Category Archives: UK news

WhatsApp to impose new limit on forwarding to fight fake news

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Restrictions on frequently forwarded messages intended to disrupt false Covid-19 claims

WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding as the Facebook-owned chat app seeks to slow the dissemination of fake news, the company has announced.

If a user receives a frequently forwarded message – one which has been forwarded more than five times – under the new curbs, they will only be able to send it on to a single chat at a time. That is one fifth the previous limit of five chats, imposed in 2019.

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Harry and Meghan to launch new charity named Archewell

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Duke and Duchess of Sussex reveal plans for foundation to replace Sussex Royal brand

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to launch a charitable organisation named Archewell, the couple have said.

Prince Harry and Meghan said they “look forward” to launching the foundation, which will replace their Sussex Royal brand, with plans reported to include their own charity as well as a website.

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Honor Blackman, James Bond’s Pussy Galore, dies aged 94

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Actor also known for role in Avengers praised as ‘hugely prolific creative talent’ by family

• Peter Bradshaw on Honor Blackman: an elegant and witty star who never took herself too seriously
• Honor Blackman: a life in pictures

Honor Blackman, the actor best known for playing the Bond girl Pussy Galore, has died aged 94.

Blackman, who became a household name in the 1960s as Cathy Gale in The Avengers and had a career spanning eight decades, died of natural causes unrelated to coronavirus.

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‘My uniform counts’: care worker’s anger at being denied priority access at Aldi – video

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Warning: contains strong language

A care worker has vented her anger after being turned away from priority access at an Aldi supermarket while trying to buy food for an elderly client.'We're frontline workers just as much as the NHS, the police, the fire brigade,' said Marion Kilmurray in a video posted to Facebook. 'Who's going to do our job if we don't?' Aldi has apologised for the incident

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Duffy praised by Rape Crisis for going public with details of ordeal

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Account of kidnap and rape will help to stop others suffering in silence, says charity

A national rape charity has praised the bravery of the pop singer Duffy for going public with harrowing details of how she was drugged, held captive and raped early in her career.

On Sunday Duffy posted details of an ordeal which she kept secret for a decade, hoping that it might bring comfort to others that it is possible to “come out of the darkness”.

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The medical tests Boris Johnson may be undergoing in hospital

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Doctors will assess how PM is responding to coronavirus, including breathing issues

Boris Johnson was admitted to hospital for tests on Sunday night with persistent coronavirus symptoms, 10 days after testing positive. Some estimates suggest that about 5-10% of people with Covid-19 require hospital treatment.

His admission to hospital indicates doctors want to check how his body is responding to the virus, which will probably involve carrying out the following tests:

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Egypt reports 149 new virus cases – as it happened

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New toll comes as UK prime minister, who has coronavirus, has been moved into hospital intensive care

We are going to close this live blog. But you can stay up to date on all the latest developments on our new blog here.

In the mean time, you can find all the latest developments below in our At A Glance summary:

Related: Coronavirus latest: at a glance

Just back to Donald Trump’s marathon press conference and he is fielding questions on the US naval commander who was fired over his coronavirus memo, suggesting he doesn’t think his life should be “destroyed” as a result, Sam Levin writes:

He made a mistake. He shouldn’t be sending letter. He’s the captain … you don’t send letters and then it leaks into a newspaper. I may get involved ...If I can help two good people, I’m going to help him

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Car plant shutdowns may cost auto industry more than $100bn

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Figure based on Covid-19 closures in Europe and North America lasting to end of April

The continued closure of car plants across Europe and North America will cost the auto industry more than $100bn (£82bn) in lost revenues if the shutdown lasts until the end of April.

All major European carmakers have suspended production because of disruption caused by the spread of the coronavirus and if this continues as expected until the end of April, this will account for $66bn (£54bn) in lost sales in Europe, or 2.6m cars. In North America this will account for 2m cars, and lost sales of about $52bn (£42bn).

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Boris Johnson’s hospital admission suggests his infection has progressed

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It is unlikely the prime minister will have been admitted unless doctors have real concerns

Most people recover from Covid-19 within a week and cannot even be certain they had it, as they probably won’t be tested. The advice is to stay home, rest and take paracetamol. In 80% of cases, that is the end of it.

But NHS advice is that if the symptoms – mainly the dry cough, temperature and fatigue – have not gone by the end of a week, or they get worse, people should seek medical help.

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‘I was face-to-face with Tony Blair’: Michael Sheen on Murdoch, class and giving away his money

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He renounced acting for activism, then had to start earning again. As he returns to TV, Sheen talks about life in isolation, politics and his curious encounter with the man he has portrayed more than any other

Michael Sheen is at home in south Wales, looking out on his garden. The sun catches the side of his face, lighting up his scraggly hair and beard. “We’re very lucky to have a garden to go out in. I know not everybody does,” he says. In the current climate of famous people churning out endless videos of their isolation struggles from the side of a pool in a mansion, it’s a telling sentiment.

