Two men died after reports of shooting in Moss Side early on Sunday
Police are investigating a double murder that followed a lockdown street gathering of “hundreds of people” in Manchester.
A 36-year-old man died after reports of a shooting near Caythorpe Street, Moss Side, at about 12.55am on Sunday. A 21-year-old was also taken to hospital with gunshot wounds but died later on Sunday, Greater Manchester police said. No arrests have been made.
Continue reading...Police arrest one man at scene and are not looking for anyone else over attack that they are not currently treating as a terrorism incident
Three people have died and another three have been seriously injured after a stabbing attack on Saturday night in Reading, police have confirmed.
A 25-year-old man from Reading, about 40 miles west of London, was arrested at the scene on suspicion of murder and is in custody, Thames Valley police said. They are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.
Continue reading...How has Covid-19 progressed where you live?
The map shows local authorities where the number of cases has increased week-on-week and where it has fallen. Some of this is due to natural fluctuations, especially in areas where there are very few cases, and so a rise from 1 to 2 is a doubling. Increased testing also means that more cases may be being detected than previously, although the impact of this between one week and the next is likely to be slight.
Continue reading...Committee urges that companies must meet green standards to qualify for Covid-19 corporate bailouts
Ministers are bracing themselves for a powerful new rebuke from the government’s own advisers over the nation’s inadequate response to the climate crisis. In its annual progress report, to be published on Thursday, the Committee on Climate Change will lambast continuing failures by the government to tackle the issues of overheating homes, flash floods, loss of biodiversity and the other threats posed as our planet continues to overheat dangerously.
Last year, the committee complained that no areas of the UK’s response to the climate crisis were being tackled properly. “The whole thing is run by the government like a Dad’s Army,” said the committee’s chairman, Lord Deben.
Continue reading...Pressure group claims disproportionate number of black people held for longer periods to ‘reduce black and brown migration to UK’
Black people are detained significantly longer than white people inside the UK’s immigration detention system, prompting fresh claims of “institutional racism”.
Although the Home Office does not record ethnicity data for detainees, analysis of nationalities of those recently held within the immigration detention estate found that citizens from countries with predominantly black and brown populations are held for substantially longer periods than those from predominantly white countries.
Continue reading...British firms fulfilling fighter jet contracts which enable kingdom to wage war in Yemen, despite the trade being ruled unlawful
The government stands accused of ignoring a landmark court ruling restricting UK arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
In a judgment handed down a year ago, the court of appeal ruled it was “unlawful” for the government to have allowed the sale of arms to the kingdom for use in Yemen, where independent estimates suggest a Saudi-led coalition has been responsible for the deaths of more than 8,000 civilians since 2015.
Continue reading...Many families are enduring terrible hardship, and campaigners fear long-term consequences for the most vulnerable in society
“Before Covid, my three children and I had structure. We would wake up in the morning, they would go to school and do their thing, and I would do mine. We had joy,” says Vicky (not her real name), a single parent living in one of the most disadvantaged boroughs in the country, in south London.
The capital has the highest rate of child poverty in any English region – more than 700,000 children, and 43% of children in inner London. Over the past five years, child poverty has risen in every London borough, in part because of the capital’s uniquely high housing, childcare and living costs, as well as low pay (72% of children in poverty are in working households) and the impact of £39bn cut nationally from the benefit system since 2010. Then, in March, came Covid-19 and lockdown, deepening and accelerating deprivation across the UK, increasing rates of child abuse, mental ill-health and domestic violence.
Continue reading...Backbenchers and party activists are unimpressed by U-turns and dithering as public support continues to fall
Ministers are expecting a wide-ranging government reshuffle in September in which Boris Johnson will sack key figures who are judged to have underperformed in the Covid-19 crisis.
Cabinet sources said the move was now seen as inevitable. They believe sweeping changes will be made in an attempt to defuse mounting discontent on the Tory backbenches following a stream of U-turns and a fall in the party’s poll ratings.
Continue reading...Campaigners want affordable kits for all but health experts doubt efficacy of a mass exercise
A new divide is opening up between the “haves” and the “have nots” – this time over Covid-19 testing. While private schools and big businesses have introduced testing for their pupils and employees, allowing them to return to school and work, state schools and small businesses will be left to rely on the state. Campaigners warn that “testing inequality” could fuel greater financial inequality.
Financial giants, such as Credit Suisse, have introduced antibody testing for their employees, while the Premier League restarted its season last week, thanks to rapid antigen testing of players and backroom staff. Ocado bought 100,000 testing kits for its staff when lockdown began and some private schools intend to use testing as part of their plan to get all children back into classrooms at the start of the next academic year.
Continue reading...Brazil passes 1 million infections; Australia struggles with new cases; Greta Thunberg says similar urgency needed for climate change as for Covid-19
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday hailed “hero” doctors who died during the coronavirus epidemic, comparing them to battlefield medics from past wars.
