Category Archives: UK news

Prince Andrew fails in bid to dismiss US sexual abuse lawsuit

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Civil claim against duke by longtime accuser Virginia Giuffre can move forward, federal judge rules in New York

  • This article contains descriptions of sexual abuse

A judge in New York has rejected Prince Andrew’s attempt to persuade a US court to throw out a sexual abuse lawsuit brought against him by longtime American accuser Virginia Giuffre.

Giuffre, now 38, says she was forced into sex at 17 with Andrew, the Duke of York, by associates of his, the late sex offender and financier, Jeffrey Epstein, and Ghislaine Maxwell, the British media heiress who was convicted in New York last month of sex-trafficking girls for Epstein.

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Aras Amiri: Iran frees British Council employee accused of spying

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Amiri, 34, back in UK after Iran’s supreme court overturned 2019 conviction and 10-year prison sentence

An Iranian woman who worked for the British Council has been freed from detention in Evin prison and returned to the UK after being acquitted of spying charges.

Aras Amiri’s lawyers had mounted an appeal to the Iranian supreme court that led to her release. She is now at an undisclosed address in the UK.

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‘The party’s over’: Keir Starmer derides Boris Johnson’s apology at PMQs – video

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The Labour leader has said the prime minister's apology for attending what he claimed he thought was a 'work event' in the garden at No 10 in May 2020, when the country was in full lockdown, was 'offensive to the British public'. Keir Starmer called for Boris Johnson to 'do the decent thing' and resign before either his party or the public drove him out of office

UK politics: latest updates

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Man arrested over 2012 killing of British family and French cyclist in Alps

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No one has been charged over attacks on forest road near Lake Annecy in French Alps

A man has been detained in connection with the unsolved case of three British family members and a French cyclist who were shot dead in the French Alps in 2012.

Saad al-Hilli, an Iraqi-born engineer, his wife, Ikbal, and her mother, Suhaila al-Allaf, were gunned down in a layby on remote forest road outside the village of Chevaline, near Lake Annecy. The couple’s two young daughters survived the attack.

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‘No running water’: foreign workers criticise UK farm labour scheme

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Government report on post-Brexit recruitment finds staff citing no health and safety equipment, racism and unsafe accommodation

Seasonal workers in the UK on a post-Brexit pilot scheme to harvest fruit and vegetables were subjected to “unacceptable” welfare conditions, according to a government review.

Issues cited by workers included a lack of health and safety equipment, racism, and accommodation without any bathrooms, running water or kitchens.

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Covid live: UK reports nearly 400 virus-linked deaths for second day; Germany chancellor calls for mandatory jabs

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UK reports 129,587 new positive Covid-19 cases and 398 more deaths; Germany should make vaccinations mandatory for adults, says Olaf Scholz

India is reporting almost 200,000 new Covid infections in a single day.

The Asian nation recorded 194,720 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the most since late May, health ministry data shows.

We cannot directly rule out that the virus is imported directly, because the spread of virus is not only through humans, but it can be spread via objects or environmental [contamination].

We are still investigating other possibilities for the virus to be imported to Tianjin directly…There is another option – would it be possible that it is not imported but came from other areas [in China] and spread to Tianjin? We are tracing this simultaneously and we have found some clues already.”

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Ditching the hard shoulder proved too hard a sell to MPs and motorists

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Analysis: the UK government has bowed to the inevitable and shelved the expanded rollout

Pausing the rollout of smart motorways suggests the government has finally bowed to the inevitable, faced with the collective outrage of motoring groups, bereaved families, newspapers, MPs – and indeed a former minister who signed off the schemes.

Not, though, that the small print guarantees drivers have in any way seen the end of the hard shoulderless highways: ongoing major works will be completed, and even design work will go ahead for more stretches, in case the mood changes by 2025.

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Furious Tories pile pressure on Boris Johnson over No 10 parties

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Former ministers and MPs call on prime minister to fully address issue in Commons after latest revelation

Boris Johnson is facing intense pressure from senior Conservatives to publicly confess he attended a rule-breaking garden party in Downing Street, with the Scottish Tory leader suggesting the prime minister should resign if he broke Covid rules.

A string of Conservative MPs openly expressed anger and humiliation about the “bring your own booze” gathering for up to 40 people on 20 May 2020 after it emerged in a leaked email. Others called on him to come clean and apologise on Wednesday in the hope of stemming rising fury.

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Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within minutes in air – study

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Exclusive: findings highlight importance of short-range Covid transmission

Coronavirus loses 90% of its ability to infect us within 20 minutes of becoming airborne – with most of the loss occurring within the first five minutes, the world’s first simulations of how the virus survives in exhaled air suggest.

The findings re-emphasise the importance of short-range Covid transmission, with physical distancing and mask-wearing likely to be the most effective means of preventing infection. Ventilation, though still worthwhile, is likely to have a lesser impact.

This article was amended on 11 January 2022. In an earlier version, we said Covid loses 90% of ability to infect within five minutes. It is actually within the first 20 minutes – with most of the loss occurring within the first 5 minutes. This has been corrected for clarity.

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Wordle creator overwhelmed by global success of hit puzzle

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Josh Wardle developed game to play with his partner – and now more than 2m others have joined in

Wordle, a deceptively simple online word puzzle, has had a meteoric rise since its launch last autumn, from 90 daily players in November to 300,000 at the beginning of January, to 2 million last weekend. But, for its creator, the game’s rapid success has resulted in as much anxiety as excitement.

