Senior coroner says there needs to be an investigation into what may have been the ‘unnatural’ death of Belly Mujinga
An inquest will held into the death of Belly Mujinga, the railway worker who died with Covid-19 after an alleged incident where she was coughed on and spat at by a customer.
Mujinga, 47, died last April, two weeks after the alleged incident on the concourse at London’s Victoria station where she worked as a sales clerk for Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR).
Continue reading...Leader says party considering moving HQ out of London to show it represents the whole country after May election defeats
The Conservatives inflicted a historic byelection defeat on Labour and regained the Tees Valley mayoralty by a landslide as Keir Starmer conceded his party had lost the trust of working people across England.
The Labour leader, who called the local election results “bitterly disappointing”, is considering moving his party’s headquarters out of London to reflect Labour’s determination to show that it represents the whole country, party sources told the Guardian.
Continue reading...Turkey, Maldives and Nepal are expected to be added to a red list while Israel will be among the green list countries, the UK transport secretary, Grant Shapps, announced.
Popular travel destinations France and Spain were not included in the green list announced on Friday, but Shapps assured there would be a review every three weeks.
Continue reading...Destinations on green list include Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Brunei and Israel
Portugal and Israel are among a dozen countries which have been placed on England’s first ever “green list”, allowing people to go abroad from 17 May and return home without the need to quarantine.
Announcing the first easing of tight restrictions on foreign travel in months, the transport secretary, Grant Shapps, said people would soon be able to book foreign holidays and make trips to see friends or relatives living overseas. He also announced plans to make digital vaccine passports available.
Continue reading...Joe Biden did not appear downhearted by a disappointing jobs report: he said it would not be a sprint, but 'a marathon' after April's report severely missed economists' expectations.
The president noted his $1.9tn coronavirus relief package, which he signed into law in March, was meant to aid the US economy over the course of a year and insisted the country is 'moving in the right direction' as businesses begin to reopen
Continue reading...Their families have been fishing here for decades but despite promises of frictionless trade, the market for their fish is disappearing
Steph Noel, who has been fishing the waters off Jersey for almost four decades, could not see the point of chugging out to sea in his 8.5-metre boat, Belle Bird, this weekend.
“There’s no value in it for me,” he said. “It’ll cost me in bait and diesel but even if I have a good day there’s no market there for what I bring back.”
Continue reading...Exclusive: BBC faces questions as further allegations made about Clarke – and co-star John Barrowman is accused of exposing himself
The Noel Clarke sexual harassment controversy threatens to embroil the BBC after several sources came forward to allege they were sexually harassed or inappropriately touched by the actor on a flagship show, Doctor Who.
Another Doctor Who actor, John Barrowman, has also been accused of repeatedly exposing himself to co-workers on two BBC productions, prompting questions about whether the corporation allowed a lax culture on its sets during the mid-2000s.
Continue reading...James Gibbons, 34, died soon after he was attacked near his home in Laindon, police say
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of James Gibbons, who was stabbed to death in Laindon, Essex.
Police said that the 34-year-old father of four died soon after he was attacked in the street where he lived, at about 9.30pm on Sunday.
Continue reading...New restrictions and deep cuts to allowances mean both French and Jersey boat owners feel betrayed by Brexit
Dawn was still four hours away and the small Normandy port of Carteret was alive, some boats hurriedly unloading their catch for a rapid turnaround, others turning on their lights and firing up their engines for the first time that night.
Minutes after 3am on Thursday they had left the quayside and, in pitch darkness and a gentle swell, were pushing smartly out to sea to join a growing armada of 60-odd boats from Cherbourg right the way round to St-Malo.
Continue reading...Hospital in Zanzibar and support for child workers in Bangladesh among approved projects to miss out as £2.1m of funding cancelled
The UK has scrapped three rounds of grants to small international development charities, prompting fury that it has wiped out funding for 42 projects around the world to save “less than the [£2.6m] cost of the Downing Street press room”.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) told charities last week that rounds six, seven and eight of the Small Charities Challenge Fund (SCCF) would not go ahead because of aid cuts, cancelling in total about £2.1m of funds earmarked for new and future programmes, including many that had been approved.
