Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Ruling that ex-Sinn Féin leader was unlawfully detained in 1970s prompts call for other Troubles-era cases to be scrutinised
The legality of every internment during the Troubles will have to be scrutinised, the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has urged, after his convictions for escaping from the Maze prison were quashed by the supreme court.
The unanimous decision of the UK’s highest court is likely to affect scores of claims from republicans and loyalists who are challenging their detention without trial during the 1970s.
“In the war against any infectious virus,” says Dr Alan McOwan, “You’re trying to win various battles. You have to keep clobbering it from every direction you can.”
That’s true for coronavirus, he says, as well as for other viral conditions. An HIV specialist at London’s 56 Dean Street sexual health clinic, McOwan sees similarities between Covid-19 and HIV. Both are viruses without a working vaccine, you can be infectious without knowing it, and both rely mostly on close human contact to spread.
Train unions have said they could take industrial action and stop trains if drivers and passengers are not protected from coronavirus, after photos emerged of packed London Underground services as many people returned to work following seven weeks of lockdown.
Transport for London indicated that the number of commuters remained relatively low, at 63,000 on Wednesday morning, up 7% on the previous day.
Boris Johnson has been accused by Labour of not knowing the government’s advice on coronavirus after he told Keir Starmer at prime minister’s questions that it “wasn’t true” that the care home sector had been advised it was unlikely to face an outbreak.
In a tricky series of exchanges in the Commons, Starmer put Johnson under intense pressure to explain the extent of care home deaths.
EU officials dismiss Michael Gove’s suggestion deal could be done without longer transition
EU diplomats have dismissed Michael Gove’s suggestion that Brussels and the UK could negotiate a trade deal with tariffs on goods in six months, saying it “will never happen”.
Giving evidence to the House of Lords EU committee last week, Gove said the government could “modify our ask” by giving up on a “zero-tariff, zero-quota” trade deal in order to keep the UK free from a duty to adhere to European standards on workers’ rights, environmental protection and state aid.
Peter Piot, the scientist who helped discover the Ebola virus, and the director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, has told of his brush with death after contracting Covid-19.
The professor had never previously been seriously ill, but after 40 years studying and leading the global response to infectious diseases including HIV and Aids, he said that “finally, a virus got me”.
Suspect in death of Harry Dunn who fled UK will not be extradited, says state department
The US Department of State has said the decision to refuse an extradition request for Harry Dunn’s alleged killer was final, after an Interpol red notice was issued for her arrest.
But the UK’s Labour party has signalled that they will be pressing for some form of parliamentary inquiry into the government’s “clear and repeated failings”.
Boris Johnson’s “four nations” approach to tackling the coronavirus has been dealt a fresh blow after the government of Northern Ireland joined those of Scotland and Wales in rejecting the “stay alert” slogan, and announcing its own plans for easing the lockdown.
The prime minister sought to play down the differences in approaches on Monday, stressing in the Plan to Rebuild that people should “pull together as a United Kingdom”. But Edinburgh, Cardiff and now Belfast have chosen to develop their own plans.
The US government has been privately pressing the UK in bilateral trade talks to make a choice between the US and China.
The US is seeking to insert a clause that would allow it to retreat from parts of the deal if Britain reaches a trade agreement with another country that the US did not approve.
What you are allowed to do now depends on what part of the union you live in
The UK’s approach to Covid-19 now very much depends on what part of the union you live in after Downing Street’s decision to drop the “stay at home” slogan in favour of “stay alert” and its plans to begin lifting the lockdown this week.
The devolved administrations in Edinburgh, Cardiff and at Stormont have all – in their own ways – opted to stick with “stay at home” while Scotland’s first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has described the move by Boris Johnson as “potentially catastrophic”.
The 'R' number of coronavirus is a figure that is being closely scrutinised as ministers decide when to end lockdown in the UK. Boris Johnson has said the country must keep the R rate below one in order to avoid the disaster of a second peak. But what does the R number mean and why is it important? Kate Proctor explains why the government is keeping a close eye on it and what it signifies
The chancellor says the coronavirus job retention scheme will be extended for four months, until the end of October. There will be no changes until the end of July, he says, and in August, September and October it will continue with more flexibility. Sunak added that 7.5m jobs have been supported by the furlough scheme and almost 1m businesses helped
Britain’s reputation for its handling of the coronavirus epidemic has taken another global pasting after newspapers worldwide reported on what they described as confusion and internal divisions that are rapidly creating a crisis as big as Brexit for the UK.
With many diplomats admitting that soft power reputations are being forged or destroyed during the pandemic, the European press in particular is taking time to point out that the UK is experiencing the worst death rate in Europe, revealing a National Health Service that is underfunded and underprepared.
Public transport users should face away from each other when they cannot keep a two-metre gap, the government has said. A report from PA Media on the new transport guidance issued by the government this morning (see 9.28am) goes on:
New guidance issued by the Department for Transport on how to travel safely during the coronavirus outbreak states that passengers should minimise the time they spend near other people and avoid physical contact with them.
It acknowledges that “there may be situations where you can’t keep a suitable distance from people”, such as on busier services or at peak times.
The sandwich chain Subway has today started a phased reopening of around 600 of its 2,600 stores across the UK and Ireland - approximately one in four - for takeway and delivery only.
The outlets have all been fitted with new operational and social distancing safety measures to protect customers, third party delivery and supplier drivers and staff. These have been tested in the small number of stores that have remained open to support and serve key workers and hospital staff.
Taiwan confirmed no new Covid-19 cases for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday, keeping the country’s total at 440, according to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).
At a daily press briefing, the health minister and head of the CECC, Chen Shih-chung, said it was also the 30th straight day that no domestically transmitted infections had been recorded in Taiwan, CNA reports.
The United Kingdom’s Covid-19 death toll topped 38,000 at the start of the month, including suspected cases, by far the worst official toll yet in Europe, according to official data published on Tuesday.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said it recorded 34,978 Covid-19 related deaths as of 1 May in England and Wales.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that another 1,064 people have died and 18,106 new infections have been detected, taking the totals to 80,820 and 1,342,594, respectively.
Parts of Mexico that have been spared the worst of the epidemic could reopen as soon as 17 May – a date some health experts worry is too ambitious as the country still hasn’t carried out widespread testing or enforced strict quarantine.
Jorge Alcocer told reporters that roughly 300 of Mexico’s more than 2,400 municipalities would likely to be reopened, depending on assessments from the health authorities. The rest of the country is projected to reopen at the end of month – with school returning 1 June – according to President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who will unveil plans on Wednesday for “returning to a new normalcy”.
They cannot know [which cities to open] because if a sample is not representative at the state level, would it be much less representative at the municipal level … It’s a national sample. Nothing more.
The three Welsh national parks have urged people not to cross the border from England to go hiking in the mountains or visit its beaches, pointing out that stringent restrictions on driving to do exercise remain in Wales.
There is growing concern that the easing of restrictions over travelling to do exercise in England on Wednesday may prompt lovers of the outdoors to head for the hills and coastlines of Wales.
Sima Kotecha was to broadcast from Leicester on the weekend when alleged event happened
A man has been charged with public order offences after an incident involving a BBC reporter, police said.
Leicestershire police said the man would appear at court on Tuesday morning over the incident, which occurred on Sunday. The force did not disclose his name or age.
There is 'no guarantee' of a Covid-19 vaccine to end lockdown measures, Boris Johnson has admitted. Noting the lack of a vaccine for SARS 18 years on, Johnson said the world may be living with the virus 'for a long time to come'