Four Russian and Chinese bombers have been intercepted operating together for the first time by American and Canadian fighters near Alaska.

North American Aerospace Defense Command (Norad) said it had “detected, tracked and intercepted” two Russian TU-95 and two PRC H-6 military aircraft operating in the Alaska air defence identification zone (Adiz) on Wednesday.

The aircraft did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace and the activity “is not seen as a threat”, the joint US-Canadian aerospace command said.

The agency said it will “continue to monitor” competitor activity near North America and meet presence with presence”. It added that it “remains ready to employ a number of response options in defence of North America”.

China and Russia confirmed on Thursday that they had conducted a joint air patrol over the Bering Sea, which divides Russia and Alaska.

A defence official told Air & Space Forces Magazine it was the first time H-6 bombers had entered the Alaska Adiz.

They said the intercept was carried out by US F-16 and F-35 fighter jets, Canadian CF-18 fighter jets, and support aircraft.

While Russia’s military has long been active in the north Pacific, China has emerged as a new actor in recent years as it expands its navy and air force.

In May, Norad said it was tracking four Russian military aircraft operating in the Alaska Adiz. It said at the time that Russian activity in the area “occurs regularly and is not seen as a threat”.

The Chinese military aircraft intercepted this week are the first detected in the area.

The Russian defence ministry said the joint patrol also flew over the Chukchi Sea, which is on the north side of the Bering Strait.

Russian fighter jets and strategic bombers were joined by Chinese strategic bombers in the exercises, which lasted more than five hours, the ministry said.

Zhang Xiaogang, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry, said it was the eighth joint strategic air patrol since 2019 to test and improve coordination between the two air forces.

“This action is not aimed at third parties, it is in line with relevant international laws and international practices and has nothing to do with the current international and regional situation,” Mr Zhang said.

He declined to comment when asked if it was the first such patrol over the Bering Sea.

Nathan Beauchamp-Mustafaga, a policy researcher at the Rand Corporation who specialises in Chinese military strategy, said the commentary from China “suggests that this is intended as a kind of tit for tat retaliation for US military activity in China’s EEZ [exclusive economic zone] that Beijing has long opposed and sought to get the US to stop”.

He added that it was an “unsurprising evolution of China and Russia’s evening military ties” as these “bomber flights have been occurring previously in Asia and Alaska is one place where both of them can use their air force.”

He also noted the relationship between the two of the US’s adversaries as a “deepening partnership.”

“This has been a long standing partnership, but it’s obviously grown deeper and deeper since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022… the general understanding is that Moscow has become more desperate for Beijing’s support, and so it’ll be interesting… if we can tell who was the driver behind this flight”, he said.

In recent years, China has helped Russia revive its military by providing essential tools and components to produce weapons for the war in Ukraine.

In 2023, 90 per cent of Russia’s microelectronics imports, crucial for the production of missiles, tanks and aircraft, came from China, The Wall Street Journal reported.

China supplied Russia with more than 70 per cent of its nearly $900 million (£699 million) machine-tool imports in the last quarter of 2023. Beijing sent nitrocellulose, a compound used to make ammunition and rockets, to Russia, as well as satellite imagery.

A photo released by the Russian defence ministry showed a Russian Su-30 fighter jet escorting a Chinese bomber. Another photo posted online by the military channel of China’s state broadcaster CCTV showed Russian and Chinese long-winged bombers flying in parallel formation.

In March, Gen Gregory Guillot, the head of US Northern Command, called for a stronger military “presence” on Alaska’s coast to push back against Russian and Chinese military activity in the area.

He said China was conducting maritime activities “under the cloud of  technical or scientific research, but we think it’s certainly multi-mission to include military operations”.

He added: “I expect to see air activity in the Alaska part of the Arctic as soon as this year potentially. It’s a very big concern of mine.”

Dr James Char, research fellow with the China programme at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, told The Telegraph that “it is far safer and less controversial for the PLA to continue expanding Chinese strategic depth towards the Atlantic Ocean and the western Pacific” compared with the South China Sea or the Taiwan Strait.

The NHS shingles vaccine delays the onset of dementia by up to nine months, research by Oxford University suggests.

The Shingrix jab is currently offered to everyone aged 70 to 79 as well as those with a weakened immune system, and is being gradually rolled out to the over-65s.

As well as fighting shingles, a study has now shown that it also seems to delay a dementia diagnosis by an average of five to nine months, which could have a major impact on rates of the disease in Britain.

Oxford University is not sure what is driving the effect, but says it is possible that the herpes zoster virus that causes shingles may also trigger dementia.

John Todd, professor of precision medicine at the University of Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Medicine, said: “By inhibiting the virus, the vaccine could reduce this risk.

“Alternatively, the vaccine also contains chemicals, which might have separate beneficial effects on brain health.”

