Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
The planned reopening of schools in England has descended into disarray, as unions advised teachers not to return to the classroom, heads took legal action over the government’s plans and senior Tories warned that school gates may have to remain shut for weeks to come.
With warnings that some primary heads would arrive at work on Monday morning unsure about whether they would be able to reopen to pupils, teachers accused the government of making an “utter shambles” of school reopening and demanded a last-minute delay. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, was also facing renewed calls to resign over the chaos.
One of four men found liable for the 1998 Omagh bombing, though he always denied being involved
The former Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt has died following a battle with cancer.
McKevitt, who was one of four men found liable for the Omagh bomb, had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a number of years ago. He was released from prison in 2016 after serving a 20-year sentence for directing terrorism and membership of an illegal organisation.
Greece reimposes Covid curbs after Christmas easing; just under 3 million Americans vaccinated so far as US death toll continues to rise; Israel vaccinates more than a million people
Russia has said it has vaccinated more than 800,00 people, and more than 1.5m doses have been dispatched.
People who have had the jab will get an electronic vaccination certificate, according to the TASS news agency. The health ministry is keeping a database of Russians who have had the Sputnik V vaccine.
The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) is the latest union to call for all schools in England to close for two weeks, in response to rising Covid-case numbers.
The body, which represents headteachers and other school leaders, held an emergency meeting of its executive committee this afternoon. Its general secretary, Geoff Barton is set to write to education secretary Gavin Williamson.
It is very clear that the government’s plans for the start of the spring term are untenable. The arrangements it has announced are hopelessly confused and we have seen no scientific rationale for them. Many school and college leaders have no confidence in the government’s approach, and we are very concerned about the safety of families, staff, and the wider community.
We are calling for a short period of remote education in order to protect all concerned and allow time for the government to work with the profession on a joint plan for safe opening. We fully support keeping education functioning as fully as possible during the Covid crisis but this has to be done safely, or the long-term consequences and disruption will be much worse.
Agreement in principle will allow territory to join the Schengen free movement area
Spain will have the last word on who can enter Gibraltar under the terms of the preliminary post-Brexit deal announced this week, Spain’s foreign minister has said, in an assertion that was swiftly challenged by Gibraltar’s chief minister.
The agreement in principle – struck just hours before Gibraltar was poised to become the only frontier marked by a hard Brexit – will allow the British overseas territory to join the Schengen free movement area with Spain acting as a guarantor.
Officials have defended England’s vaccine regimen after details of a contingency plan to mix the two approved jabs in a small number of cases emerged.
Public Health England’s Covid “green book” recommends that “it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule” if the same vaccine used for the first dose is not available. But it adds: “There is no evidence on the interchangeability of the Covid-19 vaccines although studies are under way.”
Up to 5cm of snow could fall, according to Met Office, which has issued yellow weather warning for snow and ice
Parts of northern England, the Midlands and Wales are due to get a covering of snow that could lead to tricky travel conditions.
Up to 5cm of snow could fall, according to the Met Office, which has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice, which runs until 6pm on Saturday.
Residents vow to stop Taylor McWilliams’s scheme to develop a site that looms over the famous Electric Avenue street market
The outcome of the fight may help shape London’s future skyline. In one corner is a Texan millionaire DJ and property developer who has put forward plans for a 20-storey office block in Brixton, next to a conservation area and the district’s famous Electric Avenue.
Taylor McWilliams’s property company Hondo, which owns most of Brixton market, claims the proposal will “deliver” 2,000 jobs in the area and generate £2.8m every year for the local economy.
The announcement that all London primary schools will remain closed next week is the latest in a string of government U-turns on education since the pandemic began.
Under the government’s initial plan, schools in the City of London and Kingston were due to reopen but those in 22 other London boroughs would have remained closed.
UK company says it will keep trying to use leverage to get compensation from local supplier
Tate & Lyle has been accused of betraying 200 families in Cambodia who have fought for years to secure compensation for land they say was taken from them to make way for a sugar plantation.
Residents in Koh Kong, Cambodia, say their livelihoods, and their children’s futures, were devastated when their land was taken from them in a process that began in 2006. The land was later used to supply sugar to Tate & Lyle.
