Schools, rail services, sporting fixtures and hospitals are all set to be affected on Friday when Storm Eowyn slams into the UK.
A string of public authorities have issued statements warning the public to only travel unless absolutely necessary, while around 4.5 million people in parts of Northern Ireland and Scotland were sent an emergency alert on their mobile phones on Thursday evening.
It was the largest real-life use of the emergency system to date and caused mobile phones to make a loud siren-like sound, even if they were on silent when the alert was issued.
Speaking before it was sent out, a Cabinet Office spokesperson said: “The emergency alert system will send a message to every compatible mobile phone in the areas at most risk, containing information about the weather warnings and guidance on how to stay safe.”
Schools, colleges and universities
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:11
Phone alerts for Storm Eowyn
• All schools in Northern Ireland have been advised to close on Friday
• Schools and nurseries across central and southern Scotland have also been urged to shut
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
2:27
Storm Eowyn explained
• Edinburgh Napier University, Queen’s University Belfast and Ulster University are among the sites closing their campuses to students and staff on Friday, with no access to any buildings
Image: The rare red weather warnings cover Northern Ireland and parts of Scotland. Pic: Met Office
Health services
• NHS Lothian has cancelled all routine, non-urgent planned procedures on Friday and postponed the majority of hospital outpatient appointments to protect patients and staff
• NHS Lanarkshire has also postponed all non-urgent appointments in hospital and community settings
Rail services
• All ScotRail services will be suspended on Friday
• The West Coast Main Line north of Preston and the East Coast Main Line north of Newcastle will also be shut throughout the day, affecting Anglo-Scots services
• Network Rail says “other lines across northern England, Scotland and northern Wales may also be closed at short notice”
• Train services across Northern Ireland have also been suspended
• Transport for Wales has warned services may be subject to last-minute changes and cancellations on Friday
Roads
• Police Scotland has urged drivers not to travel
• RAC Breakdown has also advised motorists in areas covered by red weather warnings not to drive “unless absolutely essential”
• Bus services in Northern Ireland will be suspended on Friday
Airports
• Edinburgh Airport has said operations “will be limited” during Friday’s red weather warning, which is in place from 10am until 5pm. A spokesperson added: “Airlines will make decisions on the operations of their own flights”
• Glasgow Airport said it was “limiting operations” from 10am until 5pm on Friday, and warned passengers to “check the status of their flight with their airline before travelling”
• Belfast International Airport issued similar advice and said it was “anticipating that the weather alert issued will result in flights being impacted”
Ferries
• All CalMac ferry services scheduled for Friday have been cancelled
• Northlink Ferries, serving the Northern Isles, has also amended its services for Friday and is keeping its sailings for Saturday under review, with “a high probability of cancellation” for morning services
Public services, spaces and other sites
• Edinburgh Council said all non-essential services in the region, including parks, museums and galleries, would be closed or suspended on Friday. All council buildings will also shut
• Glasgow Life, which runs libraries, museums and cultural venues in the Scottish city, said all its sites would be closed on Friday
• The V&A Dundee will be closed throughout Friday. It plans to reopen on Saturday
• All Scottish courts within or near to the red warning zone will be closed
• The Scottish Parliament will be closed all day on Friday
• Some children’s playgrounds in London parks, including Hyde Park, will be closed on Friday as a precaution
Sport fixtures
• The Scottish Women’s Premier League match between Celtic and Hearts, scheduled for 7.30pm on Friday, has been postponed
• Sheffield United’s home game against fellow Championship side Hull City at 8pm on Friday is still scheduled to go ahead
A man has been detained in Leeds after being “seen with weapons” and three people were left injured.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find three people injured and a man was detained at the scene, the force said. The injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
Image: Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Image: Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Image: An ambulance inside one of the cordons
Inquiries are under way to establish the “wider circumstances” and a “number” of crime scenes remain in place, they added.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Image: Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Image: Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Image: Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
More on Ryan Reynolds
Related Topics:
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
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.
Image: Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
The trip came just a week-and-a-half after Buckingham Palace confirmed the King had been taken to hospital following side effects related to his ongoing cancer treatment.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:54
Pope’s coffin passes Colosseum after Vatican service
Number 10 confirmed the prime minister received an invite and so he attended the ceremony.
Speaking on Tuesday, Sir Keir said there had been “an outpouring of grief and love” for the Pope.
He added: “I think it reflects the high esteem in which he was held, not just by millions and millions of Catholics, but by many others, across the world, myself included.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:38
Trump pays respects to Pope
The US president was one of the first to confirm he would be flying to Rome, adding he would be joined by first lady Melania Trump.
Writing on his social media platform Truth Social on Monday, he said: “Melania and I will be going to the funeral of Pope Francis, in Rome. We look forward to being there!”
