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Isle of Wight e-scooter complaints exceed 1,000 - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Complaints include riding on the pavement, anti-social behaviour and underage use. | It remains illegal to use an e-scooter on the road, outside of government-approved trials
More than 1,000 incidents of misuse of e-scooters have been reported during a trial on the Isle of Wight, it has emerged.
A council pilot hire scheme has been operating on the island for 15 months.
A Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed complaints had been filed over anti-social behaviour, dangerous and underage riding, as well as riding on the pavement.
Operator Beryl said misuse of its vehicles were "highly disruptive".
The FOI by an island resident, and released by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, showed that in the 12 months following the start of the scheme in November 2020, 1,004 misuse reports were filed with Isle of Wight Council.
They included 87 for anti-social behaviour, 178 for dangerous driving on the road and 235 for riding with a passenger.
Underaged riding prompted 141 complaints and there were 262 for riding on a pavement.
Last week, Hampshire Constabulary's roads unit issued 14 warning letters during an operation targeting riders of both private and hired e-scooters in Ryde and Newport.
Beryl said: "Riders can expect a warning in the first instance, and to be blocked on a second occurrence.
"Misuse is highly disruptive and potentially dangerous to other road users."
Trials of e-scooter hire schemes are being carried out around the country, with evidence gathered due to be evaluated by the Department for Transport as it considers whether to legalise them.
Currently, privately-owned e-scooters are banned in the UK anywhere except on private land.
Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-60806459 |
Murder arrest over Sabita Thanwani Clerkenwell death - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Maher Maaroufe has been arrested on suspicion of murder over the death of Sabita Thanwani, 19. | Police have named the 19-year-old victim as British student Sabita Thanwani
A man has been arrested on suspicion of murdering a 19-year-old woman who died in student accommodation in central London.
Student Sabita Thanwani was found with neck injuries in the halls of residence in Sebastian Street, Clerkenwell.
Police and medics went to Arbour House at about 05:10 GMT on Saturday but she died at the scene.
Maher Maaroufe, understood to have been in a relationship with Ms Thanwani, has been arrested, police said.
The 22-year-old was also arrested on suspicion of assault on police. He remains in custody.
Mr Maaroufe was arrested by officers in Clerkenwell area after a police appeal to trace him.
Ms Thanwani attended City, University of London, which is near to the student accommodation where she died.
Arbour House, near City, University of London, is owned by Unite Students and houses 188 students
Det Ch Insp Linda Bradley said Ms Thanwani's family were being supported by officers.
She said: "Our deepest condolences are with them.
"I would ask everyone to respect their privacy at this indescribably devastating time for them as they come to terms with Sabita's murder."
A post-mortem examination has also been arranged.
Ch Insp Adam Instone, of the Met Police, said he understood the student community and local people would be concerned.
He said: "I share their sadness and their concerns. And I can assure them that a thorough homicide investigation is under way, led by skilled and experienced detectives who will work tirelessly to identify and arrest whoever is responsible."
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60815255 |
Climate change: 'Madness' to turn to fossil fuels because of Ukraine war - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | UN Secretary General says climate goals are in danger if countries turn to coal because of Ukraine. | The UN Secretary General says the rush to use fossil fuels because of the war in Ukraine is "madness" and threatens global climate targets.
The invasion of Ukraine has seen rapid rises in the prices of coal, oil and gas as countries scramble to replace Russian sources.
But Antonio Guterres warns that these short-term measures might "close the window" on the Paris climate goals.
He also calls on countries, including China, to fully phase out coal by 2040.
In his first major speech on climate and energy since COP26, Mr Guterres makes no bones about the fact that the limited progress achieved in Glasgow is insufficient to ward off dangerous climate change.
Mr Guterres says that the rush to find alternatives to Russian fuels is a threat to climate goals
Scientists believe that keeping the rise in global temperatures under 1.5C this century is crucial to limiting the scale of damage from global warming.
To keep that threshold alive, carbon output needs to be cut in half by the end of this decade. Instead, as Mr Guterres points out, emissions are set to rise by 14%.
"The problem was not solved in Glasgow," Mr Guterres says, in a speech delivered at the Economist Sustainability Summit.
"In fact, the problem is getting worse."
The war in Ukraine threatens to make that situation even more problematic, he says.
Europe and the UK and other countries are looking to cut their reliance on Russian oil and gas this year. Many are turning to coal or imports of liquefied natural gas as alternative sources.
But Mr Guterres warns this short-term approach heralds great danger for the climate.
"Countries could become so consumed by the immediate fossil fuel supply gap that they neglect or knee-cap policies to cut fossil fuel use," Mr Guterres said.
Mining for coal may get a boost in the short term as countries seek alternative energy sources
"This is madness. Addiction to fossil fuels is mutually assured destruction."
Countries must "accelerate the phase out of coal and all fossil fuels," and implement a rapid and sustainable energy transition.
It is "the only true pathway to energy security."
Mr Guterres says the solutions to the climate crisis mostly lie in the hands of the G20 group of richest nations, which produce around 80% of global emissions.
