Serious crime investigation after death of man, reportedly in his 70s, near tourist spot in Kent
A man has died after reports of a disturbance and rocks being thrown in the grounds of a castle in Kent, police have said.
Kent police said officers were called to the grounds of Lullingstone Castle in Eynsford at 5.21pm on Thursday. The force added: “It was reported that rocks were being thrown.
Continue reading...UK recognises Juan Guaidó as country’s interim president, arguing president Nicolas Maduro rigged 2018 election
A court in London has said that it will need to decide which of Venezuela’s duelling political factions to recognise before ruling on president Nicolas Maduro’s request for the Bank of England to hand over gold the country has in its vaults.
For decades, Venezuela has stored gold that makes up part of its central bank reserves in the vaults of foreign financial institutions including the Bank of England, which provides gold custodian services to developing countries. But since 2018, the bank has refused to transfer the funds to Maduro’s government, which Britain does not recognise.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary did not have authority to allow driver of car that killed 19-year-old to return to US, relatives say
The family of Harry Dunn, the 19-year-old killed on 27 August last year after being hit by a car driven by the wife of a US intelligence officer, intends to bring a private criminal prosecution against the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, the Guardian has learned.
They claim that Raab did not have the authority to allow Anne Sacoolas to return to the United States after the incident, while there was an ongoing police investigation and while the issue of her diplomatic immunity had not been resolved. They also allege that Raab misled parliament in statements he made about Sacoolas’s return to the US.
Continue reading...France prepares to enter phase two of lockdown relaxation; South Korean officials re-implement lockdown measures in Seoul; Kenya records highest one-day case rise
France announced further easing of lockdown restrictions on Thursday, with life slowly returning to normal for much of the country, writes Kim Willsher, the Guardian’s Paris correspondent. However, certain restrictions will remain in the Paris area and the overseas territories Mayotte and Guyane for at least the next three weeks.
In a 90 minute press conference, the prime minister, Édouard Philippe, said the Covid-19 figures in the country were better than expected, but urged the French to continue respecting the rules and remain careful and vigilant.
French PM Édouard Philippe has arrived for the press conference on Phase 2 of the easing of the lockdown. (I will be trying to translate and type as he speaks, so please forgive lapses in translation and grammar!).
The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, has said he would sign an executive order allowing businesses to deny entry to customers who are not wearing masks, the Guardian US coronavirus blog reports.
“That store owner has a right to protect himself,” Cuomo said of the order. “That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.”
Today I am signing an Executive Order authorizing businesses to deny entry to those who do not wear masks or face-coverings. No mask - No entry.
Related: Coronavirus US live: Cuomo to sign 'no mask, no entry' order for businesses
Continue reading...Johnson unveils lockdown relaxation measures; Durham police say they won’t take further against against Cummings; UK death toll rises by 377 to 37,837
Q. In Northern Ireland the R has been increasing and is barely below 1 – should that cause alarm?
Vallance says the R remains below 1 everywhere but may be very close to 1 in some places.
Q. Do you really have the capacity to trace all the contacts of infected people?
Q. Why is the UK still only listing three symptoms for the disease compared to other countries?
Continue reading...Family pays tribute to ‘witty, kind, knowledgeable conversationalist’ Bob Weighton
The world’s oldest man, Bob Weighton, has died from cancer at the age of 112, his family have confirmed.
The former teacher and engineer, from Alton, Hampshire, took up the title of the oldest man in the world in February after the death of the previous holder, Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan.
Continue reading...Foreign secretary Dominic Raab threatens to change status of British national (overseas) passport holders
The UK will extend visa rights for as many as 300,000 Hong Kong British national (overseas) passport holders if China continues down the path of imposing repressive security laws on the former British colony, the foreign secretary, Dominic Raab, has said.
The move, which appears in outline to stop short of giving the BN(O)s a right of abode, is a response to growing Conservative backbench pressure on the Foreign Office to do more to help Hong Kong citizens fearful that China is about to extinguish their independence and political freedoms.
Continue reading...Cross-party group proposes ending UK abortions after 24 weeks for minor disabilities
Abortion laws in Britain could be changed under cross-party proposals to ban late terminations on the grounds of minor physical abnormalities.
The abortion (cleft lip, cleft palate and club foot) bill, led by the Conservative MP Fiona Bruce and supported by 13 MPs, will be presented in parliament on 3 June.
Continue reading...David McWilliams is a consultant physiotherapist helping ICU patients recover from Covid-19 – from when they first open their eyes since arriving to their first steps. His team support patients at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital, which has one of the largest critical care units in Europe and recently was treating more than 200 Covid-19 patients at one time
Continue reading...With UK’s route out of lockdown dependent on success, Dido Harding faces a huge challenge
The ex-TalkTalk chief executive Dido Harding is facing one of the biggest moments in her eventful career, as she leads the government’s new track-and-trace programme upon which the country’s path out of lockdown depends.
Baroness Harding, 52, the chair of NHS Improvement, was brought in to shoulder the responsibility of this significant new strategy, personally risking the fallout if it does not go to plan.
Continue reading...Police commissioner warns of public pushback over Covid-19 containment measures
Lockdown rule-breakers are using the controversial actions of the prime minister’s top adviser, Dominic Cummings, as an excuse, a police and crime commissioner has warned.
