Watermelon explosion: Amazing video in super slow motion
The Slow Mo Guys' latest viral video features incredible slow motion footage of an exploding watermelon. .
Robert Jenrick says prime minister approached crisis ‘with huge seriousness’
People attempting to go on holiday will be stopped at the border and sent home, Priti Patel said as she hit out at social media influencers for boasting about beating travel bans. The Home Secretary said anyone without a valid reason to leave the UK will be turned back and face fines of £200 as part of a travel crackdown to prevent the spread of new Covid strains that could undermine vaccines. People will be expected to fill out a "declaration" form explaining why they need to travel before they leave home, which will then be checked by airlines, police and border force officers. Ms Patel said that even in lockdown individuals had been flouting bans on non-essential travel, citing some turning up at St Pancras Eurostar terminal with their skis, a situation that was "clearly not acceptable". "We see plenty of influencers on social media showing off about which parts of the world they are in, mainly in sunny parts of the world. Going on holiday is not an exemption and it's important that people stay at home," the Home Secretary told MPs.
Europe’s press has again given wide-ranging coverage to the row between Britain and the EU over the supply of vaccines, with one paper saying that Boris Johnson’s “gamble” in getting a head-start on production had paid off. The EU has urged AstraZeneca to divert millions of doses from UK plants, but the British government has resisted those demands. Michael Gove, the Cabinet Office minister, told the BBC on Thursday: "The supplies that have been planned, paid for and scheduled should continue." Asked whether he would allow vaccines manufactured in the UK to be diverted to the EU, he said "no", adding that there must be no interruption to the British vaccination programme. AstraZeneca says it can only deliver the EU a fraction of the doses between now and March due to production problems at plants in Europe. De Standaard, a Belgian newspaper, said the success of the Prime Minister’s move was a source of great frustration to the French, in particular, who are lagging far behind in their vaccine programme. It suggested that Brexiteers would take heart from that because Paris had regularly taken a hardline stance in the Brexit negotiations. The Flemish newspaper said that Mr Johnson liked to take risks and in this case, as opposed to in Brexit, the gambit had worked. Another Belgian paper, Het Nieuwsblad, said the unprecedented public attacks by the European Commission were designed to bring AstraZeneca "to its knees". "These doses are crucial to give a long-awaited boost to slow European vaccination campaigns," the paper said. It quoted Hendrik Vos, a professor of European politics, who said the Commission wanted to prove the shortfall was not its fault.
The move indicates high confidence on both sides that the jab is in line for approval in time for its planned distribution in early summer
‘I am a conservative. You come after us, you come after our Capitol, we gonna come after you’
Last weekend Taiwan reported multiple Chinese fighter jets and bombers entering its southwestern air defence zone
Cases of Covid likely to have been caught in hospital have halved in three weeks, bringing hope that the rollout of vaccines to staff is beginning to slow transmission. NHS data shows the number of cases has fallen from a high of 635 a day at the start of this month to 367 last week. The trend came despite a rise in the total numbers of Covid sufferers in hospital from around 25,000 to 37,000 over the period. On Wednesday night, Sir Patrick Vallance, the chief scientific adviser, said early findings from Israel – which has already given first jabs to almost a third of its population – suggested they could cut rates of transmission by around 60 per cent. However, Sir Patrick told a Downing Street briefing that he would be "extremely cautious" about making an assessment of the impact of the vaccines on transmission until there was "proper data" to assess. Boris Johnson said proof about the impact of vaccines should emerge by the middle of February. A study by Public Health England (PHE), tracking 40,000 health workers – including those given jabs early in the vaccination programme – is expected to report its findings next month. NHS staff were among those offered Covid jabs when the vaccination programme began in December, with a concerted push at the start of this month after the AstraZeneca jab became available.
British shares hit a near one-month low on Thursday as energy stocks tracked commodity prices lower following virus and lockdowns-led demand worries, while the vaccine row between the European Union and AstraZeneca Plc continued to weigh. AstraZeneca was one of the top drags to the FTSE 100 index as Britain demanded it must receive all of the COVID-19 vaccines it had ordered and paid for after the European Union asked the drugmaker on Wednesday if it could divert supplies of the Oxford-developed shots from Britain. The blue-chip FTSE 100 index fell 1.5%, with automakers and energy stocks being one of the top losers.
