An aurora borealis, also known as the northern lights, lit up the sky with hues of green and purple above Chippewa County, Wisconsin, on March 20.
Timelapse footage captured by Justin Patchin shows the shimmering light show. Credit: Justin Patchin/@justinpatchin via Storyful
The hymn Eternal Father, Strong To Save will feature in the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral on Saturday, with the possible addition of a little-known extra verse at his request. Better known as "For Those in Peril on the Sea" after the last line, the usually four-verse hymn is considered especially poignant by military sailors. Rarely heard outside military circles, however, are two verses written specifically for aviators. They are inserted between the second and third verses. The additional words are understood to feature occasionally at Fleet Air Arm funerals, the aviation branch of the Royal Navy. One such was sung at the funeral of the man who taught the Duke to fly, while he was a Royal Navy officer. Unexpectedly turning up to the funeral many years ago, the Duke further surprised the congregation by singing, along with just a couple of other attendees, the unfamiliar words, which are not included in standard hymn books.
"We're just getting on with it the best we can."
‘Clear pattern’ between Covid vaccinations and antibody positivity across UK, says Office for National Statistics
Smaller battery-electric car still delivers a range of up to 217 miles.
Professor Anthony Harnden has urged the public to act cautiously for a little bit longer.
In the words of one House Republican campaign operative, ‘It’s a nightmare’
Almost a quarter of registered Covid deaths are people who are not dying from the disease, new official figures show, as the Government was urged to move faster with the roadmap in the light of increasingly positive data. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 23 per cent of coronavirus deaths registered are now people who have died "with" the virus rather than "from" an infection. This means that, while the person who died will have tested positive for Covid, that was not the primary cause of their death recorded on the death certificate. Other data also shows an increasingly positive picture of the state of the pandemic in the UK. Daily death figures by "date of death" reveal that Britain has had no more than 28 deaths a day since the beginning of April, even though the government-announced deaths have been as high as 60. This is because the Government gives a daily update on deaths based on the number reported that day, which can include deaths from days or weeks previously and therefore may not reflect the true decline in deaths. On Tuesday, the Government announced that there had been 23 further deaths.
The plan came after the travel industry expressed concern that testing requirements would make foreign holidays unaffordable for many people.
The Queen faces the prospect of having to sit on her own during the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral because of strict Covid rules, it has emerged. The law states that anyone attending a funeral must stay at least two metres apart from anyone who is not part of their household, meaning all members of the Royal family will have to spread out in St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle. The Queen is not eligible to be in a support bubble because she does not live on her own, meaning the only person who could sit with her during the service would be a member of her Windsor Castle staff. The Duke’s private secretary, Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, is expected to be one of the 30 mourners allowed at the ceremony, and as a member of “HMS Bubble” at Windsor may be the only attendee eligible by law to sit with the Queen.
In Burkina Faso, judges have ruled that exiled former president Blaise Compaoré must stand trial for his role in the assassination of Thomas Sankara, whom he overthrew in a coup d'état in 1987. Also, a Tuareg leader in Mali has been shot dead in the capital Bamako. Sidi Brahim Ould Sidati was a key figure in a 2015 peace accord. And in a major step forward for the protection of women and children in Gabon, customary marriages are finally recognised by the state.
A jihadist who plotted a lone-wolf knife attack has been jailed for life after a judge said he ought to have turned his back on extremism when two of his brothers were killed fighting for Islamic State in Syria. Sahayb Abu, an aspiring rapper, bought an 18-inch sword, a knife and combat clothing as he prepared to strike last summer. The 27-year-old, who is the fifth member of his family to be linked to extremism, also used a rap song to boast about wanting to behead British soldiers. Abu’s half-brothers, Wail and Suleyman Aweys, were killed in Syria after leaving the UK to fight for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (IS). His half-sister, Asma Aweys, 32, was jailed in January 2019, alongside her partner Abdulaziz Abu Munye, 29, and half brother Ahmed Aweys, 34, after she called Ariana Grande 'the devil' in the wake of the Manchester Arena attack in a family WhatsApp chat. Asma was imprisoned for 19 months for collecting terrorist information, while her partner received 15 months for dissemination. Ahmed was jailed for 25 months for also disseminating terrorist material. Last month an Old Bailey jury found Abu guilty of preparing to engage in terrorist acts and on Tuesday he was jailed for life and told he would have to spend a minimum of 19-years behind bars.
‘The young people feel that violence has paid off for the republicans, so why shouldn’t it pay off for them?’ hears Kim Sengupta in Belfast
A couple who tortured late magistrate Vince McMahan in a violent homophobic attack have been jailed for a total of nearly six years.
