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Travel packages advertised as interest surges in mRNA vaccines unavailable on mainlandPrivate services offering Chinese travellers access to mRNA vaccines are attracting droves of mainlanders to Hong Kong and Macau seeking a booster shot that their government has refused to approve.As part of its dismantling of the country’s zero-Covid policy last month, China’s government also lifted quarantine and other border restrictions. It prompted a wave of interest in overseas travel, particularly for the upcoming lunar new year holiday later this month. However, there also appears to be a large contingent chasing the mRNA bivalent vaccines. Continue reading...

PM says NHS already has ‘record funding’ as health secretary privately admits more money needed to end strikesRishi Sunak has refused to back calls to boost the health service budget in an attempt to alleviate staffing pressures that have already led to strikes by nurses and ambulance workers, and could soon prompt junior doctors to strike as well.Asked on BBC’s Good Morning Scotland whether there was scope for a one-off increase in health spending, the prime minister added: “There is record funding already going into the NHS … in spite of the difficult decisions we have had to make to get a grip of borrowing and tackle inflation.” Continue reading...

Year-long revamp intended to inspire next generation of ‘creatives, inventors and scientists’ and tie in with city’s 2025 stint as capital of cultureThe National Science and Media museum is to close for a year for a “radical, once-in-a-generation” revamp that will allow more visitors to attend and provide the ability to tell stories in a more dynamic way, bosses say.The museum in Bradford has a vast, dizzyingly diverse collection of more than 3.2m objects, from the first photographic negative to the original puppet of Zippy from Rainbow. Continue reading...

Trial of Sarah Mardini and fellow defendants lifts lid on ‘farcical’ treatment of humanitarians, say campaignersSarah Mardini, the refugee immortalised in the recent Netflix movie, The Swimmers, was the talk of Lesbos this week as the long-awaited trial of 24 aid workers accused of espionage, got underway on the island.Eight years after the Syrian and her younger sister, Yusra, saved 18 fellow passengers from a sinking dinghy off the isle, it was Mardini’s name that stood out as appeals court judge, Styliani Spyridonidou, conducted a roll call of defendants at the start of a hearing that has fuelled widespread human rights concerns. But,although Mardini’s story hogged the Greek headlines, the 27-year-old student, accused of spying after returning to the island to assist refugees, was not present. Continue reading...

Brazilian art collector says he paid $3.7m for the 1888 oil called The Novel Reader, when a third party took possession of itA painting by Vincent van Gogh on display at the Detroit Institute of Art was stolen, a new lawsuit claims.The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Brokerarte Capital Partners and its sole proprietor, Gustavo Soter, a Brazilian art collector. It claims the DIA borrowed the painting from an unnamed party that is not its legal owner. Continue reading...

Swedish government distances itself from hanging of presidential dummy in Stockholm stunt by Kurdish groupTurkey has summoned the Swedish ambassador after a Kurdish group hung an effigy of the Turkish president in Stockholm, in a stunt that has inflamed tensions between the two countries over Sweden’s bid to join Nato.Sweden’s foreign minister, Tobias Billström, said his government strongly distanced itself from “threats and hatred against political representatives”. Without naming any specific country, he added: “Portraying a popularly elected president as being executed outside City Hall is abhorrent.” Continue reading...

Russian mercenaries make claim about missing Britons; Ukrainian military claims forces killed more than 100 Russian soldiers in single strike

Figures show 68 officers and 25 staff in England and Wales were found guilty of crimes including sexual offences and violence against the personMore than 90 police officers and staff were found guilty of crimes after complaints or conduct investigations last year, including for sexual offences, corruption and violence against the person, new statistics show.The figures, released by the Home Office, detailed the outcomes of criminal proceedings against police officers and staff in the year to April 2022. It revealed 68 police officers were found guilty, as well as 25 police staff. Continue reading...

Borders inspector blames unfounded suspicions by ministers that detainees gaming the systemTorture victims and suicidal people in immigration detention centres are not receiving adequate help because of unfounded suspicions from ministers and officials that they are cheating the system, the UK borders watchdog has found.David Neal, the independent chief inspector of borders and immigration (ICIBI), also questioned why Suella Braverman had ended annual investigations into the treatment of vulnerable adult detainees. Continue reading...

First lady says she is in favour of ‘simple but not dull outfit’, before debate on issue pushed by far rightThe French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, has weighed into the politically charged debate in France on whether to introduce compulsory school uniforms as parliament prepares to debate the issue pushed by the far right.Uniforms in French schools have not been obligatory since 1968 but have regularly returned to the political agenda. Continue reading...

