Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Research could pave way for cheap supercapacitor storage of renewable energy
The humble house brick has been turned into a battery that can store electricity, raising the possibility that buildings could one day become literal powerhouses.
The new technology exploits the porous nature of fired red bricks by filling the pores with tiny nanofibres of a conducting plastic that can store charge. The first bricks store enough electricity to power small lights. But if their capacity can be increased, they may become a low-cost alternative to the lithium-ion batteries currently used.
Auckland has been swiftly put under a three-day lockdown after four cases of coronavirus were confirmed in one family in the city.
The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, made the announcement at a late-night press conference after 102 days without any community transmission in New Zealand. The family had not travelled overseas and the source of the infection was unknown
Experts offer other options as UK government seeks to reduce numbers crossing in boats
The government insists the way to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats is to prevent the vessels from leaving France in the first place or by intercepting the boats and returning those attempting to make a crossing.
But humanitarian groups and refugee and asylum experts argue the way to reduce the number of attempted crossings is to offer alternative “safe and legal” routes to the UK to claim asylum.
War Office feared war movie would ‘not go down well with British public’
The adventure war film The Bridge on the River Kwai may have swept the board of awards and attracted acclaim as one best films of the 20th century, but the War Office was very nervous “it would not go down well with the British public”, documents reveal.
Letters between the Hollywood producer Sam Spiegel and the UK War Office, from whom he was seeking permission for RAF cooperation in making the 1957 film, show tensions over how its plot depicted the conduct of British officers.
Home Office minister says measures being considered to make route ‘unviable’
The UK and France are working “at pace” on a new plan to put an end to people attempting to cross the Channel in small boats, a Home Office minister has said, as tensions rise over the British government’s approach to the unfolding crisis.
Following talks with officials in Paris, Chris Philp, minister for immigration compliance, conceded the French were doing a “great deal of work” and had intercepted more than 1,000 people attempting to reach England this year after days of loaded statements from the two nations.
I am one of those people who were told that from 1 August we no longer needed to shield to protect ourselves from the coronavirus.
While you might assume that, having been trapped inside our homes for the past 18 weeks, we would embrace our newfound freedom with enthusiasm, the reality remains far from it.
Consensus crumbles after Liz Truss reportedly sought to make the cheese a part of negotiations
Having promised to rush through a post-Brexit trade deal, Japan and Britain made significant progress only to discover that the fate of Stilton has driven a wedge between them.
During recent talks in London, international trade secretary Liz Truss and the Japanese foreign minister, Toshimitsu Motegi, reached a “substantial” preliminary agreement on trade, promising to conclude a preliminary deal by the end of this month.
It is a week since the devastating explosion rocked Beirut, killing more than 200 people. As shock turns to anger and the cabinet resigns, Bethan McKernan and Martin Chulov report on what comes next for the Lebanese people
The deadly explosion that ripped through Beirut last week has left more than 200 people dead, thousands injured and hundreds of thousands displaced from their homes. The blast happened in a summer of already simmering tension in Lebanon as an economic crisis has taken a devastating toll on the country.
The Guardian’s Martin Chulov,who is based in Beirut, describes the moment his apartment was rocked by the blast – and what he witnessed that day. He tells Mythili Rao the scenes were apocalyptic, and worsened the closer he walked to the site of the explosion at the city’s docks.
Wearing face coverings, avoiding kissing and choosing positions where you are not face to face are among the recommendations from a leading sexual health charity to reduce the risk of catching coronavirus during sex.
Publishing advice on managing the risk, the Terrence Higgins Trust said asking people to abstain indefinitely was not realistic and that people needed to find a way “to balance our need for sex and intimacy with the risks of the spread of Covid-19”.
Alleged murder of man referred to IOPC over prior police contact with those involved
Detectives in Dorset have launched a murder investigation following the death of a 66-year-old man after a stabbing.
Dorset police said a 53-year-old man from Poole was initially held on suspicion of inflicting grievous bodily harm and later arrested on suspicion of murder.
One senior local health official, who did not want to speak on the record, said he interpreted the move as “the government saying we can’t do this only from London”.
Whether or not you interpret it as shifting the blame and responsibility [to local teams], I wouldn’t go that far but it’s a reflection that it can’t be either/or - it has to be both [local and national].
If you look on a map, it’s really clear: there’s probably one case a week in Surrey. It’s not quite like that in Blackburn with Darwen, for instance.
