People might want to think about reserving certain seats which offer more space for nothing extra

Easyjet and Ryanair rules to get extra legroom on flights for free(Image: Getty)

All there is to know as Which? says there are certain rows of seats that offer a small perk that most airline passengers pay a premium for.

• Extra legroom: On EasyJet and Ryanair planes, there are certain rows of seats that provide a little bit more legroom for free, as long as you know which ones to book. While certain seats already come with extra legroom, they come at a premium cost.
• What do you get for the price? Ryanair can charge up to £38 for extra space during the flight. Easyjet offers roomier seats from as little as £12.99 – but this varies depending on the route selected, flight and time of booking. On both airlines, the websites claim that extra legroom seats are typically found in the first row and by the emergency exits. It means passengers must be willing and able to perform certain safety requirements in the event of an emergency.
• Seats at random: For both the popular budget ways to travel, not selecting a seat when booking leaves your chances in the hands of the airline. A computer program will randomly assign you a spot on the plane that is unreserved. This is always free, and there’s a chance it could pick one with an added perk.

READ MORE: Majorca’s new tourist rules including beach games ban – what you need to know

• Which? trick to save money: The consumer rights watchdog posted a tip on its Instagram feed for those booking Christmas travel or always planning their holiday in 2026. It claimed that certain seats could be free and offer a little bit of extra legroom compared to others.
• Make the right choice: In the video, a Which? spokesperson said people need to “just sit on the right”. The tip comes down to the make and model of the aeroplane.
• Ryanair choice: The Which? The guide claimed most Ryanair planes are Boeing 737, meaning people who select a seat in sections D, E or F (on the right-hand side of the plane) in rows three to 15 would technically have an extra inch of legroom compared to those in the A, B and C blocks.

READ MORE: EasyJet launches new UK route to city that’s home to world’s favourite dish

• Easyjet’s similar set-up: Which? also found the same rule applied on Easyjet flights, as most would be inside an Airbus A321neo. Passengers willing to pay a small fee to select their seats should pick that same block of seats, in any row from three to 13.
• Always worth checking: Which? claims that “all planes are different, so it’s always worth checking” before you make a booking. There are free online tools to help figure out if this advice can be applied to your next flight.
• How do I find out my plane model? To figure out if your plane model matches the advice above, go into Google Flights and enter your flight details (destination and dates). Airlines will have already assigned a certain model of aircraft to the route and this should be visible as part of the flight information.

READ MORE: What to do if your suitcase doesn’t land with you at destination airport

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Al Jazeera’s Jessica Washington reports from Indonesia’s Aceh Tamiang, one of the areas worst hit by the deadly floods. Survivors there are now threatened by disease and starvation after entire villages were wiped out, leaving people with nothing.

Published On 9 Dec 20259 Dec 2025

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The outgoing prime minister, Petr Fiala, has posted his congratulations for his successor on social media, saying that the PM’s residence, Hrzánský palác, is fully “at his and his team’s disposal” even before the formal appointment of the entire governent.

“We will ensure that the handover of government proceeds entirely smoothly,” he said.

Czech outgoing prime minister and leader of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and Spolu (Together) coalition, Petr Fiala (R), and leader of ANO party, Andrej Babis (L), attend a televised debate ahead of the country’s parliamentary election. Photograph: David W Černý/Reuters

Centre-right Fiala’s ODS party came second in the October election, with 23% of the vote.

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On Babiš’s conflict of interest I mentioned earlier, he said last week he would shift his main asset Agrofert, a group of over 200 companies in chemicals, food, farming and other businesses, to a trust structure to resolve a conflict of interest he would have in office, Reuters explained.

Andrej Babiš with a hat bearing his campaign slogan ‘Strong Czech Republic’. Photograph: David W Černý/Reuters

The key reason it was considered a conflict of interest is because as the Czech PM he would be involved in discussions on EU regulations, subsidies and potential taxes, all with direct consequences for his companies.

