Joanna Lumley gives out free Nepalese meals to NHS staff

Actor Joanna Lumley joined staff from the Panas Gurkha Nepalese restaurant in south London as it served its 100,000th special meal for health service staff.

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  • The 30 guests confirmed to be attending Prince Philip's funeral

    Buckingham Palace has confirmed who will be at the ceremony on Saturday, including one of the duke's close friends.

  • Ivanka Trump causes MAGA meltdown after sharing photograph getting vaccine

    Trump supporters called Ivanka a ‘disappointment’ for getting the jab

  • Michel Barnier warns that Frexit remains a risk ahead of presidential elections

    Michel Barnier has warned that France could follow the UK out of the EU, as polls show growing support for the Eurosceptic Marine Le Pen. He said there was “social unrest and anger” over immigration and Europe’s failure to defend its borders and for the “red tape and complexity” of the EU. “We could draw some lessons from Brexit for ourselves. It's now too late for the UK but not for us," the former EU chief negotiator said. “We can find, not just in the UK, but here in France, in the northern regions […] citizens who want to leave the EU,” Mr Barnier, who has returned to domestic politics, said. He added, “It is our responsibility to understand why the British left [...] it's important for us to listen to the anger that was expressed in the UK, and to implement the kind of changes that are necessary to better understand and reassure the European citizens that remain.” Latest IFOP polling shows that Ms Le Pen, who leads the National Rally party, would beat the pro-EU Emmanuel Macron by two percentage points in the first round of next year’s presidential elections. Mr Macron is predicted to win in the second round by 54 percent to 46 percent but that is narrower than the 66.1 percent to 34.6 percent defeat she suffered four years ago. Ms Le Pen called for Frexit in that election but has since stopped campaigning for France to leave the bloc. Instead she wants to create a “Europe of nations”. Mr Barnier hopes to rebuild support for the centre-Right Républicains party ahead of the elections. He was speaking at an event on Brexit in Northern France, where fishermen are complaining they have not yet got fishing licences from the UK since Brexit. Clément Beaune, France’s Europe Minister, said the EU was accused of “being weak and slow”. He said that the bloc should take heart from its robust approach to the Brexit negotiations. “Back in 2016 people thought that this was the beginning of the end for Europe, but we have been able to show that we can be agile, that we can react, that we can be consistent in defending our interests in a firm way to defend the greatest European assets – the Single Market and our political unity.” He added: “These are lessons that we must all keep in mind as Europe is facing more difficulties.” The European Commission warned Britain that any further unilateral action over the Northern Ireland Protocol was unacceptable at a meeting on Thursday night. Maros Sefcovic, the commission vice-president, told Lord Frost that “solutions can only be found through joint actions and through joint bodies”. Britain insists that its unilateral actions in extending the grace periods on food products and parcels is lawful and made in good faith. The meeting over the implementation of new post-Brexit customs arrangements in Northern Ireland was said to be “constructive” by both sides.

  • 'This is a disaster': Boris Johnson urged to act after cases of Indian 'double mutant' variant found in UK

    Experts have called for the government to take action after it emerged that a mutant COVID strain first found in India has already been detected in the UK.

  • Justin Trudeau claims UK is facing ‘very serious’ third Covid wave amid Canada’s slow vaccine rollout

    Downing Street says UK’s case data ‘speaks for itself’ as infections continue to fall

  • Why did Prince Andrew think he should go to the funeral as an Admiral?

    When Prince Andrew suddenly re-appeared in public last weekend, giving an interview outside the Royal Chapel of All Saints in Windsor, the public could understand his grief at losing a father. Yet his appearance also raised an unfortunate question mark. It was 512 days after having last spoken publicly, and it seemed that on Sunday the Duke of York had returned to the frontline of the monarchy – and was speaking on its behalf. Within a day an unceremonious controversy erupted. Prince Andrew had reportedly demanded to wear the uniform of an Admiral at his father’s funeral on Saturday and had gone so far as instructing his tailor to style it with the distinctive three rows of lace and four stars, crossed baton and sword of that rank. The prince was, like his father, tested in war – no doubt a unique bond and a source of pride for the Duke of Edinburgh. As the only one of the generation of royals younger than his father to serve in battle, Prince Andrew certainly deserved to wear a uniform, as Prince Philip did his as honorary Admiral of the Fleet, the navy’s highest rank. But his current rank is Vice-Admiral, not Admiral.