Putin, who spoke ahead of next month’s controversial vote that is expected to extend his hold on power until 2036, also promised awards and more bonuses for health personnel.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said on Saturday that Turkey had lost some ground in its battle with the coronavirus but a focus on hygiene, masks and social distancing will protect people and help the economy rebound in the second half of the year.
This month, Ankara opened restaurants and cafes and lifted weekend stay-at-home orders and most intercity travel bans. But since 1 June, new Covid-19 cases have doubled to nearly 1,600 per day, raising concerns of a re-emergence.
Continue reading...Failure to establish key scrutiny committee is also criticised as ‘unprecedented underhand behaviour’
The government’s apparent refusal to release a report into Russian infiltration in the UK and to delay establishing a key scrutiny committee has been condemned as unprecedented and “utterly reprehensible”.
The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) has not met since before the general election in December – – its longest break since it was established in 1994 – and critics say the government has sat on the committee’s report into Russian interference for nine months.
Continue reading...Protest walk organised by Extinction Rebellion began in Birmingham and will stop off at protest sites on way to London
Eighty anti-HS2 protesters have started a 125-mile “Rebel Trail” along the route of the controversial HS2 high-speed rail link to highlight the damage they say it will do to wildlife and woodland.
The aim of the protest walk, organised by Extinction Rebellion, is to try to persuade the government to halt the high-speed link. The walkers will travel through countryside, villages and local communities along phase one of the HS2 route to show solidarity with those opposed to the rail link and say the peaceful demonstration will raise awareness about the environmental damage they say HS2 will cause.
Continue reading...Security officials fear UK telcos could run out of vital parts if US pressure disrupts supplies
British security officials have told telecoms operators to ensure they have adequate stockpiles of Huawei equipment owing to fears that US sanctions will disrupt the Chinese firm’s ability to maintain critical supplies, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Senior officials at the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), who are studying the impact of new US measures intended to restrict Huawei’s ability to source advanced microchips, wrote to BT and Vodafone last week, said three people familiar with the matter.
Continue reading...Former US national security adviser reveals series of tensions and pressure points
Donald Trump dashed British hopes that he would take a tougher line on Hong Kong, including by refusing to condemn the Tiananmen Square massacre, according to John Bolton’s book about his time as the US president’s national security adviser.
In one of many episodes in the book that reveal the fragile nature of the UK’s relations with the Trump administration, Bolton writes that the president said Tiananmen Square was decades ago and he did not want to jeopardise a potential trade deal with Beijing.
Continue reading...The education secretary has pledged that all children in all year groups in England will return to school in September. He said he understood parents' anxiety about the move, but that safety measures including protective bubbles would be in place to limit the risk of transmitting Covid-19
Continue reading...Businesswoman is seeking £1.5bn from bank in high court action over £2bn Qatari loan
A businesswoman embroiled in a £1.5bn high court battle with Barclays broke down in tears after bank bosses accused her of engaging in a “hustle”.
Amanda Staveley has made complaints about bank bosses’ behaviour when negotiating investment deals during the 2008 financial crisis.
Continue reading...Call to speed up compensation for people wrongly detained and deported by government
Survivors of the Windrush scandal have delivered a petition to Downing Street signed by 130,000 people calling on the government to speed up compensation payments and implement all the recommendations in the Windrush Lessons Learned review.
Paulette Wilson and Anthony Bryan – who were wrongly held in immigration detention centres and threatened with deportation to Jamaica, a country they both left as children in the 1960s and had not visited in more than 50 years – handed the petition to police officers at the gates of Downing Street on Friday.
Continue reading...Official toll passed a thousand on 22 consecutive days – far more than daily briefings said
Ministers have been accused of playing down the gravity of the coronavirus pandemic after it emerged that more than 1,000 people died every day in the UK for 22 consecutive days – in stark contrast with daily tolls announced by the government.
According to an analysis of official figures, the darkest day came on 8 April as the country prepared for Easter under lockdown, when a record 1,445 people died from Covid-19 in 24 hours.
Continue reading...Educational campaigner tweets about completing philosophy, politics and economics degree
The Nobel prize-winning campaigner Malala Yousafzai has expressed her “joy and gratitude” after completing her degree at University of Oxford.
The 22-year-old shared two pictures of herself covered in confetti on Twitter with the caption: “Hard to express my joy and gratitude right now as I completed my Philosophy, Politics and Economics degree at Oxford.
Continue reading...Small towns, as well as big cities, across the UK have been holding Black Lives Matter protests and continue to do so. Flora, 23, meets fellow activists Hannah, Annabel and Alex for the first time at the demo they are organising together in their home town of Yeovil, in Somerset. Flora, who is mixed race, moved to the area from south London when she was 10. She talks about the difficulties of living somewhere rural but also about how her parents don’t have any regrets