Reuters noted that his firms have received public contracts, and investment incentives worth tens of millions of euros – such as tax relief – from the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian governments.

The new setup involved an irrevocable blind trust, managed independently by an external company. His family will only be able to regain the control of the trust after his death.

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Updated at 10.25 CET

Zelenskyy to meet with Pope Leo, Italy’s Meloni as peace talks continue

Angela Giuffrida

in Rome

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is in Italy today, and will meet Pope Leo at the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, close to Rome, around now before returning to the Italian capital in the afternoon for a meeting with the prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni speak with reporters at an event in July. Photograph: Massimo Valicchia/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

It will be the second time that Zelenskyy has met Leo, elected pontiff in May, since July.

That meeting, during which they discussed the return of forcibly deported Ukrainian children and the need to pursue peace through dialogue, also took place in Castel Gandolfo, where Leo retreats once a week.

After Zelenskyy met British, French and German leaders in London on Monday, Meloni – who has nurtured good relations with the US president, Donald Trump – reiterated the “importance of a unity of views between European partners and the United States for achieving a just and lasting peace in Ukraine”.

Meloni will meet Zelenskyy at her office in Palazzo Chigi at 3pm CET.

Pope Leo last week stressed the importance of Europe’s involvement in US efforts to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, while suggesting that Italy specifically could play the role of mediator.

“Specifically, I think Italy’s role could be very important. Culturally and historically, Italy has the capacity to act as an intermediary in the midst of a conflict that exists between different parties: Ukraine, Russia the United States.”

Soon after being elected pope, he said the Vatican could act as a mediator in resolving global conflicts. He has also expressed his willingness for the Holy See to host talks in the Vatican to try to end the war.

“But the Holy See does not have a direct involvement, because we are not members of Nato nor of any of the talks so far, and even though many times we have called for a ceasefire, for dialogue and not war,” he said last week.

“And it is now a war with many aspects: with the increase in arms, all the armaments production going on, cyber-attacks, energy. Now that winter is coming there is a serious problem there.”

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Updated at 10.11 CET

Morning opening: Welcome back Mr Babiš

Jakub Krupa

Controversial billionaire Andrej Babiš has been appointed the next Czech prime minister, days after proposing a plan to resolve his conflict of interest as major shareholder of agriculture giant Agrofert.

Czech President Petr Pavel shakes hands with the ANO party leader Andrej Babiš as he is appointed as the country’s new prime minister at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic. Photograph: Eva Kořínková/Reuters

More than two months on from the parliamentary election in early October, and a prolonged standoff with the president, Petr Pavel, over his potential conflict of interest, Babiš has finally been designated as the new, 14th Czech PM at a ceremony this morning.

With his personal fortune estimated at over $4bn, Babiš is among the 10 richest Czechs, with wealth rivalling the US president, Donald Trump (believed to hold just over $5bn), of whom he is a fan, with elements of his campaign replicating that of Trump (including red baseball caps and ‘Czech Republic first’ slogan). At 71, he is also the oldest prime minister the Czech Republic has ever had.

The full cabinet appointment is expected later this month.

His coalition government will see Babiš’s ANO party team up with two fringe parties, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD), an anti-immigration party that won 7.9% of the vote, and a rightwing group called the Motorists, which received 6.8%.

Babiš is an ally of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán in the Patriots for Europe group in the European parliament and has taken an ambivalent line on aid to Ukraine – a departure from his predecessor Petr Fiala’s government, which quickly took a firm stance to support Kyiv after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

His return to frontline politics comes at a particularly tense moment as Europe keeps discussing its plans to support Ukraine, including through a controversial proposal to use frozen Russian assets for a reparations loan for Kyiv.

Babiš has pledged to cut military aid to Ukraine from the national budget and has said the new government may end the Czech-run ammunition initiative which procures large-calibre ammunition for Ukraine from around the world, Reuters noted.