While many of these countries have taken great steps to slash emissions by 2030, there are a "handful of holdouts, such as Australia."
Coal must be banished, Mr Guterres says, with a full phase-out for richer nations by 2030, and 2040 for all others, including China.
Coal "is a stupid investment," according to the Secretary General, "leading to billions in stranded assets."
Europe relies heavily on Russia for natural gas supplies and is seeking replacements
He says the way forward is to build coalitions to help major emerging economies to move rapidly away from fossil fuels.
He highlights the case of South Africa. During COP26 several countries including the UK, US and others agreed to an $8.5bn financing programme to end South Africa's reliance on coal.
Mr Guterres says the pieces are coming together for similar coalitions in Indonesia, Vietnam and elsewhere.
Money is one of the key problems in addressing the climate issue and Mr Guterres has called for a major ramping up in finance to help countries adapt to rising temperatures.
He points out that right now, one person in three globally is not covered by early warning systems for disasters - in Africa six in ten people are not protected.
In 2022, he argues, richer countries must finally make good on their well-worn promise to provide a $100bn a year to the developing world. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60815547 |
Prince Andrew plans to attend Prince Philip service - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Duke of York to make first appearance at a public event since his court case settlement. | Prince Andrew will make his first appearance in public since settling the court case
The Duke of York will attend next week's thanksgiving service for Prince Philip, says his spokesperson.
It will be Prince Andrew's first public appearance since the settlement of the civil sex assault case brought against him in the US by Virginia Giuffre.
The service at Westminster Abbey will celebrate the life of his father, Prince Philip, who died last year.
Prince Philip's grandson, Prince Harry, who lives in the US, has already said he will not be attending.
The Queen would be expected to attend next Tuesday's service honouring the memory of her husband.
But there have been concerns about her mobility and last week she was unable to go to the Commonwealth Service held in Westminster Abbey.
Other members of the Royal Family will take part in the service remembering Prince Philip's life and legacy - although Prince Harry has already confirmed he will not be travelling from the US.
Prince Harry has been involved in a legal dispute over the provision of security when he visits the UK.
In the fall out from his high-profile court case, Prince Andrew lost the use of the title His Royal Highness and stepped back from public life, but his representative says he will attend the service commemorating his father.
This will be the first time he will have been seen at an event in public since agreeing to make payments to Ms Giuffre and her victims' rights charity in a settlement that ended the civil court case.
Prince Andrew rejected any claims of wrongdoing, and the formal closure of the case earlier this month ended the prospect of a trial in New York.
But there have been questions about the prince's reputational damage and his future role in royal events. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60826073 |
Child Q: Hackney march over strip-searched girl - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The 15-year-old schoolgirl was taken out of an exam and strip-searched by two female Met officers. | Patrick Vernon, who helped organise the rally, addressing hundreds of people outside Hackney Town Hall
Hundreds of protesters have marched through north London in support of a black pupil strip-searched at school after being wrongly suspected of carrying drugs.
A report released this month found the search of the 15-year-old girl, known as Child Q, was unjustified and racism was "likely" to have been a factor.
Activists marched chanting "power to black girl Child Q" and carried banners saying "protect black kids".
The girl's family is suing her school and the force, which said its officers' actions "should never have happened".
Speaking via her lawyers, the girl said she wanted "cast-iron commitments to ensure this never happens again" and thanked supporters.
Protesters marched from Stoke Newington Police Station to Hackney Town Hall with placards saying "no to racist police" and "hands off our children", while chanting "love for Child Q".
Jacqueline Courteney, who helped set up the rally, said: "I set it up because I'm a mother and I had that gut instinct a black child out there had been caused such harm, and that could have been my kids, or nieces and nephews.
"That's just not on, and there needs to be a way that we can demand change that is clear and obvious."
Ngozi Fulani said the officers involved should be sacked
Ngozi Fulani, founder of charity Sistah Space which supports black heritage abuse victims, said she was "disgusted" by the incident.
"There's something in our system that doesn't see the humanity in black people, much less black children," she said.
"The police involved should be sacked."
A two-minute silence was also held in support of the girl.
A two-minute silence was held in support of the schoolgirl
Protesters chanted "love for Child Q" through the streets of north London
During the incident in 2020, the girl was taken out of an exam to the school's medical room and strip-searched while on her period by two female Met police officers searching for cannabis, while teachers remained outside.
The girl's mother told the safeguarding review - by City of London and Hackney Safeguarding Children Partnership - that after the strip-search, her daughter had been "asked to go back into the exam" she had been sitting, with no teacher asking about her welfare.
Her family said the girl had changed from "top of the class" to "a shell of her former bubbly self", and she was now self-harming and required therapy.
The Met apologised and admitted the incident should not have happened
The Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) said its investigation was complete and its report was being "finalised".
It added three police constables had been served with notices last year advising them they were under investigation for misconduct, "over their roles in either carrying out the strip-search or involvement in supervising it".
Scotland Yard said the officers' actions were "truly regrettable" and it "should never have happened".
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60807681 |
P&O: Stena Line to help retailers with extra ferries - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Stena Line will put on additional ferry services from Scotland to Northern Ireland on Tuesday. | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Stena Line will put on two extra ferry services from Scotland to Northern Ireland from tomorrow, the UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has said.