  • Daunte Wright protester shows CNN his can of soup, mocking 2020 Trump comments

    ‘I’m just standing here today with soup for my family,’ the protester says, echoing an odd comment from Donald Trump last summer

  • COVID-19 having 'catastrophic' impact on NHS as 4.7 million wait to start hospital treatment

    Charities and health organisations have warned the COVID-19 pandemic is having a "catastrophic" impact on NHS services - as the number of people in England waiting to start hospital treatment hits a new record high. A total of 4.7 million were waiting to begin treatment at the end of February 2021 - the largest figure since records began in August 2007, according to NHS England data. The number of people admitted for routine hospital treatment was down by 47% in February compared with a year earlier - with 152,642 admitted in February 2021 and 285,918 in February 2020, which had an extra day as it was a leap year.

  • John Cleese mocks Hank Azaria’s Apu regrets by apologising to ‘white English people’

    Monty Python star previously condemned ‘woke jokes’

  • France joins forces with India, US in China's Pacific backyard

    France has agreed to join India's Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative. On paper, the project embraces cooperation on climate change and academic exchanges, but its main purpose seems to be strategic. And it fits into US plans for a growing coalition of democracies, aimed at stemming China's increased assertiveness in the region. A week after Russia's Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov warned India that the creation of an "Asian Nato" would be counterproductive, France's Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Yves le Drian met his Indian and Australian counterparts Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Marise Paine in Delhi to explore a "trilateral mechanism" to address "emerging challenges in the maritime and space domains".Although both France and India remain extremely cautious on the question of defence cooperation, Paris' willingness to join hands with Delhi and Canberra in the Indo-Pacific region was strengthened by its decision to participate in the Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative (IPOI), a platform set into motion by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019."The IPOI is looking at enhancing cooperation with like-minded countries in the indo-Pacific region," Dr Premesha Saha, an Associate Fellow with the Observer Research Foundation (ORF) in New Delhi, told RFI.The IPOI consists of several innocent sounding "pillars," including "climate change" and "maritime ecology" but also "maritime security" and this is probably its main focus.The speakers list of the Raisina Dialogue, a geostrategic forum focusing on the Indo-Pacific region, and attended by Le Drian on 15 April, is revealing. It shows a heavy line-up of military, including Chiefs of Staff from Japan, Australia, India and the chairman of the EU Military Committee, as well as ex-CIA chief General David Petraeus, and Nato head, Jens Stoltenberg. Apart from that, the list features an impressive series of Prime and Foreign Ministers (from France, Japan, Australia, among others), MEP's, heads of think tanks - including an occasional Russian - and selected journalists.Notably absent from the list: any speakers from China."China has been aggressively pursuing its sovereignty claims," says an ORF study of India's Indo-Pacific policy published last December. "It is working to establish itself as a major regional player," and Delhi is welcoming countries "that have expressed interest in working with India under the IPOI" to find ways to respond to "China’s unilateral and belligerent behaviour in the Indo-Pacific". France is clearly on board.Joint navy exercisesAt the beginning of April, two French Navy vessels, the Tonnerre and the Surcouf, made a port call at the Indian port of Kochi. The two warships then sailed to the Bay of Bengal to take part in the France-led joint naval exercise, La Pérouse, involving ships from India, Australia, Japan and the United States in early April.France's growing interest in the region was underlined by President Emmanuel Macron when he appointed veteran diplomat Christophe Penot as "Envoy for the Indo-Pacific" on 16 September 2016.Penot, a former ambassador to Australia, is based in Paris, but travels across the Indo-Pacific to coordinate with France’s partners and to forge new initiatives such as the trilateral dialogue launched with India and Australia in September 2020.According to the