Former minister reportedly suggested official Covid figures have been ‘manipulated’
Rishi Sunak has told Tory MPs that implementing tax rises soon will hand the Government greater leverage to slash them ahead of the next election in 2024. The Chancellor made his pre-budget appearance at the powerful 1922 committee of backbench Conservatives on Wednesday evening to take soundings before the fiscal event on March 3. He told MPs that honesty and fairness were his guiding principles, as he signalled that difficult decisions lie ahead on raising revenue and reducing the deficit, according to several sources present on the call. Laying the groundwork for potential tax rises in the coming budget and the next one, Mr Sunak argued that the public would respect candour about what is to come. Such moves will also burnish the Conservatives’ reputation for responsible management of the public finances, and are essential to differentiate the party from the opposition, he added. One MP summarised Mr Sunak’s argument: “He basically said we can’t be Labour lite.” The budget can be the Government’s “signature moment” in the fight against coronavirus, the Chancellor is understood to have declared. After a series of piecemeal bailout packages responding to the pandemic over the past year, he signalled he wants to set out a broader, philosophical approach to the economy. MPs said they now expect him to set out a detailed roadmap on his strategy for spending, tax rises, the deficit and other economic levers at the budget. He urged his backbench colleagues to judge him over the “arc of the parliament”, not just on the coming budget alone. One MP said: “People asked, ‘Why can't you cut taxes now?’ His point was that we have to look at this over three to four years. “He [Mr Sunak] said he wants to be tax cutting towards the end of the parliament, that there will probably be some rises in the middle, and that we’re going to be frank with people about the tough choices ahead.
Police have not released a motive in the attack
UK quarantine hotels: how would they work? Our blueprint for getting holidays back to normal Will vaccine passports open up our holidays? 'We can't control the virus with a travel ban' Sign up to the Telegraph Travel newsletter The Government has announced the list of the 30 'high risk' countries from which visitors into the UK will be required to enter quarantine upon arrival. Travellers from these nations, including Britons returning to the UK, will have to self-isolate in state-provided hotels for 10 days "without exception", at their own expense, Boris Johnson stated. This will put holidays to Portugal, South America, and large parts of Africa off the cards for the foreseeable future, and cause heartbreak for tens of thousands of Britons will family and friends overseas. The Department of Health is working to establish quarantine hotels "as fast as possible", the Prime Minister added, with the list of countries to be "reviewed" today, Michael Gove added. According to one estimate, the move could cost the UK economy £548 million every day. Home Secretary Priti Patel has meanwhile doubled down on the message that any travel should "absolutely essential". Transport providers will check passengers' reasons for journeys on departure, police presence will be increased at ports and airports, and people will be directed to return home if they do not have a valid reason. Patel added that police will also carry out more checks at physical addresses, to ensure compliance with the restrictions. Scroll down for more of the latest news.
Back in March, the University of Oxford was on the brink of signing a deal with the German drugs giant Merck to research and develop a coronavirus vaccine. The Government stepped in and helped steer Oxford towards a partnership with British-based AstraZeneca instead, taking a huge gamble by helping to fund the research and development of a vaccine that might have proved useless. Instead, the Oxford vaccine became only the second in the Western world to be approved for use, and both the UK and AstraZeneca are now reaping the benefits of the deal that was struck last April. AstraZeneca has, so far, remained fiercely loyal to the Government, resolutely refusing to give in to EU demands that it should redirect supplies of its UK-made vaccine to the bloc. But that close relationship has come under unprecedented strain as the company found itself under huge pressure from Brussels.
Coronavirus vaccines produced in the UK could be sent to the EU before the domestic immunisation programme is completed, Downing Street has indicated. The development came after cabinet minister Michael Gove said that the UK wants to engage in “dialogue” with EU nations to ensure that as many of their populations as possible get a jab. The European Commission is pushing AstraZeneca to reroute supplies from its plants in Oxford and Keele, after the pharmaceutical giant announced its deliveries to the EU will be cut from 80m to 31m doses because of production problems in a factory in Belgium.
New first lady signals she will be an active and constant presence in the White House - drawing stark contrasts to her predecessor
Around one in 16 local areas are currently recording a week-on-week rise.
Eva Gicain had an emergency Caesarean section at 35 weeks pregnant.
The French and Italian governments have called off a deal for Fincantieri to take a majority stake in the Chantiers d'Atlantique shipyards. The agreement was reached in 2018, but was awaiting approval from the EU's competition regulator. Building cruise ships is a key part of the business and given the slump in travel due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Paris and Rome have agreed to abandon the sale. But first, Apple reports record quarterly revenues of more than $110 billion after a bumper Christmas sales period.
Committee says there is not enough data to recommend jab for older age groups
Large-scale manufacturing of a coronavirus vaccine candidate from French biotech company Valneva has begun in Scotland. If approved, it would deliver up to 60 million doses to the UK by the end of this year. Here is everything you need to know about Valneva's coronavirus vaccine candidate. How does it compare to the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines? Unlike the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which needs to be kept at a temperature of about minus 70C, both the Valneva and Oxford/AstraZeneca jabs conform with the standard cold chain requirements, which is between 2C and 8C. All three vaccines require a second booster shot to maximise immune response. Here's how the vaccine rollout has increased since December.