Category Archives: UK news

The more dysfunctional the royals are, the more their fans love them

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Harry and Meghan’s split from the firm, Prince Andrew and The Unpleasantness, and a double whammy of divorces make the royals ever more popular. Plus: how Al Pacino lost the bloom of youth

News that Prince Harry and Meghan will cease their royal duties at the end of next month is now in, yet offers no letup in the backbreaking schedule of Windsors-related toss-giving demanded of all UK humans.

On the one hand, we are told that all this may turn out to be a mortal blow for the royal family, though my feeling is the mere fact of “Charles III” has the potential to be rather more seismic. On the other hand, we have never seemed to care more about these people. Whatever happened to Prince Charles’s much vaunted plan for a slimmed-down royal family?

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Over half of UK women killed by men die at hands of partner or ex

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Femicide Census for 2018 shows 149 women killed, the highest number since census began

More than half the women killed by men in the UK in 2018 were killed by a current or former partner, many after they had taken steps to leave, according to a report on femicide.

The fourth Femicide Census, conducted by Women’s Aid and the campaigner Karen Ingala Smith, found 149 women were killed by 147 men in 2018. The number of deaths is an increase of 10 on the previous year and the highest number since the census began.

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US ‘very concerned’ over Huawei’s role in UK 5G network

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Trump’s chief of staff gives clear warning about using Chinese firm to supply equipment

Donald Trump’s acting chief of staff has warned there could be “a direct and dramatic impact” on the sharing of intelligence between the US and UK if Boris Johnson’s government goes ahead with allowing Huawei to supply equipment to build the British 5G mobile phone network.

Mick Mulvaney’s remarks represent one of the most forceful warnings yet by senior Trump administration officials, who have repeatedly made clear their concerns about the British decision to allow the Chinese company to supply its technology.

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Foreign Office tells Britons not to leave cruise ship struck by coronavirus

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Passengers who disembark Diamond Princess may not be allowed to board evacuation flight later in week, FCO warns

British passengers stuck on the cruise ship in Japan where more than 600 people have been infected with the coronavirus have have been told to stay onboard by the Foreign Office, while those who are evacuated face a 14-day quarantine in the UK.

Japanese authorities said those who had tested negative for the virus were allowed to leave on Wednesday, but the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) warned that passengers who disembark may not be allowed to board a British evacuation flight scheduled for later this week.

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Donald Trump ‘offered Julian Assange a pardon if he denied Russia link to hack’

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  • WikiLeaks published emails damaging to Hillary Clinton in 2016
  • Offer claim made at WikiLeaks founder’s extradition hearing

Donald Trump offered Julian Assange a pardon if he would say Russia was not involved in leaking Democratic party emails, a court in London has been told.

The extraordinary claim was made at Westminster magistrates court before the opening next week of Assange’s legal battle to block attempts to extradite him to the US.

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Home Office to deport vulnerable asylum seekers

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Lawyers say suspected victims of trafficking have not received ‘adequate access to justice’

The Home Office is planning to deport vulnerable asylum seekers and suspected victims of trafficking on a new charter flight on Thursday, the Guardian has learned.

The flight will be going to Switzerland, Germany and Austria under Dublin Convention legislation, EU rules which require asylum seekers to claim asylum in the first safe EU country they arrive in and not move from one to another.

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‘Devil’s couple’ extradited to Belgium 23 years after murder of Briton

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Hilde Van Acker and Jean-Claude Lacote are facing a life sentence over shooting businessman Marcus Mitchell

Two of Europe’s most wanted criminals, branded the “Devil’s couple” for their murder of a British businessman, have been extradited to Belgium after 23 years on the run.

Hilde Van Acker, 56, and Jean-Claude Lacote, 53, are facing a life sentence for the shooting of Marcus Mitchell, a businessman whom the couple conned out of £500,000.

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British couple with coronavirus ‘will not be on evacuation flight’ – video

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A British couple who had been asking the UK government to organise a repatriation flight for passengers stuck on a cruise ship in Japan will not be on the plane after testing positive for coronavirus. David Abel said in a video on Facebook that he and his wife, Sally, were being taken to a hostel as there were no available hospital beds nearby. The couple, who are in their 70s, were diagnosed with the virus one day before the ship’s quarantine was due to end

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Brexit deal ‘a different ball game’ to Canada agreement, warns EU

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Brussels aide says UK cannot have similar trade pact because of proximity to member states

Downing Street’s hopes of a Canada-style trade deal with the EU have been dealt a further blow after a senior adviser to Brussels’ chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, said the bloc’s relationship with the North American country was a “different ball game”.

As the two sides prepare for the start of negotiations next month, Stefaan De Rynck highlighted the UK’s proximity to Brussels compared with Canada as a key factor, as well as warning that the trade talks could get “rather difficult”.

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Coronavirus: two people die in Iran as cruise ship Britons face Wirral quarantine – latest updates

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Deaths in mainland China pass 2,000 and Foreign Office tells Britons to stay on the Diamond Princess cruise ship

Inspectors in protective suits have been going door to door in Wuhan in an effort to find every infected person, the Associated Press reports.

Wednesday marked the final day of a campaign to root out anyone with symptoms whom authorities may have missed so far.

