New Hire for London’s Breaking News Hub

The LaGuardia plane collision. War in the Middle East. The U.S. immigration crackdown. On an array of big-time recent stories, the London breaking news hub has sprung into action, helping to ensure that we deliver speedy and authoritative coverage around the clock. We are excited to announce a new correspondent for the hub who has handled these major news moments and many others.

Leo Sands joins us this week from The Washington Post, where he was a London-based reporter covering U.S. and international news. His byline appeared on hundreds of urgent stories, from the Los Angeles wildfires to the wars in Gaza and Lebanon. He also has an eye for offbeat features, including on the history of kissing and the jokes that made medieval peasants laugh . During his time at The Post he reported from elsewhere in Europe and handled some editing duties too. His experience and versatility make him an excellent addition to the breaking news hub, a partnership of the Express and Live teams that has been essential to our work on the biggest storylines and our efforts to bring Times journalism to wider audiences.

"I've long admired the rigor, speed and flair of The Times's around-the-clock journalism," Leo says. "I'm delighted to be joining the team in London during a busy news moment when the paper's mission has never felt so essential."

Leo was previously at the BBC, where he produced TV news broadcasts, including from Washington on election night in 2020. His investigation into a Covid-era work-from-home scam resulted in an hourlong BBC documentary, " Jobfished ." He later worked as a journalist for the British broadcaster's website before moving to The Post. Leo studied at Trinity College at Cambridge, where he earned a master's in history, and holds British, American and French citizenship. He lives in east London, where you can often find him doing battle with the city's hills on his fixed-gear bike.

Please join us in welcoming Leo to The Times.

- Julie, Melissa and Shashank