He told the Commons it would be of help to some retailers including Asda and Marks and Spencers.
He said the company had already "stepped up" following the suspension of P&O routes last week.
Up to 50 staff from Northern Ireland will be directly impacted by P&O's move to fire 800 workers last week.
Mr Shapps said if it was confirmed that relative notice periods and consultations were not conducted before P&O staff were fired, then it would be a "a matter for criminal prosecution and unlimited fines".
The Economy Minister Gordon Lyons has accused the firm of "ripping up the employment rule book".
Mr Lyons said he did not believe P&O had acted within either the "spirit or letter" of employment law, a matter devolved to Northern Ireland.
Officials are investigating potential remedies for breaches of the law.
On Thursday, the company fired about 800 of its workers, with about a quarter of the staff hearing the news via a pre-recorded video message.
A private security firm was sent on board the vessel in Larne, County Antrim, which remains docked at the port, to remove staff.
On Monday, P&O said its services, including the crossing from Larne to Cairnryan in Scotland, would be "unable to run for the next few days".
"For essential travel, customers are advised to seek alternatives themselves," the firm continued.
It had been suggested at the time of the workforce announcement that it could be a week before the ferry service could resume.
A protest was held against P&O's decision at the Port of Larne on Friday
Finance Minister Conor Murphy said he raised the P&O situation during discussions with his counterparts in Scotland and Wales and the chief secretary to the treasury on Monday.
He said there should be support for the workers who needed to be treated "fairly".
"We can't just be subject to the whim of company who decide to cut their costs and behave in an appalling manner to do that," Mr Murphy added.
This Twitter post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser. View original content on Twitter The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Skip twitter post by P&O Ferries Updates This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
"P&O might want to hide behind the small print of maritime law... but the court of public opinion will not be so sympathetic," Mr Lyons told assembly members (MLAs) on Monday.
"We must send a strong message to all companies that might think of getting involved in a practice in this way."
On Sunday, Chancellor Rishi Sunak said P&O's move had been "awful" and "wrong" and the government would examine the legality of its actions.
Some of the dismissed workers and trade unions held a protest at Larne port on Friday.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
P&O has said its decision to fire workers was to secure the future viability of the business.
It explained that required "swift and significant changes now".
The company said it would update its Twitter account regularly to inform people of the operational situation.
On Monday, Northern Ireland's Consumer Council said that following talks with P&O, travellers affected by the disruption could re-book their crossing with Stena Line and claim expenses from P&O.
The council's head of transport, Richard Williams, said people could also claim for additional expenditure, such as some hotel or mileage costs.
"Originally that wasn't going to be the case but they've accepted that because they can't provide the re-rerouting they normally would that people really have to book with Stena," he said.
Mr Williams said it was common for mechanical issues to cause delays to ferry services but the P&O situation was one that was "going on and on".
"It is certainly an unusual situation which is causing real problems for passengers," he added.
Mr Williams said the biggest issue was the employee situation but he warned the company faced "financial repercussions" to resolve customer issues also.
Geraldine Sinclair, who was due to travel with P&O on Thursday to a family event in Scotland said she would never use the company again because of how they treated customers and staff,
She told BBC News NI's Good Morning Ulster she needed to re-arrange transport and was told she would receive a refund.
"I don't think much of them but to be honest, it's the staff I feel sorry for. We've all been there with redundancies but certainly not like that," she said.
Geraldine's husband Jim said he would avoid the company unless there was "no viable alternative".
P&O has said its decision to fire workers was to secure the future viability of the business.
It explained that required "swift and significant changes now". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60819923 |
Free-range eggs no longer available in UK due to bird flu - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | They will be relabelled "barn eggs" because hens have been kept inside for weeks to tackle bird flu. | People can no longer buy free-range eggs in the UK due to the length of time hens have been kept indoors following outbreaks of bird flu.
The eggs in shops will be labelled as "barn eggs" due to birds being kept inside for more than 16 weeks.
The country is experiencing its largest ever outbreak of avian influenza and measures are in place to prevent the virus from spreading.
About 55% of all eggs produced in the UK are free-range, says the RSPCA.
It means they come from birds that, during the daytime, enjoy unlimited access to outdoor pastures.
Signs will be put in supermarkets to inform shoppers of the change from Monday, and free-range labelling will only return when hens are permitted to go outside again.
Aimee Mahony, chief poultry adviser at the National Farmers' Union, said the government's advice was that there was "still a high level of risk" to birds of catching flu.
"This is an incredibly difficult time for all bird owners and vigilance remains vital," she added.
Ms Mahony said farmers were following "stringent biosecurity measures" and adapting hen houses to make birds more comfortable.
Avian flu is spread by close contact with an infected bird, whether it is dead or alive
Both "barn" and "free range" eggs meet the RSPCA's welfare standards, because the hens that lay them have freedom and space to move around, along with perches for roosting and nest boxes.
The difference is that for barn hens, this all happens inside, whereas free-range hens can access to the outside through "popholes" - although bird flu restrictions have put a stop to this.
