Reports said Tobyn Salvatore, 19, was grandson of Denis and Mary Fell, found dead in their home on Boxing Day
A teenager has appeared in court charged with murdering an elderly couple found dead in their home on Boxing Day.
Denis and Mary Fell, both aged 73, were found dead at their house in Raeburn Rigg, Livingston, West Lothian, at about 11.40pm on Sunday.
Continue reading...Paperwork and Covid culminate in another year of headaches for food and wine producers
For more than two decades, Unexport has shipped millions of kilograms of produce annually from farms in the southern Spanish region of Murcia to clients in the UK. Brexit has transformed the relatively straightforward process into a bureaucratic nightmare, yielding border waiting times of up to 10 hours for lorries laden with lemons and lettuce, said Domingo Llamas, its president.
Given the damage already inflicted by the UK’s exit from the bloc, plus the coronavirus pandemic, he sees the final implementation of thrice-delayed checks as just “one other thing” to manage.
Continue reading...Declared extinct in the wild in 2003, species has been reintroduced to its native river after being bred in Chester
A “charismatic little fish” declared extinct in the wild has been reintroduced to its native Mexico after being bred in an aquarium at Chester zoo.
The tequila fish (Zoogoneticus tequila), which grows to no bigger than 70mm long, disappeared from the wild in 2003 owing to the introduction of invasive, exotic fish species and water pollution.
Continue reading...Analysis: academy and health service trusts responsible for big disparities as overall public pay inequality rises
It is clear that the public sector pay gap reported to government remains stubbornly high, at 15.5% versus 9% in the private sector. So where within public services is this happening, and why?
In 2018, the first year of compulsory gender pay gap reporting, women working in the public sector earned 86p for every £1 their male counterparts did. In 2021, that dropped to 84p.
Continue reading...We asked our photographers to pick their best image of the pandemic in 2021
From vaccination centres and ICU wards to family reunions and lockdown beards, the images selected by the Guardian and Observer photographers, accompanied by their thoughts, give individual takes on covering the ongoing pandemic.
The Covid-19 ICU ward at the University College hospital in London, 27 January
Continue reading...Prime minister urges people to get third jab during visit to a vaccination centre in Milton Keynes
Boris Johnson has urged people to get their booster vaccine as he said up to 90% of those in intensive care had not had their third Covid jabs.
On a visit to a vaccine centre in Milton Keynes, the prime minister said people should enjoy their new year celebrations while taking extra precautions such as ventilation and testing, and he urged people to take up the offer of a third dose.
Continue reading...Ex-PM warns poverty and starvation mean country is at risk of world’s biggest humanitarian crisis
The west is “sleepwalking into the biggest humanitarian crisis of our times” in Afghanistan, Gordon Brown has warned, as he called for a support package to save the country from economic and social collapse after the Taliban’s takeover.
Four months after the western-backed government was overthrown following a mass military withdrawal, the former UK prime minister said the case for action was not based only on morals but also “in our self-interest”.
Continue reading...Lawyer argues court does not have jurisdiction as Virginia Giuffre’s ties to Colorado are ‘very limited’
Prince Andrew’s lawyer has called for the US civil case against the royal over alleged sexual assault to be stopped because his accuser is “actually domiciled in Australia”.
Virginia Giuffre is suing the Queen’s son for allegedly assaulting her when she was a teenager. Andrew strongly denies the allegation.
Continue reading...Report from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows domestic flights were down by almost 60%
Air travel in and out of the UK slumped by 71% in 2021 as the second year of the Covid-19 crisis took its toll on international flying, according to a report.
Just over 406,000 international flights operated from the UK up to 22 December this year compared with almost 1.4m in 2019 before the pandemic struck and travel restrictions were imposed, the aviation analytics firm Cirium said. UK domestic flights were found to have declined by almost 60%.
Continue reading...What to expect in the coming months, and what you can do to manage the costs
The UK’s energy crisis deepened last week after gas market prices surpassed the record highs set in October to reach a new all-time high of £4.50 per therm, about nine times higher than this time last year.