A few years ago, after a successful stage and screen career, the actor, 51, “refocused” his life away from entertainment towards community work and activism, and moved back to Wales from Los Angeles. He had been living there for much of the past two decades, to be near his eldest daughter, Lily (her mother is the actor Kate Beckinsale, and they remain close). “And then when my daughter was 18 and went off to a life of her own, I realised: ‘Oh, I can go home again now.’”

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‘All I think of is my brother’: UK refugee family reunions disrupted by Covid-19

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Home Office urged to ‘act urgently’ to rescue vulnerable minors and reunite them with family while flights still available

After seven months of waiting, Ahmed* had everything ready for his younger brother. Finally, 18-year-old Wahid was due to arrive from the Greek island of Samos under family reunion laws.

But on 19 March, as Covid-19 took hold across Europe, the Greek authorities called to tell him the transfer had been cancelled because of the growing restrictions on flights. Greece had suspended direct flights to the UK but indirect routes are still available.

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UK missed coronavirus contact tracing opportunity, experts say

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Thousands of council workers could have been deployed by the government but were not asked

The government has been accused of missing an opportunity after it failed to deploy 5,000 contact tracing experts employed by councils to help limit the spread of coronavirus.

Environmental health workers in local government have wide experience in contact tracing, a process used to prevent infections spreading and routinely carried out in outbreaks such as of norovirus, salmonella or legionnaires’ disease. But a spokesperson for Public Health England (PHE), which leads on significant outbreaks, said the organisation did not call upon environmental health workers to carry out contact tracing for coronavirus, instead using its own local health protection teams.

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Who runs the country if Boris Johnson is out of action?

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With the PM in hospital for his coronavirus symptoms, we look at who will fill the void at the head of the UK government

In his role as first secretary of state, the prime minister’s de facto deputy, Dominic Raab will be expected to stand in for Boris Johnson if he is unable to work because of coronavirus.

While other ministers, including the health secretary Matt Hancock and the chancellor, Rishi Sunak, have been more visible during the Covid-19 outbreak, that position means he takes up the prime minister’s responsibilities if Johnson were unable to perform them himself.

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Queen praises the people, if not the government, and pulls off a tough gig

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Monarch’s rare non-festive TV address delivered the clear moral leadership that many politicians have failed to provide

Now we know just how serious things are. The UK has just wheeled out its biggest gun. The Queen has only ever given an unscheduled TV address to the nation on four previous occasions, either when the nation or the royal family itself was under threat. And as sure as hell Her Majesty wasn’t about to update us on Prince Andrew handing himself over to the FBI or Harry and Meghan’s ongoing flat hunting nightmare; this could only mean the country was in a coronavirus crisis.

Keeping one hand firmly clasped around her wrist and her body a safe distance from a lone BBC cameraman dressed in a hazmat suit – there’s no shortage of personal protective equipment in Windsor Castle – the Queen, interspersed with footage of NHS workers and the wider general public, spoke to the country from her study. Wisely, she kept it short and sweet. This wasn’t a Christmas message when half the country would be pissed and the other half wouldn’t be listening. Now every sentence would be picked over and every word would count.

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‘We will meet again’: Queen urges Britons to stay strong

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In a special broadcast, the monarch said we will overcome the coronavirus crisis if we ‘remain united and resolute’

The Queen has praised Britain’s “national spirit” in facing the challenge of coronavirus as she evoked wartime memories to reassure those “feeling a painful sense of separation from their loved ones” to take comfort in the fact: “We will meet again.”

In only the fifth special televised broadcast, other than Christmas messages, of her long reign, she said: “While we have faced challenges before, this one is different. This time we join with all nations across the globe in a common endeavour, using the great advances of science and our instinctive compassion to heal.”

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Scottish chief medical officer apologises for ignoring own advice – video

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Scotland’s chief medical officer, Catherine Calderwood, has apologised after she visited her second home in Fife in breach of her own advice to avoid travel. Calderwood was pictured on Saturday with her family taking a walk with their dog in the East Neuk, a picturesque area on the Firth of Forth about 45 miles from her main home in Edinburgh

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Coronavirus live news: Italy reports lowest increase in deaths in two weeks

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Spain records smallest rate of increase in infections; Trump tells Americans to expect ‘a lot of death’; Global deaths approach 65,000

Here are the key developments of the last few hours:

The country’s health minister has announced that Barbados has recorded its first death from the coronavirus.

The victim is said to be an 81-year-old male who had an underlying medical condition and had travelled to the UK.

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Scotland’s chief medical officer steps back from public briefings

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Catherine Calderwood apologises after visiting second home despite issuing advice to stay in

Scotland’s chief medical officer has been forced to step back from public briefings after a furious reaction to news she broke her own rules to twice visit her second home during the coronavirus outbreak.

But despite mounting calls for Catherine Calderwood to resign from her position, Nicola Sturgeon on Sunday insisted that she would continue to play a key role in guiding the Scottish government’s response to the crisis.

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