The RSPCA says consumers buy more boxes of free range and barn eggs than those from caged hens.
However, the charity says a large proportion of eggs used as ingredients in products like mayonnaise, cakes and sandwiches are still from hens kept in cages.
It says such cages provide less than the size of an A4 piece of paper of space per bird and have limited facilities for perching, nesting and scratching and do not meet its welfare standards.
The charity says about 35% of egg-laying hens are still kept in cages.
Case numbers of the H5N1 strain of bird flu began rising in November last year. The virus - which is highly contagious and can destroy poultry flocks - was first discovered in North Yorkshire.
It poses an extremely low risk to humans, according to the NHS, although several people have been infected around the world and a number have died.
The outbreaks have resulted in the government enforcing an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone which made it a legal requirement for all bird keepers across the UK - whether they have pet birds, commercial flocks or just a few birds in a backyard flock - to keep them indoors and follow strict biosecurity measures.
Under such restrictions egg farmers have a 16-week "grace period" to maintain their free-range status, but this ended on Monday.
Andrea Martinez-Inchausti, assistant director of food at the British Retail Consortium, said shops and supermarkets would "continue to support British farmers".
In a statement the government said it would work with farmers and retailers to implement the branding changings.
A spokesman added: "We are experiencing our largest ever outbreak of avian flu and housing measures remain in force to protect poultry and other birds from this highly infectious and unpleasant disease." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60820595 |
Six killed after car drives into crowd in Belgium - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Dozens more are injured in the crash, which the mayor of the town says is a "national catastrophe". | The incident happened early on Sunday, as dozens of people were preparing for a traditional parade
At least six people have been killed after a car drove into a crowd of carnival-goers in southern Belgium.
The incident happened in the small town of Strépy-Bracquegnies, about 30 miles (50km) south of the capital Brussels.
The car drove at high-speed into dozens of people who were preparing to take part in a traditional parade on Sunday morning.
Around 40 people were injured and several are in a serious condition, the town's mayor said.
"There were about 150-200 people who were following the parade and [the] car arrived from behind and drove into the crowd," Jacques Gobert said.
"It continued for another 100m (328ft)," he added. "It should be considered a national catastrophe."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Witnesses describe horrific scenes as the car drove into the crowd
The exact circumstances of the attack are being investigated, but police said a terror attack had been ruled out.
"It is an accident, a tragic one. The car hit the group and tried to carry on but it was quickly stopped by the police," police spokeswoman Cristina Ianoco told the BBC.
"The driver and the other people in the car have been detained," she added. They have not been identified.
Police denied earlier reports in some Belgian media that the crash, which happened at around 05:00 local time (04:00 GMT), followed a high-speed police chase.
"A community gathering to celebrate has been hit in the heart," Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said
"Deepest condolences to the families and friends of those killed and injured in the incident this morning," Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden wrote on Twitter.
"What was supposed to be a great party turned into a tragedy," she added.
Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, who is expected to visit the scene later on Sunday, said it was "horrible news".
"A community gathering to celebrate has been hit in the heart," he said.
Belgian towns and villages host traditional street carnivals around the period of Lent. The event in Strépy-Bracquegnies, like many others, features a parade with participants dressed up comical figures. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60811591 |
Logan Mwangi: Boy, five, could have survived for hours - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Logan Mwangi suffered 56 injuries - including extensive bruising, grazes and scratches on his body. | Logan was found dead in the River Ogmore in Sarn, Bridgend county, last July
A five-year-old boy may have survived for "up to several hours" after receiving severe injuries to his abdomen, a court has heard.
The body of Logan Mwangi was found in the River Ogmore in Sarn, Bridgend county, last July with 56 injuries.
These included a liver tear and part of his small bowel torn from his pancreas.
Logan's mother Angharad Williamson, 31, his stepfather John Cole, 40, and a 14-year-old boy deny murder at Cardiff Crown Court.
Details of injuries were given to jurors on Monday.
Forensic pathologist Dr John Williams outlined 56 external injuries, including extensive bruising and some grazes and scratches across the boy's head, chest, back, arms and legs.
Dr Williams described the injuries to Logan's bowel as "rare" in children, with possible causes a motor vehicle crash, a bicycle accident, or non-accidental injury.
Logan's body was found in the River Ogmore on 31 July 2021
In the absence of a "high velocity accident", they were likely to have been caused by blows, kicks or "impacts with a weapon", he added.
Dr Williams said duodenal injures (part of the small bowel) are "commonly recorded" in abused children.
He told the jury there was evidence of changes to some of the abdominal injuries, suggesting the "healing process had started" which "indicated a period of survival that may have potentially been up to several hours".
During cross-examination, Dr Williams accepted that it could have been the case that Logan survived for a much shorter period of time and clarified by saying: "The features would dictate that death has not occurred immediately and that the injuries have not been sustained following death."
Angharad Williamson and John Cole are both charged with Logan Mwangi's murder
Dr Williams said there was also evidence of "extensive deep scalp bruising over the back of the head" which was "consistent with blunt force injuries".
