news that a wholesale return to his country of birth will happen within days – a place which, not so long ago, he was arguing was too dangerous to bring his family to at all – has come as a huge shock to the wider royal household.

Reactions range from the amused (downright hilarity at the claim that Harry and Meghan have just proved their ‘half in/ half out’ model of monarchy can work… ‘surely their return is proof that it hasn’t!’), to the fearful.

Sources have scoffed at renewed claims that the King’s right-hand man, Sir Clive Alderton, is leaving as private secretary because of his opposition to any reunion

Buckingham Palace declined to comment on the Sussexes’ announcement, and there was an equally deafening silence from Kensington Palace.

Indeed, sources have long made clear the Waleses have no interest in engaging with anything Harry and Meghan do or say.

Meanwhile, there is a concern that back in the UK and in such close proximity to working members of the Royal Family, every move by the Sussexes will be dissected for the slightest hint of a return to official roles and provide a constant distraction to the real working royals’ public labours. 

For the avoidance of doubt, sources insist, the couple will not be undertaking any royal duties. The King, they say, is absolutely adamant on this.

His only interest is protecting and prioritising what’s right for the monarchy and, particularly, what is right for his relationship with the Prince of Wales, says a friend.

The Waleses are working royals and future monarchs. Harry and Meghan are not. And William’s feelings must and will be respected, I am told.

Needless to say, the Prince of Wales – currently holidaying with his family with the King at Balmoral – has no desire whatsoever to reconcile will his brother, as it stands. And few can blame him.

Other family members have long memories when it comes to Harry’s behaviour, particularly the disrespect they feel he showed to the late Queen and her husband, Prince Philip, in their latter years. And they may well be reluctant to play happy families again.

There are others in royal circles with personal experience of dealing with the Sussexes who say they just can’t shake the feeling ‘there is more to this than we know’. ‘There always is with them,’ one sighed.

There is also concern among some over the couple setting up some sort of ‘rival court’ to Buckingham and Kensington Palaces. 

Since quitting royal duties, Harry, in particular, has become increasingly strident in his public announcements, even attacking US President Donald Trump just days before the monarch’s high-profile State Visit to the US earlier this year.

It is one thing for him to do this from the other side of the Atlantic when he has an arm’s-length relationship with his father, but quite another to take such pot shots from the bosom of the family again, with the potential for damaging diplomatic fall-out.

Yet the Palace believes people will understand that while Charles is a king and a sovereign, he is also a father and a grandfather, and it is possible for him to clearly delineate between the two.

A friend insists: ‘The King welcomes the opportunity to see more of his family but beyond that, his stance could not be more clear [when it comes to their public roles]. Nothing has changed.’

The difficulty, however, is that many fear – and would firmly object to – their closer proximity to the monarchy being used either as a backdoor entry by the Sussexes to public life, or as a way of burnishing their commercial credentials.

It is a tightrope the King and senior officials have no choice now but to tread.