One of King Charles's security team members has gone viral after he was seen accompanying the new monarch as he went on a walkabout ahead of his coronation on Saturday (6) and was also spotted sitting in the royal box at last night's coronation concert in Windsor.
The bearded bodyguard, whose identity is unknown to the public, has been the subject of some attention on social media since the Queen's passing on September 8, 2022.
More recently, the bodyguard has been present at the King's public engagements this weekend and was overheard instructing members of the public to "enjoy the moment" and put their phones down during their interactions with the monarch on Friday (5).
The bodyguard has also remained close behind His Majesty as he expressed gratitude to well-wishers during the coronation celebrations.
Numerous videos of the guard carrying a fancy umbrella have also been circulating on social media.
One user on TikTok commented, "A real Kingsman!" while another added, “That thing he's holding is a GUNbrella, not an umbrella."
One comment read as "I thought he was the new 007.”
The King's personal close protection bodyguard, dressed in a formal suit and purple striped tie, was also observed sitting just behind Prince Harry, who was seated with his cousins Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie and their husbands, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi and Jack Brooksbank in Westminster Abbey on Saturday.
Although he was in the congregation, he was undoubtedly prepared to assist the King, Queen Consort, and other royal family members during the ceremony, if the need arose.
Comparisons have been made between King Charles' bodyguard and Colin Firth's character, Harry Hart, from the film Kingsman.
Some individuals also dubbed his umbrella as a "gunbrella," speculating that he may have a concealed weapon, others praised his appearance.
Among the comments left by social media users, one stated: "He should be the next James Bond, I love him! Such an amazing guy."
While another user commented on his appearance, saying "He's so handsome! Complete gent,"
Additionally, a user even jokingly inquired about the bodyguard's beard maintenance tips, writing, 'Does he give beard maintenance tips?"
LONDON's Heathrow Airport on Friday announced a £49-billion expansion plan that includes the construction of a third runway, approved by the UK government after years of legal disputes.
The third runway is expected to cost £21 bn, with flights projected to begin within the next decade. The remaining privately-funded investment will be used for airport expansion and modernisation.
Heathrow, Europe’s busiest airport by passenger numbers, said the project would add at least 30 new daily routes, increase domestic connections and improve flight schedules. The expansion could raise the airport’s annual passenger capacity from 84 million to as many as 150 million.
"It has never been more important or urgent to expand Heathrow," said chief executive Thomas Woldbye. "We are effectively operating at capacity to the detriment of trade and connectivity," he added.
The plan has faced opposition from environmentalists, local residents, London mayor Sadiq Khan and some Labour MPs. However, the Labour government supported the runway in January as part of efforts to boost economic growth.
Heathrow has submitted its proposal for the 3,500-metre runway to the UK government, which has also invited a rival bid.
Green trade-offs
The proposal allocates £12 bn for a new terminal and £15 bn for modernisation. Heathrow stated, "A third runway and supporting infrastructure can be ready within a decade, and the full investment across all terminals would take place over the coming decades."
Prime minister Keir Starmer aims to deliver major infrastructure projects to revive the UK economy. The government is also expected to back expansion at Gatwick Airport in October, after recent upgrades to Stansted, Luton and City airports.
The Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that Heathrow could proceed with the third runway, overturning a previous decision blocking it on environmental grounds.
Douglas Parr, policy director for Greenpeace UK, said local residents "will see their lives put on hold for a few more years while more money and time is wasted on a doomed scheme." He added the plans "export more tourism wealth out of the UK in the most polluting way possible."
Arora Group, a major Heathrow landowner, said Thursday it would submit a rival proposal for a shorter third runway, promising lower costs and less disruption to residents and the environment. "This is the first time the government has invited a competing proposal for Heathrow expansion," the company said.
The new investment plan comes alongside Heathrow’s existing plans to spend £10 bn over five years on upgrades to increase passenger numbers, funded largely through higher airline charges.
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Desai, 53, won the Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss. (Photo: Getty Images)
BOOKER Prize-winning author Kiran Desai has been longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize with her new novel The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. The book, described by the judges as “vast and immersive”, follows two young Indians in America.
