BBC News

Prosecutors investigating the attempt to take control of a plane bound for Israel said the co-pilot attacked the captain with a small axe kept in the cockpit for emergencies. The co-pilot was overpowered by passengers and crew during Wednesday's flight, and the jet landed safely in Saudi Arabia. The co-pilot has not been officially named, though reports identify him as Hamam al Hamami from Oman. Reports also say he had shown Islamic extremist leanings and had been barred from flying by Oman. The UAE, which is leading the investigation, said the incident showed the region's struggle with extremism persists. Separately, the head of Tennessee's prison service resigned after this week's botched execution of Christa Pike. She received two lethal injections that neither killed her and is now unconscious on life support in hospital, and executions in the state have been halted for the rest of the year while investigators review what happened.

Kemi Badenoch arrived in Birmingham for the Conservative conference, saying the party has been on a journey and is different from the one that lost the last general election, though the Tories remain behind Labour and Reform UK in the opinion polls. She announced a plan to scrap the cap on free childcare so families earning over one hundred thousand pounds a year could get it, arguing it does not matter what people earn and that the Conservatives support working people. The policy is controversial, with some saying the seven hundred million pounds it could cost would be better spent giving poorer families access to childcare. Labour under its new leader has also been energised, while Reform UK has faced questions about donations. Energy UK called on the government to act now to help people with bills this winter after domestic gas prices rose and were forecast to rise again in January. The Ofgem price cap affects twenty million households on variable tariffs, whose typical bills rose by sixty pounds in October and could increase by a further three hundred and fifty pounds when the cap is next set, taking a typical annual bill to two thousand one hundred pounds. Energy UK wants targeted support above the one hundred and fifty pound Warm Home Discount, the shifting of some levies from electricity bills to general taxation, and a debt relief scheme. Energy debt is six billion pounds now and could reach seven billion by the end of the year, and the government has cut VAT on bills until April, which it says will reduce the price cap by forty-five pounds.

Sir Kevin Sinfield completed his seventh ultra marathon in a week, the final feat in seven years of charity endurance challenges in honour of his friend and former teammate Rob Burrow, who died with MND. The challenge has already raised more than one million pounds to be shared between MND charities. He finished at Old Trafford at tonight's Super League Grand Final, where his son Jack was playing. Sinfield said Rob would be so proud to see how he supported and cared and showed love for a community that really needs us.