Merseyside police took 54-year-old into custody after £70,000 theft from Alder Hey
A man has been arrested on suspicion of burglary after 100 iPads worth £70,000 were stolen from a children’s hospital.
Police were called after a report that the devices were taken from an outdoor container at Alder Hey children’s hospital in West Derby, Liverpool, on 19 November.
Continue reading...From a change of routine to an unexpected rest, those self-isolating look on the bright side
When Isaac, 16, tested positive for coronavirus a few days ago, he decided to self-isolate alone in his room. He wanted to make sure he did everything he could not to pass the virus on to his family and ensure they were able to have some normality over Christmas.
After his mum, Debs, posted what he was doing on Twitter, she was flooded with loving messages to pass on to him. She plans to print them all and put them up on the wall opposite his room for him to see on Christmas Day.
Continue reading...Nasa’s flagship mission counts down to launch at 1220 GMT on Christmas Day from Kourou, French Guiana
Final checks and fuelling are under way for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, a flagship mission for Nasa that aims to observe worlds beyond the solar system and the first stars and galaxies that lit up the cosmos.
If all goes to plan, the $10bn (£7.4bn) observatory will become the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space when it blasts off at 12.20pm UK time on Christmas Day onboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the European Space Agency’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Continue reading...Photograph of TV address released by palace shows Queen sitting next to a portrait of her and Prince Philip
The Queen’s Christmas Day message is expected to be a particularly personal one this year, her first since the death of the Duke of Edinburgh.
A photograph released by Buckingham Palace ahead of her televised address shows the Queen sitting behind a desk in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, accompanied by a single, framed picture of the couple taken in 2007 at Broadlands country house, Hampshire, to mark their diamond wedding anniversary.
Continue reading...ONS figures are highest on record so far; Christmas for many in disarray as US and Australian airlines say flight crews hit by Covid
Here’s a story that echoes the cancellation of flights happening over the US.
Thousands of Australians have had their domestic flights cancelled in the hours leading up to Christmas, as frontline staff were ordered to test and isolate amid a rise in Covid cases.
Continue reading...Grant Bailey was working as security consultant in Kabul where he liaised with US state department
A British man is missing in Afghanistan after a report he has been detained by the Taliban. Grant Bailey was arrested in the Afghan capital, Kabul, where he has been working as a security consultant.
The arrest came during a Taliban security clampdown, according to the Daily Mirror.
Continue reading...Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala calls for changes to ensure developing nations are resilient to affects of extreme weather
Removing trade barriers around the world would help to tackle the climate crisis, enable a “just transition” away from fossil fuels and make developing countries more resilient to the impacts of global heating, the head of the World Trade Organization has said.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, who took over as director general of the global watchdog last March, said: “Trade is part of the solution, not part of the problem … We need a global effort to climate-proof the supply chains and infrastructure of the most vulnerable economies or risk undoing hard-won economic progress and development.”
Continue reading...Protest at property near Newcastle follows video of former England football captain urging people to get Covid booster
Anti-vaccination protesters who attempted to serve spurious legal papers to the former England football captain Alan Shearer delivered the documents to the wrong house, it has emerged.
The former Newcastle United and Blackburn Rovers striker had encouraged people to get a Covid booster jab in a video promoted by the Premier League last week.
Continue reading...The designer’s salary rose to £2.7m last year while her company claimed almost £850k in government support
Stella McCartney took a near £2.7m salary from her fashion company last year, up more than £220,000 on the year before, while the business claimed almost £850,000 in support from the government’s furlough scheme.
The designer’s pay went up despite a 26% fall in sales to £28.4m in the year to 31 December 2020, as sales in the UK more than halved, while the company recorded a pre-tax loss of £31.4m, according to accounts for Stella McCartney Limited filed at Companies House. The group made a £33.4m pretax loss the year before.
Continue reading...Analysis: smaller proportion of people hospitalised with Covid variant means little when rise in infections is so huge, warn experts
Evidence that infections caused by Omicron may be less severe than other Covid variants is good news but is likely to make little or no difference to the duration of the pandemic, according to experts.
Several pieces of research published this week suggest that people infected with Omicron are much less likely to require hospitalisation.
Continue reading...Image taken at home shows daughter held up by her mother, as prince sits with son Archie on his knee
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released the first picture of their daughter, Lilibet, with Meghan holding up the laughing child in an image on their Christmas card.
The photo, which also shows Prince Harry with curly haired Archie on his knee, was taken by Alexi Lubomirski this summer at the couple’s home in Santa Barbara, California.