website of France's Foreign Ministry, the trilateral dialogue focuses on "geostrategic challenges" and "strategies for a free, open and inclusive Indo-Pacific".This is jargon that fits seamlessly into US language used in papers such as the 2021 joint policy statement by the US Navy, Marines and Coast Guard, which outlines the US "promise" of a "free and open, rules-based order" for large stretches of the South China Sea.Freedom of NavigationThe anti-China coalition seems to be emerging from a series of seemingly non-related meetings, naval exercises and multilateral cooperation like the Trilateral Dialogue and the Quadrilateral Dialogue ("the Quad") resulting in joint US, Indian, Australian and Japanese naval exercises.The Quad was initiated in 2007, then lay dormant for a decade, but was injected with new life after Xi Jinping came to power in 2012 and seemed to move to a more aggressive stance in the region. Quad exercises fitted into the US Freedom of Navigation Program (FON), launched in 1979 "to safeguard lawful commerce and the global mobility of US forces," and to fight "excessive maritime claims".The 2020 FON report to Congress by the US Department of Defense lists 19 countries making territorial claims outside the 200 nautical miles (370 km) of the "exclusive economic zone" (EEZ) as established by the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.According to the report, China is guilty of most violations. It counts seven instances, including 'restricting foreign aircraft,' over corresponding Air Defence Identification Zones; 'criminalisation of surveying and mapping activities' by foreign ships without prior approval, forbidding 'innocent passage of foreign military ships' without prior permission from Beijing.And in the last two years, the US, worried by China's repression of democracy in Hong Kong and increasingly frequent violations of Taiwanese airspace, seems to want to expand its regional influence by more intensive participation with "democratic" allies.India, which has already fought a brief border war with China in 1967, is a prime mover in this plan as it is currently engaged in a stand-off with Beijing over stretches of their common - and disputed - border. "it was only logical for India to show that it can also spread its influence in China's backyard," says ORF's Premesha Saha, "which is the western Pacific in the South China Sea."India is also particularly worried about China's Belt and Road initiative, of which a crucial element, the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is seen by Delhi as an "attack on India's sovereignty." With France - and the EU - aboard, a broad circle of allies now seems to be forming.US imperialismChina, meanwhile, expresses discontent with the growing alliance which it sees as a proof of "US imperialism". In an angry opinion piece published by the hard-line Global Times on 14 April, commentator Xie Chao scoffs that "Quad has reached its ceiling and internal contradictions are expected to emerge," adding that " a larger Asia-Pacific alliance like Nato" is doomed to fail because the four members "lack consensus" on a common threat.French participation in Quad naval exercises, the paper says in another article, are "a publicity stunt" which "won't strengthen a loose group," mocking that it "it is impossible for France to maintain a long-term military presence in this region" and that Paris is merely paying lip-service to Washington.

  • Prince Philip would be exasperated by this debate about the Duke of York and his admiral’s outfit

    Sense, thankfully, seems to have prevailed and the royal family has decided collectively to ‘level down’ to lounge suits

  • U-turn on register for serial domestic abuse and stalking perpetrators will leave ‘gaping hole’, government warned

    Exclusive: Yvette Cooper warns not introducing register will result in a gap in resources for tackling violence against women and girls

  • European Parliament gives initial backing to UK trade deal

    The European Parliament's committees on relations with Britain on Thursday voted overwhelmingly in favour of the post-Brexit trade and cooperation agreement, clearing the path to its final ratification. They had suspended voting in March in protest over British changes to trading arrangements in Northern Ireland, which Brussels says breach the terms of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement. The United Kingdom left the European Union on Jan. 31 after years of tortuous negotiations over their future relations but many details remain unclear, leading to acrimony.