Continue reading...Sinn Féin, Labour, SDLP and Alliance accused Downing Street of betraying victims of violence
Politicians in Northern Ireland have condemned reports that the UK government is to ban prosecutions of British army veterans for alleged crimes during the Troubles.
Sinn Féin, the SDLP, the Alliance party and Labour accused Downing Street of betraying victims of violence and making a shameful attempt to protect security force personnel at the expense of justice.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson dispatches two gunboats to protect island from feared blockade
Boris Johnson has dispatched two Royal Navy patrol boats to protect Jersey from a feared blockade by French fishing vessels, in an escalation of a dispute over post-Brexit access to waters around the Channel island.
The move followed talks on Wednesday evening between the prime minister and the chief minister of the British crown dependency, John Le Fondré, who had warned Downing Street of imminent movements by French fishing boats to cut off the island’s main port.
Continue reading...Debut video includes clips of couple on royal engagements, with William joking: ‘these guys are filming everything’
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have become YouTubers, launching their own channel on the global video-sharing site with a fast-edited promotional video showing them at work and play.
Their YouTube debut post begins with the couple sitting on a sofa. Prince William jokes with Kate while pointing to the camera and people behind it, saying: “Be careful what you say now because these guys are filming everything.”
Continue reading...Not only are little dogs more likely to lash out, they also tend to be less obedient and less well house-trained
Name: Small dogs.
Age: Human years x 7.
Continue reading...Advertising Standards Authority says ad that ran in Sunday Times magazine was irresponsible
A Max Mara advert has been banned for featuring a model with an “unhealthily thin” and “gaunt” appearance.
The Advertising Standards Authority, which received three complaints about the ad, said the model had been photographed from the side, drawing attention to the shape of her body and highlighting her very thin frame and the protrusion of her hip bone, which was visible through her dress.
Continue reading...Delegation self-isolating after members test positive for Covid; Seb Coe says Games in July will be ‘extremely good’ even without spectators
Staff at an Indonesian pharmaceutical company have been accused of washing and repackaging used Covid nasal swabs, which were then sold to thousands of unsuspecting travellers.
Five employees from the state-owned Kimia Farma have been arrested, while the company may also face a civil lawsuit over the claims.
Related: Workers at Indonesian pharma firm arrested over ‘re-used’ Covid swabs
Norway will introduce verifiable vaccine certificates from early June, allowing holders to use them for admittance to events held in Norway, prime minister Erna Solberg has said.
About a quarter of Norway’s population, as Reuters reports, has received a first dose of a Covid vaccine, while 6.8% has received two doses.
Continue reading...Contracts to increase capacity handed to 17 companies, some of whom had donated to Conservatives
The government has been urged to publish details of up to £2bn in Covid-19 contracts awarded to private healthcare companies, including some that have helped fund the Conservative party.
Contracts to provide extra capacity during the pandemic have been handed to 17 firms since March 2020.
Continue reading...Paris threatens to take retaliatory measures in row over post-Brexit licences for French fishing boats
Jersey has accused France of making “disproportionate” threats after Paris warned it could cut off electricity to the island in a row over post-Brexit fishing rights.
The maritime minister, Annick Girardin, warned on Tuesday France was ready to take “retaliatory measures” after accusing the Channel Island of dragging its feet over issuing new licences to French boats.
Continue reading...Revealed: EU chief negotiator’s diaries, The Great Illusion, give blow-by-blow account of moves behind UK’s departure
Britain’s post-Brexit future was determined by “the quarrels, low blows, multiple betrayals and thwarted ambitions of a certain number of Tory MPs”, the EU’s chief negotiator has said in his long-awaited diaries.
The UK’s early problem, writes Michel Barnier in The Great Illusion, his 500-page account, was that they began by “talking to themselves. And they underestimate the legal complexity of this divorce, and many of its consequences.”
Continue reading...Rights groups warn many more survivors face being locked up after MPs back Home Office change
More victims of trafficking will be locked up in detention and forcibly removed from the UK after MPs approved a change in Home Office rules relating to this vulnerable group, campaigners have warned.
MPs recently confirmed what is known as a statutory instrument. This change in rules relating to the detention of trafficking victims comes into force on 25 May and will require them to provide a higher standard of proof that they should not be detained.
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