Family of Nottingham woman say they have received ‘the worst news imaginable’ from police
A British teacher who was missing in Japan for more than a week has been found dead.
The family of Alice Hodgkinson, 28, confirmed they had received the “worst news imaginable” from police in Japan.
Continue reading...Kelsey Devlin’s family in Burnley had concerns for her welfare and want transparency over how she died
The prime minister of Pakistan and Boris Johnson have been asked to intervene in the case of a British woman who died in Pakistan, with MPs and her family calling for transparency over the circumstances.
Kelsey Devlin, a 27-year-old carer and mother of two from Burnley in Lancashire, died on 30 June in a hospital in Rawalpindi. A death certificate says the previously healthy young woman died of sepsis, a stroke and cardiopulmonary arrest, but her family in Burnley say they were concerned about her welfare in Pakistan before her death.
Continue reading...Total of 118 people have died after two doses in England, as PHE says vaccine drive has prevented about 30,000 deaths
Two people under 50 and more than 100 over-50s have died of Covid after being fully vaccinated, official figures for England show, as experts said the jabs were working as expected amid surging infection rates attributed to the Delta variant.
Public Health England (PHE) figures show that between 1 February and 21 June this year, there were 118 deaths in people who had had both vaccine doses, 116 of them over 50.
Continue reading...Brussels’ accounts reveal amount expected, but London says: ‘We don’t recognise that figure’
The government has rejected claims it owes the European Union £41bn for a Brexit “divorce bill”, even as it emerged the first payments have been made.
Brussels and Westminster reopened a dispute about the size of the bill, after the publication of the EU’s 2020 accounts revealed the European Commission expected €47.5bn (£40.8bn) from the UK, a sum higher than British estimates.
Continue reading...St George’s flags featuring surnames of almost every person in England will fly from heritage sites to cheer on team
Harry Kane can trace his surname back to a word for “warrior”. Declan Rice to “impetuous”. Kieran Trippier to “dance”. Kyle Walker will have to make do with “trampler of cloth in a bath of lye” which, to be fair, was once a very important job.
English Heritage is getting in the football spirit by revealing the origins of the names of the England players. It will also fly a St George’s flag featuring the surname of almost every person living in England at its properties to help cheer on the team before Sunday’s Euro 2020 final against Italy.
Continue reading...Relatives of British-Nigerian citizen Nnamdi Kanu accuse Nigeria of extraordinary rendition, aided by Kenyan authorities
A Biafra separatist leader and UK national was arrested by Nigerian authorities in Kenya and taken to Nigeria in an act of extraordinary rendition, his family and lawyers have claimed.
Nnamdi Kanu, a British-Nigerian citizen, fled Nigeria in 2017 while on bail facing charges of terrorism and incitement. He was arrested last week and brought to Nigeria’s capital, Abuja.
Continue reading...Italians are excited for the Euro 2020 final against England: ‘If we play with the heart, we will win’
Tens of thousands of English football fans at Wembley tried to send a message to Italy on Wednesday night: Sunday’s Euro 2020 final will be hell for the Azzurri. Italians heard the deafening cheers of the home support loud and clear, but that chant, “It’s coming home”, screamed at the top of English lungs does not seem to have affected them greatly. They are far from intimidated.
“It’s coming home? Maybe the English fans meant ‘it’s coming to Rome’,” said Giovanni Mapelli, 14, from Monticello Brianza, near Milan, who plays for a local football team. Since England won a place in the final, he and his brother have been mocking his England-born-and-raised mother.
Continue reading...Neil Gerrard, retired partner of Dechert, admits he ‘failed in his duty’ to pass on information to his client ENRC
A solicitor who acted for the embattled mining firm ENRC has been accused of lying to the high court in order to cover up assisting a long-running Serious Fraud Office investigation into his own client.
Neil Gerrard, 66, a retired partner at the City law firm Dechert, admitted he had “failed in his duty” to pass on crucial information to the former FTSE 100 company, which is suing the lawyer and the law firm for colluding with the SFO on the case.
Continue reading...Stella Moris says measures intended to keep her partner ‘in prison effectively for the rest of his life’
US assurances that Julian Assange would not be held under the strictest maximum-security conditions if extradited from the UK have been rejected by his fiancee, who described them as a formula to keep him in prison for the rest of his life.
Details of the proposals made to British authorities emerged after permission was granted this week to appeal against January’s ruling that the Wikileaks co-founder cannot be extradited on mental health grounds.
Continue reading...Fans share jokes and clips including a stadium rendition of Whole Again and mocking Boris Johnson’s shirt
As sure as night follows day, social media memes follow a big sporting event, and so England fans on Wednesday night enjoyed sharing jokes and clips of events around the Euro 2020 semi-final win almost as much as the victory itself.