After months of disruption, Vincent Wood reports, a minority of the nation’s pubs are getting back to business – weather permitting
Rockin' in the free world? Inside the rightwing takeover of protest musicIt’s easy to laugh at hardcore patriots misunderstanding Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA, but such appropriation is increasingly widespread – and dangerously twisting the truth Bruce Springsteen in 1984, the year of Born in the USA, which was appropriated by the right. Photograph: Steve Granitz/WireImage
English universities despair as in-person teaching ruled out before 17 MayMove likely to fuel demands for compensation with students saying they have already missed outCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverage Students walk past Coventry University library. University leaders had hoped to persuade ministers to ease Covid restrictions in line with the lifting of other lockdown measures in England. Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
A gold nose pin, boxes of eggs, or a tax rebate: Covid vaccine incentives around the worldMembers of the public are being offered gifts and discounts to encourage vaccine take-upSee all our coronavirus coverage A man receives a dose of Covid-19 coronavirus vaccine in Dhaka Photograph: Suvra Kanti Das/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock
‘A tsunami of cases’: desperation as Covid second wave batters India. Doctors speak of a new variant of the virus that appears to be spreading faster than ever before
Nearly half of UK cancer patients who caught coronavirus died – a much higher rate than counterparts in Europe, a study suggests. Researchers found that UK patients were less likely to be receiving cancer treatment during the pandemic and less likely to be given the best life-saving therapies once they had caught the virus. The worse death rate also reflects the fact that British cancer sufferers tended to be less fit generally. The study, published in the European Journal of Cancer, included 1,392 patients from the UK, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Germany, tracking their progress between Feb 27 and Sep 10 last year. It found that, 30 days after a Covid diagnosis, 40.34 per cent of the UK cancer patients had died, with the figure standing at 26.5 per cent of the European patients. After six months, the proportion had risen to 47.6 per cent of the UK cohort compared to 33.3 per cent of the European. Scientists at Imperial College London pointed to disastrous guidance from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which recommended pausing cancer treatment for many patients in order to stop them catching Covid in hospital.
Nato members have pledged to leave Afghanistan “together” as 750 British soldiers are set to leave the country along with American troops on September 11. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made the comments over talks in Brussels, where he is joined by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, Mr Blinken said: “We in Nato will leave Afghanistan together. “Together we went into Afghanistan, now it is time to bring our forces home.” Mr Blinken added that Nato will now work on a “withdrawal, adaptation plan”. Last night President Biden said that US forces would leave by September 11, marking 20 years to the day that the attacks on America took place. Some of the 2,500 US troops will withdraw over the coming months. The new date represents a five-month delay from the May 1 deadline agreed by President Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, which he negotiated with the Taliban last year. While the Ministry of Defence are yet to confirm when British soldiers will be removed from Afghanistan, Tobias Ellwood, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee, said they had “have no choice” but to leave. He said the Americans “are the biggest contributor with significant force protection capabilities from which we benefitted. Remaining allied forces are unable to fill that vacuum without upgrading our posture for which there is no political appetite.” When Mr Ellwood addresses the Commons later, he will urge No 10 to read the signals of General Austin's visit to Brussels, where he announced he will be adding 500 more troops to Germany. "It reflects President Biden’s determination to utilise the EU to reinvigorate Western resolve in his determination to address global challenges," he will say. "General Austin’s public message is likely to be ‘Well done on the Integrated Review, we like the Global Britain thing and your investment in Special Forces, Cyber & Space resilience. "But in private he’s likely to say something very different ‘Your Navy is now too small, don’t cut your tanks, AFVs and ten thousand troops (we might be needing them sooner than you think). And definitely don’t reduce your F35 fleet from 136 to 48. Why - because the next decade is going to get bumpy and we need greater force presence." Postponing the US withdrawal carries the risk of the Taliban resuming attacks on US and coalition forces. In a statement last month, it threatened to resume hostilities against foreign troops in Afghanistan if they did not meet the May 1 deadline. However, the White House said that Mr Biden believed there was "not a military solution to Afghanistan, and that we have been there for far too long." It comes as civilian deaths in Afghanistan jumped 29 percent in the first quarter of the year amid increasing attacks in the war-torn nation, the United Nations said in a report. According to a UN report as many as 573 Afghan civilians were killed and 1,210 maimed. It said: “Of particular concern is the 37 percent increase in the number of women killed and injured, and a 23 per cent increase in child casualties compared with the first quarter of 2020.”
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