We’ve shifted from a single, universal pandemic across the whole country to a series of localised flare-ups. That’s why the nimbleness and ability to get on top of things at a local level really does matter.
People who have been in contact with confirmed coronavirus cases may get a knock on their door if tracers are unable to reach them over the phone under plans to strengthen regional test and trace powers in England announced by health officials.
In pilot schemes, this has meant that local authorities have been able to visit people at homes where national contact tracers have been unable to reach them. It comes after criticism that the national system was not tapping into local knowledge.
NHS Test and Trace is one of the largest contact tracing and testing systems anywhere in the world, and was built rapidly, drawing on the UK’s existing health protection networks, to stop the spread of coronavirus.
At the height of the pandemic, we ensured the system had extra capacity in place to cope with potential peaks in the virus.
First minister apologises after predicted awards downgraded more heavily in poorer areas
Nicola Sturgeon has apologised to tens of thousands of Scottish teenagers whose exam results were downgraded last week and promised urgent changes to their awards.
The first minister attempted to defuse a growing crisis for her government by confirming that her deputy, John Swinney, would lay out proposals to regrade results in the Scottish parliament on Tuesday.
Pro-democracy activists allege five British officers have taken part in brutal actions against protesters
Pro-democracy activists have launched a private prosecution in London against five British officers working for the Hong Kong police, alleging they have taken part in brutal actions against protesters.
The officers – who have not been named – occupy senior roles inside Hong Kong’s local police force. They are accused of torturing anti-government demonstrators, who have been protesting since June last year over an extradition bill and security law imposed by Beijing.
PM hints at law change to make it easier to deport people who make dangerous voyage
Boris Johnson has branded attempts by people to cross the Channel in small boats as a “very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do” and hinted at changing the law to make it easier to deport such arrivals.
Meanwhile, a French politician has warned that the UK’s decision to send in the Royal Navy “won’t change anything”, and a former Home Office official has said he was sceptical of the plans.
India has registered a record 1,007 fatalities in the past 24 hours as new coronavirus infections surged by 62,064 cases, the Associated Press reports.
The health ministry said the total fatalities reached 44,386 on Monday. The number of confirmed cases reported so far are 2,215,074. At least 634,935 patients were still undergoing treatment.
Concern is growing that a resurgence of coronavirus in Europe will lead to a “second wave” of uncoordinated border restrictions that will undermine the open borders on which the European Union is founded.
In a letter to national governments, seen by the Associated Press, the European commission warns that “while we must ensure that the EU is ready for possible resurgences of Covid-19 cases ... we should at the same time avoid a second wave of uncoordinated actions at the internal borders of the EU.”
Fears of flash flooding in parts of country, while experts warn extreme heat could become the norm
Over a month’s worth of rain could fall within two hours on parts of Britain this week, causing flash flooding, while an ongoing heatwave is set to break records.
Police and the coastguard issued warnings over the weekend as two people died – a woman after a collision between a jet ski and a boat in north Wales, and a man believed to have drowned in a lake at a Norfolk beauty spot.
Dawn Butler, the Labour MP and former shadow equalities minister, has accused the police of being institutionally racist after she was stopped while driving to Sunday lunch with a friend.
Butler, a strong critic of police stop-and-search tactics, said the car was being driven by her male friend, who like Butler is black, when two police cars pulled it over in Hackney, east London. Officers said the vehicle was registered in North Yorkshire.
Director general admits mistake following 18,000 complaints
The BBC’s director general, Tony Hall, has apologised after the N-word was used in a TV news broadcast, following mass complaints and the resignation of one of the corporation’s radio DJs.
“Every organisation should be able to acknowledge when it has made a mistake. We made one here,” Hall said in an email to all BBC staff.
French and British ministers prepare to meet after 151 more people came ashore on Saturday
Tensions are mounting between the UK and France over migrant crossings in the Channel after the number of people who have reached UK shores in small boats this year surpassed 4,000.
Families with young children were among hundreds of people who came ashore near Dover this weekend, including 151 on Saturday, the Home Office confirmed.
Developer seeks to cash out of investment in John Nash-designed terrace with views of Regent’s Park
Developers have stuck an asking price of £185m on a house overlooking Regent’s Park in central London in what would be the UK’s second most-expensive home purchase.
The property firm Zenprop is targeting foreign billionaires as potential buyers of 1-18 York Terrace East as it seeks to cash out of a 2016 investment.