A cause of death was given as "blunt force abdominal injury and cerebral injury including brain swelling and traumatic brain injury".
Despite the fact Logan was found in a river, pathologists found no evidence he had drowned.
Later on Monday, Dr George Lammie, a neuropathologist who examined Logan's brain and spinal cord, told the trial the boy's brain was "significantly swollen" and there was "evidence of recent traumatic damage and evidence of damage due to a lack of oxygen".
He said there was evidence of "axonal injury" which was generally caused by "rapid acceleration or deceleration of a moving brain".
He explained that to be able to detect that kind of injury, as well as some of the deterioration of cells, a certain time period had to have passed between injury and death.
Dr Lammie added it was possible Logan could have suffered more than one head injury and survived for "several hours" after being injured, but could not say for sure whether swelling from the brain or blood loss from abdominal injuries was the immediate cause of death.
All three defendants deny murder and are also accused of perverting the course of justice.
Ms Williamson and the youth have pleaded not guilty to perverting the course of justice, while Mr Cole admitted the charge. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-60821471 |
As it happened: Ukraine war latest: Resilience making Russia assess reality, negotiator says - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Mykhaylo Podolyak, an aide to President Zelensky, says the change has helped encourage a dialogue between the nations. | Pavel has been taking pictures in bomb shelters Image caption: Pavel has been taking pictures in bomb shelters
Pavel Gomzyakov usually photographs the happiest days of people’s lives. He is an award-winning wedding photographer from Mariupol, southern Ukraine.
But, recently, he has been documenting life in the city as it has come under heavy Russian attack.
“Before the start of the war, Mariupol was a peaceful Ukrainian city, a city in which 95% of people were Russian speaking, like me. My daughter used to study at a Russian school,” he tells BBC Panorama.
At the end of last week, he escaped, along with his wife and nine-year-old son. His elderly parents stayed behind and he hasn’t been able to contact them for days, as electricity has been cut.
He is now trying work out how he can unite with his eldest daughter, 17, who is alone in Germany. She was in the north-eastern Ukrainian city Kharkiv at ballet school when the war started.
Pavel says it is if they have all woken up to a new, terrible reality.
More on Panorama Ukraine's Resistance: Standing Up to Putin on BBC One at 20:00 GMT | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-60802572 |
Woman accused of murder after body find appears in court - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Fiona Beal is accused of killing Nicholas Billingham between 30 October and 10 November. | Forensic teams attended a house in Moore Street, Northampton at the weekend
A primary school teacher has appeared in court accused of murdering a man whose body was found buried in a back garden.
Nicholas Billingham, 42, was found at a house in Moore Street, in the Kingsley area of Northampton, on Saturday.
Fiona Beal, 48, who was arrested at a hotel in Cumbria on Wednesday, did not enter a plea at Northampton Magistrates' Court.
She is accused of killing him between 30 October and 10 November last year.
Wearing a grey tracksuit, Ms Beal, a teacher at Eastfield Academy primary school in Northampton, spoke quietly only to give her date of birth and her address, which is Moore Street.
Nicholas Billingham's remains have been taken to Leicester for examination
Mr Billingham's remains have been taken to Leicester for a forensic examination by a Home Office pathologist.
They were discovered following a three-day search involving forensic officers, a specialist search team and a cadaver dog, used to locate bodies.
Magistrates committed the case to Northampton Crown Court for a hearing on Tuesday.
Ms Beal nodded when asked if she had understood the proceedings.
A spokesperson for Eastfield Academy said the school had been "shocked and saddened" to learn Ms Beal had been charged.
They added: "We are particularly mindful of the impact this news will have on the children, and will be doing everything we can to support both pupils and staff as we work through this difficult time together.
"This is an appalling tragedy that will shake our school community to its roots and it's at times like this that we must rally around each other, support each other, and be kind to each other."
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-northamptonshire-60822329 |
Ukraine war: Russian soldiers fire on Kherson protesters - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Protesters in Kherson scattered as explosions are heard and shots were fired by Russian soldiers. | Russian soldiers in the Ukrainian city of Kherson dispersed a protest against their occupation by firing shots at protesters.
Footage shared on social media, verified by the BBC, also showed explosions which were reported to be stun grenades.
People are reported to have been injured in the incident. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60827106 |
UK blames Russia for hoax calls to cabinet ministers - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Downing Street has also revealed that Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries was unsuccessfully targeted. | Ben Wallace and Priti Patel have revealed they were targeted by hoax callers last week
The UK government has publicly blamed Russia for hoax calls about the conflict in Ukraine made to British cabinet ministers.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel said they had been contacted by imposters last week.
Downing Street has now revealed an unsuccessful attempt was also made to contact Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries.
A No 10 spokesman added that further hoax calls to ministers are expected.
There is understood to be concern in government that doctored recordings of the calls may be made public to reinforce Russian claims about the war.
On Friday, Mr Wallace blamed "Russian disinformation, distortion and dirty tricks" for a man calling him pretending to be Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal.
Home Secretary Priti Patel then revealed shortly afterwards that she had received a similar call earlier in the week.
On Monday, Boris Johnson's spokesman told reporters that "the Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week".