All of this matters as we keep an eye on the latest on the peace talks, with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy continuing his meetings in Europe. He will be in Rome and the Vatican today.

I will bring you all the key updates throughout the day.

It’s Tuesday, 9 December 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.

Good morning.

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Matt McGrathEnvironment correspondent

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A key UN report on the state of the global environment has been “hijacked” by the United States and other countries who were unwilling to go along with the scientific findings, the co-chair has told the BBC.

The Global Environment Outlook, the result of six years’ work, connects climate change, nature loss and pollution to unsustainable consumption by people living in wealthy and emerging economies.

It warns of a “dire future” for millions unless there’s a rapid move away from coal, oil and gas and fossil fuel subsidies.

But at a meeting with government representatives to agree the findings, the US and allies said they could not go along with a summary of the report’s conclusions.

As the scientists were unwilling to water down or change their findings, the report has now been published without the summary and without the support of governments, weakening its impact.

Researchers say the objections to this new report reflect similar concerns expressed by countries at the recent COP30 talks.

The BBC has approached the relevant US government departments for comment.

Issued every six or seven years, the Global Environment Outlook is a significant scientific analysis of the major threats to the planet.

Developed under the auspices of the UN, the normal practice for studies like this is to have the key conclusions and recommendations agreed word by word with governments and published as a “summary for policymakers”.

These summaries are seen as critical because they show that governments agree with the science and are prepared to put the findings into action.

But this new version of the Global Environment Outlook does not have this type of summary, as the authors and the political representatives of around 70 countries could not agree one at a “stormy” meeting in Nairobi in October.

Compiled by nearly 300 scientists worldwide, the report argues that the food we eat, the clothes we wear, and the energy we consume all involve the extraction of resources in a highly unsustainable manner.

To solve the connected issues of climate change, pollution, nature and biodiversity loss, the report has many recommendations including a rapid move away from coal, oil and gas and a massive reduction in subsidies for farming and fossil fuels.

The authors acknowledge this type of action will drive-up prices for consumers.

But that short term pain will bring long term economic benefits for the whole world, the report says.

These strong measures, especially on fossil fuels and plastics, were too much for the United States, Saudi Arabia and Russia among others at the approval meeting, which usually work by consensus.

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Sir Robert Watson is co-chair of the report

“A small number of countries basically just hijacked the process, to be quite honest,” Prof Sir Robert Watson told BBC News.

“The US decided not to attend the meeting at all. At the very end they joined by teleconference and basically made a statement that they could not agree with most of the report, which means they didn’t agree with anything we said on climate change, biodiversity, fossil fuels, plastics and subsidies.”

Sir Robert is one of the world’s most respected scientific voices. He’s a former chief scientist for the UK’s department of the environment and has also been chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), as well as working for the World Bank and Nasa.

However he has had rows with the US in the past, criticising their decision to leave an earlier climate treaty, the Kyoto Protocol, when he was head of the IPCC.

He was ousted from that role in 2002 after lobbying by the administration of President George W. Bush.

Others present at the meeting agreed that the actions of the US and other countries “derailed” the process.

“I thought we had gone beyond the point of recognizing that when you burn oil, this big, thick black stuff comes up, and it probably isn’t good, especially when you try and breathe it in,” said Dr David Broadstock, with the Lantau Group, and one of the report’s lead authors.

“It’s kind of pretty obvious, and yet we’re still seeing parties wanting to pursue the increasing scale of production of such things,” he told BBC News.

Since taking office President Trump has sought to boost fossil fuel production and roll back US commitments to fight climate change, calling for the country to be a global energy superpower with cheap and reliable resources.

He has also sought to get the US courts to overturn the idea that carbon dioxide is a danger to public health. His government has also followed up with efforts to restrict or limit the efforts of international bodies that set out to tackle warming.

This year has seen efforts at international plastics negotiations, at the international maritime organisation and during COP30 to strike out language that states that climate change is a major issue requiring the world to move away rapidly from fossil fuels.

