China defies boycott calls with Beijing 2022 Olympic tests

The Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics launched a series of test events on April 1 as China ploughs on with preparations despite calls for a boycott over its treatment of the Uyghur minority.

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  • UK to respond to EU legal action over Northern Ireland by mid-May

    Britain has agreed with the European Union that it will respond to the bloc's legal action over how it has introduced new trading rules for Northern Ireland by mid-May, a spokeswoman for the government said on Wednesday. The EU launched legal action against Britain in March for unilaterally changing trading arrangements for Northern Ireland that Brussels says are in breach of the Brexit divorce deal agreed with London last year. Britain has denied that the move undermines the part of the Brexit deal that governs trade to the British province, saying it extended the grace period for checks on goods moving to Northern Ireland to ease their passage.

  • Covid vaccine mixing: How does it work and why is the UK expanding trial?

    UK ‘mix and match’ study aims to find out how vaccines can be used more flexibly

  • London Covid cases by borough revealed as capital hits 4 million vaccine doses

    Infections have fallen so far in one borough that the rate was equivalent to less than one confirmed case a day per 100,000 people

  • Heathrow arrivals face six-hour queues caused by extensive Covid checks as police forced to step in

    The situation at the border is becoming ‘untenable’, an executive at the west London airport said.

  • Rate of people with Covid antibodies ‘levels off’ across most of UK

    ‘Clear pattern’ between Covid vaccinations and antibody positivity across UK, says Office for National Statistics

  • UK asks for more time to respond to EU Brexit legal action - RTE TV

    DUBLIN (Reuters) -Britain has asked for more time to respond to legal action taken by the European Union over its unilateral decision to ease requirements of the Northern Ireland Protocol, Ireland's RTE television reported on Wednesday. The European Union launched legal action against Britain last month for unilaterally changing trading arrangements for Northern Ireland that Brussels says breach the Brexit divorce deal agreed with London last year. Brussels gave London, which has said it has not violated the agreement, a month to respond to the legal action, but the British government has requested an extension of one month, RTE reported.

  • Covid-19 rates drop below 100 per 100,000 in all local areas of UK

    The last time the entire country recorded rates below 100 was at the start of September.

  • Nicola Sturgeon 'should thank Boris Johnson for refusing to sign up to EU vaccine scheme'

    Nicola Sturgeon should thank Boris Johnson for ignoring SNP demands to sign up to the EU's disastrous vaccine programme when she gets her first Covid jab on Thursday, the Scottish Tory leader has said. Douglas Ross said the First Minister would have faced a much longer wait to be vaccinated if Mr Johnson had heeded her party's demands for the UK to join the European scheme last year. The SNP confirmed that Ms Sturgeon, 50, is scheduled to receive her first jab after she launches her party's election manifesto on Thursday morning. A spokesman said: "These remarks from Douglas Ross are utterly pathetic but entirely in keeping with his petulant, puerile tone." A series of Ms Sturgeon's ministers demanded that the UK sign up to the EU's vaccine procurement plan last year and expressed outrage when Mr Johnson refused. Mike Russell, the Constitution Secretary, warned at the time: "This idiotic refusal is all about Brexit and nothing to do with the pandemic. It will cost lives." The decision was publicly opposed by a series of SNP MPs.

  • Countdown's Rachel Riley announces second pregnancy with cryptic clue

    The 35-year-old TV presenter used a 'Countdown' conundrum to reveal her happy news.

  • Covid: Government ‘told vaccine passports could be unlawful by rights watchdog’

    Risk of discrimination is a sticking point as ministers consider schemes for protecting public spaces such as sports stadiums

  • Covid vaccine passports: what can we learn from Israel?

    Israel became the first country in the world to test vaccine passports when it announced the 'green pass' scheme in February. The passes allow people who have had two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to return to restaurants, theatres and sport events. With many countries planning to reopen after their vaccination campaigns, the Guardian's Jerusalem correspondent, Oliver Holmes, examines the lessons that could be learned from Israel's rollout.

  • A gold nose pin, boxes of eggs, or a tax rebate: Covid vaccine incentives around the world

    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

  • Ex-Hollyoaks star Danny Mac "so excited" to welcome first child with Carley Stenson

    "We're just getting on with it the best we can."

  • Truck driver jailed for 22 years for killing four police officers in Melbourne crash

    A truck driver who was under the influence of drugs and sleep deprived when he drove into four police officers has been sentenced to 22 years in prison. The traffic officers - three policemen and a policewoman - had pulled over a speeding car when Mohinder Singh ploughed into them. Officers Lynette Taylor, Kevin King, Glen Humphris and Joshua Prestney all died at the scene.

  • Madonna eviscerates pro-gun ‘Karen’ with thunderous clap back: ‘You know nothing about me or my life’

    Madonna has clapped back at a pro-gun ‘Karen’ activist after the singer called for increased gun control in the US.

  • Apparently just by talking about it, I’m super-spreading long Covid

    Apparently just by talking about it, I’m super-spreading long Covid. A professor has suggested that press coverage could make people believe they have the condition

  • Moderna says vaccine targeting Covid South African variant ‘promising’

    Moderna’s early trials of a vaccine targeting the South African Covid variant has produced antibodies in mice, raising hopes of its effectiveness for humans. The company is the first to produce a vaccine designed specifically for the variant and last night said its pre-clinical trials for both jabs “improved neutralising titers”, meaning that antibodies detected in the blood increased. Moderna is also developing a multivalent vaccine that combines its original vaccination with the South Africa-specific jab, which the firm says will provide the broadest level of immunity, The Times reported.

  • Covid crisis leads to ‘sharp rise’ in black youth unemployment

    The UK jobless rate for young black people rose by more than a third to 35 per cent during the pandemic

  • Exclusive: India, Pakistan held secret talks to try to break Kashmir impasse

    Top intelligence officers from India and Pakistan held secret talks in Dubai in January in a new effort to calm military tension over the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir, people with close knowledge of the matter told Reuters in Delhi. Ties between the nuclear-armed rivals have been on ice since a suicide bombing of an Indian military convoy in Kashmir in 2019 traced to Pakistan-based militants that led to India sending warplanes to Pakistan. Later that year, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Indian-ruled Kashmir's autonomy in order to tighten his grip over the territory, provoking outrage in Pakistan and the downgrading of diplomatic ties and suspension of bilateral trade.

  • Boeing 737: History and safety record of the aeroplane

    The world’s biggest and most successful budget airlines, Ryanair and Southwest, fly 737s exclusively