Pooches strut their stuff in dog fashion show

The catwalk turned into a dogwalk for one night only at the 16th annual New York Pet Fashion Show. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).

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  • Land Rover driver at Prince Philip's funeral spent week ensuring he could drive at correct speed

    The servicemen in charge of the specially modified Land Rover carrying the body of the Duke of Edinburgh spent the past week making sure they could drive “at the correct speed”. And, no wonder, as leading the vehicle on its way to the steps of St George’s Chapel, Windsor, on foot were the most senior members of the Armed Forces and the Band of the Grenadier Guards. Corporal Louis Murray was behind the wheel, with Corporal Craig French, as Land Rover Commander for the Royal Hearse, both 29 years old, alongside him. The two staff instructors from the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers had been picked “on a coin-toss” from a group of four who had been training for the purpose and were described by officials as a “trusted pair of hands”. Cpl French said it was his job to “ensure that the driver puts the vehicle in the right place at the right time and whether to speed up or slow down.” “We have done a lot of practice over the last few days and you get to feel what the correct speed is, and we know what pace we have to be at. It’s now like second nature.

  • Victoria Beckham Celebrates Birthday With Kim Kardashian And Husband David In Miami

    The former Spice Girl’s 47th was a star-studded affair.

  • Model suggests ‘green light’ travel list could include only eight countries

    While the government works out how to categorise countries for a traffic light system, a new model predicts only eight countries will be on the ‘green’ list

  • Coronavirus news - live: Safe travel list could include only 8 countries as fans return to live sport in trial

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  • Ukrainian soldiers sceptical that Western sanctions will deter Russian troops

    On the frontline in Ukraine's east, battle-weary soldiers are sceptical that US sanctions against Moscow and Kiev's appeal for NATO help will deter Russian strongman Vladimir Putin. Faced with the largest deployment of Russian troops on Ukraine's borders since 2014, President Volodymyr Zelensky has requested more tangible help from the West, but many Ukrainian troops say they know they are on their own. "We should only count on ourselves," Taras Mykytsey, a 52-year-old soldier, told AFP in the frontline village of Zaytseve north of the separatist stronghold Donetsk.The separatists, who have carved out two "People's Republics" in eastern Ukraine, are backed by Russia."While we are waiting for something to be sent to us, Putin will not wait," added Mykytsey, sporting a helmet and a bulletproof vest.Yuriy, a 29-year-old senior sergeant based near the town of Shchastya in the neighbouring Lugansk region, struck a similar note, saying he did not expect Western boots on the ground any time soon."What foreign country would want to send its people to their death?" he said.Yuriy, who declined to give his last name, added that the Russian president would not buckle."Sanctions and negotiations can, of course, restrain Russia a little, but in general, these negotiations for Putin, it's like throwing sand against the wind," he said.US President Joe Biden has pledged his "unwavering support" to Zelensky, and Washington this week hit Moscow with new sanctions over US election interference and other hostile activity.After talks in Paris on Friday with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Ukranian leader called for a four-way summit with Putin and the resumption of a ceasefire upended by a recent spate of clashes between Kiev troops and the separatists.'Ready for any scenario' Under a grey spring sky, birdsong can be heard on the frontline but the tranquil spell cannot mask a spike in tensions and near daily clashes.Around 30 Ukrainian troops have been killed since the start of the year, compared to 50 last year. Most of them were victims of sniper fire.This week, "a soldier was killed and two others from our battalion were wounded" in an explosion, said 43-year-old Yuriy, speaking to AFP in the trenches near Zaytseve.Yuriy, who also declined to give his last name, said the explosion was caused by a Russian-made landmine. The Ukrainian military accuses Moscow of seeking to provoke a situation that would justify an armed operation."The enemy's task is to cause as many losses as possible and provoke return fire," Viktor Ganushchak, the deputy commander of Ukraine's military operation in the east, told AFP in the town of Avdiivka, some six kilometres (four miles) north of Donetsk.Russia has denied sending weapons and soldiers across the border and says its troop movements do not pose a threat to anyone.More than 13,000 people have been killed in a conflict which broke out after a popular uprising in Kiev ousted a Kremlin-backed president and Moscow moved to annex Crimea in 2014.Some Ukrainian soldiers were hard-pressed to explain the Russian show of muscle, with others dismissing it as mere sabre-rattling."If it were an assault, it would be done more quietly without so much fuss," said Yuriy, the senior sergeant.Mykytsey said Russia's plans were anyone's guess."Are they preparing for an assault or are these military exercises?" he said. "Our task is to prevent them from going any further. We have people and there are enough weapons."Over the past seven years, Ukraine has overhauled its army thanks to Western help, and Kiev's battle-hardened soldiers say they are ready for a repeat of Moscow's 2014 aggression."We are ready for any scenario," said Ganushchak. "This is our land, we will defend it."(AFP)

