Coronavirus news — live: Britons ‘ready to accept vaccine passports’ as retailers prepare for lockdown easing

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UK university students struggle with stress as uncertainty grows over return date

UK university students struggle with stress as uncertainty grows over return date. Failure to include campuses on Covid roadmap is leaving young people ‘in limbo’, say vice-chancellors

Prince Philip death: Elton John claimed late royal once dubbed him ‘a bloody fool’ in awkward exchange

Interaction between pop star and Duke of Edinburgh occurred in the Seventies

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  Royal Family will dress differently to honour Prince Philip before and after funeral

  Yahoo Style UK
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  Sporting fixtures rescheduled to avoid clash with Prince Philip's funeral

  The Telegraph

Mutant South African Covid strain can ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine, study finds

The South African variant of Covid-19 can “break through” the Pfizer jab, a study has found. Scientists working on a Tel Aviv University study examined 400 people who had tested positive for coronavirus at least 14 days after taking one or two doses of the jab - and 400 people who had tested positive but hadn’t been vaccinated. Scientists said their results suggested the South African variant is more resistant to vaccines.

Korean actress Yuh-Jung Youn thanks ‘snobbish’ Brits after Bafta win

The 73-year-old played a shrewd grandmother in family drama Minari.

Conor Benn destroys Samuel Vargas inside one round with explosive knockout

The Destroyer had too much for his more experienced opponent at the Copper Box in London

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  Highlights Conor Benn vs Samuel Vargas

  DAZN
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  Conor Benn proves he’s the new British attraction but his real journey starts now

  The Independent

COVID-19: England's pubs, restaurants and shops prepare for Monday reopening - but PM postpones his pint

England's coronavirus restrictions will be eased further on Monday, with pubs and restaurants allowed to serve customers outdoors. Hairdressers will reopen, as will non-essential shops, indoor gyms, swimming pools, libraries, zoos and nail salons. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has postponed his celebratory pint and is not expected to mark the reopening of businesses with a statement.

South Pacific tribe that worshipped Prince Philip as living god prepares to hold day of mourning

The island tribe in the South Pacific nation of Vanuatu that has for decades worshiped the Duke of Edinburgh as a deity will hold a day of mourning and feasting on Monday. Hundreds of people are expected to converge on the rainforest village of Yaohnanen on the island of Tanna to pay their respects to Prince Philip after he died on Friday at the age of 99. The village is the focus of a visionary movement in which Philip is viewed as a god, a pale-skinned mountain spirit who left Tanna decades ago to seek a rich and powerful woman to marry. The belief was reinforced during the colonial era when islanders saw the respect that was accorded to Prince Philip, whose portrait hung in government offices and who visited what was then an Anglo-French colony, the New Hebrides, in 1974. The prince was supposed to have returned to the island bringing wealth and wisdom but those hopes, which persisted for decades, have now been dashed. Islanders, who live in thatched huts and hunt wild pigs and flying foxes in the forest, have been left grief-stricken by the death of the prince, said Jean-Pascal Wahé of the Vanuatu Cultural Centre, a national museum of anthropology.

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  Army engineers began preparing Prince Philip’s Land Rover hearse after hospital stay

  The Telegraph
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  Religious leaders recall Prince Philip's spiritual curiosity

  Associated Press

Coronavirus latest news: South Africa variant can 'break through' Pfizer's vaccine

Half of people in England live in areas that are Covid free Why Europe's approach to AstraZeneca jab differs from ours Two-thirds of pubs lack outdoor space to open on Monday Private Covid tests to be subject to quality checks Subscribe to The Telegraph for a month-long free trial The coronavirus variant discovered in South Africa can "break through" Pfizer's Covid-19 vaccine to some extent, a real-world data study in Israel found, though its prevalence in the country is low and the research has not been peer reviewed. The study, released on Saturday, compared almost 400 people who had tested positive for Covid-19, 14 days or more after they received one or two doses of the vaccine, against the same number of unvaccinated patients with the disease. It matched age and gender, among other characteristics. The South African variant, B.1.351, was found to make up about 1 per cent of all the Covid-19 cases across all the people studied, according to the study by Tel Aviv University and Israel's largest healthcare provider, Clalit. The vaccine appeared to be less effective against the South African variant, researchers noted. Crucially, however, the study shows that the variant does not spread effectively, they say. It is believed that this reduced effectiveness may also only occur in a short window of time. Results from the study showed that there were no reported cases of B.1.351 in fully vaccinated individuals who had received their second dose more then 14-days prior. Follow the latest updates below

