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Gin distilleries across Britain have switched to making hand sanitiser in a bid to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus. Distilleries from Dundee to London have shifted their production lines to make hand gel after shortages were reported across the country when the virus began to gather speed earlier this month. People across Britain have been advised to regularly wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or to use a hand sanitiser which contains at least 60 per cent alcohol to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There are currently 2,626 cases of coronavirus confirmed...

A gang of thugs smashed a Sainsbury's shop front in south London in a nighttime raid as supermarkets come under huge pressure amid coronavirus fears. Six men tried stealing alcohol from the New Kent Road store in Elephant and Castle at around 10.50pm yesterday by 'concealing spirits in their clothes'. Police said that Sainsbury's staff confronted the men, who became 'hostile and threatening' and fled outside before trashing the store front. Video shows thugs throwing a blue sign at the glass entry, which shatters. A larger group then runs away, leaving a trail of carnage behind them.

Every Briton could get cash payments from the government amid fears the coronavirus crisis could leave millions of people without jobs. The extraordinary move is being considered by ministers as the scale of the economic meltdown the country faces becomes clear - with warnings that 'social distancing' measures could see GDP slump by 20 per cent and the hospitality sector effectively disappear. Boris Johnson suggested last night that a 'universal basic income' - or UBI - is among the options on the table to avoid families being plunged into poverty and mass unrest as UK plc grinds to a halt....

With very little normal business being transacted in France, many foreigners will be worried about renewing their visas. However, due to the situation, authorities have announced that all current visas and titres de séjour residency permits will be extended by three months. With the country on lockdown and everyone ordered to stay at home apart from essential trips out, visits to préfectures to renew residency papers will not be possible. […] It does not apply to British people living here, who have a slightly different process to apply for a carte de séjour — they apply online via a special...

Summary The global impact of COVID-19 has been profound, and the public health threat it represents is the most serious seen in a respiratory virus since the 1918 H1N1 influenza pandemic. Here we present the results of epidemiological modelling which has informed policymaking in the UK and other countries in recent weeks. In the absence of a COVID-19 vaccine, we assess the potential role of a number of public health measures – so-called non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) – aimed at reducing contact rates in the population and thereby reducing transmission of the virus. In the results presented here, we apply a...

Exclusive: Public Health England document seen by Guardian says four in five ‘expected’ to contract virusThe coronavirus epidemic in the UK will last until next spring and could lead to 7.9 million people being hospitalised, a secret Public Health England (PHE) briefing for senior NHS officials reveals. The document, seen by the Guardian, is the first time health chiefs tackling the virus have admitted that they expect it to circulate for another 12 months and lead to huge extra strain on an already overstretched NHS. It also suggests that health chiefs are braced for as many as 80% of Britons...

Elderly Britons may be told to self-isolate for four months under the government’s “wartime-style” effort to combat the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus. The government of the United Kingdom is expected to impose a swathe of new measures to fight the further spread of the virus and to prevent the National Health Service (NHS) from “falling over” during the peak of the epidemic. Within the next 20 days, those over the age of 70 will be told to self-quarantine in their homes or care homes for up to four months, a Government source told ITV. Boris Johnson’s government is concerned...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. government is expected to announce on Saturday that it is expanding its travel ban on most European countries to include Britain and Ireland as it seeks to contain the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe, airline and U.S. officials told Reuters.

Three boatloads of people will be allowed to explore tunnels and crumbling fortificationsEvery nook and cranny teems with history. The tales of war, adventure, death and crime are myriad but for 30 years the people of Plymouth have only been able to gaze across at Drake’s Island – but not set foot there. But on Sunday three boatloads of visitors will make the short hop from the Devon city to explore the crumbling fortifications, the bramble-covered barrack buildings and its mysterious tunnels. The island in Plymouth Sound has been off-limits since 1989 – when an adventure centre on the island...

Once Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for COVID-19, it was only a matter of time. Fewer than 24 hours after the English Premier League announced it would move ahead with matches this weekend, the league backtracked and announced it would suspend its season indefinitely. The shareholders unanimously decided to halt play with the intention of returning April 4 and rescheduling missed matches. It impacts the FA Cup, second through fourth divisions and and Women’s Super League as well.

