Prince Harry ‘wants to stay in Britain for Queen’s 95th birthday and has not booked flight’

Prince Harry has not booked his return flight to the United States but will return as soon as his pregnant wife Meghan needs him, a source close to the couple said today. The Duke of Sussex is believed to want to remain in Britain to mark the Queen’s 95th birthday this week if possible. Prince Philip’s funeral was the first time Prince Harry had met his relatives since the couple’s explosive interview with Oprah Winfrey, which was broadcast last month.

Nasa’s Ingenuity helicopter set for first ever controlled flight on Mars

The Ingenuity helicopter is expected to take to the Martian skies on Monday morning.

Alex Salmond: An independent Scotland should not immediately pursue full EU membership

Alex Salmond has said that an independent Scotland should not immediately pursue full EU membership and must establish its own currency “immediately”, in a fresh attack on Nicola Sturgeon’s constitutional strategy. The former First Minister claimed the SNP case for separation was “frozen in aspic” and had not taken account of drastic changes since he led the Yes campaign to defeat in 2014. He suggested that an independent Scotland should initially have a Norway-style relationship with Europe, as a member of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), saying this would allow Scotland to maintain access to the UK internal market and British common travel area. Ms Sturgeon remains determined to rejoin the EU, even though this would likely mean a land border with England and trade barriers with the UK, with which Scottish firms do the majority of their business. The Alba leader, who wants his new party to establish a Holyrood “supermajority” for independence after May’s election, also criticised the SNP’s currency stance.

Boris Johnson news – live: Calls for inquiry into PM’s ‘dishonesty’ as UN experts condemn race report

Latest developments from Westminster

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  Politics latest news: Boris Johnson says it's not his call to put India on red list

  The Telegraph
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  Boris Johnson says breakaway European Super League plans ‘very damaging’ for football

  The Independent

Climate crisis: Sir Keir Starmer condemned by environmental activists for flying to Edinburgh

Labour leader accused of lacking sincerity over green issues

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  'Get out of my pub!' Angry landlord tells Sir Keir Starmer to leave premises during Bath walkabout

  Yahoo News UK
• 
  Furious pub landlord yells ‘get out of my pub’ to Sir Keir Starmer on visit to Bath

  Evening Standard

Queen turns to Sophie, Countess of Wessex to step out of the shadows

She is said to be the Queen’s favourite daughter-in-law, and now the monarch is set to turn to the Countess of Wessex to fill the gap left by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in carrying out royal duties. The 56-year-old Countess was one of the most prominent members of the Royal family in the days following the Duke of Edinburgh’s death. She made the first public comments about his passing, repeatedly visited Windsor Castle and provided a photograph of the Queen and the Duke at Balmoral that Her Majesty chose to share with the world as a tribute to her late husband. The departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex from the UK, and the effective retirement of the Duke of York, has left a major hole in the roster of Royal family members available to carry out public duties, and the Countess has been groomed to step out of the shadows in the year since “Megxit”. Her husband, the Earl of Wessex, 57, is also expected to increase his public profile as he prepares to take on the title Duke of Edinburgh when the Prince of Wales - who automatically inherited the title from his father - becomes king.

Star Wars memorabilia from late Darth Vader actor David Prowse up for auction

A percentage of the proceeds will go to Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Brother of loyalist murder victim disrupts NI Protocol protest

The incident came as loyalists signalled a resumption of protest action against post-Brexit trading arrangements.

India reports more daily COVID cases than whole of Europe combined as Boris Johnson cancels visit

More than 220,000 new daily cases were reported in India on Sunday.

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  Oil steadies as rising infections spark demand concerns

  Reuters
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  Johnson cancels trip to India due to coronavirus worries

  Reuters

China's Xinjiang actions could meet criteria for crimes against humanity - rights group

U.S. human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) laid out in a report on Monday how China's actions in Xinjiang could meet criteria for crimes against humanity, calling for coordinated investigations into "widespread" abuses in the region. It said there was evidence of ongoing rights abuses targeting Turkic Muslims, which include Uighurs, Kazakhs and Kyrgyz people. China has consistently denied all accusations of abuse in Xinjiang.

