Ursula von der Leyen airs concerns about PM’s refusal to extend negotiations past 2020
Boris Johnson should reconsider his refusal to extend the 11-month timeframe available for agreeing a deal on the UK’s future relationship with the EU after Brexit, Ursula von der Leyen has suggested.
The European commission president said she had “serious concern” about the limited time available for the negotiations and emphasised the need to keep all options open.
Continue reading...Plus, an update on the trans man who gave birth, the woman deported to Grenada, and more
Last March, Margaret Simons wrote about the abandoned children of British sex tourists in the Philippines. Brigette Sicat, now 12, was unable to go to school because of ill health, and was living in a leaky shack with a dirt floor and no toilet. Today, thanks partly to the generosity of Guardian readers, Brigette and her family live in decent accommodation, she is a regular attendee at school and her grades are outstanding. The turnaround has been even more dramatic for twins Melanie and Madeline delos Santos – now 19. Reading of Madeline’s ambition to be an architect, a reader is supporting her through university in Angeles City. Human rights law firms in Britain, Griffin Law and Dawson Cornwell, are in the process of confirming the twins’ right to British citizenship; they are also exploring the use of DNA technology to help other children establish parentage, and their rights to child support. Simons and photographer, Dave Tacon plan to visit the children again next May. Their report won a Foreign Press Award last month for best travel and tourism story of the year.
In April, Simon Hattenstone interviewed Freddy McConnell about his quest to conceive and carry his own baby. The film of McConnell’s story, Seahorse, was screened widely. In September, the high court ruled that McConnell cannot be registered as his son’s father. He is appealing the decision and the hearing is expected next year. His young son is thriving.
Continue reading...Exclusive: London has highest level yet recorded but health impacts of breathing particles are unknown
Microplastic pollution is raining down on city dwellers, with research revealing that London has the highest levels yet recorded.
The health impacts of breathing or consuming the tiny plastic particles are unknown, and experts say urgent research is needed to assess the risks.
Continue reading...Charity decries government’s ‘foolhardy’ decision to reduce anti-smoking budget by 24%
The government has been accused of undermining its ambition to make England smoke free after an anti-smoking campaign was cancelled following a 24% cut to the public health marketing budget.
Health Harms, a Public Health England (PHE) scheme, has previously sought to harness new year resolutions in January to encourage the 6 million tobacco smokers in the country to quit through vaping and visualising how cancer-causing chemicals and tar are inhaled.
Continue reading...Total monthly applications exceeded 100,000 in January, March, April and May
Almost a million Irish passports were issued in 2019, the country’s government has announced.
The figure is a new record and represents a 7% increase on 2018. Simon Coveney, Ireland’s foreign affairs minister, said: “2019 was another bumper year for the Passport Service. The award-winning Passport Online [service] expanded in 2019 to include first-time applicants in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and Europe. Irish citizens including children can also renew their passports online 24/7, from anywhere in the world.”
Continue reading...Figure is ‘tip of iceberg’ in terms of people on receiving end of unlawful police behaviour
Dozens of police forces have made out-of-court settlements totalling more than £30m in the past four years, according to recent figures, which were described as “the tip of the iceberg” in terms of people on the receiving end of unlawful police behaviour.
Payments range from small sums for loss of property, or the £100 paid by Sussex police for “embarrassment and humiliation”, through to hundreds of thousands of pounds paid for wrongful arrest, records revealed under the Freedom of Information Act show.
Continue reading...Gabriel Diya, his son Praise-Emmanuel and daughter Comfort died at holiday resort
Police in Spain have named the three members of a British family who drowned in a hotel swimming pool on the Costa del Sol on Christmas Eve.
They were identified as Gabriel Diya, a 52 year-old London-based pastor, his son Praise-Emmanuel Diya, 16, and daughter Comfort Diya, nine.
Continue reading...Local people must ask Underbelly if they want more than six passes to their houses
Edinburgh residents have vented their anger at having to apply to a private company for access to their own homes during this year’s Hogmanay celebrations amid growing concern that the council’s hunger to attract tourism is reducing the Scottish capital to a “theme park”.
People living in some parts of the city centre will also face potential restrictions on the number of guests they can invite if they wish to have parties of their own on New Year’s Eve, when the entertainment giant Underbelly will be running an event expected to attract more than 70,000 people.
Continue reading...Irish PM says UK must pay for any bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland
Ireland’s prime minister has said he will not dismiss the idea of building a bridge between Northern Ireland and Scotland, but insisted the UK must pay for it.
Boris Johnson and the Democratic Unionist party have spoken in favour of the idea.