The disagreement over the Global Environment Outlook report will raise concerns about future negotiations for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change reports as these studies are seen as the bedrock of global efforts to limit global warming.

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Reporters Without Borders (RSF) blamed Israeli forces in Gaza for 29 of the 67 journalists killed worldwide in 2025.

The number of “murdered journalists” has risen from 66 journalists killed in 2024, most of them victims of war or criminal networks, the media freedom group said in its annual report. 

“This is where the hatred of journalists leads! It led to the death of 67 journalists this year — not by accident, and they weren’t collateral victims. They were killed, targeted for their work,” RSF Director General Thibaut Bruttin said in a statement.

“Key witnesses to history, journalists have gradually become collateral victims, inconvenient eyewitnesses, bargaining chips, pawns in diplomatic games, men and women to be ‘eliminated’,” he added. 

Journalists slain in Gaza

The most dangerous region remained the Gaza Strip, where 29 reporters lost their lives, with the second most dangerous being Mexico, with nine deaths.

The deadliest attack was a so-called “double-tap” strike on a hospital in southern Gaza on August 25, which killed five journalists, including two contributors to international news agencies Reuters and Associated Press, the report said.

Gaza: UN demands accountability as reporter death toll soars

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Since the Gaza war began in 2023, the Israeli military has killed nearly 220 journalists. At least 65 of them were slain due to their work or while they were working, the report stated.

Israel has repeatedly denied that its forces target journalists. 

503 journalists detained around the world

Other conflict regions like Ukraine and Sudan also saw the killings of three and four news professionals, respectively.

At least 53 of the total 67 media professionals killed were victims of war or criminal networks, the report said.

In Mexico, 2025 was the deadliest of the last three years for journalists. Nine professionals were killed there, making it the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists.

The report highlighted that media professionals were most at risk in their own countries. Two foreign correspondents died on foreign soil in the past 12 months.

UN: El-Fasher a ‘stain on the international community’

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Apart from those killed, another 503 journalists are currently detained around the world for their work. This statistic was led by China, which had 121 imprisoned news professionals, and Russia in second place with 48 journalists.

Syria emerged as the country with the highest number of missing journalists as it marked the one-year anniversary of the fall of Bashar Assad’s regime

Edited by: Louis Oelofse

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Donald Trump insists he never said he would release double-tap boat strike video

The president has said that the decision on whether or not to release footage of the deadly September 2 “double tap” missile strike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean rests with his Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is okay with me,” the president told reporters Monday, backtracking on his own comments last week that “whatever” video the Pentagon possesses “we’d certainly release, no problem,” which he now denies having said.

When asked to commit to the publication of the video by ABC News’s senior political correspondent Rachel Scott, who simply presented Trump with his own words, the president once again lashed out, calling her “the most obnoxious reporter in the whole place. Let me just tell you: you are an obnoxious – actually a terrible – reporter and it’s always the same thing with you.”

Joe Sommerlad9 December 2025 09:15

Good morning

Hello and welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of the Donald Trump administration as the president’s top defense officials prepare to brief the top lawmakers on Capitol Hill about their long-term national security plans for the United States.

Joe Sommerlad9 December 2025 09:05

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The M66 is being held after a collision with flooding on the carriageway



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The mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew was granted bond from ICE custody as conflicting claims emerge over her immigration and relationship to Leavitt.

Published On 9 Dec 20259 Dec 2025

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A Brazilian-born woman with familial ties to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt is being released from United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody as she has contested possible deportation, her lawyer has said.

Bruna Ferreira, a longtime resident of Massachusetts, received a $1,500 bond on Monday from an immigration judge at a Louisiana detention centre. Ferreira was arrested by ICE agents last month while driving to pick up her 11-year-old son in New Hampshire. She was previously engaged to Leavitt’s brother, Michael.