The spokesman did not give further details, but added: "This is standard practice for Russian information operations.
"Disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there.
"We are seeing a string of distraction stories and outright lies from the Kremlin, reflecting Putin's desperation as he seeks to hide the scale of the conflict and Russia's failings on the battlefield."
Nadine Dorries entered the cabinet in September when she was made culture secretary
It is understood that Mr Wallace was put through to a Microsoft Teams video call which lasted about 10 minutes.
The video call was set up after an email, purportedly from an aide at the Ukrainian embassy in London, was sent to a government department and then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Wallace was apparently asked about whether the UK would send warships to the Black Sea, and if Ukraine should get nuclear weapons.
The defence secretary was also apparently asked about the prospect of Ukraine dropping its ambition to join Nato and becoming a "neutral" state.
A cross-department government inquiry into how the call happened is ongoing.
Asked whether defences against hoax calls were strong enough, the No 10 spokesman said there was guidance on how such calls should be handled.
It is not the first time that cabinet ministers have been targeted with hoax calls.
In 2018, UK diplomatic sources said they believed the Kremlin was behind a Russian prank caller targeting Mr Johnson, then foreign secretary, and pretending to be the prime minister of Armenia.
Meanwhile, Russia's defence attache in the UK was summoned to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for a second time on Monday for a dressing down over Russian armed forces' tactics in Ukraine.
The department said senior official Laurence Lee "protested in the strongest terms" against the "persistent and unjustified acts of violence being committed against innocent civilians by Russian forces".
"Mr Lee emphasised that schools, theatres and hospitals are not legitimate military targets," the MoD added.
"He warned the UK will be collecting evidence of war crimes and repeated the UK's demand for the Russian Federation to withdraw its forces immediately". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60824956 |
Ukraine conflict: Russian shelling blamed for corrosive gas leak - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The ammonia leak has been contained but prompted a warning residents should stay indoors. | A Ukrainian soldier walks near a destroyed bridge in the Sumy region, which has been under regular attack
Russian shells hit a chemical plant near the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy, causing an ammonia leak, officials say.
Residents of Novoselytsya, near Sumy, were told to stay indoors but the region's governor, Dmytro Zhyvytskyy, later said the leak had been contained.
A 50-ton tank of the poison gas was damaged by the attack, local officials said, creating an ammonia cloud.
Ammonia is largely used to make fertiliser and is corrosive.
The Sumykhimprom chemical plant was attended by emergency crews, and the cloud affected an area of about 2.5km (1.5 miles), Dmytro Zhyvytsky said.
He said one injury was reported - a worker at the plant. Residents of Novoselytsya were advised to shelter because of the wind direction.
Ammonia is a common chemical that has several commercial uses, and the Sumykhimprom plant says its production is for making chemical fertiliser. It is a waste product of the human body and usually dealt with by the liver, but is toxic in large amounts.
In the air, it is invisible but has a distinct unpleasant smell, and in high concentrations is both and irritant and corrosive. It can cause pain and burns to the airway and injuries to the eyes. However, it is lighter than air, so does not remain on the ground as long as some other dangerous gases do.
Russia has previously alleged, without any evidence, that Ukraine was planning to use chemical weapons in the ongoing war, pointing to the creation of industrial chemicals such as ammonia.
Earlier this month, Russia's defence ministry alleged that Ukraine was plotting a "false flag" operation to blame Russia for using chemical weapons.
Yet Ukraine and its Western allies, including the US, have ridiculed such claims, and expressed their own concerns that Russia was setting the stage for its own false flag chemical weapons attack, which it would attempt to pin on Ukraine.
Ammonia is not well-known as a chemical weapon, since the human body has ways of processing it and it disperses, being lighter than air.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Civilians flee Sumy, which is close to the Russian border and frontline | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60818488 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says freedom should have happened six years ago - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The British-Iranian woman tells of the "very emotional moment" she was reunited with her husband and daughter. | Morad 'should've come home with us'
Nazanin says there were many moments when her hopes were dashed while awaiting her release from prison. "I felt like I was left behind," she says, adding that she fully understands what Morad Tahbaz is going through at the moment. "You can easily lose faith in everything" she says, and she herself had been through it at least twice over the course of six years. "It should not have happened to Morad" she says - or the other dual nationals still being held. "He should have come home with us." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-60819859 |
Ukraine war: Holocaust survivor killed by Russian shelling in Kharkiv - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Boris Romantschenko was killed in Kharkiv 77 years after surviving the Buchenwald concentration camp. | Boris Romantschenko survived detention in four separate concentration camps between 1942 and 1945
A Ukrainian man who survived the Nazi Holocaust during World War Two has been killed during a Russian attack on the eastern city of Kharkiv.
Boris Romantschenko, 96, died during Russian shelling of his apartment block on Friday, relatives said.
Russian forces have been relentlessly shelling Kharkiv, which lies just 30 miles (50km) from the border, for over three weeks.
At least 500 civilians have now been killed there, Ukrainian officials say.
Police said one of the victims has been identified as a nine-year old boy.
The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation said it was "deeply disturbed" by Romantschenko's death.