  • Prince Philip's cap, gloves and whip placed on carriage in tribute to his love of sport

    The Duke of Edinburgh's cap, gloves and whip were placed on the carriage driven to the Quadrangle of Windsor Castle to witness his funeral procession. The Duke's personal effects were placed on the seat alongside the carriage driver in a poignant tribute to his love of carriage driving. The carriage, made of aluminium and steel, was designed by the Duke eight years ago. A brass clock mounted in the front was given to him by the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars in 1978 to mark his 25 years as Colonel-in-Chief.

  • Coronavirus in numbers: UK deaths rise by 35

    The Government said a further 35 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of Saturday, bringing the UK total to 127,260. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show there have now been 151,000 deaths registered in the UK where Covid-19 was mentioned on the death certificate. The Government also said that, as of 9am on Saturday, there had been a further 2,206 lab-confirmed cases in the UK. It brings the total to 4,385,938.

  • St George’s Chapel: The setting for a Covid-secure royal funeral like no other

    The nave, which was packed with family and friends at three royal weddings in recent years, is an empty space with no pews.

  • Mars helicopter flight test promises Wright Brothers moment for NASA

    NASA hopes to score a 21st-century Wright Brothers moment on Monday as it attempts to send a miniature helicopter buzzing over the surface of Mars in what would be the first powered, controlled flight of an aircraft on another planet. A modest debut is likewise in store for NASA's twin-rotor, solar-powered helicopter Ingenuity. While the mere metrics may seem less than ambitious, the "air field" for the interplanetary test flight is 173 million miles from Earth, on the floor of a vast Martian basin called Jezero Crater.

  • Ian McKellen says Covid has robbed him of ‘last few years of capability’

    ‘I think you’d [hear] the same from Maggie Smith or Judi Dench,’ actor said

  • Liam Williams vs Demetrius Andrade ring walks: What time will fight start in the UK?

    Everything you need to know ahead of tonight’s WBO world title bout

  • Duchess of Cambridge pays final respects to Prince Philip in first royal funeral

    Kate has never attended a royal funeral until she accompanied her husband to Prince Philip's.

  • Vaccine immunity ‘won’t just disappear’ in face of Covid variants – JCVI expert

    It comes after warnings were issued from a leading scientist that new coronavirus variants could set back the UK’s lockdown easing.

  • Greensill: Boris Johnson told to give up power to decide on investigating ministers

    Boris Johnson should relinquish his right to decide when possible breaches of the ministerial code warrant investigation, according to the chair of the Committee for Standards in Public Life. In a letter to the prime minister, Lord Evans argued the power to launch a probe into the behaviour of members of the government should instead be held by the next independent adviser on ministerial interests. It comes as questions continue to mount over contacts serving ministers had with former prime minister David Cameron in relation to his lobbying on behalf of the now-bankrupt finance firm, Greensill Capital.

  • Attack of the drones: the mystery of disappearing swarms in the US midwest

    Attack of the drones: the mystery of disappearing swarms in the US midwestWhen groups of sinister drones began hovering over homes in America’s Midwest, the FBI, US Air Force and 16 police forces set up a task force. But the drones vanished. Did they even exist? ‘They were creepy, really creepy. I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s almost as if they were watching us.’ Placido Montoya on the drones that he saw. Photograph: Dan Forbes/trunkarchive.com

