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Coronavirus '10 times more likely to cause rare clot than AZ vaccine'

US Economy Added 916,000 Jobs in March

Though the economy still has 8.4 million fewer jobs than before the pandemic.

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  • Prince Philip: Royal Family releases Kate's photo of Queen and duke with seven great-grandchildren

    The Royal Family has released new photographs of the Duke of Edinburgh following his death at the age of 99. The previously unseen photo shows Prince Louis cradled in the arms of the Queen, a rare image of the monarch holding one of her 10 great-grandchildren. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's other children Prince George and Princess Charlotte are on either side of the monarch.

  • Mixing Covid vaccines 'may give better long-term protection'

    Mixing vaccines could improve protection against coronavirus, a senior government scientific adviser has said. Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chairman of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, said different vaccine types could coalesce to boost the immune system and provide a longer-lasting response. He also said a "mix and match" approach could make future rollouts more flexible. It comes after planners were forced to rethink phase 2 of the rollout, which started on Tuesday, after the JCVI recommended people aged 18 to 29 have an alternative to the AstraZeneca jab due to blood clotting concerns. Currently only two other vaccines - Pfizer and Moderna - have received regulatory approval in the UK. The promise of 30 million one-jab Johnson & Johnson doses in the summer suffered a setback this week after US regulators suspended its use, also due to fears over clotting. Prof Harnden said: "If we can mix and match, we'll get much better flexibility - we will be able to potentially use different vaccine booster campaigns in the autumn. And, in fact, mixed schedules may - and this is a big may - but they may give better longer-term protection, and that will be very interesting to see."

  • 'Brideshead' for Roman elite found at Scarborough housing estate

    A Roman “Brideshead” has been unearthed at a planned Scarborough housing estate, and archaeologists believe it may be the first and only one of its kind. The building complex dating from the period of Roman rule, between 43 AD and 410 AD, consists of a circular room with adjoining chambers built to a design “never seen before in Britain”. Archaeologists believe the complex which functioned like a “gentlemen's club” for the wealthy elite could also be the first of its kind to be discovered within the entire former Roman Empire. The site in North Yorkshire was assessed by Historic England after it became clear ruins discovered on the Keepmoat Homes housing development were more significant than first thought. Keith Emerick, inspector of ancient monuments at Historic England, told The Daily Telegraph: “It could be a bit like Brideshead Revisited, like a modern stately home with the equivalent of a chapel attached." The Flyte family own a chapel within their property at Brideshead in Evelyn Waugh's novel. “We’re working to ascertain a potentially religious function of the building," Mr Emerick added.

  • 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

  • Quiz! How well do you know the UK’s longest running TV shows?

    Can you answer these questions about the nation's most well-established programmes?

  • A tearful Prince Charles makes first public engagement since Prince Philip's death as he inspects flowers and tributes

    The Prince of Wales appeared close to tears as he inspected the many flowers and tributes left for his father, the Duke of Edinburgh, by well-wishers today. Prince Charles, 72, accompanied by the Duchess of Cornwall, was clearly moved as he paid an emotional visit to Marlborough House Gardens to read some of the messages left by members of the public, his first engagement since the Duke’s death. Dressed in a blue suit with black tie, he bent to read the tributes, at times looking almost overcome by grief. The Duchess, dressed in black, also looked solemn as she bent to look at the messages, paying particular attention to a model Land Rover with the words “The Duke R.I.P” written on the roof. The flowers are among those left at Buckingham Palace and other royal residences. Although the Royal family asked members of the public to make a donation to charity in the Duke’s memory, rather than leave flowers, many opted to pay their respects in the traditional fashion. Each evening, the tributes are taken, with great care, to the private gardens at Marlborough House at St James’s Palace to be laid out by police officers.

  • Jurgen Klopp rues missed chances as Liverpool knocked out of Champions League

    Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was left to rue their dire first-leg performance against Real Madrid as his side exited the Champions League with barely a whimper. The hosts could not fashion another of their famous European comebacks as despite registering 15 shots they managed just four on target and Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois was barely tested. But what really cost them was their performance in the Spanish capital for last week's first leg when their opening 45 minutes was woeful and led to them losing 3-1.

  • EU states believe MEPs have handed UK leverage in Brexit talks over Northern Ireland

    Britain’s hand in negotiations over the Northern Ireland Protocol has been strengthened by the European Parliament’s refusal to set a date to ratify the Brexit trade deal, EU governments have warned. Lord Frost is in Brussels for talks over the implementation of new customs arrangements in Northern Ireland with his European Commission opposite number Maros Sefcovic. Brussels has begun legal action against the UK, which it accuses of breaking international law by unilaterally extending grace periods on some customs checks in the Withdrawal Agreement. Britain argues the measures are lawful and in good faith. MEPs refused to name the date for the plenary vote on the trade deal for a second time on Tuesday in a bid to heap pressure on Britain over the agreement that introduced a customs border in the Irish Sea to prevent a hard border on the island of Ireland. The threat infuriated European capitals, which are worried it could backfire and believe it weakens the EU’s negotiating position in the talks over Northern Ireland. “There is serious incredulity around the table,” an EU diplomat said, “The irresponsible actions by the UK government have been bemoaned by MEPs for months only for them to act exactly the same way.” “It will impact the EU’s negotiations over Northern Ireland and call into question certainty for citizens and companies on both sides of the Channel.“ The UK-EU trade deal, which is separate from the Withdrawal Agreement, was provisionally applied at the end of last year. If the European Parliament does not ratify the deal by the end of April the EU would have to ask the UK for an extension or face a damaging no deal because the provisional deal would fall away.

