Mark Drakeford will announce proposals to ease restrictions as number of new cases stabilises
The Welsh first minister, Mark Drakeford, is due to set out plans on how the nation will aim to lift its coronavirus lockdown.
The Labour politician will announce on Friday a new framework for easing restrictions and seven questions that need to be addressed to help lead Wales out of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Vaughan Gething heard decrying Labour colleague after leaving his audio live on video call
Wales’s health minister, Vaughan Gething, has learned the hard way about one of the risks of videoconferencing after he accidentally broadcast a sweary rant about one of his colleagues during a virtual session of Welsh assembly.
Having apparently left his microphone live after addressing the assembly, the minister could be heard loudly decrying his fellow Labour assembly member Jenny Rathbone.
Continue reading...Death toll rose by 888 to 15,464, according to health department figures on Saturday
More than 15,000 people have died from coronavirus in UK hospitals, figures from the Department of Health and Social Care show.
The death toll rose by 888 from 14,576 on Friday, taking the total to 15,464 as of 9am on Saturday.
Continue reading...Guinness World Records changes rules to use road’s centre rather than sides for measurements
Last summer the townsfolk of Harlech, in north-west Wales, were celebrating the accolade of having the steepest street in the world.
A mere eight months on, they are in the doldrums after being informed by Guinness World Records that a New Zealand rival for the title has usurped them.
Continue reading...As warm weekend weather arrived in the UK, Matt Hancock said people needed to follow the rules on coronavirus or the government would be forced to ban all exercise outside
Continue reading...Sioned Jones convicted of stealing logs after 20 years of felling non-native trees in Cork
Sioned Jones used to adore the landscape and wildlife of her adopted home in Bantry, a bucolic region in west Cork on Ireland’s Atlantic coast. She planted vegetables and herbs, foraged for nuts and berries and observed birds, insects, frogs and lizards.
Then, on land above her house, the state-owned forestry company Coillte planted a forest of Sitka spruce, a non-native species that Jones considered a dark, dank threat to biodiversity.
Continue reading...Storm Jorge may bring 70mph winds on coast and downpours in Wales and northern England
People living in flooded areas are facing more misery as the third storm to hit the UK in a month takes hold over the weekend.
Storm Jorge is expected to batter coastal areas with winds of up to 70mph, while downpours of up to 80mm could fall on already flooded areas.
Continue reading...Labour says PM’s decision not to visit flood sites or call Cobra meeting is ‘a disgrace’
Severe flood warnings remain in place and rescue operations were continuing in stricken communities on Monday evening, as the government faced criticism for its response to what has been described as unprecedented flooding in parts of the country.
With thousands of properties flooded after a month’s worth of rain fell on parts of Britain over the weekend, and more than 200 flood warnings still in place, Labour said it was “a disgrace” that the prime minister was not visiting affected towns and villages and was resisting calls to convene the Cobra emergencies committee.
Continue reading...Yellow wind warnings issued and ‘blizzard-like conditions’ expected next week
Weather warnings have been issued for parts of the UK as Storm Ciara is forecast to bring strong gales and heavy rain over the weekend.
Yellow warnings of wind have been issued by the Met Office for north-western parts of the UK on Saturday. It also warned of travel disruption and potential power cuts in some areas on Sunday.
Continue reading...Bill passes despite concerns it is ‘stepping into the private lives of families’
A move to ban parents from smacking children has been approved by the Welsh assembly and is expected to come into force in 2022 following a £2m awareness campaign.
Supporters said it was a historic day for Wales and would stop mothers and fathers using physical violence as punishment, but opponents argued it could criminalise loving parents.
Continue reading...Government backing raises hopes of preserving ‘place that roofed the world’
An extraordinary landscape shaped by many centuries of slate production has been nominated by the UK government for Unesco world heritage status, a distinction enjoyed by sites such as the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and Stonehenge.
The production of slate in Gwynedd, north-west Wales, has left a landscape dotted with underground workings, terraces cut into hillsides, grey, towering tips and bright blue pools, all nestling within mountains and woodland.
Continue reading...Whistleblower granted refugee status after hard-won campaign against deportation
A torture survivor from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is celebrating after a Home Office U-turn allowed him to stay in the UK.