WASHINGTON - A U.S. customs inspector praised for keeping the 20th hijacker in the 9/11 plot from getting into the country told Congress yesterday that the "hostile" Saudi gave him the creeps and vowed, "I'll be back." Jose Melendez-Perez told the 9/11 Commission, the panel probing the attacks on America, that he was spooked enough by the man identified only as "Al-Qahtani" to put him on a plane out of Orlando after he arrived in the U.S. from London and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, with a one-way ticket and $2,800 in cash. Al-Qahtani was dressed head-to-toe in black when he...

Boris Johnson narrowly avoided his first Commons defeat over Huawei this afternoon, as senior Conservatives said they had put the Government "on warning". Despite dodging defeat by 306 votes to 282, rebel MPs made it clear that they would not back down over the Chinese company's role in the UK's 5G network. Chair of the Defence Select Committee Tobias Ellwood said: "I think the Government should be on warning... that this House believes that we need to wean ourselves off Huawei."

London Mayor Sadiq Khan was challenged on live TV as he claimed there is “no risk” of catching the deadly coronavirus from joining the millions who ride the city’s packed trains and buses. “It’s very important that we don’t spread panic or alarm based on misinformation,” Khan said on “Good Morning Britain” Tuesday when asked about the assumed “obvious risk factor” of public transport. “There is no risk in using the Tube or buses or other forms of public transport,” he said, noting there are 5 million journeys each day on the underground system along with 6 million on buses....

Release the Home Office's Grooming Gang Review in full The Government is refusing to release official research on the characteristics of grooming gangs, claiming it is not in the “public interest”. We, the British public, demand the release of the official research on grooming gangs undertaken by the Government in full. https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/300239

Tommy Robinson’s daughter was groped in a swimming pool, and instead of the police arresting the child molester, the police arrest Tommy Robinson instead. He was charged with common assault after allegedly ‘smacking’ a male holidaymaker in the face in an altercation at a Center Parcs swimming pool. Mr. Robinson said he had been trying to prevent a man he believed had committed an offense from leaving the scene. The man was treated at the scene by medics and was not taken to hospital, an insider told The Sun. Video below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRFZl80A2eE&feature=emb_title From TR News: Tommy took his kids and...

The role slavery and cheap labour played in the foundation and vast wealth of the British Empire has been highlighted by a New York museum. New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has redesigned its British galleries to illustrate how cultural traditions that sprang from the empire fitted alongside opulent wealth amassed from slave labour. The renovation cost roughly $22 million and has transformed the museum's exhibits of British decorative arts over a 400-year period. Through nearly 700 works created between 1500 and 1900, the suite of 10 galleries gives 'a fresh perspective' on Britain's entrepreneurial spirit and complex history.

She has previously urged female workers to channel their 'inner Wonder Woman' to take on the world – but now Meghan Markle could become the real deal. For the Duchess of Sussex wants to play a superhero in a blockbuster movie – and has told her agents to 'actively search' for a suitable role. Meghan has made no secret of her wish to return to acting as she seeks financial independence and has already reportedly signed a charity voice-over deal with Disney. The studio also owns Marvel and the rights to all its comic-book characters, which could pave the way...

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were facing an angry backlash today as their £20million security bill looks set to fall squarely on British taxpayers after Canada refused to keep paying. Canadian police confirmed last night it would stop assisting with security for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when they step down as working royals and become private citizens after Megxit on March 31. This means the cost of round-the-clock protection for the couple and baby Archie will fall solely to the taxpayer-funded Metropolitan Police, despite the couple leaving the UK for North America.

Canada has refused to pay for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Vancouver security once they step back from their roles as full time royals. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RMCP) has protected the couple and their baby Archie since November but has now said this will cease in the 'coming weeks', leaving questions as to who will now pick up their security costs. Canada has now refused to pay their share of the £1 million annual security bill, the cost of which was supposed to have been split 50/50 between the UK and Canada when the couple announced they were...

Something has gone wrong in Britain. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse has found that pedophiles in the British government were allowed to prey on children for decades, and political institutions turned a blind eye to the systemic abuse. The inquiry was commissioned to determine whether or not Westminster “turned a blind eye” to the abuse, and the inquiry ultimately came to the conclusion that safeguards “failed significantly” in preventing the pedophilia from occurring and being properly investigated. “It is clear that there have been significant failures by Westminster institutions in their dealing with, and confrontation of, allegations of...