  • Ivanka Trump causes MAGA meltdown after sharing photograph getting vaccine

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

  • The peacekeeper princess: How Eugenie quietly became the great royal confidante

    The Duke of Sussex is staying with Princess Eugenie ahead of their grandfather’s funeral - but how did the pair get so close? From being his closest cousin growing up to her straight-talking approach, Katie Strick looks at how the youngest Princess of York became peacekeeper

  • Covid eight times more likely to cause rare brain clot than AstraZeneca vaccine, study finds

    ‘The Covid-19 risk is higher than seen with the current vaccines, even for those under 30,’ says study co-author

  • 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 accused of attempting to 'dupe' voters over drive for independence

    Nicola Sturgeon has been accused of attempting to “dupe” voters over her drive for independence after the SNP scrapped plans to include a reference to a second referendum on ballot papers. The SNP had sought approval for two slogans making reference to “IndyRef2” to appear alongside the party name on voting slips for the Holyrood election, suggesting that Ms Sturgeon planned to make her push for a new referendum the central message of her election campaign. However, when the first postal ballots arrived on Wednesday, the IndyRef2 references had been dumped and replaced with “Nicola Sturgeon for SNP First Minister”. The Scottish Tories said the move to abandon the IndyRef2 description was a tacit admission that the SNP's independence policy is a turn-off for voters and amounted to an attempt to hide it from the public. Ms Sturgeon will on Thursday unveil the SNP manifesto, which will include a commitment to holding another referendum on independence if there is a pro-independence majority at Holyrood after May’s election. However, in a major announcement ahead of the launch event, the party chose to highlight a commitment to boost NHS spending by £2.5 billion within five years rather than focus on the constitution. The commitment came after the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that health spending in England has increased more than three times faster than in Scotland over the past decade.

  • CEO who Fox News called 'socialist' for $70k minimum wage says company is now worth $10billion

    The company’s revenue has tripled since the change was implemented

  • ‘If we don’t support them we’ll never get them back’: Punters brave Covid and the cold in return to the pub

    After months of disruption, Vincent Wood reports, a minority of the nation’s pubs are getting back to business – weather permitting

  • University forced to apologise to PhD student reprimanded over ‘transphobic’ tweets

    University of Huddersfield must apologise to and compensate a PHD student reprimanded over anti-trans tweets and blog posts.

  • Daunte Wright shooting: Kim Potter’s mugshot released as ex-police officer faces manslaughter charges

    Kim Potter, the white police officer who shot and killed Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man, during a traffic stop on Sunday has been charged with manslaughter. A GoFundMe campaign for a memorial fund for Mr Wright has raised over half a million dollars towards covering funeral and providing support for his family. Minneapolis faced its third night of civil unrest on Tuesday after the killing, which occurred in the suburb of Brooklyn Center.Tensions are already high amid the trial of Derek Chauvin, the white former Minneapolis police officer charged with murdering George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, last May.

  • Race To Replace Len McCluskey Starts As Unite Triggers General Secretary Election

    With successor expected in place by late August, both left and right candidates declare it’s time for “change”

  • Science has proved Boris Johnson wrong – vaccines are reducing deaths and cases

    Boris Johnson raised eyebrows on Tuesday when he suggested that the reduction in Covid infections, hospital admissions and deaths had not been achieved by the vaccination programme, with the lockdown doing "the bulk of the work". Thankfully, less than 24 hours later, science had proved the Prime Minister wrong. New research from NHS England and the University of Manchester showed the stark difference in cases, admissions and deaths for elderly people who had been vaccinated compared to those who had not. In a large study involving more than 170,000 people, researchers had scrupulously case-matched participants to make sure the results were not skewed by underlying conditions, sex or geographical location. The results show that far from having little impact, the rate of Covid-related hospital admissions fell by 75 per cent in vaccinated 80 to 83-year-olds within 35 to 41 days of their first dose of the Pfizer jab. The rate of people getting Covid dropped by 70 per cent, with the number of positive tests falling from 15.3 per 100,000 people to 4.6. The authors conclude: "The nationwide vaccination of older adults in England with the [Pfizer] vaccine reduced the burden of Covid-19."

  • Boeing 737: History and safety record of the aeroplane

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