The much-anticipated account of the troubled prince’s life has broken publisher’s previous record for first-day sales in the UK, US and CanadaPrince Harry’s memoir sold 1,430,000 copies on its first day on sale in the US, Canada and the UK combined, according to the book’s publisher Penguin Random House (PRH).Spare became the UK’s fastest-selling nonfiction book ever, after 400,000 copies were sold on Tuesday in the UK alone. Continue reading...

Data for England shows huge pressures across NHS from emergency callouts to admissions

Suella Braverman issues ministerial statement after long-awaited review of tier 1 (investor) visa schemeTen Russia-backed individuals who were put on the UK’s sanctions list after the invasion of Ukraine had used a “golden visa” route for the super rich to move to the UK, Suella Braverman has disclosed.The home secretary said “a minority” of more than 6,000 individuals who used the tier 1 (investor) visa route were potentially at high risk of having obtained wealth through corruption, illegality or organised crime – and that many were still under investigation by the police. Continue reading...

Human Rights Watch warns UK has ‘very short window’ to reverse legislation, including restrictions on the right to protestThe UK government could soon make the list of countries that abuse rather than protect human rights with its “outright assault” on the rights of its own citizens and aggressive roll-back of protections such as on the right to assemble and protest, according to the international NGO Human Rights Watch (HRW).“The shrinking civic space is not relegated to countries far away,” said Tirana Hassan, the acting executive director of HRW. “When you come to the UK, you look at the very worrying trend we are seeing. A slew of legislation was passed last year where fundamental human rights are being challenged. The protest law is something we are deeply concerned about.” Continue reading...

Sandie Wood had requested stunt as part of her ceremony, which also included pink coffin marked with words ‘Going out in style’A dance troupe flashmobbed a funeral with a performance of Queen’s Another One Bites the Dust at the request of a woman who wanted her sendoff to be memorable but not sad.Video of the event showed some mourners looking confused when the dancers emerged from pews midway through the funeral of Sandie Wood, from Bristol, before they began clapping along to the rock anthem. Continue reading...

Yevgeny Prigozhin claims passports of aid workers Andrew Bagshaw and Christopher Parry found on the bodyThe head of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has claimed his forces have found the body of one of two British voluntary aid workers reported missing in eastern Ukraine.In a statement published on his Telegram channel late on Wednesday, Prigozhin did not mention the name of the dead man but said documents belonging to both Britons had been found on his body. Continue reading...

Ukraine war’s effect on wholesale gas prices prompts third upgrade in a year from CentricaBritish Gas owner Centrica expects a near eightfold increase in its earnings this year as its balance sheet was boosted by soaring wholesale gas prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.The FTSE 100 group said on Thursday it expects earnings a share to be more than 30p this financial year. That represents an upgrade on City expectations of 23.6p to 26.6p a share, far outstripping the 4p a share generated in 2021, when pre-tax profits hit £761m. Continue reading...

Ministers consider ‘radical’ overhaul to get long-term sick back in work and fulfil Rishi Sunak’s growth pledge

People urged ‘don’t go home’ during lunar new year holiday if older family members not yet infectedPeople in China have been warned against travelling to visit their elderly relatives during the lunar new year holiday, as Covid spreads rapidly through cities and into regional and poorer areas.Prof Guo Jianwen, a member of the state council’s pandemic prevention team, urged people “don’t go home to visit them” if elderly relatives had not yet been infected. Continue reading...

Mark Rowley admits vetting procedures inadequate and says other bodies reinstated officers sacked by forceThe head of the UK’s biggest police force has said it is “crazy” that he cannot sack “toxic” officers who have broken the law.Responding to a disclosure in the Guardian that 150 officers are under investigation over allegations of sexual misconduct or racism, the Metropolitan police commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, admitted that the force’s vetting procedures were inadequate. Continue reading...

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Sappers neutralised the explosive that was lodged just beneath the young man’s heart, Kyiv said

Consumers have got used to poor returns on savings accounts, but there are now better dealsIf you are one of the millions of people whose savings are languishing in an account paying little or no interest, it might be time to act because you could be earning 4.25%, or more on your cash.Earlier this week the Coventry building society warned that Britons have a collective £268bn sitting in easy and instant access accounts paying no interest – an increase of more than £9.6bnon a year ago. Continue reading...

Matches scheduled for March in UAE scrapped following talks with Australian governmentCricket Australia has pulled its men’s national team from the upcoming one-day international series against Afghanistan amid concerns over deteriorating women’s rights in the Taliban-ruled country.Australia were scheduled to play three ODIs against Afghanistan on neutral ground in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in March, but after talks with the Australian government, the series has been cancelled. Continue reading...

