Friday, February 20, 2026

Good morning and welcome to your daily news briefing from The Independent.

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was released under investigation after being arrested on his 66th birthday, an intervention by a judge has thrown Sir Keir Starmer's plans to hand over the Chagos Islands further into chaos, and reports suggest the US is building up military assets so it is ready to strike Iran.

Top stories

1 | Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested as police raid royal homes over Epstein links

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2 | Starmer's Chagos Islands deal hits new crisis after judge blocks removal of islanders

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3 |Trump's forces build up ahead of potential Iran strike

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4 | Inside the rise of Starmer's 'Marmite' pick to lead UK Civil Service

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5 | Expired British passport issued as long ago as 1989 could get dual nationals into UK

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Editors' picks

Listen to In The Room

'We need to rethink university education': Readers on student loans

It seems to me to be very unfair that the people who introduced the whole student finance system benefited from a grant-based university education and many 'Boomers' have managed to get to their cosy, property-owning affluence on the back of a state-funded university degree or degrees.

Share your opinion and read the full debate here.

WATCH 

Vehicles arrive at Sandringham as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested

STAT OF THE DAY

£3bn

The UK's plummeting migration numbers will add billions of pounds to the nation's borrowing, a chief economist has warned Rachel Reeves.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

"Thunder punch to the stomach".

The son of a British couple detained in Iran told The Independent that the news they had been sentenced to 10 years in prison was "devastating".

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Other stories you might like

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