Britons returning home from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that has had more than 600 cases of coronavirus will be quarantined at the same NHS facility that housed people flown back to the UK from Wuhan.

The Department of Health said: “We can confirm that an accommodation block on the Arrowe Park NHS site will be used to isolate those returning from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan. They will be kept in this location for the 14-day quarantine period, with around-the-clock support from medical staff at all times.”

Related: Foreign Office tells Britons not to leave cruise ship struck by coronavirus

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Storm Dennis: flood-hit communities brace for more heavy rain

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Rivers Severn, Teme and Wye will remain high as rain builds up again from Wednesday morning

Flood-hit UK communities are braced for further heavy rain as river levels continue to threaten to breach barriers.

Hundreds of properties have been flooded and at-risk areas evacuated across England and Wales after the downpours brought by Storm Dennis.

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Harry Styles ‘threatened with knife during Valentine’s Day mugging’

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Former One Direction member reportedly handed over cash during incident in Hampstead, North London

Singer Harry Styles was reportedly mugged at knifepoint in London on Valentine’s Day.

The 26-year old former One Direction member was “threatened with a knife” on Friday near midnight, according to police, but was unharmed after handing over an unspecified amount of cash.

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UK to close door to non-English speakers and unskilled workers

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Government plans to take ‘full control’ of borders a disaster for economy and jobs, say industry leaders and Labour

Britain is to close its borders to unskilled workers and those who can’t speak English as part of a fundamental overhaul of immigration laws that will end the era of cheap EU labour in factories, warehouses, hotels and restaurants.

Unveiling its Australian-style points system on Wednesday, the government will say it is grasping a unique opportunity to take “full control” of British borders “for the first time in decades” and eliminate the “distortion” caused by EU freedom of movement.

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Coronavirus: Japan to trial HIV antiretroviral drugs on patients – latest news

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UK prepares evacuation flight for cruise ship passengers. Follow the latest news

The Italian luxury fashion house Prada has postponed a fashion show due to take place in Japan in May.

In a statement, the company said:

Due to the current uncertainty related to the spread of the novel coronavirus, the Prada Resort fashion show originally scheduled for May 21 in Japan will be postponed.

Repatriating passengers from the coronavirus-stricken cruise ship in Japan is not without risks, a medical expert has said.

Paul Hunter, professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia, said:

Considerable care needs to be made to ensure that the passengers do not transmit infection between themselves or to cabin crew during the flight home and once back on home soil they do not act as a focus for the spread of the disease into their home countries – any returning passengers may be put in quarantine on their return.

It is well known that certain infections such as influenza and norovirus can spread rapidly on board cruise ships. Cruise ships take passengers and crew from all over the world, often passengers are relatively elderly, they spend most of their time on board indoors mixing with others.

The most likely [infection] route is direct person-to-person transmission when people are close to an infected person, but with currently publicly available information it is not possible to rule out other issues at this stage.

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Minority staff asked for security passes more in parliament, report finds

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House of Lords changes rules after warning BAME workers excluded from facilities for mostly white peers

Parliament has been accused of operating a form of apartheid after a report found that minority ethnic staff were asked to show their security passes more often than white counterparts.

Black and minority ethnic staff who responded to a survey carried out last year also complained that historic parliamentary rules meant that they were not allowed to eat or drink in the same rooms or even use the same toilets as the mostly white members of the House of Lords.

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UK Brexit negotiator accused of treating Britain and EU as ‘two different planets’

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Verhofstadt says it would be a ‘hell of a job’ to achieve success using David Frost’s approach

Boris Johnson’s chief Brexit negotiator has been accused of treating the EU and the UK as if they are “living on two different planets” after vowing to break all regulatory ties with Brussels.

Guy Verhofstadt, the former Belgian prime minister who has led the European parliament’s approach to Brexit, said it would be a “hell of a job” to secure a successful outcome from the negotiation using the British approach.

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Julian Assange: Australian MPs call on UK to block US extradition

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Politicians from WikiLeaks founder’s home country have flown to UK to visit him in jail

Boris Johnson should block attempts to extradite Julian Assange to the US, say two Australian MPs who have flown to the UK to visit the WikiLeaks founder.

Andrew Wilkie, an independent federal MP, said the extradition of Assange, who has been charged by the US with conspiring to hack into a secret Pentagon computer network, would set a dangerous precedent.

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New chancellor Rishi Sunak sticks to 11 March budget date

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The 39-year-old has three weeks to sort out programme after Sajid Javid’s exit

The budget will go ahead on 11 March, the Treasury said on Tuesday, forcing the new chancellor, Rishi Sunak, to piece together a fresh tax and spending programme over the next three weeks.

A delay was expected after Sunak’s predecessor, Sajid Javid, abruptly quit his job after a demand by Boris Johnson that he sack his advisers and replace them with a team jointly managed with No 10.

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Briton tells of mental strain on cruise ship as passengers test positive for coronavirus – video

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On Monday, David Abel spoke in a video update on Facebook about the mental strain of being quarantined on a cruise ship in Japan amid the coronavirus crisis. ‘It’s all getting to us now – not just me, other passengers as well. It’s the not-knowing factor that is the real challenge,’ he said. The British passenger, who published video diaries from the Diamond Princess, tested positive for the coronavirus, along with his wife, on Tuesday

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