UK’s missing Brazilian variant case found

An individual infected with the Brazil variant of coronavirus has been found, Public Health England has confirmed.

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  • Have your say: Are you going to watch Prince Philip's funeral?

    The BBC's Huw Edwards will lead six hours of coverage of Prince Philip's funeral across three channels – despite record complaints to the broadcaster about its coverage of his death.

  • John Cleese pokes fun at Hank Azaria's apology for Apu on 'The Simpsons'

    Cleese said he was sorry for 'any distress' caused.

  • '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 concerning COVID variant first found in India has already been detected in the UK.

  • Colin the Caterpillar vs Cuthbert, Curly and Wiggles: we decide which tastes best

    In the tale of The Very Hungry Caterpillar, along with an ice-cream cone, a pickle, a slice each of Swiss cheese and salami, a lollipop, a wedge of cherry pie, a sausage, cupcake and a slice of watermelon, our ravenous protagonist devours a piece of chocolate cake. It is perhaps no coincidence that the latter has become synonymous with the insect (and visa versa), and subsequently that a caterpillar-shaped sponge is often the most familiar guest at birthday parties and office celebrations across the land. Nor is it surprising that the news of Marks & Spencer taking Aldi to court in a bid to protect its Colin the Caterpillar cake has provoked such an uproar. The retailer has accused the discounter chain of riding on its reputational coat-tails after Aldi began selling its own Cuthbert the Caterpillar cake, which looks very similar. But since M&S launched Colin (a chocolate-coated sponge cake bearing buttercream, topped with sweets and fronted by a smiling white-chocolate face) some 30 years ago, similar critters have emerged, and not only from the German discount store. From Cuthbert and Wiggles to Curly and Carl the free-from caterpillar, there are cute-faced chocolate Swiss rolls in almost every supermarket – and each has a band of fervently loyal supporters. But how do they compare to each other? Does Colin hold the gold standard when it comes to softness of sponge and flavour of edible boot? Are the sprinkles on Curly superior to those adorning Morris? While Aldi has not stocked its Cuthbert cake since mid-February and so was sadly unavailable for review, we netted the best of the rest and put them to the test.

  • In Pictures: Remembering Helen McCrory

    McCrory and actor Damian Lewis married in 2007 and had a daughter Manon and son Gulliver.

  • Prince Philip apologised to Richard Nixon for faux pas with 'lame' toast during White House visit

    Throughout his decades in public life, Prince Philip was known for putting his royal foot in his mouth with occasional off-the-cuff remarks that could be embarrassing. But his faux pas at a White House dinner with President Richard Nixon in 1969 was enough for Philip to actually lose sleep. In a handwritten note to the president uncovered by archivists at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, California, the Duke of Edinburgh wrote to "humbly apologise" for failing to toast the president's health as dictated by protocol during a "stag" dinner in his honor. "After the brilliance of the other speakers and yourself, I am afraid my contribution was very lame," Philip wrote to Nixon from Greenland on Nov 7 after his solo US trip had concluded. He added: "That night I woke up in a cold sweat when I realised I had forgotten to propose your health!" Philip died last week at age 99, and his funeral is Saturday. He was married to Queen Elizabeth for 73 years. "I think the letter itself shows the character of Prince Philip that so much of the public in the U.K. and across the Commonwealth, and really across the world, have come to admire," said Jim Byron, executive vice president of the Nixon Foundation. He said the letter was discovered before the coronavirus pandemic but made public this week, as a way of marking Philip's death. "It expresses some private feelings of a moment in time that the public really doesn't always get a chance to see," Mr Byron added.

  • Pro-UK parties could stop an independence majority at Holyrood, claims Lib Dem leader