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Her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau, said in a text message that “we argued that she wasn’t a danger or a flight risk,” and added: “The government stipulated to our argument and never once argued that she was a criminal illegal alien and waived appeal.”

A protester is arrested as members of the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) conduct immigration raids on the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina [File: Sam Wolfe/Reuters]

The White House has sought to distance Leavitt from the case, saying in a statement that Ferreira had not spoken to the press secretary “in years”. Trump administration officials have not provided evidence for their claims about Ferreira’s history.

However, court filings, family photographs, and previous reporting indicate Ferreira lived with her son and shared custody with Michael Leavitt. In an interview with The Washington Post, Ferreira said she had chosen Karoline Leavitt to be her son’s godmother.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said in an email that Ferreira is a “criminal illegal alien” who had been detained for battery, an allegation Pomerleau denies. DHS also stated that Ferreira entered the US on a B2 tourist visa that required her to leave the country in 1999.

“She will have periodic mandatory check-ins with ICE law enforcement to ensure she is abiding by the terms of her release,” the DHS spokesperson added.

A Trump administration official described Ferreira as an absentee parent who “has never lived with her son”. The official said the child has lived full-time with Michael Leavitt in New Hampshire since birth.

Ferreira said the White House’s characterisation of her as someone who had never lived with her child is “disgusting” and untrue.

According to the North Andover Eagle-Tribune, Ferreira and Michael Leavitt were engaged in 2014, when their son Mike Jr was eight months old.

Pomerleau disputes those accounts, insisting his client has shared custody. He said Ferreira came to the US as a toddler and later enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme, which grants protection from deportation to people brought to the country without authorisation as children. According to him, the 33-year-old has maintained legal status under DACA and is now seeking a green card.

Efforts by former President Donald Trump to end DACA during his first term were blocked by the US Supreme Court.

Karoline Leavitt has declined to comment on the case. The current press secretary rose to prominence as Donald Trump’s spokeswoman during his 2024 campaign and now serves as a key member of the White House. She has become one of the leading defenders of the administration’s aggressive crackdown on undocumented immigrants and has publicly supported stricter ICE operations.

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While peace talks continue, so does fighting along the front line in eastern Ukraine

Ukraine is preparing to present a revised peace plan to the White House, as it seeks to avoid making territorial concessions to Russia.

Kyiv is set to propose alternatives to the US after President Volodymyr Zelensky again ruled out surrendering land, saying he had “no right” to do so under Ukrainian or international law.

He made the comments as he met European and Nato leaders on Monday, part of a collective push to deter the US from backing a peace deal which includes major concessions for Ukraine, and which allies fear would leave it vulnerable to a future invasion.

Meanwhile, the city of Sumy in north-western Ukraine was left without power overnight after a Russian drone attack.

The region’s governor said more than a dozen drones had hit power infrastructure, the latest in Russia’s nightly attacks. No deaths were reported.

Zelensky’s ongoing diplomatic tour of Europe comes after days of intensive talks between US and Ukrainian negotiators over the weekend, that failed to produce a deal Kyiv could agree to.

Zelensky was due to be briefed on that private summit on Monday by his chief negotiator Rustem Umerov, who wrote on Telegram that he would feed back details of direct talks between the US and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Ukrainian president told a news conference that his team could send a new proposal to the Americans as soon as Tuesday, AFP news agency reported.

On the subject of surrendering land, Zelensky said: “Russia is insisting that we give up territories, but we don’t want to cede anything.”

He continued: “We have no legal right to do so, under Ukrainian law, our constitution and international law. And we don’t have any moral right either.”

Zelensky has long maintained that any changes to Ukraine’s borders would need to be authorised by a public referendum.

Elsewhere, he told reporters that the initial 28-point plan proposed by the US – and rejected by Kyiv and European leaders as being too favourable to Russia – had been cut down to 20 points, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

He said no “pro-Ukrainian” points had been removed from the draft, though there had also been no “compromise” on the subject of territory.