Continue reading...Chris Martin says band will continue to tour in interview with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2
Fans have reacted with dismay to the news that Coldplay will stop recording music as a band in 2025, although quiet glee was also detected among some detractors.
The band’s frontman, Chris Martin, shared the “huge revelation” with the BBC Radio 2 presenter Jo Whiley on a special show to be broadcast on Friday from 7pm.
Continue reading...Figures reveal child refugees who arrived on their own are waiting longer than adults for Home Office decision
Children who have arrived in the UK on their own to seek asylum are at risk of self-harm and dying by suicide, according to 25 child and migrant rights organisations, as figures reveal they are waiting longer than adults for a decision on their claim.
The warning, in a letter to safeguarding institutions, including the children’s commissioner and the chief social worker, said the risk was “exacerbated by Home Office failures to decide the children’s asylum claims”.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org.
Continue reading...Latest updates: UK says risk of hospitalisation 70% lower with Omicron; France set to report highest case numbers
The premier of Australia’s most populous state of NSW, Dominic Perrottet, addressed the media on Thursday to confirm masks will be mandated for inside areas and density limits would also be imposed.
As of midnight tonight, we will be requiring that masks are worn in indoor settings.
We are encouraging people, particularly over the holiday period, if you can work from home, please work from home.
In addition to that, we’re encouraging people not to mingle and when you’re out and out at a restaurant or cafe and a pub or a club, please where possible don’t mingle.
Continue reading...Julie Morris, who was head of safeguarding at primary school, admitted 18 child sexual abuse offences
A deputy headteacher and her partner have been jailed for child sexual abuse offences after they filmed themselves abusing and raping a girl.
Julie Morris, a teacher who was also head of safeguarding at a primary school in Wigan, was sentenced to 13 years and four months in prison after she pleaded guilty to 18 child sexual abuse offences, including two counts of rape.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Civil case puts business dealings of Jo Bamford under spotlight as well as alleged family tensions
• Industrial scion with big money in green energy
The heir to the JCB digger empire, whose father Lord Bamford is one of Boris Johnson’s biggest financial backers, is locked in a legal battle with a former close friend that has shed fresh light on alleged tensions inside one of the UK’s most powerful industrial families.
The case has also raised questions over the conduct of Jo Bamford, a 43-year-old self-styled “green entrepreneur” who is a director at a key JCB holding company and has now set himself up as an investor in bus manufacturing and hydrogen.
Continue reading...Devolved nations to reintroduce rule of six for hospitality venues and other measures from Boxing Day
Wales and Northern Ireland have announced stringent restrictions that will come into force from Boxing Day, including the return of the rule of six for hospitality venues, in an effort to curb the spread of the Omicron variant.
The first minister of Wales, Mark Drakeford, accused Boris Johnson of being in a “state of paralysis,” over Omicron as he set out a package of strict measures he said would put his country at “alert level two”.
Continue reading...The year has been marked by the success of the vaccination drive – yet thousands have still died
This time last year, Covid-19 cases were soaring in the UK, hospitalisations were steadily increasing, and the government had tightened restrictions to try to get a handle on a concerning new variant.
Twelve months on, there is a sense of deja vu. A weary public is worried about its festive plans being cancelled, an outcome that would be all the more painful in light of the Christmas party scandal that has enveloped Downing Street in recent weeks.
Continue reading...Activists lament that a safe, legal way into Britain has closed with Brexit, when stranded children need it as much as ever
‘When I was a child in Afghanistan I loved to watch my uncle play chess. Now I have joined the local club here.” Samir is grinning as he talks about settling into life on England’s south coast. “I’m very happy here, just being with my family, going for walks to look at the Christmas lights. It’s really beautiful.”
After arriving in Greece alone two years ago, when he was just 16, and spending many months homeless and terrified in the port city of Patras, Samir recently made a journey that most refugees can only dream about. He said goodbye to the friends he had made in a camp for unaccompanied minors – other teenagers from Somalia, Iraq and Palestine – and travelled safely and legally to join his father and sister in the UK.
Continue reading...Prime minister warns rapid spread of Omicron variant could mean curbs are imposed after 25 December
Christmas will go ahead without any curbs on socialising, Boris Johnson has confirmed, prompting warnings this could lead to tougher measures later despite tentative signs that cases have begun to plateau.
The prime minister said he understood that families across England needed certainty to press ahead with Christmas plans but warned curbs could still be imposed after 25 December because of the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.
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