Many low- and middle-income households will face financial hardship unless ministers maintain support for those who have lost their jobs or experienced steep cuts in income during the second wave of Covid-19, Labour has said.
The shadow chancellor, Anneliese Dodds, said in a new year message to Rishi Sunak that the chancellor must extend a range of Covid-19 rescue measures due to run out over the next three months “to protect struggling households from financial ruin”.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is central to the government’s plans for ending social distancing in the UK and returning to some sort of normality. It has invested in seven different vaccines, but the biggest order is for 100m doses of the AstraZeneca jab, most of which will be manufactured in the UK. While the prime minister was jubilant that the UK was first in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, he is now able to claim a British triumph. More to the point is the ease of use of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Unlike Pfizer’s, it does not have to be kept in the long term at -70C. Pfizer’s vaccine can be stored in a fridge for five days, but AstraZeneca’s can be kept for months at fridge temperature, which is 2-8C and will be easy to take to care homes to administer to residents, the first priority group for vaccination.
As first ferries arrive under new trade rules, Simon Coveney warns of disruption to come
Brexit is “not something to celebrate”, Ireland’s foreign minister Simon Coveney declared after the UK formally severed ties with the EU, as he warned of trading disruptions due to fresh red tape.
Latest updates: German biotech startup warns of ‘gaps’ in vaccine supply; re-analysis Covid tests in US raises questions about origin of B117 ‘UK strain’
India has asked China to allow two Indian cargo ships which have been stranded for months near two Chinese ports because of the pandemic to rapidly unload their cargoes or replace their 39 crew members.
“There is growing stress on the crew members on account of the long delay,” Indian external affairs ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said. “We expect that this assistance will be provided in an urgent, practical and time-bound manner, given the grave humanitarian situation that is developing onboard the ships.”
The UK economy begins 2021 on the back foot as record numbers of coronavirus infections and tougher restrictions cloud the outlook for growth and limit the chances of a rapid recovery from the country’s worst recession in 300 years.
There had been hopes that the arrival of successful Covid vaccines could prompt a rebound in activity. But with new government controls to combat the rising infection rate, the outlook is deteriorating.
More claims emerge on social media after British model says fashion designer groped him at party
The American fashion designer Alexander Wang has denied “grotesquely false” allegations of sexual assault as grassroots advocacy sites claim that there are a high number of victims.
A British model, Owen Mooney, this week publicly claimed that Wang had groped his crotch during a party at the nightclub Slake in New York in January 2017, following which a number of similar claims, mostly anonymous, emerged.
Videos taken near the remote Highland area of Spean Bridge and over Edinburgh's show drones taking off and forming various shapes, including a leaping stag
England’s chief nurse has said that NHS and care staff are working incredibly hard to cope with record numbers of Covid-19 patients, amid concern that frontline staff are close to burnout.
Ruth May pleaded with the public to follow the coronavirus advice to help relieve the pressure on hospital staff, after two days of record hospital admissions.
As Brexit’s tangible effects kick in, we look at the impact the EU’s most far-reaching project has had on British society
Historians of the future will judge the politics of the half century before the Brexit transition ended on 1 January 2021. What, though, of social and cultural historians, those who study how we live?
Perhaps the most symbolic cultural artefacts of the last 50 years will turn out not to be a blue flag but a bottle of Blue Nun, a block of mozzarella, a Ryanair boarding printout or a ticket to a Bayern Munich v Manchester City football game.
Charity calls for people to use alternative, less polluting heating and cooking options if they can
Campaigners and health experts are calling on people who have alternative heating not to use their wood burning stoves this winter amid growing concern about their impact on public health.
The Guardian recently reported that wood burners triple the level of harmful particulates inside the home as well as creating dangerous levels of pollution in the surrounding neighbourhood.
With more than a week still to go, the Guardian and Observer 2020 appeal has raised an amazing £1m for its three partner charities supporting disadvantaged young people living in communities hit by the Covid pandemic.
More than 9,500 readers have donated to the appeal since it launched in early December, including hundreds who called journalists to donate through the annual telethon shortly before Christmas. The funds raised will be shared among the charities UK Youth, YoungMinds and Child Poverty Action Group.