Shingles is caused by a reactivation of the chickenpox (herpes zoster) virus, which lies dormant after an infection and causes weeks of painful blisters, headaches, fever and, in severe cases, death.

It is particularly dangerous for the elderly, which is why they are offered a vaccine by the NHS each year.

Researchers were able to conduct a natural experiment into the unexpected benefits of the GSK Shingrix vaccine after the US switched from using Merck’s shingles jab Zostavax, in 2017.

Several small studies had already suggested that Zostavax might reduce the risk of dementia so researchers seized the opportunity to find out what would happen once the jab was altered.

The team followed 200,000 people aged 65 and over for six years, and discovered that Shingrix was even more effective at staving off dementia than the previous vaccine.

Although the number of people eventually diagnosed with dementia remained the same, they had enjoyed an extra 164 dementia-free days on average – equating to 17 per cent more time without the condition compared with people on Zostavax.

When compared with people taking other jabs, such as the flu or tetanus vaccine, the effect was even greater, with 27 per cent more time spent without dementia – equating to around nine months.

The current uptake of the Shingrix vaccine is around 60 per cent, and Oxford researchers said it was high enough that a fall in dementia rates in Britain may start to be noticeable in the coming years, linked to the roll-out.

‘This will be a good test’

Dr Maxime Taquet, National Institutes of Health Research clinical lecturer at the University of Oxford, said: “The mean age was just over 70 in both groups and so I think if the expectation is that if this is a causal effect, then we would see a reduction in dementia in the UK once people started taking up the shingles vaccines for the team. This will be a good test of this hypothesis.”

There are estimated to be 944,000 people with dementia in Britain, with the majority suffering from Alzheimer’s.

The number is expected to increase to more than one million by 2030, with one in three people born in the UK this year expected to develop dementia in their lifetime.

The condition costs the country £34.7 billion annually and is now the leading cause of death, but current drugs can only help symptoms, not put the brakes on progression.

Researchers at Oxford believe that the vaccine may work even better if given earlier and say data should be available within the next few years to find the “sweet spot” for delivery.

Paul Harrison, a professor of psychiatry at the University of Oxford, said: “Dementia is a major and increasing problem, and it’s perhaps the disease people fear most in old age, but the reality is we still can’t do very much to prevent the inexorable progression or even delay its onset.

“It will be interesting to see if when people hear of these findings, whether the public choose to increase the uptake of the shingles vaccine when they’re offered by the NHS

“There should be enough people within not too long that we’ll be able to get a handle on whether any beneficial effect is indeed age-related. And in which case, is there a sweet spot or when the vaccine might have its greatest benefits against dementia risk.”

The findings were welcomed by experts from other universities and charities, who called for further studies to validate the research.

Andrew Doig, professor of biochemistry at the University of Manchester, said: “A link between infection with the herpes zoster virus and the onset of dementia has been suspected for some time.

“Now, we need to run a clinical trial of the recombinant vaccine, comparing patients who receive the vaccine with those who get a placebo. We also need to see how many years the effect might last and whether we should vaccinate people at a younger age.

“We know that the path to Alzheimer’s disease can start decades before any symptoms are apparent, so the vaccine might be even more effective if given to people in their 40s or 50s.”

Dr Sheona Scales, director of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, said: “Dementia isn’t an inevitable part of ageing; it’s caused by diseases like Alzheimer’s. So finding new ways to reduce people’s risk of developing these diseases is vital.

“It isn’t clear how the vaccine might be reducing risk, nor whether the vaccine causes a reduction in dementia risk directly, or whether there’s another factor at play. So it will be critical to study this apparent effect further.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

A former STV and BBC presenter has been jailed for more than two years after her sister discovered she had embezzled more than £120,000 from her dementia-stricken mother.

Hayley Matthews, who was also known for fronting an SNP national conference, abused her position of trust to “brazenly fund an extravagant lifestyle”, prosecutors have said.

Suspicions were raised when, following the death of Matthews’s mother, Janice, in September 2021, she told other family members her estate was worth only £36,000.

Danielle Thomson, Matthews’s sister, obtained copies of financial statements from her mother’s bank and found that thousands had been withdrawn while she was in hospital.

She called the police, and detectives discovered 371 PayPal transactions totalling £46,763, ATM withdrawals amounting to £38,000, and Amazon purchases worth £13,650.

Matthews also bought a Mulberry handbag costing £1,371 with her mother’s money, while items purchased from the White Company, an upmarket clothing and homeware store, had a value of £5,545.

Matthews, who had power of attorney over her mother’s financial affairs, was jailed for two years and three months at Edinburgh Sheriff Court.

‘Thefts funded extravagant lifestyle’

Lynne Barrie, the procurator fiscal for Lothian and Borders, said: “Hayley Matthews was placed in a position of family trust to oversee her mother’s financial affairs. But she abused that responsibility by stealing thousands of pounds and used that money to brazenly fund an extravagant lifestyle.