Continue reading...Police linking murders of eastern European men, whose bodies were found within 24 hours
Detectives investigating the deaths of two eastern European men have charged a second man with murder.
Scotland Yard said Besnik Berisha, 42, of Friern Barnet, north London, was arrested on Monday and later charged with the murder of a 30-year-old man, whose body was discovered in the boot of a car in a remote country lane near Scratchwood Park, in Barnet, north London, on 19 December.
Continue reading...European commission’s VP writes ‘love letter’ to Britons, saying UK unnecessarily damaged by Brexit
Britain has been unnecessarily damaged by Brexit and “more will follow”, the vice-president of the European commission has written in a “love letter” to the British people in which he promises a warm welcome back should attitudes change.
Frans Timmermans, who is Ursula von der Leyen’s deputy in her role as European commission president, writes that British scepticism of the EU had been an asset to the bloc as he expresses his own feelings of rejection ahead of the country’s impending departure on 31 January, likening himself to a jilted “old lover”.
Continue reading...Pop star reprises Neighbours character in a song that also includes tennis star Ash Barty, comedian Adam Hills and former cricketer Shane Warne
A new $15m tourism campaign featuring Kylie Minogue is aiming to lure Brexit-weary Britons to Australia with the perennial promise of cute marsupials, white-sand beaches and locals who “speak your language”.
The three-minute musical advertisement aired on televisions in the UK before the Queen’s message on Christmas Day, with Minogue and another well-known Australian export, Adam Hills, addressing the nation from Sandringham – a beachside suburb of Melbourne, Australia.
Continue reading...Atheist inmates at Maghaberry prison can now get pastoral care from humanist carers
Non-religious pastors have been allowed for the first time to run a secular “chaplaincy service” for atheist prisoners inside a top-security jail holding some of the most dangerous paramilitary prisoners in Europe.
Prisoners who do not believe in God inside Maghaberry jail in Northern Ireland can now speak with humanist carers.
Continue reading...Prince Andrew attends celebrations but not main service, while Queen acknowledges young people’s action on climate crisis
The royal family was out in force in a public show of Christmas unity as the Queen dwelt on the themes of friendship and reconciliation in her annual message and acknowledged a “quite bumpy” path during a turbulent year for both the monarchy and the nation.
The beleaguered Duke of York joined other members of the family for the traditional celebrations at Sandringham in Norfolk in his first appearance since he was forced to step down from official royal duties over his friendship with convicted sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
Continue reading...Father, son and daughter were found in pool at Costa del Sol holiday complex
Three members of the same family have died at a holiday resort on the Costa del Sol on Christmas Eve.
The incident occurred after a nine-year-old girl got into difficulties in a swimming pool and her brother, 16, and father, 52, attempted to rescue her, it has been reported. It is understood the father and daughter were British citizens, while the son was American. None has yet been named.
Continue reading...Early frost and fog to give way to sunshine in most places, say forecasters, with rain and wind to follow on Boxing Day
Those dreaming of a white Christmas will have to wait until at least next year, with the Met Office predicting plenty of frost and sunshine but no snow for Christmas Day.
Much of the UK will wake up to frosty and foggy conditions on Christmas morning, before the wintry weather lifts to make way for sunshine later in the day.
Continue reading...Gemma Quinn, who is paralysed, can continue trip across Asia after Emirates finds part of her custom-built chair it lost
A woman who was left stranded in Singapore after part of her wheelchair was lost while travelling with Emirates from Manchester airport can now continue her holiday after the part was found.
Gemma Quinn, 35, who was paralysed from the neck down in a car accident as a child in 1992, booked a 19-day trip across Asia with her two carers at a cost of more than £15,000.
Continue reading...Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, says damaging rhetoric has harmed society as a whole
The Church of England’s first black female bishop has said the debate around Brexit damaged society and contributed to the death of the MP Jo Cox.
Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the former chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons, said the arguments around Brexit had had a harmful effect both on parliamentarians and on society as a whole.
Continue reading...Grenfell United says news that member had been replaced was ‘snuck out before Christmas’
Survivors of the Grenfell Tower fire have expressed disappointment about a change to the inquiry panel that was “snuck out just before Christmas”.
The second phase of the investigation will include a panel and is set to begin early next year.
Continue reading...Anastasia Uglow, 17, of Bristol grammar school, was found unresponsive in her hotel room
A 17-year-old British girl has died during a school trip to New York, the Foreign Office has confirmed.
Anastasia Uglow was found unconscious and unresponsive on the morning of 19 December in her room at the Holiday Inn Express in Midtown, Manhattan, where the touring group was staying.
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