Liberia takes the lead to introduce the typhoid vaccine for children

In an effort to counter typhoid, a disease said to be endemic in Liberia with more than 7,400 cases annually, the government has introduced a vaccine for the first time this month in its regular child inoculations, according to Adolphus Clarke, the country’s Program Manager for National Immunization at the Ministry of Health. "Typhoid has become a disease of concern. If you go to a hospital you are either diagnosed with typhoid or malaria,” says Clarke, adding that this new vaccination campaign is targeting more than one million children between nine months and 14 years old. He tells RFI statistics show that the majority of the country’s typhoid cases are among children under 15 years of age.Typhoid is a bacterial infection that can spread throughout the body and be fatal if not treated promptly.Once the ministry of health hits its target 1.9 million children, they will be going throughout the country to ensure that the rest of the age group is covered by the vaccine.“There will be a mop-up exercise that will last for three to four days to ensure that we are able to capture and cover everyone that we are targeting in Liberia,” he says. According to Clarke, preliminary data shows that a little more than 557,890 children under 14 years of age have been vaccinated since the launch of the vaccine campaign on 6 April.Resistance from community members Some parents, however, do not feel the need to have their children vaccinated, like Teresa Wilson, 35, a resident of central Monrovia, one of a few skeptical parents. “I cannot allow my children to take the vaccine because I don’t have enough information. Yesterday we heard the government giving people Covid-19 vaccine, then today we are hearing about typhoid vaccines,” she says. She fears that the government could be administering the Covid-19 vaccine under the disguise of typhoid vaccine but Clarke disagrees. Brendalyn Saah, a 26-year old nurse is assigned in West Point, Liberia’s biggest slum, to administer the typhoid vaccine. She attributes the low turnout during the first two days of the vaccination exercise to lack of appropriate awareness among Liberians. “We experienced lots of resistance initially but as of now, parents are allowing their children to be vaccinated,” she told RFI during an interview. Safe vaccineVaccine program manager Clarke has appealed to parents to take the time to understand what the vaccine is and ensure their children are vaccinated to avoid contracting the disease. At the same time, Clarke says negotiations are underway to bring in the typhoid vaccine for adults, too. Survivors of Liberia's civil war massacre react to news of US trial Hopes traditional leaders in Liberia will help stamp out FGM “Once we submit the application and get approval, we will notify the general public and the vaccine will be available,” Clarke says. According to Dr. Kathleen Neuzil, the Director of the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the US, the vaccine is safe and has no major negative side effects. “The main side effect is a sore arm-- a child may have some arm pain, but it is usually done within a day or two,” says Neuzil, who is also director of the Typhoid Vaccine Acceleration Consortium. “It’s very rare for this vaccine to even cause fever, so it’s a well-tolerated vaccine,” she said via zoom interview with RFI. Neuzil commends Liberia for prioritizing children’s health for the typhoid vaccine. “It really shows a lot of leadership to put children’s health first by being the first in Africa to introduce this vaccine into routine immunization and it is a great lesson for other countries,” she says. Now that Liberia has paved the way, it’s about time that other African countries emulate the good example of Liberia to fight typhoid out of Africa, she adds.

French government disgusted by attack on Muslim centre

The French government on Sunday condemned the defacing of an Islamic cultural centre in western France with Islamaphobic slogans, and said an attack on Muslims was an attack on the Republic. The tags, daubed on the side a building used as a prayer room in the city of Rennes, were found shortly before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins in France on Tuesday. Interior Minister Gerard Darmanin said it was a disgusting attack against the fundamental freedom to believe in a religion and that Muslims deserved the same protection as any other religious group in France.

Kyle Plush: $6million settlement for family of Ohio teen who was crushed to death in 2018

Historic settlement awarded by city of Cincinnati after police failed to find teen, who was being crushed to death in the back of a minivan and twice called 911

Prince Philip's body will be moved to his final resting place after the Queen dies

Following his funeral, the Duke of Edinburgh will be privately interred in the Royal Vault of St George's Chapel - but this will not be his final resting place. When the Queen dies, Philip will be transferred to the gothic church's King George VI memorial chapel to lie alongside his wife of 73 years. The tiny chapel houses the remains of the Queen's father George VI, her mother the Queen Mother and sister Princess Margaret. The central feature of the pale stone annexe, which was added on to the north side of St George's behind the North Quire Aisle in 1969, is a black stone slab set into the floor. It is inscribed with "George VI" and "Elizabeth" in gold lettering and accompanied by their years of birth and death. On Saturday, the Queen and close members of her family will gather privately after the funeral as the duke's coffin is interred in the Royal Vault - a burial place set beneath St George's Chapel - for the time being.

