Former MI6 spy exposed hundreds of western agents and settled in Soviet Union after escape from jail
The former British spy and Soviet Union double agent George Blake has died at the age of 98.
The RIA news agency reported that Blake died in Russia, citing the country’s SVR foreign intelligence agency. “We received some bitter news – the legendary George Blake passed away,” it said.
Continue reading...PM says he is confident trade deal will withstand ‘ruthless’ scrutiny from Eurosceptics
The EU and the UK government have published the full text of the Brexit trade deal less than a week before it is due to be implemented, as Boris Johnson urged his backbenchers to support the agreement when it reaches parliament next week.
The deal, which comes to more than 1,250 pages, will be voted on in the House of Commons on Wednesday, a day before the Brexit transition period ends.
Continue reading...Six million more people in England enter tier-4 restrictions as new measures come into force in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales
Millions more people will be waking to harsher coronavirus restrictions on Boxing Day when new tier changes come into force in England.
New lockdowns are set to be introduced in Scotland and Northern Ireland, while restrictions that were eased for Christmas Day in Wales will be reimposed on Saturday.
Continue reading...Police tell more than 1,300 households to evacuate due to flooding risks as country braces for storm on Boxing Day
More than 1,300 households in Bedfordshire have been urged by police to evacuate their homes due to a risk of flooding as swathes of the UK braced for Storm Bella.
Torrential rain has brought widespread flooding elsewhere and people have had to be rescued from vehicles and homes. The arrival of Storm Bella on Boxing Day will bring further downpours and winds of up to 70mph in exposed coastal locations, according to the Met Office.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Antibody therapy could confer instant immunity to Covid-19 on at-risk groups
British scientists are trialling a new drug that could prevent someone who has been exposed to coronavirus from going on to develop the disease Covid-19, which experts say could save many lives.
The antibody therapy would confer instant immunity against the disease and could be given as an emergency treatment to hospital inpatients and care home residents to help contain outbreaks.
Continue reading...Little doubt that deal struck at 11th hour will be signed off, while British MPs are set to be recalled for 30 December vote
The 27 members of the EU are expected to approve the post-Brexit trade deal with the UK within days after a Christmas Day briefing of ambassadors by Michel Barnier, the bloc’s chief negotiator.
Experts across Europe, from Berlin to Paris and Rome, will now pore over the 1,246-page text, although much of it is well-known in the capitals and there is little doubt that the agreement will be signed off.
Continue reading...Christmas message singles out young people for special praise, and speaks of ‘hope in the new dawn’
The Queen has spoken of her great pride in the “quiet, indomitable” spirit of those who have “risen magnificently” to the challenges of 2020 in a Christmas address that stressed: “We need life to go on.”
In a message capturing the vicissitudes visited on the nation and the world through the “difficult and unpredictable” times of pandemic, she noted: “Remarkably, a year that has necessarily kept people apart has, in many ways, brought us closer.”
Continue reading...Cases emerge as Russia becomes latest country to tighten controls on travel from Britain
Five cases of the new coronavirus variant spreading fast across the UK have been found in Japan, and Russia has become the latest country to impose stricter quarantine on travellers from Britain.
Japan has avoided the huge infection numbers seen in countries from the US to Europe, but cases are rising sharply and daily numbers passed 3,000 for the first time this month.
Continue reading...How Britons celebrated during the pandemic while unable to meet loved ones
Britons across the country celebrated a very different Christmas on Friday, with many unable to gather with loved ones or take part in some of their festive traditions.
Dozens of residents at a Leeds care home were able to embrace friends and family members on Christmas Day after a rapid results trial allowed for visitors.
Continue reading...Last-minute agreement assessed as either a welcome economic boost or a bad move in a world that has become dominated by uncertainty
Britain should be congratulated for coming to a Brexit deal with the EU, but be wary of the very different world they are walking into, international analysts have said.
Outside Europe, politicians, experts, and media took a short break from Christmas and the pandemic to welcome the end of Britain’s long and torturous Brexit process, but there was little in the way of celebration.
Continue reading...Pope addresses fewer than 200 people in St Peter’s; China and US take action against UK amid concerns about new variant; South Korea reports daily case record
The coronavirus pandemic cast a pall over Christmas celebrations worldwide, with the pope holding a reduced St Peter’s mass, and further restrictions imposed on arrivals from the UK and South Africa amid concerns about potentially more transmissible variants of the virus.
China said it would halt UK flight arrivals indefinitely, deciding to follow the example of dozens of countries that introduced bans this week following the emergence of a new mutation in the virus. There are currently eight weekly flights between mainland China and Britain, including two by British Airways.
Continue reading...Escaping the UK to spend Christmas alone in a New Zealand Novotel was a small price to pay to rejoin my family in relative freedom
On my third day of quarantine, a nice nurse gave to me: a swab up my nasal cavity. It also happened to be Christmas.
