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And no talking in supermarkets.. The British government has reportedly discussed upping COVID restrictions even further by only allowing people to leave their homes once per week. Claiming that the National Health service is at breaking point, the government is said to be considering implementing stricter rules, including compulsory mask-wearing outdoors, and banning so called ‘extended bubbles’, where people are allowed to meet one person from another household. Most chilling, however, is the revelation that cabinet ministers have privately debated preventing people from talking to each other in the street and in supermarkets, and even preventing people from leaving home...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel considers U.S. President Donald Trump’s eviction from Twitter by the company “problematic,” her spokesman said Monday. Twitter permanently suspended Trump from the microblogging platform on Friday, citing a “risk of further incitement of violence” in the wake of the storming of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of the outgoing president. Asked about Twitter’s decision, Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said the operators of social media platforms “bear great responsibility for political communication not being poisoned by hatred, by lies and by incitement to violence.” He said it’s right not to “stand back” when such content is posted,...

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City firms may have to wait for “years” for a meaningful UK-EU agreement on financial services, according to experts in the field. The prospects are so bleak for anything more than the current bare-bones arrangements, according to some, that as far as the City is concerned it will be operating under no-deal Brexit conditions for the foreseeable future. One of the most crucial issues is that of “equivalence” — EU regulators’ process for granting market access to UK firms if the country’s financial rules are deemed similar to its own. But legal and regulatory experts see little prospect of any...

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has declared a "major incident" in the capital due to rising coronavirus cases threatening to overwhelm hospitals. More than 800 patients a day are being admitted to London hospitals with COVID-19, the chief executive of NHS England, Sir Simon Stevens, warned at a Downing Street briefing on Thursday. "That's the equivalent of a new St Thomas' hospital, full of COVID patients every day."

Doctors can stop providing life-support treatment to a five-year-old Strood girl is in a vegetative state, a High Court judge has ruled. Specialists treating Pippa Knight at the Evelina Children’s Hospital in London said life-support treatment should end. Hospital bosses had asked Mr Justice Poole to rule that ending treatment, and allowing Pippa to die, would be lawful and in her best interests. Pippa’s mother, Paula Parfitt, 41, of Strood, Kent, disagreed. Ms Parfitt wanted Pippa, who is brain damaged, to be placed on a portable ventilator and allowed home. Mr Justice Poole, who heard evidence at a trial in...

Parapapaaa! Sound the field trumpets, the cavalry’s arrived. Well, the Army at any rate – and not a moment too soon. Brigadier Phil Prosser of the 3rd Division was introduced at yesterday’s Downing Street press conference as the man in charge of rolling out the vaccine. And thank goodness for that. The Brig certainly inspired confidence. Towering over the Prime Minister, here stood a man who clearly Gets. Things. Done. Granite jaw. Thousand-yard stare. Haircut you could time your watch to. Judging by his no-nonsense manner, I’d say a fair few corporals have felt the short sharp sting of his...

Key Points Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s former chief of staff, told CNBC he has resigned as special U.S. envoy to Northern Ireland. Mulvaney said he called Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday night to tell him of his decision. “I can’t do it. I can’t stay,” said Mulvaney, adding that Trump was “not the same as he was eight months ago.” He said other officials may follow suit.

The book which chronicles the Duke and Duchess’ exit from royal duties was written by royal reporters Carolyn Durand and Omid Scobie. When it was first released in August, the explosive biography was initially sold at £20. But now royal fans can get their hands on the book for less than £1 at hive.co.uk. ...Over on Ebay’s website, the biography appears to be dropping in price as well with a number of sellers giving the book away for less than £10. One seller has put a copy of the book on Ebay at £0.99 but is yet to receive any...

London’s population is set to decline for the first time in more than 30 years, driven by the economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic and people reassessing where they live during the crisis, according to a report. The accountancy firm PwC said the number of people living in the capital could fall by more than 300,000 this year, from a record level of about 9 million in 2020, to as low as 8.7 million. This would end decades of growth with the first annual drop since 1988. The forecast comes as city-dwellers rethink their living situations during lockdown and a...