  • Vulnerable asylum seeker kept at Napier Barracks for weeks after attempting to take his life

    Safeguarding failings meant suicidal individuals and potential trafficking victims remained in camp for weeks despite Home Office saying vulnerable people should not be there, previously unseen report shows

  • 'Help me, help me': Ousted Myanmar ambassador to UK urges British Government to intervene

    The ousted Myanmar ambassador to the UK has urged the British Government to help him as he faces being evicted from his residence by the country’s military regime. Kyaw Zwar Minn, who was last week forced out of the Myanmar embassy at the orders of the junta, was told to leave by Thursday the London house where he has lived with his family since his appointment in 2013 or face prosecution. The military regime – which seized power on Feb 1, paving the way for a bloody suppression of all civilian opposition – appears determined to extract revenge on the ambassador for daring to criticise the coup. Now he has urged Boris Johnson’s government to intervene and offer protection to him and his family. Speaking outside his residence in Hampstead he said: “I say to the British Government help me, help me, help me. I am hoping they will do so over the next few days.”

  • Latest weekly Covid-19 rates for local authority areas in England

    Around one in three areas have recorded a week-on-week rise in rates.

  • ‘It’s impossible to get any whiter than that’: Team USA Olympic uniforms mocked online

    Unveiling of outfits for Team USA and Canada attract controversy — for different reasons

  • Driver with child in car crashes into lorry during 80mph police chase

    This is the heart-stopping moment an Audi A3 crashed into a skip lorry during an 80mph police chase - leaving a ten-year-old girl and her mum injured.Driver Jake Ilsley, 26, sped off after police tried to pull him over in connection with an unrelated incident. lsley, of Kersley in Coventry, admitted dangerous driving, exposing a child to unnecessary suffering/injury, failing to stop and driving without insurance. He was jailed for 14 months and banned from driving for four years and seven months this week. (SWNS)

  • Brexit: UK and EU identify 27 outstanding Northern Ireland-related issues

    27 different issues remain outstanding over protocol, says Ireland’s foreign minister

  • Locking down whole streets could be way to stop new Covid variants, says expert

    Locking down entire streets could be an important way of keeping outbreaks of new Covid variants under control, an expert has suggested. Dr Jeffrey Barrett, director of the Covid-19 Genomics Initiative at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said using interventions to minimise asymptomatic transmission could be crucial. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Dr Barrett said it was important to deploy “the most effective measures possible” to contain these outbreaks. When questioned if shutting down entire streets would have a medical impact on clusters of cases, he responded: “Well it certainly could, because one of the trickiest parts of this virus overall is, of course, some individuals who are infected don't have symptoms and so they can transmit. “Trying to use interventions that might stop asymptomatic transmission may well be an important part of keeping outbreaks of these new variants to be as absolutely small as possible." He added there could be a “chance” new variants will be “less well neutralised” by vaccines, so “it's really important to be able to try to keep that number as close to zero as possible”. Restrictions have so far kept the number of new variants “very small”, he said, adding: “And as the restrictions are lifted the key thing to watch will be, does that number ever go up sort of week by week, and if so it's really important to deploy the most effective measures possible to contain those outbreaks." One effective measure to contain outbreaks is deploying surge testing, he added. Surge testing has now been expanded in south London boroughs after cases of the South African variant, B.1.351, were discovered. Three boroughs have set up additional testing facilities to process thousands of residents who are eligible for tests. More than half a million adults living in south London boroughs have been offered tests, including 264,000 in Lambeth, 265,000 in Wandsworth, and 14,800 in the Rotherhithe ward of Southwark. A case of the variant was also detected in Barnet, north London, and home testing kits were delivered door-to-door in the N3 postcode on Thursday. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) confirmed the case in Barnet was unrelated to other clusters, but it had been isolated and the person's contacts traced. The extra testing comes as new analysis revealed that Covid-19 rates dropped below 100 cases per 100,000 people in all local areas of the UK for the first time since September. A total of 19,196 people tested positive for Covid-19 in England at least once in the week to April 7, according to the latest Test and Trace figures. This is down 34 per cent on the previous week and is the lowest number since the week to September 2, 2020.