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Around 3,000 Wales football fans are arriving in Qatar to support their home nation as they prepare to play in their first World Cup for 64 years.

Sky News has joined two families from South Wales as they jet off to the Middle East.

Welsh Flags, bucket hats and scarves are all being carefully folded and packed into a suitcase by Marcus Panayi and his 13-year-old son Theo at their home in Cardiff.

“I’m buzzing! I can’t believe it really that we’re going out there!” says Theo.

His excitement is echoed by his dad.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” says Marcus. “For me, I’ve been supporting Wales for 42 years, I’ve seen all the disappointment over the years, all the near misses, so really this is once in a lifetime.

“I think every Wales fan who’s going is just going to be on cloud nine when we get there – obviously a lot of the other big countries are used to qualifying, so I think it means a bit more for us.”

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The pair will join other fans at a special party in the capital Doha over the weekend to welcome the Welsh contingent.

“We’ve been told the alcohol prices are really extortionate, so we are prepared for that, but I think we’ve just got embrace it. The fact we’ve qualified, we’ll focus on the positives and try to have a party as much as we can,” adds Marcus.

Marcus Panayi and his son Theo
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Marcus (left) says Wales fans will be on ‘cloud nine’ when they get to Qatar

Twenty-five miles down the M4, near the English border, Huw Hudson and his daughters Amelie and Isabella usually watch Wales in action in their garden games room.

Inside, Wales football and rugby shirts adorn the walls, as do photos of Huw with Gareth Bale and Swansea City players.

“I’m a die-hard Wales and Swansea City fan,” Huw says.

The family will be staying in Dubai and catching internal flights to Qatar for each game – a cheaper option than staying in Qatar and one chosen by many Welsh fans.

Huw Hudson and his daughters
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Huw Hudson and his family are staying in Dubai and flying to Qatar for each game
Huw Hudson's bottle of Bale Ale

We chat to Huw as he cracks open an aptly named bottle of Bale Ale.

“It’s something I’ve been dreaming of since I was a child,” he says.

“All I’ve wanted to do is to see Wales at the World Cup. There’s plenty of times where I never thought it would happen – but to be actually going, it’s a dream come true, once in a lifetime probably.”

Like all fans heading to Qatar, they’ve been told to be aware of cultural sensitivities.

The Hudson family in their games room
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Huw says he’s a die-hard Wales and Swansea fan

Huw says: “There’s a chap who lives in Qatar who’s set up a Red Wall Facebook group which has been really useful so we can get all the local lowdown… just rules, cultures, things to expect and adhere to; so yeah it’s going to be interesting.”

While most fans travelling have paid for themselves, it’s reported a number of Wales and England supporters have had their trips funded by Qatari authorities as part of the Fan Leader Network.

It’s understood flights and accommodation are included, with authorities saying the scheme “contributes to tournament planning through fan insight, research, content creation and message amplification”.

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Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

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Police search for missing sisters last seen three days ago near Aberdeen river

Specialist search teams, police dogs and divers have been dispatched to find two sisters who vanished in Aberdeen three days ago.

Eliza and Henrietta Huszti, both 32, were last seen on CCTV in the city’s Market Street at Victoria Bridge at about 2.12am on Tuesday.

The siblings were captured crossing the bridge and turning right onto a footpath next to the River Dee in the direction of Aberdeen Boat Club.

Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
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Henrietta Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland
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Eliza Huszti. Pic: Police Scotland

Police Scotland has launched a major search and said it is carrying out “extensive inquires” in an effort to find the women.

Chief Inspector Darren Bruce said: “Local officers, led by specialist search advisors, are being assisted by resources including police dogs and our marine unit.”

Aberdeenshire Drone Services told Sky News it has offered to help in the search and is waiting to hear back from Police Scotland.

The Huszti sisters. Pic: Police Scotland
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CCTV of the sisters. Pic: Police Scotland

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The sisters, from Aberdeen city centre, are described as slim with long brown hair.

Police said the Torry side of Victoria Bridge where the sisters were last seen contains many commercial and industrial units, with searches taking place in the vicinity.

The force urged businesses in and around the South Esplanade and Menzies Road area to review CCTV footage recorded in the early hours of Tuesday in case it captured anything of significance.