Mason Mount was showered with praise after this video clip of him giving his shirt to a young girl in the Wembley crowd took off on social media. Her emotional reaction summed up how many England fans must have felt after such a long wait to reach a major tournament final again.
Continue reading...More than 100 scientists and doctors say move risks creating a generation with problems due to long Covid
Lifting the remaining Covid restrictions in England this month is “dangerous and premature”, according to international scientists and doctors, who have called on the UK government to pause reopening until more people are vaccinated.
Writing in the Lancet, more than 100 global experts warn that removing restrictions on 19 July will cause millions of infections and risk creating a generation with chronic health problems and disability from long Covid, the impact of which may be felt for decades.
Continue reading...Campaigners say ‘shoddy’ and ‘outdated’ law has led to bystanders being wrongfully convicted
A Labour government would reform the law of joint enterprise that has led to hundreds of mostly young men unjustly serving life sentences for murder, David Lammy, the shadow justice secretary, has told a protest rally at Westminster.
Organised by the campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty By Association (JENGbA), which is threatening a legal challenge against the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, the rally was attended by about 200 family members and supporters of young people serving long sentences after joint enterprise convictions.
Continue reading...A look at the demographics as 18.5 million people in the UK fall into the heightened risk category
About 18.5 million individuals, or 24.4% of the UK population, are at increased risk of developing severe Covid because of underlying health conditions. It is well known that older people are at high risk, but the understanding of all the risk factors is incomplete. Experts say that this knowledge needs to develop at speed to support policy and planning given that social restrictions will end in England on 19 July.
Continue reading...Former Children of God member says simple question put to her by Walter Schwarz was life-changing
It was a simple question to a child, one routinely asked by adults: what do you want to be when you grow up? But for 11-year-old Bexy Cameron, who had never known anything but the strict religious cult she was born into, it was life-changing.
Her brief encounter with the Guardian journalist Walter Schwarz in the 1990s led to her escaping the Children of God cult at the age of 15, leaving behind her parents and siblings. Now she has written a memoir, Cult Following, about growing up in a movement founded by a controlling sexual predator. The last line of her acknowledgments reads: “Eternal gratitude to Walter Schwarz (RIP). Who knows what would have happened without that ‘one simple question’?”
Continue reading...Since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, many countries have brought in rules, and even laws, requiring people to wear face masks to help contain the spread of the virus. But as restrictions are being lifted globally, many governments are loosening the rules around mandatory face coverings.
With the requirements due to be dropped in England on 19 July, the Guardian's science correspondent Natalie Grover looks at why masks are more about protecting others than ourselves, and where we still might want to wear them
Mina Smallman says she forgives Danyal Hussein but is concerned he will become more radicalised in prison
The mother of two sisters murdered in a London park last year has expressed her fear that the teenager who murdered them will become “even more radicalised” in prison and risks becoming a “killing machine”.
Mina Smallman, the first black woman to become an archdeacon in the Church of England, said she had already forgiven 19-year-old Danyal Hussein, who on Wednesday was found guilty of murdering Nicole Smallman, 27, and Bibaa Henry, 46.
Continue reading...Analysis: Boris Johnson is betting big by easing rules on 19 July despite new infections rising exponentially
Lifting the final Covid restrictions in England on 19 July is a gamble for the government. Even without further easing, cases are on course to surpass 50,000 a day by mid-July. Thereafter they could swiftly exceed the winter peak of 81,000 and hit 100,000 or more, the health secretary has said. What the next wave means for lives and the NHS is still deeply uncertain – but the science offers some clues.
Continue reading...Analysis: a further delay in a bid to contain the rapid rise in the infection rate would present its own problems
“Freedom is in our sights once again!” Sajid Javid told Conservative MPs on Tuesday, as he announced that double-jabbed people will not be required to quarantine from 16 August if they come in contact with a Covid sufferer.
That mid-August date was the one concession to caution in a package of measures for “freedom day” that was more liberal than many at Westminster had expected, and has led Labour to accuse the government of being reckless.
Continue reading...Steven Gallant was one of three men who restrained convicted terrorist Usman Khan until armed police arrived at scene
An unarmed inmate who tackled the Fishmongers’ Hall attacker to the ground has been directed for release from prison.
Steven Gallant was one of three men who restrained convicted terrorist Usman Khan until armed police arrived at the scene in November 2019.
Continue reading...Vulnerable and immunocompromised people anxious about 19 July end to Covid rules
Boris Johnson’s “freedom day” will be a day of fear for elderly and vulnerable people and those with compromised or suppressed immune systems, for whom the efficacy of vaccines is much reduced, charities have warned.
Citing the statement by the new health secretary, Sajid Javid, that Covid infections could surge to a record 100,000 a day in a few weeks after all social distancing and mask-wearing regulations are removed in England, Blood Cancer UK has said that 19 July “will be the day that it feels like freedoms are being taken away from” many people.
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