    Pro-UK parties could yet stop an independence majority at Holyrood because even “hardline” SNP voters are unsure about Nicola Sturgeon’s mid-pandemic push for a new referendum, the Lib Dem leader has claimed. Launching his party’s manifesto, Willie Rennie said the SNP vote was “softer than I’ve ever seen it” in the current campaign and insisted it was “all to play for”. He predicted that momentum could rapidly swing away from the nationalists in the final weeks of the campaign, despite opinion polls currently suggesting a pro-independence majority after May 6 is a near certainty. The Lib Dems have said the next Holyrood term should be focused on recovery from the pandemic rather than a new independence vote. The party is proposing large increases to spending on mental health services, a jobs guarantee for young people and play-based education up to the age of seven. It also published proposals for MSPs to be able to vote to hold Scottish ministers in "contempt of parliament" after the SNP repeatedly defied votes in the previous term. The Lib Dems won just five seats at Holyrood in 2016 but Mr Rennie insisted his party had the potential to make gains across Scotland, highlighting Caithness, Sutherland and Ross as a seat he believes he can take from the SNP. “There's a lot to play for, and the vote amongst the SNP is softer than I have ever seen it,” Mr Rennie said. “The hesitation amongst the SNP voters is considerable. “There was a lady I met the other day, she's been a hardline SNP supporter all of her life. She said she was just not sure this time, and [her reasons were] Alex Salmond and pushing an independence referendum in the middle of a pandemic.” He also claimed that centrist Tory voters were moving to the Lib Dems because they were put off by a “harder, darker edge” to the Conservatives under Douglas Ross. He claimed socially liberal voters attracted by the “bubbly and bright” Ruth Davidson at the last election did not like the current incumbent. Mr Rennie said the Tories had adopted more right wing positions under Mr Ross and cited a masked photocall on a military jeep as an example in which he “just looked a bit darker”.

  • Ghislaine Maxwell lawyers reveal more than 2,000 ‘highly confidential’ photos in the evidence against her

    The trial is set to begin 12 July

  • Sean Hannity blasted for calling Adam Toledo a ‘13-year-old man’

    A guest on Hannity’s Fox News show had previously referred to Kyle Rittenhouse, who was 17 at the time, as a ‘little boy’

  • Covid: Past infection ‘does not protect young people against reinfection,’ study warns

    Professor says despite global vaccine rollouts ‘it is possible to catch virus again and transmit it to others’

  • Mike Tindall pays tribute to Prince Philip with photograph of Duke with great-granddaughter Mia

    Mike Tindall has paid tribute to his grandfather-in-law, the Duke of Edinburgh, calling him a "devoted family man who we will forever miss but always love." The former England centre who married the Queen and Prince Philip's granddaughter, Zara Phillips paid a personal tribute on Instagram, sharing a photo of his eldest daughter Mia enjoying a picnic at a log cabin with the Duke. "It’s been a very sad week but it has given us time to reflect on great memories and stories both personal and shared," Mr Tindall said. "A devoted family man who we will forever miss but always love." The photograph, understood to have been shot in the Highlands, was taken by the Duchess of Cambridge.

  • 'Run, Sara, Run': Is Duterte's daughter playing her father's game?

    The daughter of Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte says there's no chance she'll run for the presidency next year. But few are convinced by either of them as campaigns grow to back Sara Duterte-Carpio, 42, to succeed the autocratic and capricious president whose war on drugs killed thousands and whose embrace of China has convulsed historic ties with Washington. "It is the clamour of the people that will make her run," said Mar Masanguid, who led the movement behind the hugely popular 76-year-old Duterte's last minute presidential bid in 2016 and has now founded a group to back Sara Duterte.

  • 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)

  • North Carolina teacher killed in shoot-out after trying to rob Mexican drug cartel

    Barney Harris shot and killed despite wearing bulletproof vest to rob drugs and cash

  • 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.

  • Care homes ‘failed’ by lateral flow test rollout, says study author

    Analysis of a pilot in Liverpool found ‘poor’ adherence from care home staff and no impact on Covid-19 outbreaks.

  • Teenage Queen and Prince Philip pictured together in rare images from 1939

    The pictures were unearthed from a private collection and show Philip looking after a 13-year-old Elizabeth.

  • ‘Help me’: Ousted Myanmar envoy pleads with UK over eviction from London residence

    Former diplomat says he has been ordered to move out of home by Thursday

  • What kind of country sees Adam Toledo as a ‘thirteen-year-old man’ and Kyle Rittenhouse as a ‘little boy’?

    Dylann Roof was bought a Burger King by police after his arrest, while Toledo — who was pictured with his hands in the air moments before cops fatally shot him — has been painted as a dangerous gang member

  • The UK government’s race report is so shoddy, it falls to pieces under scrutiny

    The UK government’s race report is so shoddy, it falls to pieces under scrutinyThe report is full of mistakes and distorted facts. Evidence has been retrofitted to inspire outrage