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  Group urges UN to probe China for crimes against humanity

  Associated Press
• 
  Volkswagen is not closing its factory in Xinjiang as long as it's 'economically feasible,' exec says

  Business Insider

Reunited in grief: How Prince Harry spent a golden hour talking with his family

They gamely presented a united front in the aftermath of the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, strolling side by side and chatting amiably as they emerged from St George’s Chapel into the sunshine. But the Duke of Sussex, 36, was afforded a rare opportunity to have a proper heart to heart with his brother, the Duke of Cambridge, his father and his grandmother on Saturday, as they returned to the confines of Windsor Castle. There, a couple of hours after the ceremony, when most other guests had melted away, senior members of the Royal family spent around an hour together, face to face for the first time in more than a year. There, reunited in grief and in their support for the Queen, Prince Harry is understood to have spent valuable time with Her Majesty, Prince Charles, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. It was the first time they had been together under one roof since the Commonwealth Service at Westminster Abbey last March, when the frostiness and the tension was palpable.

Australia opens quarantine-free travel bubble with New Zealand

Emotions ran high Monday as excited passengers set off on the first flights to take advantage of a quarantine-free travel bubble between Australia and New Zealand, allowing families split by the pandemic to finally reunite. "(I'll) yell, scream, cry, hug, kiss, (feel) happy -- all of these emotions at once," Denise O'Donoghue, 63, told AFP at Sydney airport as she prepared to board her flight.The arrangement means that for the first time in almost 400 days passengers can fly across the Tasman Sea without undergoing mandatory Covid-19 quarantine when they arrive."It's a very big day and exciting for families and friends," said New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who hailed the success of both countries in containing the virus as a key factor in allowing the travel corridor.Australia was New Zealand's largest source of international tourists before the pandemic, accounting for about 1.5 million arrivals or 40 percent of total visitors in 2019.The bubble's opening received saturation coverage from media in both countries, with live television reporting from airports providing regular updates on the progress of flights.On a grass embankment at the foot of Wellington Airport's runway, the words 'WELCOME WHANAU' (family) were spelled out in giant letters.Lorraine Wratt, a New Zealander stranded by the pandemic while visiting family in Australia, told AFP it was "wonderful" to be able to travel again."We're very excited to be heading back home but we're gonna miss our family (in Australia) big time," she said."We came to Australia on December 11 to spend Christmas with our children... planning to go back in February, it's been a bit of a nightmare."'Day one of our revival'Australia is home to hundreds of thousands of expatriate New Zealanders and before coronavirus many regularly shuttled back and forth across the Tasman on three-hour flights.O'Donoghue said the travel bubble's opening made her feel the world was returning to some sort of normality."I'll be going back, they'll be coming over, we'll just be back to normal," she said."What normal's going to be from now on I don't know, but I'm just really, really excited today."Air New Zealand executive Craig Suckling said the atmosphere at Sydney airport before departure was electric."It was quite the emotional rollercoaster here in Sydney," he said."The check-in area was a hive of activity and at the boarding gate, customers were eager to get on."The airline's chief executive Greg Foran said it was also a "monumental" day for those involved in the hard-hit tourism industry."(It's) a real turning point for the airline. It's day one of our revival," he said.(AFP)

Factbox-Who are the Skripal poisoning suspects allegedly behind deadly Czech blast?

The Czech Republic has identified the same alleged Russian military intelligence officers wanted by Britain for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal as suspects in a deadly 2014 blast at an ammunition depot. The men, known under the aliases Ruslan Boshirov and Alexander Petrov, are reportedly part of the elite Unit 29155 of Russia's GRU military intelligence service. The unit, according to a 2019 report by The New York Times, is focused on subversion, sabotage and assassination outside Russia.

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  Salisbury poisoning and Czech blast linked?