The organisation, of which Romantschenko was vice-president, announced the news after being informed by his family and said he had "worked intensely on the memory of Nazi crimes".
"We mourn the loss of a close friend. We wish his son and granddaughter, who brought us the sad news, a lot of strength in these difficult times," the foundation's statement added.
Romantschenko's death comes more than three weeks after President Vladimir Putin sought to justify his invasion to the Russian people by telling them his goal is to"de-Nazify Ukraine".
Western leaders have condemned these claims and pointed out that Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.
Romantschenko was born in the north-eastern city of Bondari on 20 January 1926.
He was rounded up by Nazi troops at the age of 16 after the invasion of the Soviet Union and deported to Germany in 1942, where he was forced to do hard labour, the foundation said.
After a failed escape attempt in 1943, he was sent to the Buchenwald concentration camp, where some 56,545 people were murdered before its liberation in 1945 by the allies.
He also spent time in the subcamp of Mittelbau-Dora, as well as the infamous Bergen Belsen and Peenemünde camps.
Boris Romantschenko reading at the memorial in 2012
Romantschenko, who was not Jewish, returned to Buchenwald in 2012 to celebrate the 67th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by US troops, where he recited the pledge made by survivors to create "a new world where peace and freedom reign".
The Nazi regime murdered over six million Jewish people across occupied Europe between 1941 and 1945. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60826303 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says she's missed holding her seven-year-old daughter - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says she has missed holding her seven-year-old, and brushing her hair. | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said she's been spending time catching up with her daughter, in her first media appearance after being held in Iran for six years.
She said it has been "lovely" to catch up with seven-year-old Gabriella, and added she's missed holding her, and braiding her hair.
Asked about a return to Iran, she said she would be "cautious". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60821935 |
Multiple Apple services suffer outages - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Several Apple services were down on Monday, including the App Store. The company says the outages have now been resolved. | A number of Apple services experienced outages on Monday, Apple's support page has confirmed.
The areas affected included the App Store, iMessage, Maps, Apple Arcade, the iTunes store, podcasts and Apple TV+.
Apple's system status page now shows that all of its services are back up and running.
Some of Apple's network was down for three hours.
A number of iCloud services had been affected, including calendar and mail.
Apple confirmed to the BBC its systems had faced outages but has not commented on the reason for the issue.
According to outage tracking website Downdetector.com, more than 4,000 users had reported issues with accessing Apple Music, while nearly 4,000 reported problems with iCloud.
Apple iMessage was also down for a short period. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60787301 |
Woman stranded on Newquay cliffs rescued - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Emergency services renew warnings to stay safe in the water and check tide times. | Coastal safety warnings have been renewed after a woman who was stranded 10ft (3m) up a cliff face in Cornwall had to be rescued.
The woman, who was on holiday at the time, was winched to safety by a coastguard helicopter at the weekend in Newquay.
High tide was just two hours away and waves were crashing against the rocks when she called 999. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-60824505 |
War in Ukraine: Backlash in Russia against anti-war musicians - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Banned from radio stations and rumoured black lists, artists against the war face a difficult moment. | A few days after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, one of Russia's largest media companies, Russian Media Group (RMG), released a statement explaining why it would no longer be playing certain artists on its popular radio stations or music TV channel.
"The reason for this decision was the harsh statements these musicians made towards Russia in the context of the difficult situation between Russia and Ukraine," the statement read.
It explained that respect for its listeners was the company's top priority, and the "arrogant and contemptuous attitude of the musicians towards Russian listeners" left it no choice but to terminate its contract with the artists.
The list included several Ukrainian musicians and three Russian acts, including legendary rock group Aquarium, whose lead singer, Boris Grebenshchikov, had called the war "madness" in a post on Instagram. He is no stranger to political pressure.
"I've spent half my life under some sort of ban", Mr Grebenshchikov told the BBC. "There were bans in the 70s, bans in the 80s - there's nothing unusual about it. Then the same people who ban you give you prizes."
The pressure on dissenting voices in the music industry marks a stark contrast to those artists who are loyal to the Kremlin, some of whom performed last week at a glitzy, made-for-TV stadium concert which featured Vladimir Putin as the headline act.
Tens of thousands of people waved Russian flags and chanted pro-Russian slogans at the event celebrating the eighth anniversary of Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. Many of them told the BBC they had been pressured to be there.
Oleg Gazmanov performed at a pro-Kremlin rally to celebrate the annexation of Crimea
On the first day of the war, Ukrainian singer Ivan Dorn published a video on Instagram calling for Russians to "end this catastrophe" and "not to participate in this murderous war".
Days later he found himself on the list of acts banned by the Russian Media Group, and his name appeared on another "black list" leaked to Russian media, demanding that certain musicians are banned from performing because of their anti-war views. The list was reportedly circulated to music venues and promoters in Russia.
But Mr Dorn told the BBC that being blacklisted in Russia made no difference to him.
"Any cooperation with Russia was impossible even before the announcement of any list," he said.
"Does anyone within the organs of the Russian state really think we want to work with the aggressors who are exterminating the Ukrainian nation, murdering thousands of innocent people, building a totalitarian regime and putting their own people in jail for dissent?"