“This case demonstrates that those who seek to exploit vulnerable victims for their own personal gain will be held to account for their crimes.”

The court heard that Matthews’s father, Alistair, had confronted her in January 2022 about the spending.

During text exchanges, Matthews wrote: “You’re right, I’ve been shocking at handling mum’s money and paperwork.

“I’ve spent what I shouldn’t and used money I shouldn’t. I wasn’t in a very good place when looking after her, but I tried my best.”

Bank statements showed she had also spent her mother’s cash at Harvey Nichols, Kurt Geiger, Molton Brown and Marks & Spencer.

Matthews has also previously worked for BBC Radio Scotland and was a newspaper columnist for the Edinburgh Evening News.

She had worked alongside Lorraine Kelly and interviewed celebrities such as Amy Winehouse and Jason Donovan.

Last month, she pleaded guilty to embezzlement, between September 2019 and November 2022. She returned to the dock on Thursday for sentencing.

Sheriff Alison Stirling told Matthews she had been in “a position of trust” and said her behaviour has had “a serious impact” on her family.

She added: “Custody is the only appropriate disposal. Your actions were deliberate and  repeated over a period of more than three years.”

Kieran Clegg, defending Matthews, said his client admitted her spending had been “selfish and extravagant” and had offered “very little in the way of explanation”.

Hospital operations risk being cancelled as the health service has less than two days of O negative blood left.

NHS trusts have been told to restrict use of O type blood to essential cases, while donors are being urged to come forward and book appointments.

Some operations may be delayed in order to manage limited blood stocks and reduce demand for transfusions.

The NHS Blood and Transplant service said the recent cyber attack on London hospitals, combined with high numbers of unfilled appointments to give blood, had created a “perfect storm” with unprecedented shortages.

Donors of O negative and O positive blood – the most common types – have been asked to urgently give blood, with an “amber alert” issued because of the shortages.

Prof Sir Stephen Powis, the NHS national medical director, has written to all NHS hospitals saying only planned surgery that is deemed “lower priority” should be delayed while anaemia is treated, reducing the chance that blood would be needed.

O negative and O positive donors have been asked to urgently book and keep appointments at donor centres, with 45,000 slots to fill by September.

National stocks of O negative now stand at just 1.6 days, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) said.

Across all blood types, national stocks are 4.3 days.

O negative is known as the universal blood type and can be given to anyone. It is used in emergencies or when a patient’s blood type is unknown.

The amber alert – the second to ever be issued by NHSBT – means hospitals are required to introduce emergency measures to minimise usage of blood.

Staff will be told to vet the use of all O type blood, with particular efforts to conserve use of O negative. This type of blood is carried by ambulances.

Just 8 per cent of the population have type O negative but it makes up for around 16 per cent of hospital orders.

Hospitals will continue to carry out urgent, emergency or trauma surgery, cancer surgery, transplant surgery and blood transfusions to treat people with long-term conditions.

The attack by Russian hackers has left hospitals unable to match blood types as quickly as normal, meaning they are relying heavily on O type blood.

In the absence of information to match blood types, NHS hospitals in London have been far more reliant on O types.

Since the start of the incident in June, hospitals affected by the cyber attack have needed twice as much O negative blood.

Almost 10,000 operations and appointments have been cancelled because of the cyber attack, by a Russian group called Qilin, on computer systems run by Synnovis, which provides pathology services to hospitals and GP surgeries in London.

Officials said the blood shortages were compounded by the fact donations normally drop over the summer holiday period.

Dr Jo Farrar, the NHSBT chief executive, said: “We urgently need more O group donors to come forward and help boost stocks to treat patients needing treatment. 

“Last month we saw an incredible response from donors who answered our call and filled up our centres, helping us meet the increased demands for  blood throughout June. However, seven weeks on, the need for O negative blood in particular remains critical.

“We’re making an additional 1,000 appointments per week available, please take a moment to go online and book. If you can’t find an appointment immediately, please book in for coming days, weeks and months. We will have an ongoing need for donations.”

Prof Powis said: “We’re seeing an increased demand for blood and shortages of stock so it’s important that donors come forward for appointments.

“With thanks to regular blood donors across the country, hospitals will continue to access stock when necessary and prioritise it for those who need it most.”

He said: “Patients should also continue to come forward for care if they need it – by using 999 in a life-threatening emergency or otherwise using 111 on the NHS App, online or by phone for other health concerns.”

The Welsh Blood Service on Thursday said it had not ruled out sending blood to England while stocks were low.

In October 2022, NHSBT issued an alert blaming staff shortages and “a change in donor behaviour” in the wake of the pandemic, which meant donors were less likely to travel to centres.

Donor numbers have fallen following NHSBT’s decision in 2016 to stop accepting walk-in donations, having said that “modern hospitals use less blood”.