Solo 45: the grime star with a horrific secret life of abusing women

Victims of Andy Anokye overcame their fear to tell how he systematically terrorised them

In the spring of 2017, Andy Anokye – also known as the grime artist Solo 45 – felt on top of the world. He had signed a deal with a world-famous record company, was headlining major festivals in front of tens of thousands of adoring fans, and enjoying the trappings that fame was bringing: money, freebies, privilege and champagne-soaked after-show parties.

In reflective moments, he would watch crews rowing on the River Avon outside his waterside apartment in Bristol and think about his journey from a deprived estate in north London, where he rubbed shoulders with gangsters and crooks.

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Coronavirus live updates: WHO declares pandemic as Italy extends lockdown measures

World Health Organization chief says number of cases reported and number of countries affected ‘doesn’t tell the full story’

In addition to the unnamed cabinet minister, the junior health minister Ed Argar is also self-isolating after having dinner with Nadine Dorries on Thursday night, the Guardian understands.

A cabinet minister is self-isolating while they await test results, a government source has confirmed, thought they would not confirm the identity of the minister.

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Edinburgh film festival organisers submit plan for £50m movie centre

Centre for the Moving Image proposes 11-floor building with screens, learning spaces and auditorium

The organisation behind the Edinburgh film festival has submitted a planning application for a £50m film centre that would be the first of its kind in the UK.

The Centre for the Moving Image has proposed an accessible and environmentally sustainable 11-floor building that it says would be a focal point for Edinburgh’s film community.

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England rugby players’ ex-soldier father stuck in Fiji because of immigration rules

Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who was prevented from watching his son Joe play in the World Cup last year, says he feels betrayed

A former British army sergeant whose two sons are English rugby internationals is stuck in Fiji, prevented by immigration rules from returning to the UK to rejoin his wife as she undergoes cancer treatment.

Ilaitia Cokanasiga, who over almost 14 years in the armed forces served two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan, told the Guardian that his immigration difficulties had stopped him from travelling to see his 22-year-old son, Joe Cokanasiga, play for England in the World Cup in Japan last year. He is devastated at being stranded 10,000 miles away from his family, unable to support his wife as she waits for an operation on a brain tumour.

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Government majority cut as almost 40 Tories rebel over Huawei

Narrow victory is warning shot for No 10 which still has to legislate over Huawei’s 5G role

Thirty-eight Tory MPs have rebelled against the government in an unsuccessful attempt to force Boris Johnson to set out a timetable for excluding Huawei from future 5G phone networks.

The government’s majority was cut to 24 as the rebels were defeated by 306 to 282 on an amendment put down by former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith, amid concerns over the presence of a Chinese supplier at the heart of Britain’s digital infrastructure.

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Coronavirus live updates: Italy-wide lockdown comes into force

UK and US had worst days trading since 2008 GFC; Global cases near 110,000; Grand Princess passengers disembark. Follow the latest news.

As the whole of Italy goes into lockdown, there are some reassuring signs that measures are starting to work. Across the 11 towns that went into quarantine over two weeks ago, the number of cases is beginning to fall.

Virgin Atlantic has called on the European Commission and UK flight slots co-ordinator to relax rules amid the coronavirus outbreak, PA reports.

Chief executive Shai Weiss said: “Last month Virgin Atlantic and industry partners committed to achieving net zero carbon by 2050.

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‘It felt like intentional torture’: the Windrush victims who are still homeless, two years on

It has been two years since the government apologised for the scandal and promised to rectify the injustices. Yet those affected are still being failed by the Home Office - with some still destitute

It requires a military level of discipline to live most of your life in Heathrow airport. Gbolagade Ibukun-Oluwa, 59, has been homeless since 2008 and for the past five years has developed a routine that sees him spending several nights a week in the cafes just outside the departures area. He arrives between 11pm and 1am, as day staff are replaced by the night shift, rotating between a Caffè Nero in Terminal 4 and a Costa coffee shop in Terminal 5, where the workers know him and offer him a cup of hot water. If flights have been cancelled and the cafes are very busy, he takes a bus to a 24-hour McDonald’s on the airport slip road, and waits there until dawn, occasionally managing to sleep for an hour or two in his wheelchair.

In the past, Heathrow security have been hostile, calling the police, who would put him in a van and drive him beyond the airport perimeter, where they would drop him and tell him: “If we ever see you there again, you’re in big trouble.” But that aggressive approach has stopped, and mostly he is ignored by passengers and staff; at a glance he looks like any other traveller, his belongings tidily packed into a few bags. “I have a routine to arrive as late as possible and to move on as early as possible,” he says. “They don’t bother me. They’re used to people waiting all night for a flight.” For all the hassle, the airport is at least warm and safe.

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Arrested Saudi royals allegedly aimed to block crown prince’s accession

King’s brother and former crown prince accused of trying to sideline Mohammed bin Salman

The dramatic arrests of two leading Saudi royals followed discussions between the two men about using a procedural body, led by one of them, to block the accession to the throne of the crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, if the current monarch dies or becomes incapacitated.

Three sources have confirmed to the Guardian that the arrests of Prince Ahmed bin Abdul Aziz, the sole remaining full brother of King Salman, and the former crown prince, Mohammed bin Nayef, on Friday were ordered after details of alleged conversations were passed to the royal court.

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Led Zeppelin: Stairway to Heaven not partly stolen, court affirms

San Francisco appeals panel reinstates 2016 judgment that found no proof 1971 song breached copyright of Taurus by Randy Wolfe

A US appeals court has reinstated a ruling that British rockers Led Zeppelin did not steal part of their song Stairway to Heaven from another band.