Desai, 53, won the Booker Prize in 2006 for The Inheritance of Loss. Her latest work, published by Hamish Hamilton, is the longest book on this year’s list at 667 pages. Natasha Brown’s Universality is the shortest, at 156 pages.
“She has spent almost 20 years writing The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny. Should she win this year, she would become the fifth double winner in the prize's 56-year history,” the Booker Prize Foundation said. It added that Desai’s mother, Anita Desai, was shortlisted for the Booker three times.
According to the Booker Prize website, the novel explores how Sonia and Sunny navigate forces shaping their lives, including country, class, race, history, and generational bonds.
The 2025 longlist was chosen from 153 submissions. It celebrates the best long-form fiction in English published in the UK or Ireland between October 2024 and September 30, 2025.
Roddy Doyle, Chair of Judges, said, “The 13 longlisted novels bring the reader to Hungary, Albania, the north of England, Malaysia, Ukraine, Korea, London, New York, Trinidad and Greece, India and the West Country. There are short novels and some very long ones. There are novels that experiment with form and others that do so less obviously. Some of them examine the past and others poke at our shaky present. They are all alive with great characters and narrative surprises. All, somehow, examine identity, individual or national, and all, I think, are gripping and excellent.”
Other books on the list include Love Forms by Claire Adam, The South by Tash Aw, Ending by Maria Reva, Flesh by David Szalay and Misinterpretation by Ledia Xhoga. British authors Natasha Brown, Jonathan Buckley, Andrew Miller and Benjamin Wood also feature, along with American authors Susan Choi, Katie Kitamura and Ben Markovits.
Gaby Wood, Chief Executive of the Booker Prize Foundation, said, “The stories are set all over the world, and as we looked through the books we began to notice that their authors, all of them writing in English, had come from many different places too… It's the highest number of different nationalities we've seen on a Booker Prize longlist for a decade – yet British writers are strongly represented too.”
Manasi Subramanian, editor-in-chief at Penguin Random House India, wrote on social media, “Oh wow! Kiran Desai's The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny is longlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize 19 years after The Inheritance of Loss won. What a staggering return! (Out in September!)”
The shortlist of six books will be announced on September 23 at a public event at Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall in London. The winner will be declared on November 10 at Old Billingsgate in London and will receive GBP 50,000. The six shortlisted authors will each get GBP 2,500 and a specially bound edition of their book.
(With inputs from PTI)
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The findings included 23 at IndiGo, the largest carrier, and 51 at Air India, the second largest.. (Photo: Reuters)
INDIA's aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said on Wednesday it found 263 safety-related lapses across Indian airlines during its annual audit.
The findings included 23 at IndiGo, the largest carrier, and 51 at Air India, the second largest.
The DGCA said the audits were part of International Civil Aviation Organization requirements and global best practices. It noted that airlines with larger fleets generally have more findings.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the DGCA’s July audit of Air India found 51 lapses, including inadequate pilot training, use of unapproved simulators, and a poor rostering system. The DGCA said the audit was not related to the Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad last month that killed 260 people.
The regulator also reported 14 deficiencies at SpiceJet, 17 at Vistara, and 25 at Air India Express, the low-cost arm of Air India. Akasa Air has not yet been audited.
The DGCA divided the breaches into two categories: "Level I", which are significant breaches, and "Level II", which are other non-compliances. It said 19 "Level I" breaches were identified across Indian airlines.
A 30-year-old British Sikh man has been stabbed to death in east London in an attack involving people known to each other, the UK police believe.
Gurmuk Singh, known as Gary, died last week in Felbrigge Road, Ilford in east London, and was formally named by Metropolitan Police on Thursday (31).
The force said its officers had arrested Amardeep Singh, 27, on suspicion of the murder that took place on July 23. He has since been charged with one count of murder and remains in custody until his next court appearance at London's Old Bailey for trial on January 5, 2026.
“Police were called by the London Ambulance Service to reports of an altercation at a residential address,” said the Met Police statement. “Officers attended as Gary was treated for stab wounds. Despite the best efforts of the paramedics, he sadly died at the scene,” it said.
