NGO demands more details on Boris Johnson’s ‘vague and imprecise’ commitment
Hong Kong democracy campaigners are pressing the Foreign Office to spell out how Boris Johnson’s “vague and imprecise commitment” will give a path to British citizenship to millions of residents.
It came as Johnson wrote to seven former UK foreign secretaries saying he is trying to build a global groundswell of opposition to Chinese plans to impose a new security law in Hong Kong.
Continue reading...Ex-regional chief prosecutor urges CPS to pursue case after PM’s aide breached lockdown
Nazir Afzal, a former regional chief prosecutor, has joined a legal campaign for a new investigation into Dominic Cummings over alleged breaches of the coronavirus lockdown rules.
Afzal has urged his former employers at the Crown Prosecution Service, and the police, to pursue a case against the prime minister’s chief aide over his trips to Durham and Barnard Castle during the peak of the outbreak.
Continue reading...Head of police union for England and Wales calls for emergency law during Covid-19 pandemic
Priti Patel has been urged to impose an emergency ban on all protests after Britain’s biggest police force condemned the “mindless hooliganism” and “utterly shocking” violence of far-right activists against its officers in London.
The head of the body representing rank-and-file police officers in England and Wales called for tougher restrictions on demonstrations after 23 officers were injured and more than 100 people were arrested during clashes in London on Saturday.
Continue reading...‘Shameful’ Collateral Murder footage shows Apache helicopter mowing down 11 civilians – including two Reuters journalists – in Baghdad
US prosecutors have failed to include one of WikiLeaks’ most shocking video revelations in the indictment against Julian Assange, a move that has brought accusations the US doesn’t want its “war crimes” exposed in public.
Assange, an Australian citizen, is remanded and in ill health in London’s Belmarsh prison while the US tries to extradite him to face 18 charges – 17 under its Espionage Act – for conspiracy to receive, obtain and disclose classified information.
Continue reading...Four antiquities pulled from auction after claims they came from illicit excavations
Christie’s has quietly withdrawn four Greek and Roman antiquities from auction this month amid allegations that they had been looted from illicit excavations.
The items were in the original brochure catalogue but later removed from the online site with no explanation.
Continue reading...Mistakes mean findings should not be used as evidence for relaxing rule, say professors
Senior scientists have reported flaws in an influential World Health Organization-commissioned study into the risks of coronavirus infection and say it should not be used as evidence for relaxing the UK’s 2-metre physical distancing rule.
Critics of the distancing advice, which states that people should keep at least 2 metres apart, believe it is too cautious. They seized on the research commissioned by the WHO, which suggested a reduction from 2 metres to 1 would raise infection risk only marginally, from 1.3% to 2.6%.
Continue reading...The chancellor has said a decision on whether to ease the 2-metre physical distancing rule in England will be for ministers rather than the government’s chief scientific advisers to take. Rishi Sunak said the public would take confidence from the fact ministers were being advised by Sir Patrick Vallance and Prof Chris Whitty
Continue reading...Deaths worldwide pass 430,000; New York State sees lowest deaths since pandemic started; evacuation flight for British nationals leaves Colombia. Follow the latest updates
The way Russia counts fatalities during the coronavirus pandemic could be one reason why its official death toll of 6,829 is far below many other countries, reports the Associated Press. Despite the comparatively low number of fatalities, Russia has reported 520,000 infections, behind only the United States and Brazil.
The paradox also has led to allegations by critics and Western media that Russian authorities might have falsified the numbers for political purposes to play down the scale of the outbreak. Even a top World Health Organization official said the low number of deaths in Russia certainly is unusual.
The Guardian’s Paris correspondent, Kim Wilsher, has this report from Paris, where streets have been pedestrianised and the mayor has turned parking spaces into cycle lanes.
Related: Cafe society spills on to Paris cobbles as drivers bid to reclaim post-lockdown streets
It is evening rush hour and the Rue de Rivoli, a major east-west road through central Paris, is heaving. Pre-coronavirus, it would have been one long traffic jam, paralysed by increasingly frustrated and angry motorists. Now, though, with private cars banned, it is busy with pedestrians, cyclists and a smattering of taxis and buses.
North of Rue de Rivoli, in the Marais, a maze of narrow cobbled streets, cafes, restaurants and bars have spread out across pavements and parking places.
Continue reading...All of mainland France now in ‘green zone’; Spain’s border to open to EU countries except Portugal on 21 June; deaths worldwide pass 430,000
UK care homes are receiving far more coronavirus testing kits than they order, raising concern that the extra supplies help the government inflate the number of people it claims have been tested.
The apparently widespread nature of the practice in England has prompted fresh suspicion that ministers are counting swab kits sent out as tests done to exaggerate official figures.
Related: Oversupply of kits to care homes raises concern over Covid-19 test figures
France has reported nine new coronavirus deaths taking the total to 29,407 and marking the fifth day with under 30 fatalities, Reuters reports.
The government also reported the number of people in hospital fell by 28 to 10,881 and those in intensive care units fell by two to 869, with both tallies continuing weeks-long down-trends.