Prime Minister Boris Johnson has condemned the "disgraceful scenes" in the US, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed Congress and clashed with police. Rioters breached the Capitol building where lawmakers met to confirm Joe Biden's presidential election victory. The PM said it was "vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power".

The question of Mr Trump visiting Scotland comes after an anonymous source from Prestwick Airport said that an American military version of the Boeing 757, an aircraft often used by the Vice-President and the First Lady, is scheduled to arrive at the airport on January 19, the day before Joe Biden takes over the presidency. Mr Trump owns the Turnberry golf resort in Ayrshire as well as another course in Aberdeenshire. Speaking at Tuesday’s daily coronavirus briefing, Ms Sturgeon said that she “has no idea what Donald Trump’s travel plans are” but that she hopes that the only immediate plans...

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) on Tuesday called for a travel ban from the United Kingdom over a variant strain of the Chinese coronavirus — one that is reportedly more transmissible — referring to it as the “new foe.” “Right now you can still get on a plane in London and not even have proof you have a negative test, then come to New York City and merrily spread the disease,” he said during Tuesday’s press conference, asking why that is occurring.

The government "should be able" to begin easing England's coronavirus lockdown in March, a senior minister has told Sky News. Michael Gove said the public should not expect a sudden relaxation of the COVID-19 rules, with restrictions "progressively" eased instead. And he warned of "very, very difficult weeks ahead" as the country battles to reduce the spread of coronavirus, which is being driven by a new variant that has been judged to be between 50% and 70% more transmissible. As vaccines continue to be rolled out, the country is in a "race against time" against the variant, Mr Gove added....

The NHS is at risk of being overwhelmed within three weeks in parts of the country, Britain’s four chief medical officers warned last night as hospital admissions overtook their first-wave peak. In a statement raising Britain’s Covid-19 alert level to five, Professor Chris Whitty and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland said that they were not confident that the service could handle a further sustained rise in cases. Analysis showed that Britain was on course for 100,000 deaths by early February as another record number of infections led to official warnings that “the lives of our friends and...

England is going back to a full national lockdown in an effort to stem a surge in COVID-19 cases driven by a contagious new mutation, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced Monday. The new “stay at home” order will go into effect Wednesday and is expected to last until at least mid-February. “With most of the country already under extreme measures, it’s clear that we need to do more, together, to bring this new variant under control while our vaccines are rolled out,” Johnson in a televised address. “In England, we must therefore go into a national lockdown.”

A variant of the coronavirus identified in South Africa is more problematic than the mutation found in the U.K., Britain’s health minister said Monday, as both strains spread rapidly. Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC the variant found in South Africa was especially concerning. “I’m incredibly worried about the South African variant, and that’s why we took the action that we did to restrict all flights from South Africa,” he told the BBC’s “Today” program. “This is a very, very significant problem ... and it’s even more of a problem than the U.K. new variant.” Both countries are struggling...

LONDON (AP) — Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday a new national lockdown for England until at least mid-February to combat a fast-spreading new variant of the coronavirus, even as Britain ramped up its vaccination program by becoming the first nation to start using the shot developed by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca. Johnson said people must stay at home again, as they were ordered to do so in the first wave of the pandemic in March, this time because the new virus variant was spreading in a “frustrating and alarming” way. “As I speak to you tonight, our...

LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will learn on Monday whether a British judge has approved his extradition to the United States to face charges including espionage over the release of secret U.S. military documents. U.S. authorities accuse Australian-born Assange, 49, of 18 counts of conspiring to hack government computers and of breaching a secrecy law by releasing vast troves of confidential military records and diplomatic cables over a decade ago. If extradited and then found guilty of espionage, Assange could go to prison for 30 to 40 years, his lawyers say, though prosecutors say he would face no...

Iran’s state media has alleged that in addition to the United States, several countries, including Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Germany and Britain, had played a role in the assassination of its senior military leader Qassem Soleimani. Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike on January 3, 2020, while visiting Baghdad. According to DEFA Press, more countries would be added to the list once the investigation into Soleimani’s killing is completed. “We must learn from this experience, which came at a great price, and we must make every effort to preserve national unity and cohesion that was achieved...