The Pope had been critical of Mr Trump at times during his tenure.
In January, he said it would be a “disgrace” if the president went ahead with his crackdown on immigration, telling an Italian television station: “It would make the migrants, who have nothing, pay the unpaid bill.
“It doesn’t work. You don’t resolve problems this way.”
Image: Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni (right) arrives for the funeral. Pic: AP
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:16
Scale of funeral service from above
The Italian premier, along Argentine leader Javier Milei (below) had place of pride in the seating order for the service.
The Vatican is, of course, surrounded by the Italian capital Rome, while the Pope was born and grew up in Argentina and was once Archbishop of Buenos Aires.
The president of Pope Francis’s native Argentina was also at the ceremony, despite having launched insults at Francis in recent years.
Before taking office in December 2023, the far-right politician called him “an imbecile, the representative of evil on Earth”.
Mr Milei alluded to their “differences” in his tribute to the late Pope, writing: “It is with profound sorrow that I learned this sad morning that Pope Francis, Jorge Bergoglio, passed away today and is now resting in peace.
“Despite differences that seem minor today, having been able to know him in his goodness and wisdom was a true honour for me.”
Former US president Joe Biden, 82, was at the funeral with his wife Jill. The couple were seen taking their places in the bright sunshine prior to the service.
Mr Biden appeared to be getting some help to his seat, taking the arm of a member of the church.
• Ireland’s taoiseach Micheal Martin • Spain’s King Felipe and Queen Letizia • Albanian president Bajram Begaj • Angola’s president Joao Lourenco • Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen • Bangladesh’s chief adviser and interim leader Muhammad Yunus • Belgium’s King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, along with prime minister Bart De Wever • Canada’s governor general Mary Simon • Cape Verde president Jose Maria Neves • Croatia’s president Zoran Milanovic • Cyprian president Nikos Christodoulides • Czech Republic’s prime minister Petr Fiala • Democratic Republic of Congo president Felix Tshisekedi • Dominican Republic’s president Luis Abinader • East Timor’s president Jose Ramos-Horta • Ecuador’s president Daniel Noboa • Estonia’s president Alar Karis • Finland’s president Alexander Stubb • Gabon’s president Brice Oligui Nguema • German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier and outgoing chancellor Olaf Scholz • Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis • Honduras president Xiomara Castro • Hungary’s president Tamas Sulyok • Italy’s president Sergio Mattarella and prime minister Giorgia Meloni • Latvian president Edgars Rinkevics • Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda • Moldova’s president Maia Sandu • Netherlands’ prime minister Dick Schoof • New Zealand’s prime minister Christopher Luxon • Norway’s Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit • The Philippines’ president Ferdinand Marcos Jr • Poland’s president Andrzej Duda • Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and prime minister Luis Montenegro • Romania’s interim president Ilie Bolojan • Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia and prime minister Ulf Kristersson • Switzerland’s president Karin Keller-Sutter
Image: Pope Francis walks next to Putin at the Vatican in 2015. Pic: AP
The Russian president did not attend the funeral.
But the controversial leader paid tribute to the Pope, writing a message to Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is interim chief of the Catholic Church.
“Please accept my most sincere condolences on the passing of His Holiness Pope Francis,” Mr Putin said.
“Throughout the years of his pontificate, he actively promoted the development of dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, as well as constructive cooperation between Russia and the Holy See.”
Image: Pope Francis and Benjamin Netanyahu meet at the Vatican in 2013. Pic: AP
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also did not attend the ceremony, with the country’s ambassador Yaron Sideman going instead.
The Jewish state and the Vatican have had strong relations in the past, with Israel sending a presidential delegation to the funeral of Pope John Paul II in 2005, and Pope Francis visiting Israel in 2014.
But their relationship has deteriorated since the start of the war in Gaza.
A month after the conflict started in 2023, a dispute broke out over whether Pope Francis had used the word “genocide” to describe events in Gaza. Palestinians who met with him said he did, but the Vatican said he did not.
The Pope met relatives of Israeli hostages on the same day.
Israeli officials have since lobbied the Vatican to be more forceful in its condemnation of Hamas.
In January, the Pope called the humanitarian situation in Gaza “shameful”, prompting criticism from Rome’s chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni, who accused Francis of “selective indignation”.
Rabbi Di Segni said he would be attending the funeral, despite it taking place on the Jewish sabbath.
Was there a seating plan?
The seats were assigned in advance, with the heads of state sitting in French alphabetical order based on their country’s name, rather than on the individual’s.
This applied to everyone apart from the presidents of Italy and Argentina, who got the best seats because the Pope lived in Italy and was an Argentinian native.