Zelensky singled out control of the eastern Donbas region and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as being among the “most sensitive” issues.

The original leaked version of the US-backed plan proposed that Ukraine hand over total control of the Donbas to Russia, despite the fact that Kremlin forces have been unable to capture it in full after almost four years of war.

Energy produced at Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, would be split between Russia and Ukraine, the draft plan said.

Leaders in Kyiv and across Europe have indicated there has been progress in refining that draft in recent weeks, and have praised the Trump administration for seeking to mediate an end to the fighting.

But Monday’s hastily arranged Downing Street summit – attended by Zelensky, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz – was widely viewed as a show of support for Ukraine as it seeks to resist White House pressure.

No 10 said there had been an agreement that the US-led talks represented a “critical moment” to ramp up support for Ukraine, and repeated calls for a “just and lasting peace… which includes robust security guarantees”.

EPA

The nature of those future security guarantees are another open question in the negotiations.

Efforts continue to assemble an international coalition prepared to offer ongoing military support to Kyiv in the event of a peace deal, though it is not yet clear what form that would take.

While the UK and France have proposed deploying international troops in Ukraine, several key defence players in Europe, including Germany and Italy, have expressed scepticism about that idea.

It is also not clear to what extent the US would be willing to underpin any future defence arrangements for Ukraine.

Following talks in London, Zelensky flew to Brussels to meet Nato chief Mark Rutte and EU chief Ursula von der Leyen, and will meet Prime Minister Georgia Meloni in Italy on Tuesday.

Moscow has also claimed talks with the White House have been constructive, despite little public indication it has moved on any of the goals set out by the Kremlin when it launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.

On Sunday, Trump indicated that he viewed Zelensky as the main obstacle to securing a peace deal, something he has made a key foreign policy goal and which the president claimed he would be able to achieve rapidly during the 2024 presidential election campaign.

He told reporters that Russia was “fine” with the peace plan outlined to both sides by the US, but that he was a “little disappointed that Zelensky hasn’t read it”.

Almost simultaneously, Zelensky said he was waiting to briefed by Umerov following three days of discussions with his US counterparts in Miami.

“Some issues can only be discussed in person,” said Zelensky.

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Dog lovers gathered Monday in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to try to break the informal world record for the largest number of golden retrievers assembled in a park.

Organizer Fausto Duperre watched as over 2,000 golden retrievers poured into Palermo park, all eager to surpass the previous record of 1,685.

“We are witnessing something historic,” said Duperre, who has become something of a golden retriever influencer on social media, where he regularly posts content about his 10-year-old golden named Oli.

The previous record was held by Vancouver, Canada, with 1,685 dogs.Image: Cristina Sille/Anadolu/picture alliance

Dubbed the “Golden Wave,” what started as a simple social media idea quickly swelled into a joyful canine takeover of the capital’s Bosques de Palermo park.

The park overflowed with golden retrievers of every age, from muddy, playful puppies to dignified seniors.

A group of volunteers roved with clipboards to register each golden retriever in attendanceImage: Cristina Sille/Anadolu/picture alliance

“Since we were children, she’s been a constant presence in our family. We’ve had vacations with her. We’ve done everything together,” Nicolas Orellana said. They drove an hour and a half from their hometown in Buenos Aires province for the event.

“It’s a type of dog that’s known to create a special bond,” he said, kneeling to pet his contented 13-year-old dog Luna.

Maximiliano Rivero holds up his pet Manola at the gathering of golden retrievers.at Palermo neighborhood parkImage: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Photo/picture alliance

Last year, Vancouver set the bar with 1,685 golden retrievers, but Duperre announced that Argentina had shattered the record with 2,397 furry participants.

“I’m truly grateful and happy, proud, excited and overjoyed all at once,” he added.

The final count was announced late Monday as 2,397 golden retrievers.Image: Cristina Sille/Anadolu/picture alliance

Edited by: Felix Tamsut

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