The West Midlands PCC, David Jamieson, revealed he had received intelligence that officers are getting “pushback” from members of the public breaching Covid-19 containment measures after Downing Street’s defence of Cummings’ 264-mile lockdown trip.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Penny Mordaunt offers ‘deepest regrets’ to constituents as lockdown row rumbles on
Penny Mordaunt, a senior government minister, has said there are “inconsistencies” in Dominic Cummings’ account of his actions during lockdown and apologised for how recent days have “undermined key public health messages”.
In an email sent to constituents, seen by the Guardian, Mordaunt said Cummings’ continued position as Boris Johnson’s chief adviser was a “matter for the prime minister” but she also said she could “fully understand how angry people are” and believed there was no doubt he “took risks”.
Continue reading...Longest official mourning period in Spain’s democracy; unrest grows in UK PM’s party over Dominic Cummings lockdown breach; WHO says Americas are new Covid-19 epicentre. Follow the latest updates
There have now been 118,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus across the 54 nations of Africa, according to the World Health Organization’s regional office for the continent.
So far, about 48,000 people in Africa who have tested positive for the virus have recovered, while 3,500 have died, according to the latest updated from WHO African region on Wednesday morning.
Over 118,000 confirmed #COVID19 cases on the African continent - with more than 48,000 recoveries & 3,500 deaths. View country figures & more with the WHO African Region COVID-19 Dashboard: https://t.co/V0fkK8dYTg pic.twitter.com/W1hbvugno1
Hi, this is Damien Gayle taking the reins of the live blog now, bringing you the latest headlines and stories, and the best of the Guardian’s coverage, from the coronavirus pandemic around the world.
If you have any comments, tips or suggestions for coverage please drop me a line, either via email to damien.gayle@gmail.com, or via Twitter direct message to @damiengayle.
Continue reading...Qatar Covid-19 app ‘exposed 1m people’s personal details’; WHO sounds alarm over surge of Covid-19 cases in Latin America
Tom McCarthy writes that one of the key problems facing American efforts to emerge from the Covid-19 crisis is the population’s aversion to vaccines.
Only about half of Americans say they would get a Covid-19 vaccine if available, according to a poll, as a top US government scientist tempered claims by Donald Trump that the United States would be able to invent, manufacture and administer hundreds of millions of vaccine doses by the end of the year.
Related: Just half of Americans plan on getting Covid-19 vaccine, poll shows
Further to our story at 20.29, data from Johns Hopkins University shows that the United States has recorded more than 100,000 deaths from Covid-19, moving past a grim milestone even as many states relax mitigation measures to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
The US has recorded more deaths from the disease than any other country in the pandemic, and almost three times as many as the second-ranking country, Britain, which has recorded more than 37,000 Covid-19 deaths.
Related: US passes 100,000 coronavirus deaths as states relax lockdown measures
Continue reading...We check in again with workers including a bus driver and a care home manager about their experiences of the pandemic
In early April, frontline workers including a bus driver, a care home manager and a cemetery worker spoke to the Guardian about their experiences during the coronavirus paramedic. Two weeks later we checked in to hear how they had been coping with the peak of the virus.
Now, another month on, with lockdown restrictions easing, we catch up with the workers to see how things have changed.
Continue reading...Extraordinary party revolt and public criticisms reflect anger over aide’s lockdown breaches
Boris Johnson faced an extraordinary and growing revolt from within his own party on Tuesday over his refusal to sack his chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, for breaching lockdown rules.
On a day of dramatic developments, a junior minister resigned and more than 30 other Conservative MPs called for Cummings to go, many citing inboxes overflowing with hundreds of angry messages from constituents.
Continue reading...Exclusively compiled data from the Hadley Centre’s supercomputer shows alarming climate trajectory
The human fingerprint on the climate is now unmistakable and will become increasingly evident over the coming decades, the UK Met Office has confirmed after 30 years of pioneering study.
Since the 1990s, global temperatures have warmed by half a degree, Arctic sea ice has shrunk by almost 2 million km2, sea-levels have risen by about 10cm and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by 60 parts per million (17%), according to figures exclusively compiled for the Guardian to mark the 30th anniversary of the Met Office’s Hadley Centre for climate science and services.
Continue reading...Hancock announces anti-viral drug remdesivir will be given to some NHS Covid-19 patients; number of Tory MPs call on Cummings to resign as junior minister quits; official UK death toll passes 37,000
There are nearly 300 more confirmed cases of Covid-19 among prison staff than previously thought, the Ministry of Justice has revealed.
Due to a change in reporting of cases among prison staff, and an additional evaluation, there were 873 workers who had tested positive for the coronavirus as of 1pm on Tuesday, compared to 573 recorded as positive in the last update as of 5pm Thursday.
Continue reading...Far-right activist claims to be investigating case of woman accused of lying about abuse
The family of a 19-year-old woman accused of lying about being groomed and abused in a Cumbrian town have appealed for calm after the far-right activist Tommy Robinson turned up claiming to be a journalist investigating the case.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, ignored pleas from woman’s family to stay away from Barrow-in-Furness, where she was remanded in custody last week on charges of perverting the course of justice.
Continue reading...Newly discovered vulnerability allows users to bypass limitations built in by Apple
A newly discovered vulnerability in iPhones allows users to bypass Apple’s built-in limitations – known as “jailbreaking” – for the first time in four years.
The release of a functional jailbreak for iOS 13.5, the latest version of the iPhone operating system, represents a breakthrough for the small community of users who rely on jailbreaks for everything from serious security research to simply running games and software that Apple does not allow on iPhones.
Continue reading...