NEWS OF THE WEEK: Zayn Malik takes aim at Grammys
Zayn Malik has joined the growing list of stars who have taken aim at Grammy Awards organisers, insisting the event has little to do with talent.
Murder case raises concerns over crossbow danger . Coroner conducting inquest into death of Shane Gilmer plans report on unregulated market for ‘deadly and vicious’ weapon
The target of offering a first COVID vaccine dose to the nine most vulnerable groups by 15 April has been reached, the government has said. Ministers had vowed to offer a COVID-19 jab to all over-50s, the clinically vulnerable and health and social care workers - about 32 million people - by Thursday. The target - for the whole of the UK - was reached three days early and means adults under 50 will start to be invited for their first jab "in the coming days", Number 10 said.
As Prince Harry boarded a plane from Los Angeles to London, we can only imagine the inner turmoil he must have felt as he prepared for the long and lonely journey home. His adored grandfather had died at a time of unprecedented familial discord, with the Royal Family still reeling from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s corrosive, finger-pointing Oprah Winfrey interview. Prince Philip’s death may have prompted an outpouring of national gratitude and affection, but the question now is whether it can cement the deep fissures within the House of Windsor itself. How will Harry be welcomed by Princes William and Charles, after accusing his family of racism? Not to mention following reports, via Gayle King, a US news anchor and friend of Meghan, that private telephone calls between the California-based prince and his father and brother had been “unproductive” - disclosures said to have gone down badly at the Palace. That Harry had not seen his grandfather for more than a year, after he whisked his wife and son, Archie, to the other side of the world to escape being “trapped” by the monarchy, can only add to the Duke of Sussex’s inevitable feelings of wretchedness and grief. His sense of isolation will likely have been compounded by the fact that Meghan, heavily pregnant with their second child, hasn’t been able to accompany him. The echoes of history here are uncanny as, nearly 70 years ago, a similar scenario played out. Another once-beloved member of the Royal Family had to leave his American wife behind in the United States to make the solitary journey home for a royal funeral, where he had to face his frosty relations, saddened that he had quit monarchical life. In 1952, when King George VI died, his brother Edward, the Duke of Windsor - exiled to France after the abdication - was staying in New York with his wife, Wallis Simpson.
Move comes weeks before crunch Holyrood elections
Second Lieutenant Caron Nazario filed a lawsuit against two Virginia police officers who reportedly pepper-sprayed and assaulted him
Hope that GPs will be able to start treating Covid patients at home with cheap and readily available medicine
Mansfield, Corby and Barnsley are currently recording the highest rates.
Michael McFaul warned world leaders should be ‘very’ concerned by unfolding situation
The COVID variant first detected in Kent spreads more easily but does not increase disease severity, according to two studies. Known as B117, it is now dominant in the US, the UK and a number of other countries. The studies concluded there is no evidence that infected people get worse symptoms or have more risk of developing long COVID.
Australian comedian is ‘infamous for his confident, dark and dangerous material’
Australia’s east gets early taste of winter as temperatures plunge‘Polar blast’ sends chill from Queensland to Tasmania, while in Victoria rough seas lift boulders on to roads and injure young fairy penguins Large waves hit the rocks on the coastline at Bronte Beach in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. On Monday, the city experienced the coldest start to the day so far this year when maximum temperatures were about 5C below the April average. Photograph: Mark Baker/AP
DUBAI (Reuters) -Iran's top diplomat said on Tuesday that an attack on its Natanz nuclear facility which it blames on Israel was a "very bad gamble" that would strengthen Tehran's hand in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with major powers. Tehran has said an explosion on Sunday at its key nuclear site was an act of sabotage by arch-foe Israel and vowed revenge for an attack that appeared to be latest episode in a long-running covert war. Israel, which the Islamic Republic does not recognise, has not formally commented on the incident.
Prof Christina Pagel warned that face shields should be worn with masks.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian regime is doing its best to prevent a revival of the protests that marked the second half of last year. Opposition leaders are in jail or in exile. New so-called "anti-extremist" laws make it dangerous to even show the protest movement's red and white colours. Buildings that happen to be in those colours are being repainted. Many opposition supporters are struggling to keep up morale, but others are doing just that by finding inventive new forms of activism.
The Duke of Sussex has arrived in the UK ahead of Saturday’s funeral
Britain and the European Union are slowly working to overcome differences regarding trade flows between Northern Ireland and the British mainland after a month-long legal dispute and more than a week of rioting in the province. The EU is expecting a formal reply shortly from London to explain Britain's unilateral change to trading conditions that Brussels said breaches the Brexit divorce deal. A European Commission spokesman said the two sides were holding technical discussions and there could soon be a meeting of Commission vice president Maros Sefcovic and British negotiator David Frost.
England's COVID-19 lockdown was eased on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister on Monday vowed vengeance against Israel for an explosion a day earlier at the Natanz nuclear site that he blamed directly on Tehran’s arch enemy. “The Zionists want to take revenge because of our progress in the way to lift sanctions ... they have publicly said that they will not allow this. But we will take our revenge from the Zionists,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by state TV. Israel has all but claimed responsibility for the apparent sabotage operation that damaged the electricity grid at the Natanz site on Sunday, with multiple Israeli outlets reporting that Mossad carried out the operation, which is believed to have shut down entire sections of the facility. The sabotage could set back uranium enrichment at the facility by at least nine months, US officials briefed on the operation told the New York Times. Iran on Monday said the person who caused the power outage at one of the production halls at Natanz had been identified. "Necessary measures are being taken to arrest this person," the semi-official Nournews website reported, without giving further details. Iran's foreign ministry also said on Monday it is suspending cooperation with the European Union in various fields following the bloc's decision to blacklist several Iranian security officials over a 2019 protest crackdown. Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh "strongly condemned" the sanctions and said Iran is "suspending all human rights talks and cooperation resulting from these talks with the EU, especially in (the fields of) terrorism, drugs and refugees". The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions on eight Iranian militia commanders and police chiefs, including the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, over a deadly crackdown in November 2019.
Brixton boxer is still after a fight with the ‘Gypsy King’