Civil Aviation Safety Authority issues air operator’s certificate to long-delayed budget carrier

IFS says pay erosion helps explain why traditionally moderate teaching unions are considering strike actionSenior teachers in England have in effect had their pay cut by £6,600 since 2010, according to analysis by the Institute for Fiscal Studies that comes as strike action over pay is likely to close schools.The independent economics research institute calculated that long-serving and senior teachers – accounting for nearly a third of those working in England – would have earned the equivalent of £50,300 in 2010. But below-inflation wage increases over the past 12 years has meant their pay in 2022 was just £43,700. Continue reading...

Controversial bill to stop industrial action criticised as an already struggling sector fears losing more staff in a damaging brain drainZimbabwe’s health workers have criticised the government for passing contested legislation that outlaws any industrial action, saying it will worsen the sector’s already damaging brain drain.The new Health Services Bill, which came into force on Tuesday, forbids health workers who are classified as an “essential” service from striking for more than three days. Those who do not comply face a fine or imprisonment of up to six months. Continue reading...

Poll has become a tussle between three frontrunners whose campaigns have all hit problemsVoters in the Czech Republic go to the polls this week to elect a new president in a contest that could set the country on a renewed path of populism or bring to office a national unifier promising to heal divisions opened up by the rumbustious incumbent, Miloš Zeman.Eight candidates are vying to succeed the 78-year-old, who is constitutionally bound to step down after two successive five-year terms. Voting will be spread over Friday and Saturday and is almost certain to be followed by a second-round runoff in a fortnight’s time. Continue reading...

UN special envoys to meet in Washington as figures show Libyan politicians’ salaries rose by more than 40% in 2022Western leaders are losing patience with an entrenched Libyan political elite that has collectively failed to agree on the basis of elections for more than a year but has boosted politicians’ salaries by more than 40%, according to official figures.Special envoys from the US, France, Germany, Italy and the UK are due to meet in Washington on 13 January to discuss their next steps after two rival Libyan factions last week failed to reach a final agreement in Cairo on the constitutional basis for national elections. Continue reading...

Of the small number gathered at St Patrick’s Cathedral some did not want to forgive while others remembered cardinal’s ‘legacy’

Anthony Whealy, who was assistant commissioner at the anti-corruption body, says wait is ‘unfair’ on former premier

Human Rights Watch calls on government to address its own ‘alarming deficiencies’, including detention of children under 14 and treatment of asylum seekers

Sewell sentenced to an 18-month community corrections order with 150 hours of community service for affray and recklessly causing injury

New Zealand tribe says only a handful of its cultural taonga, or treasures, are left after successive waves of looting during colonial timesA Māori tribe in New Zealand is calling for the return of treasured relics listed for sale by the auction house Sotheby’s.The auctioneer is in the process of selling a number of Māori artefacts from around the 18th and 19th century – some of which local tribes say are crucial cultural taonga (treasures) and should be returned. Continue reading...

Beck rose to fame with the Yardbirds before fronting the Jeff Beck Group and making forays into the jazz-fusion sound he pioneeredJeff Beck, the celebrated guitarist who played with the Yardbirds and led the Jeff Beck Group, has died aged 78, his representative has confirmed.Beck died on Tuesday after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis”, the representative confirmed. “His family ask for privacy while they process this tremendous loss,” they added. Continue reading...

This live blog has now closed, you can read more on this story herePolitico reports that Germany is facing pressure from France and Poland to supply Ukraine with the powerful Leopard 2 tanks.Politico reports:Supplying modern western tanks such as the Leopard 2 would be a big boost for Ukraine’s military, as Kyiv’s allies have so far only been willing to send older Soviet-era tanks that had still been in the stocks of eastern European countries, as well as other weapon systems such as howitzers and air defences.A French official told Politico that Paris is turning the screws on Germany in the hope of extracting an agreement from Berlin to send Leopard tanks to Ukraine ahead of a Franco-German summit on January 22, the 60th anniversary of the Élysée partnership treaty between the two nations. Continue reading...

Public and Commercial Services union announces one-day strike over jobs, pay and conditionsMore than 100,000 civil servants will join one-day strike action on 1 February in a major escalation of action by the PCS union.The union members will take action across 124 government departments, with a further 33,000 balloting again on joining strike action from five more departments including HMRC. Continue reading...

Singer and TV host, who is of Irish and Italian descent, made comment in interview promoting her beauty brandThe singer and TV host Gwen Stefani faced widespread backlash after claiming: “I’m Japanese.”In an interview with Allure magazine released on Tuesday, Stefani, who is of Irish and Italian descent, was promoting her GXVE beauty brand when she said: “My God, I’m Japanese and I didn’t know it.” Continue reading...

