London Mayor Sadiq Khan named in Britain’s New Year honors

London Mayor Sadiq Khan is among the hundreds named in King Charles’s New Year honors list published on Monday. (@SadiqKhan)
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Updated 31 December 2024
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London Mayor Sadiq Khan named in Britain’s New Year honors

  • Khan said he was “truly humbled to have received a knighthood”
  • He was elected mayor of the capital for the third time this year

LONDON: London Mayor Sadiq Khan is among the hundreds named in King Charles’s New Year honors list published on Monday.
Khan, a member of Britain’s governing Labour Party, will receive a knighthood. He was elected mayor of the capital for the third time this year but has faced criticism for crime levels and a housing crisis in the city.
Khan said he was “truly humbled to have received a knighthood.”
“I couldn’t have dreamed when growing up on a council estate in south London that I’d one day be Mayor of London.
“It’s the honor of my life to serve the city I love,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. 
The full list includes more than 1,200 people in politics, sport, the arts or community service to be awarded honors ranging from Member, Commander or Officer of the Order of the British Empire (MBE, CBE or OBE) up to knighthoods and damehoods.
Former England soccer boss Gareth Southgate and Paris Olympics gold medallist Keely Hodgkinson also featured on the list. 
Southgate, who led England to two straight European Championship finals before stepping down as the national side’s manager in July, receives a knighthood.
MI5’s Ken McCallum, who has served as the domestic intelligence service’s director general since 2020, was also set to receive a knighthood.
Among business executives, ex-Rolls-Royce boss Warren East and former HSBC chief executive Noel Quinn will be knighted, while Ruth Cairnie, chair of defense group Babcock , receives a damehood.
Andy Street, a former boss of retailer John Lewis who failed to win re-election as a regional mayor this year, will also receive a knighthood.
Among those receiving a CBE are actors Sarah Lancashire and Carey Mulligan and TV gardener Alan Titchmarsh.
The New Year honors, which have been awarded since at least 1890, aim to recognize not just well-known figures but people who have contributed to national life through often unsung work over many years.
Children’s author Jacqueline Wilson was awarded a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire, while Nobel laureate novelist Kazuo Ishiguro was given a Companion of Honour, of which there are only 65 recipients at any time.
In sport, Paris 800 meters gold medallist Hodgkinson receives an MBE while Olympic champion rower Helen Glover is recognized with an OBE.
For his work on mental health awareness, actor Stephen Fry will receive a knighthood.


Russia urges restraint as Trump warns Iran of possible strike

Updated 30 December 2025
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Russia urges restraint as Trump warns Iran of possible strike

  • Flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested on Monday ⁠that Tehran may be ‌working to ‍restore ‍its weapons programs

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Tuesday said it was ​necessary to develop a dialogue with Iran and urged all parties to refrain from escalation after ‌US President ‌Donald Trump ‌said ⁠Washington ​would ‌support another massive strike on Iran.
Flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump suggested on Monday ⁠that Tehran may be ‌working to ‍restore ‍its weapons programs after ‍a US strike in June. Iran denies it has a nuclear ​weapons program.
Moscow has cultivated closer ties ⁠with Tehran since the start of its war in Ukraine, and this year signed a strategic partnership treaty with the Islamic Republic.