Continue reading...As plastic screens, queues and tracking apps become the new norm, experts say more change is to come
Life has already changed beyond recognition for many of us.
White-collar workers have been working from home for months after vacating office spaces in March. Pubs, restaurants and shops are a distant memory, with more of us shifting to Zoom and online shopping.
Continue reading...Tutu Foundation claims Westway Trust, which manages 23 acres in north Kensington, is ‘suppressing’ final version of critical report
A charity set up 50 years ago to compensate families living in the shadow of London’s A40 flyover has been branded “institutionally racist” and “unethical”, according to a leaked landmark report.
The Westway Trust, which manages the land under the flyover and works on a range of projects with the local people, appointed the respected Tutu Foundation to investigate persistent allegations of racism against the diverse community of north Kensington. Following the Grenfell fire, the charity provided support for victims, who today commemorate the third anniversary of the disaster in which 72 people died.
Continue reading...Richard Horton does not hold back in his criticism of the UK’s response to the pandemic and the medical establishment’s part in backing fatal government decisions
There is a school of thought that says now is not the time to criticise the government and its scientific advisers about the way they have handled the Covid-19 pandemic. Wait until all the facts are known and the crisis has subsided, goes this thinking, and then we can analyse the performance of those involved. It’s safe to say that Richard Horton, the editor of the influential medical journal the Lancet, is not part of this school.
An outspoken critic of what he sees as the medical science establishment’s acquiescence to government, he has written a book that he calls a “reckoning” for the “missed opportunities and appalling misjudgments” here and abroad that have led to “the avoidable deaths of tens of thousands of citizens”.
Continue reading...Research suggests public support for transition period delay to help combat coronavirus
More than half of people in Britain support an extension to the Brexit transition period, while three-quarters believe the UK should work very closely with the European Union to combat coronavirus, a survey suggests.
Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove formally told the EU on Friday that the UK would not ask for a delay despite concerns that its departure would compound the economic chaos inflicted by the pandemic.
Continue reading...Arrests made as ‘guard our monuments’ demonstrators chant ‘Eng-ger-land’ and throw bottles
At least five people have been arrested in clashes between protesters and police in central London at a demonstration against perceived slights to British national heritage.
Scotland Yard said that as of 5pm on Saturday, they had arrested five people for offences including violent disorder, assault on police, possession of an offensive weapon, being drunk and disorderly and possession of class A drugs.
Continue reading...Rightwing demonstrators, who announced they would turn out on Saturday to protect London's monuments from anti-racism protesters, were involved in scuffles with police outside Parliament.
In and around Parliament Square, hundreds of people wearing football shirts, chanting 'England, England' and describing themselves as patriots, gathered alongside military veterans at the Cenotaph war memorial.
The group sang songs in support of rightwing activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, who goes by the name of Tommy Robinson. 'Winston Churchill, he's one of our own,' they also chanted, near his statue which last weekend was sprayed with graffiti reading: 'Churchill was a racist'.
Continue reading...Welsh Guards stage unique ceremony to replace trooping the colour during lockdown
The Queen’s official birthday has been marked with a brief ceremonial tribute by the military under physical distancing measures.
Soldiers from the Welsh Guards, who a few weeks ago were staffing coronavirus test centres, staged the unique event in the grounds of Windsor Castle, as the head of state made her first official public appearance since lockdown was imposed.
Continue reading...Patients forced to buy pills online or go overseas for terminations
Women seeking abortions in Northern Ireland are still struggling to access services. Although abortion was legalised more than two months ago, claims persist that healthcare professionals are refusing to treat patients.
A leading reproductive rights group and a doctors’ organisation say that GPs are refusing to refer pregnant women to hospital services so they can access the tablets needed to undergo a medical abortion. They are also aware of midwives and nurses refusing to care for patients before and after the procedure.
Continue reading...Families of 72 victims of tower block blaze will mark third anniversary of blaze this weekend
A bereaved relative has drawn parallels between the coronavirus crisis and the aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire before the third anniversary of the disaster.
Karim Mussilhy, whose uncle Hesham Rahman died in the blaze, said the pandemic had been tough for many of the bereaved and survivors of the fire, which killed 72 people.
Continue reading...Critics say PM’s claim that George Floyd protests ‘hijacked by extremists’ is dangerous
Boris Johnson was accused of “stoking fear and division” ahead of a weekend of Black Lives Matter demonstrations after he unequivocally condemned the removal of historic statues and claimed the protests had been “hijacked by extremists intent on violence”.
As statues – including of Winston Churchill – were boarded up to protect them ahead of planned marches, the prime minister tweeted his opposition to those calling for memorials with links to slavery and racism to be torn down.
Continue reading...Ban on air travel between Britain and Greece to continue until June 30, unlike other countries
It was meant to be the moment when Greece “welcomed the world”. But in another about-turn, travellers on flights from the UK will not be accepted when the Mediterranean country reopens to tourism on Monday.
Bowing to new advice from the EU, Athens announced on Friday that the suspension of air links with Britain, in effect since March, will continue to be enforced until 30 June.
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