Detectives also arrested a 29-year-old man and three women aged 29, 30 and 54 in connection with the fatal stabbing. They have all since been released on bail until October while the police investigation continues.
“Gary was a well-loved man who had a remarkable ability to connect with everyone he met,” his family said in a statement released by the police.
“A true social butterfly, nothing brought him more joy than being surrounded by his family. Gary will be deeply missed, but his memory will live on in our hearts forever,” they said.
A post-mortem examination has indicated the cause of death as a stab wound to the left thigh, with an inquest opened and adjourned while the police investigation into the attack is ongoing.
Detective chief inspector Joanna Yorke from the Met's Specialist Crime North unit said at the time of the attack that detectives believed it was an “isolated incident”.
“An incident of this nature sends shockwaves throughout the local area and we understand the direct impact on the community. People can expect to see an uptick in police presence while officers conduct initial investigations. Please do not hesitate to speak to them if you have any concerns at all,” she said.
HOTEL tycoon Surinder Arora has formally submitted a rival plan to expand Heathrow Airport, challenging the proposal put forward by the airport’s own operators.
Arora’s company, the Arora Group, one of the UK’s leading hotel and property businesses, has put forward a plan on Thursday (31) named “Heathrow West”, which includes a new terminal and a 2,800-metre third runway. This is shorter than the 3,500-metre runway proposed by Heathrow itself, but Arora says it offers a "cost-efficient solution" and avoids the disruption of moving the M25 motorway.
“The primary benefit of our plan is that it avoids the need to divert the M25,” the group said. “A shorter runway, suitable for today’s aircraft, is part of the solution. Avoiding the M25 would remove complexity, reduce costs and help deliver better value for passengers.”
The Arora Group said the proposed runway could be fully operational by 2035, with the new terminal opening in two phases, in 2036 and 2040. The plan was developed in partnership with global infrastructure firm Bechtel and is expected to cost under £25 billion – excluding redevelopment of Heathrow’s central area.
Heathrow, by comparison, had said in 2018 it could deliver its own runway for £14bn, but the cost is now likely to be much higher. Its plan involves building a longer runway and routing the M25 through a tunnel beneath it.
The government, which opened the door to competing bids in June, set a deadline of July 31 for submissions. After this, transport secretary Heidi Alexander will review all proposals under the Airports National Policy Statement.
Arora, one of Heathrow’s largest landowners and a long-time critic of the airport’s spending, welcomed the opportunity to submit his own bid. “After a decade working with our world-leading design and delivery team, I am very proud that the Arora Group can finally unveil to the UK government our Heathrow West proposal,” he said.
Surinder Arora and his wife Sunita
“We are delighted that the government has taken a common-sense approach to invite proposals from all interested parties for the very first time rather than granting exclusivity to the current airport operator, no matter its track record."
The proposal marks the first time Heathrow’s expansion could be decided through a competitive process. Carlton Brown, CEO of Heathrow West, said: “We want to help Heathrow become the best-connected nation in the world and support trade and inward investment.”
Arora’s plan has also gained attention for claiming it can deliver expansion at a lower cost, while still accommodating aircraft of all sizes. The company said it offers less risk and avoids spiralling costs.
However, some campaigners remain opposed. Paul McGuinness of the No 3rd Runway Coalition said, “There’s a danger we’ll end up with a hole in the ground and a debt pile for taxpayers to underwrite.”
Despite previous setbacks, including legal challenges and environmental concerns, Arora’s team remains confident. “The Arora Group has a proven track record of delivering on-time and on-budget projects in and around Heathrow,” the company said.
Heathrow has not commented on the rival proposal.
The Asian tycoon, who was the founder and executive chairman of the group, was ranked 14th in the Asian Rich List 2025 published by Eastern Eye, with his family’s wealth valued at £1.4bn.
Arora owns and operates luxury hotels in key locations, including at Heathrow and Gatwick airports, and recently launched a £160 million redevelopment of the historic Luton Hoo estate. He is also building a new hotel at Dublin Airport, his first project outside the UK.
Known for his hands-on style, Arora built his empire through hard work and strong family values. He works closely with his son Sanjay, now COO of the group.