The game has become an unexpected grassroots hit for Josh Wardle, who developed it for his puzzle-loving partner. The pair played it for fun on their sofa, and other users slowly began to join them.

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Prince Andrew can sell Swiss chalet after settling £6.6m debt, say reports

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Settling of debt will allow Duke of York, who faces large legal bills over sexual assault lawsuit, to sell chalet reportedly worth £18m

The Duke of York has settled a £6.6m debt with a French socialite allowing him to sell a Swiss chalet as he faces escalating legal bills over the sexual assault civil lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, according to reports.

Isabelle de Rouvre, 74, who sold the property to Prince Andrew and Sarah, Duchess of York, in 2014 for a reported £18m, said: “The war is over. He has paid the money.”

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Covid live: China locks down city of 5 million; enough vaccines for Canadians to get fourth dose, says Trudeau

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China locks down city of Anyang, bringing total under stay-at-home orders to 20m; Canada will give eligible people a fourth dose ‘if necessary’

Five million residents in the central Chinese city of Anyang have started home confinement today in a new lockdown to curb the spread of Omicron variant, according to state media and as reported by Agence France-Presse.

Two Omicron cases were detected in the city in Henan province, prompting authorities to announce a lockdown late Monday, issuing a notice ordering residents not to leave their homes or drive cars on the roads, state news agency Xinhua reported.

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UK Covid death toll has passed 175,000, says ONS

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Figure of 176,035 differs significantly from government’s official count – which exceeded 150,000 at weekend

The UK’s main statistical body has reported more than 175,000 deaths involving Covid since the start of the pandemic.

The ONS has reported 176,035 deaths where Covid was mentioned on the death certificate since March 2020. The figure differs significantly from the government’s official count – which exceeded 150,000 deaths over the weekend – which requires patients to have had a positive test within 28 days before their death.

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UK Covid live: party revelations show PM has done ‘incalculable damage’ to trust in health measures, Labour says

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Latest updates: health minister Edward Argar says he can understand why people are ‘upset and angry’ about reports

The Conservative mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, whose mother died of Covid last year, has said news of a party at Downing Street during the first lockdown is “pretty incredible” and that he is “very hungry” to find out what happened.

Speaking to BBC Radio West Midlands, Street said he was shocked when he read the news. He said:

When I saw this I thought, I can’t really believe this, if I’m honest. It was May 2020, a time when we were all restricted. My idea of going out was to walk along the canal with one friend, frankly, and I’m sure there’s lots of people in the West Midlands who have their own recollections of what they were doing in May 2020. So yes, it is very difficult to believe.

What we don’t know is whether the prime minister was there. I obviously can’t possibly comment on that, but that’s why the inquiry has got to come.

And I’m sure that when the inquiry finds out the facts, then the conclusions and the consequences will be acted upon.

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Health minister admits public will be ‘angry’ over No 10 lockdown party

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Ed Argar says he understands public anger after email unearthed inviting staff to drinks in the garden

A health minister has admitted the public will be “upset and angry” at revelations that a senior official invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown.

In a tacit acknowledgment of the strength of feeling at the latest revelations, Ed Argar said he had personally not attended any parties and had been aware of the regulations, “not least because I was a health minister who’d helped draw them up”.

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Heathrow demands end to Covid testing for vaccinated as 600,000 cancel flights

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Airport says passengers abandoned plans because of Omicron variant and uncertainty on restrictions

Heathrow airport has said at least 600,000 passengers cancelled their travel plans from the airport in December because of Omicron, warning aviation would take years to recover from the pandemic.

Only 19.4 million passengers passed through the airport in 2021 – less than a quarter of 2019 levels and below even 2020, the year when the Covid-19 pandemic started in March.

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Roman town’s remains found below Northamptonshire field on HS2 route

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Findings surpass experts’ expectations after buildings, wells, coins and wide road discovered

A wealthy Roman trading town, whose inhabitants adorned themselves with jewellery and ate from fine pottery, has been discovered half a metre below the surface of a remote field in Northamptonshire.

A 10-metre-wide Roman road, domestic and industrial buildings, more than 300 coins and at least four wells have been unearthed at the site, where 80 archaeologists have been working for the past 12 months.

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Email shows Boris Johnson aide invited No 10 staff to lockdown ‘BYOB’ party

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Police investigating reports that Martin Reynolds invited 100 employees and PM attended at time when social mixing was banned

Boris Johnson was accused on Monday night of an “utterly outrageous” breach of lockdown rules as a leaked email showed one of his top officials invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown. The police are now investigating.

The prime minister is believed to have attended the No 10 garden party on 20 May 2020 along with Carrie Johnson, then his fiancee, after it was advertised by his principal private secretary, Martin Reynolds.

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20 May 2020: what was UK doing while No 10 aide organised a party?

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At the time, there was no mixing indoors, non-essential shops were shut, and hospitality businesses remained closed

To many, May 2020 may feel like a lifetime ago, so much has happened in the last 20 months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

On 20 May 2020, when the prime minister’s private secretary was inviting colleagues to bring their own booze for socially distanced drinks in the No 10 garden to “make the most of this lovely weather”, the rest of the country was in a very different position.

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