Elon Musk's new Las Vegas underground transport system compared to a 'cr**py Disney ride'

Experts and Twitter users poured criticism on the new underground transport system unveiled by Elon Musk's The Boring Company involving ordinary Tesla cars moving at 35mph.

Call the Midwife adds Corrie's Paula Lane as a guest star in new season

It's her first TV role since leaving Corrie.

Israel appears to confirm it carried out cyberattack on Iran nuclear facility

Israel appears to confirm it carried out cyberattack on Iran nuclear facility. Shutdown happened hours after Natanz reactor’s new centrifuges were started

Youngest royals give the Queen reason to smile as she faces life as a widow

They are the two great-grandchildren that Prince Philip never got to meet. Born just 40 days apart, Princess Eugenie and her cousin Zara Tindall paid special tribute to their grandfather before his death by naming their newborn sons after him. Eugenie’s firstborn, August Philip Hawke Brooksbank, born on February 9, and Zara’s third child, Lucas Philip Tindall, born on March 21, will forever bear the hallmark of their royal heritage. For the Queen, as she faces life as a widow at nearly 95, the babies will bring welcome joy at a time of great sorrow. Having not been able to see much of her elder grandchildren when they were growing up because she spent so much time overseas when the likes of William and Harry were young, the sovereign now relishes family time. Over recent years, she has grown especially close to her youngest grandchildren, the Earl and Countess of Wessexes’ children, Lady Louise Windsor, and James, Viscount Severn, who are regular visitors to Windsor Castle, living just 10 miles away at Bagshot Park. Royal aides used to speak of stepping over tricycles and roller skates as the youngsters would spend precious weekends with “Granny and Grandpa”. The arrival of no less than 10 great-grandchildren over the past decade has delighted the Queen – not least when many are already showing signs of sharing her passion for dogs and horses. Her eldest grandchild Peter Phillips’s daughters, Savannah, 10, and Isla, eight, are already keen amateur riders, along with his sister Zara Tindall’s eldest daughter, Mia, seven.

Bristling tensions with Prince Harry remain, but Royal family will wear the mask of unity at Duke’s funeral

The subtle briefings were designed to give Prince Harry the softest possible landing on his arrival back in the UK ahead of his beloved grandfather’s funeral on Saturday. From sources suggesting he was “united in grief” with the rest of the Royal family following the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, to the couple’s unofficial spokesman Omid Scobie insisting – should anyone be in doubt – that “Harry was incredibly close to Philip”, the Sussex spin machine was in evidence as the displaced Prince prepared for his first transatlantic flight in 13 months. Members of the Royal family also sought to calm serves ahead of what is feared could be a difficult reunion for the House of Windsor, with a palace source suggesting that the Prince of Wales was particularly looking forward to seeing his youngest son. “It’s been more than a year,” they pointed out.

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  Royal Family will dress differently to honour Prince Philip before and after funeral

  Yahoo Style UK
• 
  Religious leaders recall Prince Philip's spiritual curiosity

  Associated Press

Army engineers began preparing Prince Philip’s Land Rover hearse after hospital stay

Army engineers worked around the clock to make sure the Duke of Edinburgh’s specially-designed Land Rover hearse was ready in time for his funeral. A team from the Corps of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers (REME) was deployed to prepare the hearse after the Duke was admitted to hospital in February. His month-long stay at the age of 99 was the longest period Prince Philip had spent in a hospital. Details about the hearse are a closely-guarded secret but sources have suggested the converted Land Rover has an open-top design. It is also understood to be from the Land Rover Defender series. Two vehicles were commissioned from Land Rover and converted for “belt and braces” purposes but only one will be used at the funeral on Saturday. Sources have suggested one vehicle is green and the other black and it is unclear which will be deployed. The Corps of engineers, formed in 1942, is responsible “for maintaining and repairing the Army’s equipment”.

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  South Pacific tribe that worshipped Prince Philip as living god prepares to hold day of mourning

  The Telegraph
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  Religious leaders recall Prince Philip's spiritual curiosity

  Associated Press

Prince Philip's death leaves 'huge void' for Queen: son

Queen Elizabeth II has been left bereft at the death of her husband, Prince Philip, one of their sons said on Sunday, as prayers were said at memorial services across Britain.