The San Francisco 11-judge panel affirmed a 2016 judgment that found no proof the classic 1971 Zeppelin song breached the copyright of Taurus, written by Randy Wolfe from a Los Angeles band called Spirit.

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Prince Andrew won’t voluntarily cooperate in Epstein inquiry, prosecutor says

Despite public offer to help with investigation Andrew has ‘completely shut the door’, and New York attorney general is now considering other options

Prince Andrew has “completely shut the door” on cooperating with US investigators in the Jeffrey Epstein case and they are now “considering” further options, a New York prosecutor said on Monday.

Andrew was a friend of Epstein, the wealthy financier and convicted sex offender whose death in custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges in New York last year was ruled a suicide.

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Containment of virus ‘extremely unlikely to work on its own’, says Boris Johnson – as it happened

Prime minister says UK still in containment phase of coronavirus and not yet preparing to move to delay stage

Here are the main points from the press conference held by Boris Johnson. He was joined by Prof Chris Whitty, the government’s chief medical adviser, and Sir Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser.

We are now very close to the time, probably within the next 10 to 14 days, when the modelling would imply we should move to a situation where everybody with even minor respiratory tract infections or a fever should be self-isolating for a period of seven days.

It is absolutely critical in managing the spread of this virus that we take the right decisions at the right time based on the latest and the best evidence, so we mustn’t do things which have no or limited medical benefit, nor things which could turn out actually to be counter-productive.

We were all given an instruction not to shake hands and there’s a good reason for not shaking hands, which is that the behavioural psychologists say that if you don’t shake somebody’s hand then that sends an important message to them about the importance of washing your hands.

So there’s a subliminal cue there to everybody to wash your hands, which is, I think I’m right in saying ... far more important.

What you can’t do is suppress this thing completely, and what you shouldn’t do is suppress it completely because all that happens then is it pops up again later in the year when the NHS is at a more vulnerable stage in the winter and you end up with another problem.

This is what Boris Johnson said at the start of his press conference.

I want to stress the following things. First, we are doing everything we can to combat this outbreak based on the latest scientific and medical advice.

Second, we have a truly brilliant NHS where staff have responded with all the determination, compassion and skill that makes their service so revered across the world and they will continue to have this government’s full support, my support, in tackling this virus on the front line.

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FTSE on course for biggest fall since financial crisis

World markets plunge on back of coronavirus-driven recession fears and threat of oil price war

Global stock markets have suffered their biggest falls since the 2008 financial crisis and trading was temporarily suspended on Wall Street after an oil price crash rattled investors fearing a coronavirus-driven global recession.

Dealing in shares on the main US indices was frozen within minutes of the opening bell, as circuit breakers were triggered by a 7% fall on the S&P 500. Once trading resumed 15 minutes later, the Dow Jones Industrial Average completed a fall of more than 2,000 points for the first time ever – a fall of more than 7%.

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Russia ‘hired network of Britons to go after enemies of Putin’

Exclusive: MPs who drew up Russia report suppressed by PM were told of ‘infiltration’

Russia has been accused of hiring a network of British politicians and consultants to help advance its criminal interests and to “go after” Vladimir Putin’s enemies in London, MPs who drew up the Russia report suppressed by Boris Johnson were told.

In secret evidence submitted to parliament’s intelligence and security committee (ISC), the campaigner and financier Bill Browder claimed Moscow had been able to “infiltrate” UK society by using well-paid British intermediaries.

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Saudi Arabia price war wipes billions from value of major oil firms

Royal Dutch Shell and BP lose more than £32bn from their combined market value

Saudi Arabia’s oil price war has wiped billions of pounds from the market value of the industry’s biggest companies after oil markets recorded one of the biggest price slumps in history.

The decision of the world’s largest oil-producing nation to increase its production even as the coronavirus outbreak stalls global oil demand triggered a 30% drop in oil prices on Monday morning.

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Westminster shooting: police kill suspect who had knives, says Met

Metropolitan police say no terror link to deadly incident where suspect was shot with Taser and firearm

A man has been shot dead by police in Westminster after an incident that was not being treated as terror-related.

Officers from the Metropolitan police remained overnight at the scene of the incident which occurred at around 11.30pm on Sunday. Road closures were put in place.

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‘We are power’: the world marks International Women’s Day – video report

People around the world marked International Women's Day on Sunday with rallies, marches and protests. In London, topless protesters formed a human chain on Waterloo bridge to highlight the vulnerability of women in the face of the climate crisis. In Kyrgyzstan, dozens of protesters were arrested after masked men attacked them at a rally for gender equality. On the Greek-Turkish border, asylum seekers marched to demand entry into the EU

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Quitting EU Erasmus scheme would ‘blow a hole’ in UK economy

Education and business leaders point to lost income for country and opportunities for students

Quitting the EU’s Erasmus student exchange programme would “blow a hole” in the UK’s economy, taking away income of £243m a year and depriving 17,000 British young people of valuable work experience, according to a group of education and business leaders.

The group, including further education colleges and universities, is calling for the British government to make clear that continued Erasmus membership is a high priority in its talks with the EU.

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UK companies to invest £12bn in switch to electric vehicles

With a fuel duty rise expected in this week’s budget, a survey by Centrica finds businesses on course to move to cleaner cars and vans

British companies are expected to spend more than £12bn switching their fossil fuel vehicles for clean electric versions over the next two years.

A survey found that nearly half of UK businesses are planning to invest in chargeable cars and vans in advance of the government’s ban on sales of new internal combustion engine vehicles by 2035.

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