Continue reading...Analysis: growing frustration at vaccine refusers has crept into ministers’ speeches recently
A growing sense of frustration with people who have not been vaccinated against Covid has been creeping into the speeches of senior government figures from Sajid Javid to Boris Johnson in recent weeks.
The health secretary has accused those who have chosen not to take up the offer of free vaccination of taking up hospital beds, damaging society and potentially harming their families as well as themselves.
Continue reading...The US has cut the self-isolation period to five days, while in England it is seven with negative tests
The US has announced it is cutting the recommended self-isolation time with Covid to five days. How long are people with Covid infectious for, and why do the rules vary between countries?
What are the rules for self-isolation in the UK?
Continue reading...Sir John Bell says disease ‘appears less severe’ as other scientists criticise lack of new restrictions in England
Omicron is “not the same disease we were seeing a year ago” and high Covid death rates in the UK are “now history”, a leading immunologist has said.
Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University and the government’s life sciences adviser, said that although hospital admissions had increased in recent weeks as Omicron spreads through the population, the disease “appears to be less severe and many people spend a relatively short time in hospital”. Fewer patients were needing high-flow oxygen and the average length of stay was down to three days, he said.
Continue reading...From a factory in China to an English beach, rubber dinghies are acquired by people-smugglers to transport desperate people
Against the backdrop of Dunkirk’s busy port with its cranes and smoke, a collapsed, grey rubber dinghy lies on the shore, abandoned and washed in by the tide.
It is one of the many haunting signs of the thousands of desperate people who have attempted to cross the Channel from northern France.
Continue reading...US reports 512,553 cases; UK reports 129,000; France reports 179,807; Portugal 17,172; and Greece 21,657
Stock markets have continued to gain ground despite the surge of Omicron around the world.
Asian markets lifted on Tuesday with the Nikkei in Japan up nearly 1%, Shanghai up 0.2%, Seoul up 0.1% and Sydney’s ASX200 is up 0.44%.
Continue reading...Unite union criticises ‘excessive’ figure while Labour says ‘Tory waste’ letting down taxpayers
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has come under fire after revelations that it has spent almost £13m on hire cars for staff this year.
A freedom of information (FoI) request by PA Media also showed that the Department for Transport spent more than £1.1m in the year to October, while other departments have spent tens of thousands of pounds. The total figure from responses to the FoI request was more than £14.2m.
Continue reading...Porsche stopped on M25 so badly damaged its bumper was ‘literally bouncing out of the boot’
A police officer said he was “honestly shocked” to see a motorist had driven for more than 30 miles along the M25 in a car so badly damaged its rear end was hanging off.
PC Serge Hadfield, from Surrey police, stopped the car near Cobham on Sunday after a member of the public called the police.
Continue reading...Announcement that there will be no new restrictions in England before new year puts it at odds with rest of UK
Ministers have confirmed that no new Covid-19 restrictions will be imposed in England before the new year.
Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told reporters there will be “no further measures before the new year”, adding: “Of course people should remain cautious as we approach new year celebrations and take a lateral flow test if that makes sense, celebrate outdoors if you can, have some ventilation indoors if you can.”
Continue reading...Official data also shows 98,515 cases on Monday, but experts say figures may not reflect true trends
Covid cases in England reached a new high of 113,628 on Christmas Day and 1,281 people were admitted to hospital – the highest daily figure since mid-February.
Official data on new Covid cases, which was delayed over the festive period, also showed 98,515 new confirmed cases reported in England on Monday. Data for Boxing Day from England and Wales combined revealed 108,893 daily cases reported.
Continue reading...Former US president’s two Scottish resorts claimed emergency support during Covid pandemic
Donald Trump’s loss-making Scottish golf resorts claimed in excess of £3.3m in emergency support from the UK government, to help furlough staff during the Covid pandemic.
Company accounts for the former president’s resorts at Turnberry in Ayrshire and Balmedie, north of Aberdeen, show his businesses cut 273 jobs due to the Covid crisis last year, while also claiming £2.8m in furlough support.
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