Drivers with relevant dashcam footage are also urged to come forward.

CI Bruce added: “We are continuing to speak to people who know Eliza and Henrietta and we urge anyone who has seen them or who has any information regarding their whereabouts to please contact 101.”

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Britain’s gas storage levels ‘concerningly low’ after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

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Britain's gas storage levels 'concerningly low' after cold snap, says owner of British Gas

Britain’s gas storage levels are “concerningly low” with less than a week of demand in store, the operator of the country’s largest gas storage site said on Friday.

Plunging temperatures and high demand for gas-fired power stations are the main factors behind the low levels, Centrica said.

The UK is heavily reliant on gas for its home heating and also uses a significant amount for electricity generation.

As of the 9th of January 2025, UK storage sites are 26% lower than last year’s inventory at the same time, leaving them around half full,” Centrica said.

“This means the UK has less than a week of gas demand in store.”

The firm’s Rough gas storage site, a depleted field off England’s east coast, makes up around half of the country’s gas storage capacity.

Gas storage was already lower than usual heading into December as a result of the early onset of winter.

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Combined with stubbornly high gas prices, this has meant it has been more difficult to top up storage over Christmas.

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UK’s first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

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UK's first taxpayer-funded injection room to open in radical move to tackle drugs epidemic

Glasgow has been a city crying out for solutions to a devastating drugs epidemic that is ravaging people hooked on deadly narcotics. 

We have spent time with vulnerable addicts in recent months and witnessed first-hand the dirty, dangerous street corners and back alleys where they would inject their £10 heroin hit, not knowing – or, in many cases, not caring – whether that would be the moment they die.

“Dying would be better than this life,” one man told me.

It was a grim insight into the daily reality of life in the capital of Europe’s drug death crisis.

Scotland has a stubborn addiction to substances spanning generations. Politicians of all persuasions have failed to properly get a grip of the emergency.

But there is a new concept in town.

From Monday, a taxpayer-funded unit is allowing addicts to bring their own heroin and cocaine and inject it while NHS medical teams supervise.

A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre
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A dirty needle thrown less than 100 metres from the new injection centre

It may be a UK-first but it is a regular feature in some other major European cities that have claimed high success rates in saving lives.

Glasgow has looked on with envy at these other models.

One supermarket car park less than a hundred metres from this new facility is a perfect illustration of the problem. An area littered with dirty needles and paraphernalia. A minefield where one wrong step risks contracting a nasty disease.

Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility
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Drugs paraphernalia in a supermarket car park in Glasgow, near the new facility

It is estimated hundreds of users inject heroin in public places in Glasgow every week. HIV has been rife.

The new building, which will be open from 9am until 9pm 365 days a year, includes bays where clean needles are provided as part of a persuasive tactic to lure addicts indoors in a controlled environment.

There is a welcome area where people will check in before being invited into one of eight bays. The room is clinical, covered in mirrors, with a row of small medical bins.

Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment
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Clean needles are provided to lure addicts to inject in a controlled environment

One of the eight bays users can inject in
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There are eight bays users can inject in

We were shown the aftercare area where users will relax after their hit in the company of housing and social workers.

The idea is controversial and not cheap – £2.3m has been ring-fenced every year.

The aftercare area
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The aftercare area

Read more: ‘Dying would be better than my £1,000 a month heroin addiction’

Authorities in the city first floated a ‘safer drug consumption room’ in 2016. It failed to get off the ground as the UK Home Office under the Conservatives said they would not allow people to break the law to feed habits.

The usual wrangle between Edinburgh and London continued for years with Downing Street suggesting Scotland could, if it wanted, use its discretion to allow these injecting rooms to go ahead.

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The stalemate ended when Scotland’s most senior prosecutor issued a landmark decision that it would not be in the public interest to arrest those using such a facility.

One expert has told me this new concept is unlikely to lead to an overall reduction in deaths across Scotland. Another described it as an expensive vanity project. Supporters clearly disagree.

The question is what does success look like?

The big test will be if there is a spike in crime around the building and how it will work alongside law enforcement given drug dealers know exactly where to find their clients now.

It is not disputed this is a radical approach – and other cities across Britain will be watching closely.

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