Otis Bolamu, 39, who lives in Swansea, was detained just before Christmas in 2018. The Home Office had planned to deport him to DRC on Christmas Day that year.
Continue reading...Plus, an update on the trans man who gave birth, the woman deported to Grenada, and more
Last March, Margaret Simons wrote about the abandoned children of British sex tourists in the Philippines. Brigette Sicat, now 12, was unable to go to school because of ill health, and was living in a leaky shack with a dirt floor and no toilet. Today, thanks partly to the generosity of Guardian readers, Brigette and her family live in decent accommodation, she is a regular attendee at school and her grades are outstanding. The turnaround has been even more dramatic for twins Melanie and Madeline delos Santos – now 19. Reading of Madeline’s ambition to be an architect, a reader is supporting her through university in Angeles City. Human rights law firms in Britain, Griffin Law and Dawson Cornwell, are in the process of confirming the twins’ right to British citizenship; they are also exploring the use of DNA technology to help other children establish parentage, and their rights to child support. Simons and photographer, Dave Tacon plan to visit the children again next May. Their report won a Foreign Press Award last month for best travel and tourism story of the year.
In April, Simon Hattenstone interviewed Freddy McConnell about his quest to conceive and carry his own baby. The film of McConnell’s story, Seahorse, was screened widely. In September, the high court ruled that McConnell cannot be registered as his son’s father. He is appealing the decision and the hearing is expected next year. His young son is thriving.
Continue reading...Early frost and fog to give way to sunshine in most places, say forecasters, with rain and wind to follow on Boxing Day
Those dreaming of a white Christmas will have to wait until at least next year, with the Met Office predicting plenty of frost and sunshine but no snow for Christmas Day.
Much of the UK will wake up to frosty and foggy conditions on Christmas morning, before the wintry weather lifts to make way for sunshine later in the day.
Continue reading...Eight passengers injured and a 63-year-old man arrested after part of vehicle’s roof sliced off
A double-decker bus carrying Christmas shoppers, commuters and students has crashed into a railway bridge, slicing part of the roof off and injuring eight passengers.
The bus, thought to contain more than 30 passengers, hit the low bridge at 10.15am in Swansea, south Wales. The top deck was crumpled and a section of the roof appeared to have been thrown on to the railway line above the bridge.
Continue reading...Pair ‘almost certainly wearing ear defenders’ and were not aware of train until too late
There were no formal lookouts when two experienced rail workers were hit and killed on a train mainline, a report has found.
Gareth Delbridge, 64, and Michael “Spike” Lewis, 58, were struck on the south Wales mainline by a Swansea to London train on 3 July.
Continue reading...Planned changes would be biggest shakeup to country’s electoral system for 50 years
A bill is being introduced that would give the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds in many elections in Wales and empower local authorities to decide which voting system they use.
The Labour-led Welsh government said the planned changes would be the biggest in the Welsh electoral system since the voting age was reduced to 18 in the UK half a century ago. They come as a bill to reduce the voting age to 16 for Welsh assembly elections nears the end of its journey through the Senedd.
Continue reading...Ghostly remains of ‘Maid of Harlech’ occasionally visible in the sand
The skeletal remains of an American fighter plane that crashed during the second world war off the Welsh coast, and occasionally emerge ghost-like from the seabed, have been given protected status.
Welsh government officials say the resting place of the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, nicknamed the Maid of Harlech, is the first military aircraft crash site in the UK to be protected for its historic and archaeological interest.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson pressed to drop Cairns after he quit as Welsh secretary over rape trial claims
Boris Johnson is facing calls to remove Alun Cairns as a Conservative candidate after the Welsh secretary resigned over allegations that a former aide sabotaged a rape trial.
Cairns stepped down following huge pressure in recent days over the actions of his former adviser Ross England, with the furore threatening to derail the Tory campaign in Wales.
Continue reading...Zorba fined £93,000 in Wales for supplying egg-free branded tzatziki dip containing egg
The food company at the centre of a hummus salmonella scare received a substantial fine less than a month ago for food standard offences involving another dip, it has emerged.
Zorba Delicacies, which has been forced to extend a recall of 80 types of hummus products supplied to various supermarkets, was found to have supplied an egg-free branded tzatziki dip which contained egg protein.
Continue reading...