Along with nearly 6,000 other returning New Zealanders, I was spending the festive period in quarantine at a government-managed hotel.
Continue reading...Judge dismissed Depp’s libel claim last month but actor seeks new trial over assault allegations
Johnny Depp “did not receive a fair trial” and the high court ruling that stated he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard and put her in fear for her life is “plainly wrong”, lawyers for the Hollywood star have told the court of appeal.
The 57-year-old sued the Sun over a column by its executive editor, Dan Wootton, which referred to “overwhelming evidence” that he had attacked Heard, 34, during their relationship and described him as a “wife beater”.
Continue reading...Negotiations continued overnight between UK and EU at European commission’s headquarters in Brussels
Boris Johnson is confident he can sell the trade deal to Brexiters, according to the FT (paywall).
Sebastian Payne and George Parker report that Downing Street has been preparing the ground for weeks with the ERG, ensuring that senior backbenchers were aware of the shape of things to come and compromises being made.
Senior members of the group have already welcomed Johnson’s imminent deal as the “Christmas Eve Agreement”, a reference to the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement that secured peace in Northern Ireland.
Indications from senior figures within the ERG suggest that many of its members will accept the compromises negotiated by Johnson and Lord Frost.
If they want help from the party to stay in parliament, then they’ll back the deal.
In case you’re just joining us, the final stage of the negotiations for a post-Brexit trade deal has been delayed after it emerged that the European commission was using out-of-date figures to calculate the reduction in the amount of fish that member states can catch in British waters after 1 January.
A deal was due to be announced early this morning but the announcement had to be postponed when officials noticed a discrepancy between two sets of fishing figures and realised that the numbers used in the negotiation appeared to be out of date.
Continue reading...Initiative using rapid-turnaround tests is part of plan to let hauliers cross Channel by Christmas Day
A team of French firefighters has been sent to Dover with 10,000 coronavirus tests for lorry drivers under a renewed Franco-British mission to let hauliers cross the Channel by Christmas Day as it emerged that fewer than 100 of the thousands of waiting vehicles were embarked on Wednesday.
France’s ambassador to the UK, Catherine Colonna, said the two countries were “neighbours, partners, allies and (yes) friends” and that 26 firefighters had brought thousands of rapid-turnaround tests to the port on Christmas Eve.
Continue reading...Forecast comes as homes and businesses in England and Wales are flooded after downpours hit parts of UK overnight
Storm Bella is due to hit parts of the UK on Boxing Day after dozens of homes and businesses were flooded following heavy rain.
An amber national severe weather warning has been issued in parts of south Wales and across southern England, as the Met Office said conditions across the UK would turn increasingly unsettled through to 27 December, with strengthening winds and heavy rain moving in from the north.
A yellow warning for wind for the whole of England and Wales as well as the far south of Scotland has also been issued and will be in force from 3pm on Boxing Day.
It came as homes and businesses were flooded and dozens of people were rescued from vehicles after heavy rain fell on Wednesday.
Visitors who have travelled from or through South Africa will be denied entry to England and all direct flights banned
A ban on all direct flights from South Africa to England came into force on Christmas Eve morning, while New York authorities announced they would visit arrivals from the UK to check they were quarantining, amid the spread of new variants of coronavirus in the UK and South Africa.
The UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, said the new mutation in South Africa was “highly concerning”, and was believed to be even more transmissible than the variant in the south-east of England that led to the introduction of tier 4 restrictions.
Continue reading...Desperate relatives in Britain plead with Home Office for flexibility as paperwork holdups delay family reunions while deadline looms
The Home Office has said it will not allow a group of stranded refugee children to join their families in the UK if their cases do not make it through the Greek asylum system by 31 December when the EU family reunification programme comes to an end.
Around 20 children who are eligible to join their relatives in the UK under the current family reunification scheme are still waiting for their cases to be completed in Greece, before the UK government ends the programme when it leaves the EU on the 31st December.
Continue reading...Britain and Europe still seeking last-minute advantage in final stages of negotiations
A post-Brexit trade and security treaty with the European Union is within “touching distance”, Downing Street said on Wednesday night as Boris Johnson prepared to overcome final disagreements to unveil a hard-fought Christmas Eve deal.
The prime minister is expected to seal the deal following a final call with the European commission president Ursula von der Leyen – but the two sides were battling deep into the night to gain a last-minute advantage.
Continue reading...A Kent football team made 200 pizzas and delivered them to stranded lorry drivers on the M20 and Manston airport on Tuesday night.
Hot meals were also provided by a Sikh charity and delivered by Gravesend's Gurdwara Sikh community as thousands of lorry drivers waited for information after France closed its border with the UK for fear of a new variant of Covid-19
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