  • More than 1,000 vicars vow to defy any vaccine passport plans for churches

    More than 1,000 vicars have indicated they will defy vaccine passport rules if they are implemented in churches, describing them as a “fundamental betrayal” of Christian belief. In an open letter to the Prime Minister concerning vaccine passport proposals, the church leaders said: “To deny people entry to hear this life-giving message and to receive this life-giving ministry would be a fundamental betrayal of Christ and the Gospel. “Sincere Christian churches and organisations could not do this, and as Christian leaders we would be compelled to resist any such Act of Parliament vigorously.” “For the Church of Jesus Christ to shut out those deemed by the state to be social undesirables would be anathema to us and a denial of the truth of the Gospel,” it added. The letter, which is signed by a mix of vicars, reverends, pastors and elders from a range of Christian denominations, also said: “There is also a legitimate fear that this scheme would be the thin end of the wedge leading to a permanent state of affairs in which Covid vaccine status could be expanded to encompass other forms of medical treatment and perhaps even other criteria beyond that. “This scheme has the potential to bring about the end of liberal democracy as we know it and to create a surveillance state in which the government uses technology to control certain aspects of citizens’ lives. “As such, this constitutes one of the most dangerous policy proposals ever to be made in the history of British politics... “We agree with those members of Parliament who have already voiced opposition to this proposal: that it would be divisive, discriminatory and destructive to introduce any such mandatory health certification into British society. “We call on the Government to assert strongly and clearly that it will not contemplate this illiberal and dangerous plan, not now and not ever.” Signatories to the letter include Christian leaders from Baptist, evangelical, free church, Church of England, presbyterian and a range of independent churches from across the UK. The call, backed by more than 1,100 clergy, is being led by Rev Dr William Philip, senior minister at the Tron Church in Glasgow, who led the successful Scottish church leaders’ judicial review last month. Unlike in England, the Court of Session heard that a ban on church services in Scotland was unconstitutional and breached human rights. It marked the first legal victory against Covid laws. The open letter, which has also been signed by Rev David Hathaway, founder and president of Eurovision Mission to Europe, comes as last week the Government was warned by its own equalities watchdog that Covid-status certificate schemes or “vaccine passports” could be discriminatory.

  • In Pictures: Windsor remembers Duke of Edinburgh on day of his funeral

    Philip’s insignia, laid out on the altar of St George’ Chapel, provided a reminder of his family links and his many roles in the nation’s life.

  • America on a knife edge ahead of Derek Chauvin verdict as protesters prepare to return to the streets

    Sand-coloured Humvees, barbed wire and concrete barricades surround the Hennepin County courthouse where the fate of Derek Chauvin, the white former police officer charged with killing George Floyd, will be determined. The plaza on which the building sits in downtown Minneapolis looks more like a military base than the heart of the local government, with armed National Guard troops occasionally peering through wire fencing at the protesters that gather outside. The heavy security presence is to be expected, given the rage that Mr Floyd's death provoked last May, setting the city ablaze with angry protests from a community which has seen police brutality claim the lives of countless black men. The three-week trial has brought the enduring tensions between law enforcement and the community to the fore, and many of the protesters who gather outside the courthouse each day fear the city is once more on a knife edge as it awaits the verdict.

  • ‘Absolutely devastating’: how Australia’s deportation of New Zealanders is tearing families apart

    ‘Absolutely devastating’: how Australia’s deportation of New Zealanders is tearing families apart. Their accents, children and homes are in one country, but people jailed for more than 12 months are being sent back to a land they don’t know, where ‘everything that made you who you were is gone’

  • Archbishop of Canterbury: Royal Family can't say goodbye in the way they hoped but Britons unite in grief

    The Royals have not been able to "say goodbye in the way they'd hope or planned" like millions this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury has lamented. The Most Rev Justin Welby, who will deliver a blessing at the Duke of Edinburgh's funeral, said members of the Royal Family were united in grief with Britons who had lost their loved-ones during the pandemic. He praised the household for sticking to the Covid-19 social restrictions and said this means it "represents all funerals" in the last year - which have been characterised by the "burden" of not being able to have ideal send-offs for relatives. "My first thought when I heard the news was for the family," he said. "This is like every other funeral and distinct from every other funeral. It's like every other funeral because the family is the family is the family. But it's distinct because they're having to bear this loss and sorrow in the glare of goodness knows how many people watching them around the world. "The Royal Family has behaved superbly, they've just kept to the rules. That means that they're going through what between six and eight million other people have gone through in this country alone over the last year - not really being able to say goodbye in the way they'd hoped or planned. And that's an extra burden. "But as people around the world watch them tomorrow, I think they can identify with this and feel that here is a funeral that represents all funerals in a wonderful way."