  Sky News
• 
  Russia Rebuffs Allegations of Czech Blast, Plans Retaliation

  Bloomberg

Alex Salmond says an independent Scotland should not immediately pursue full EU membership

Alex Salmond has said that an independent Scotland should not immediately pursue full EU membership and must establish its own currency “immediately”, in a fresh attack on Nicola Sturgeon’s constitutional strategy. The former First Minister claimed the SNP case for separation was “frozen in aspic” and had not taken account of drastic changes since he led the Yes campaign to defeat in 2014. He suggested that an independent Scotland should initially have a Norway-style relationship with Europe, as a member of European Free Trade Association (EFTA), saying this would allow Scotland to maintain access to the UK internal market and British common travel area. Ms Sturgeon remains determined to rejoin the EU, even though this would likely mean a land border with England and trade barriers with the UK, with which Scottish firms do the majority of their business. The Alba leader, who wants his new party to establish a Holyrood “supermajority” for independence after May’s election, also criticised the SNP’s currency stance.

Britons with first dose of Covid vaccine ‘have become infected with variants’

Dr Susan Hopkins has urged people to ‘take caution’ as India variant emerges in the UK

Matthew McConaughey is a viable candidate for Texas governor, poll reveals

Hollywood actor has support of 45 per cent of Texans against incumbent governor’s 33 per cent

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  Poll: Matthew McConaughey would have a shot against Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, but primaries would be trickier

  The Week
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  Texas Gov. Matthew McConaughey? Actor Has Double-Digit Lead Over Incumbent in Poll

  The Wrap

Cutting the cost of Covid tests for travellers

Cutting the cost of Covid tests for travellersMike Whittaker has a suggestion to reduce test costs for those wishing to travel abroad, while Catherine Dunn says that if the government invested in public health infrastructure, we would have a more effective testing system ‘In principle, the samples from all persons in a travel group could be combined into one single sample tube, which is then tested with a single test.’ Photograph: Kirsty O’Connor/PA

Royal summit to decide future of monarchy to be led by Prince Charles and Prince William

The Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge will hold a summit to decide the future of the monarchy over the next two generations following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh. In consultation with the Queen, Britain’s next two kings will decide how many full-time working members the Royal family should have, who they should be, and what they should do. The death of Prince Philip has left the Royal family with the immediate question of how and whether to redistribute the hundreds of patronages he retained. Meanwhile the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s decision to step back from royal duties, confirmed only last month after a one-year “review period”, has necessitated a rethink of who should support the sovereign in the most high-profile roles. Royal insiders say that the two matters cannot be decided in isolation, as the issues of patronage and personnel are inextricably linked. Because any decisions made now will have repercussions for decades to come, the Prince of Wales will take a leading role in the talks. He has made it clear that the Duke of Cambridge, his own heir, should be involved at every stage because any major decisions taken by 72-year-old Prince Charles will last into Prince William’s reign. The Earl and Countess of Wessex, who were more prominent than almost any other member of the Royal family in the days leading up to the Duke’s funeral, are expected to plug the gap left by the departure of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex by taking on more high-profile engagements. However, they already carry out a significant number of royal duties – 544 between them in the last full year before Covid struck – meaning they will not be able to absorb the full workload left by the absences of the Sussexes and the Duke of York, who remains in effective retirement as a result of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. In 2019 the Sussexes and the Duke completed 558 engagements between them. It leaves the Royal family needing to carry out a full-scale review of how their public duties are fulfilled. Not only do they have three fewer people to call on, they must also decide what to do with several hundred patronages and military titles held by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Sussexes and possibly the Duke of York, if his retirement is permanent. Royal sources said the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge would discuss over the coming weeks and months how the monarchy should evolve. The issue has been at the top of the Queen and the Prince of Wales’s respective in-trays since the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s one-year review period of their royal future came to an end last month, but the ill health and subsequent death of Prince Philip forced them to put the matter on hold.

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  41 Royal Family Food Rules You Had No Idea They Have To Abide By

  Redbook
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  All The Times The Royal Family Killed It in Plaid

  The Oprah Magazine

Boris Johnson knows his career after politics will be impacted by this lobbying inquiry – which is why it will be meaningless

Please send your letters to letters@independent.co.uk

'Line Of Duty' series 6 episode 5 recap: Jo Davidson's past revealed and a nerve-shredding Mexican standoff

The endless speculation about DCI Joanne Davidson's family history is over.

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  Line of Duty: Vicky McClure addresses shock Kate Fleming cliffhanger

  The Independent
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  Line Of Duty fans have a new theory about who H is, and it makes sense

  Cosmo