Fewer women feel they always got the help they needed during labour and birth, according to CQC pollA health watchdog has sounded the alarm over a “concerning decline” in women’s experiences with maternity services.Fewer women feel they always got the help they needed during labour and birth, many were disappointed at the amount of time their partners could stay with them after the delivery of their babies, and a significant number reported that they did not feel listened to when they raised concerns.Women were less likely to report that they were always able to get help during labour and birth – down to 63% in 2022 compared with 72% in 2019.There was a decline in the proportion who felt they could always get help after birth in hospital – 57% said they were “always” able to get help, down from 62% in 2019.Some 63% said they received help and advice about their baby’s health and progress – down from 71% in 2017 to 63% in 2022, although this was a slight rise on 2021 (60%).Just over two-thirds (69%) reported “definitely” having confidence and trust in the staff delivering their antenatal care.Seven in 10 reported always being given the help they needed when they contacted midwives and health visitors after their babies were born – down from 79% in 2019.There has also been a downward trend for mothers “always” being treated with kindness and understanding while in hospital after the birth, from 74% to 71% between 2017 and 2022.Some 90% said their partner or someone else could be involved as much as they wanted during labour or birth – but this is still down from 96% in 2017.But just 41% of women felt that their partners had been able to be with them as much as they waned after giving birth – prompting a charity to call for a change in policy.Some 77% said that if they raised a concern during labour and birth, they felt it was taken seriously, down from 81% in 2017.And 85% said they were always treat with respect and dignity during labour, down from 89% in the 2019 survey. Continue reading...

British actor and comedian says condition has made him disorganised but ‘chaos’ may have helped his standup performanceThe comedian and actor Johnny Vegas has revealed that he has been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) at the age of 52.The NHS describes ADHD as a condition that affects people’s behaviour with restlessness, trouble concentrating and impulsiveness among its effects. Continue reading...

Officials say there is no threat to public but it is unclear whether radioactive element was deliberately concealedA discovery of metal bars embedded with uranium at Heathrow in late December has triggered an urgent counter-terrorism investigation, in an attempt to establish why it was concealed in an aeroplane shipment.Scotland Yard said on Tuesday night the amount of contaminated material was “extremely small” and posed “no threat to the public” although some reports had suggested, incorrectly, that several kilograms of uranium itself were discovered. Continue reading...

Un-redacted report released in 2020 revealed how archbishop failed to take proper steps to act on complaints about dangerous priests

Control measures including lockdowns have halted the spread of the virus after less than four monthsThe Ugandan government has declared an end to its Ebola outbreak, less than four months after cases were first reported.Since 20 September, 56 people have died from the virus, which is spread through body fluids, and there have been 142 confirmed infections. Continue reading...

Unions say health secretary’s refusal to increase 2022-23 offer has made it ‘impossible’ to talk about next year’s dealHealth unions will not submit joint evidence to the NHS pay review body about the rise staff should get in 2023-24, in a move that threatens the system by which most health service pay is decided.Unions representing more than 1 million NHS staff announced on Wednesday that they would not share their views on what next year’s uplift should be while the dispute over this year’s uplift was still ongoing. Continue reading...

Australian PM to call for ‘a swift conclusion to negotiations’ to treaty and say both countries should ‘work as equals with our fellow Pacific states’

As Netanyahu takes an aggressively anti-Palestinian line, the White House will seek to avoid the humiliations heaped on ObamaThe more things change in Israel, the harder Joe Biden is working to make sure they stay the same.The new far-right government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, which includes openly anti-Arab racists, is already causing concern in the White House with commitments to expand illegal settlements in the occupied territories and annex Palestinian land. Continue reading...

Man said to have attacked passersby during early-morning rush-hour before armed police wounded and arrested himSix people have been injured by a man wielding a knife during rush-hour at the Gare du Nord station in Paris, French authorities have said.Police arrested the man at the busy station, which serves as a hub for local transport as well as trains to London and northern Europe, after they opened fire and wounded him, said a police source, who asked not to be named. Continue reading...

Almost 2,500 NFTs to be released for the Australian Open, as Tennis Australia says it’s in for the long haul as ‘an innovative company’

There were heroes aplenty – Jennifer Coolidge, Colin Farrell and Michelle Yeoh among them – but only one villain at this year’s star-studded Globes award ceremony“I‘m here because I’m Black,” said incoming MC Jerrod Carmichael, who addressed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s tarnished reputation head-on in his opening monologue. “They didn’t have a single Black member until George Floyd was killed,” he said, shrugging off much of their apparent rehabilitation efforts and saying he only took the gig for the $500,000 paycheck. Continue reading...

23-year-old tells story of how she joined Islamic State and life in a refugee camp in BBC podcast seriesShamima Begum, who left Britain to join Islamic State as a schoolgirl in 2015, has said she understands public anger towards her but insists she is “not this person that they think I am”.Begum, who was 15 when she left her east London home to join IS with her school friends Kadiza Sultana, 15, and Amira Abase, 16, has told the story of how she joined the terror group and life in a refugee camp in a 10-part BBC podcast, The Shamima Begum Story. Continue reading...