Ukrainian singer Ivan Dorn called on Russians to "stop this catastrophe"
It isn't clear who created the "black list" or where it originated, and the BBC cannot confirm its authenticity, but music industry insiders say such documents are not uncommon.
"It's never indicated where they come from - no name, phone number, email, official stamp. It can look like a fake - just a printed list with the names of musicians, writers or comedians," music manager Elena Saveleva told the BBC. Her client, rapper Noize MC, is on the list.
According to Ms Saveleva, pressure on promoters usually comes from regional security services, with officials turning up at concert halls and threatening them with closures and fines.
The art director of Moscow's oldest club, 16 Tons, believes the document could be fake.
"I haven't seen it and no officials have come to see me, even though usually we are the first club they visit," Pavel Kamakin told the BBC.
The ambiguity surrounding the list's origin makes it difficult for promoters, musicians and venue owners to know how seriously to take it.
Whatever its origins, the list reflects the increasingly unpredictable environment for people in Russia who disagree with the war.
For some musicians, that means the only option is to perform abroad.
Russian rapper Oxxxymiron, whose name appears on the "black list" circulated by Russian media, cancelled his upcoming tour in Russia and has instead organised charity concerts abroad - known as "Russians Against War" - to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.
He raised over $30,000 (£22,760) at a performance in Istanbul, and will appear in London later this week.
Announcing the postponement of his Russian tour, Oxxxymiron explained that he could not "entertain people while Russian rockets fall on Ukraine, while residents of Kyiv are forced to hide in their basements and the metro, and while people are dying". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60814306 |
The lonely funeral of a young soldier in Ukraine - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | As Dmytro Kotenko was laid to rest, his parents were 600 miles away, trapped under Russian bombs. | Dmytro Kotenko died near the southern city of Kherson and was buried in Lviv, safe for now from falling bombs
There was no family around Dmytro Kotenko when they put him in the ground. His parents did not hear the gunshots that rang out over his grave. They did not hear the sound of the ribbon tied to the wooden cross above him as it fluttered in the wind. They did not see the rough earth that first landed on his coffin and they did not lay a flower over him when he was completely covered by the earth.
Most likely, Kotenko's parents did not know their son was being buried that day in the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. They were 600 miles away, with his two younger brothers, near the eastern city of Sumy, which was being so heavily shelled by Russian forces that it was cut off from the outside world.
Kotenko's parents did know that their son was dead. He died on 26 February, the third day of the Russian invasion, near to the southern city of Kherson. It was his first military operation. He was 21. Two days after his death, his parents received a call from his childhood friend Vadym Yarovenko, an artillery soldier, who broke the news.
Dmytro Kotenko died on the third day of the Russian invasion. He was 21.
It had taken Yarovenko all night to work up the courage to make the call — a long and restless night on his army bunk in Lviv, alone with the knowledge that Kotenko was gone. They were just boys when they met, all of 15 years old, with fresh haircuts and new uniforms for their first day at military school. When they discovered they were from adjacent villages, it was the beginning of a friendship that might have lasted for a lifetime.
Kotenko's father was a truck driver. His mother worked on a local farm. "To join the army meant to come up in the world," Yarovenko said, "I think this was part of the reason Dmytro signed up." The Kotenkos were a poor family, two parents and three sons, with a modest house in a small village on the Russian border in eastern Ukraine — the very people the Russian president Vladimir Putin claimed he was rescuing from the yoke of Ukrainian oppression.
Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, and the grinding war that followed in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, was another reason the boys signed up, Yarovenko said. "We knew that something like this could happen," he said, "and we would have to go and defend our land." When people from the village asked them why they wanted to join the army in wartime, Kotenko would say, "If not me, then who?"
Kotenko's coffin is carried into the military church in Lviv. Three men were buried that day
Yarovenko's father also drove a truck, and at the military school in Sumy the boys bonded over their love of cars. Yarovenko, an only child, had found something like a brother in Kotenko. "Neither of us liked the city-like entertainment, clubs etc," Yarovenko said. "We loved spending time in nature — fishing, hunting, picnics. We loved to go to the river with friends."
They worked together on an old car — a Red Zhyguli — that Kotenko was fixing up on his family plot. They repaired motorbikes and drove them on the rural roads around home. They got to know each other's families.
"Dmytro's parents loved him and he loved them," Yarovenko said, wiping tears from his eyes. "Dmytro would always help them with repairs, he was good at that. Even at school or at the academy he would always help. He was very good to his parents. I never heard them argue."
Yarovenko wanted to join an artillery unit but Kotenko's dream was to be a paratrooper. After two years at the academy they were separated — Yarovenko to the western city of Lviv to train for artillery and Kotenko to the southern city of Odesa to train to be a paratrooper.
"We messaged each other every day," Yarovenko said. "We talked about everything. Regular things — how are you? What is happening where you are? We were close friends, we just talked."
Dmytro Kotenko's coffin at the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church, Lviv. The church now holds funerals every day.
For a while last year, from July to October, the boys were reunited when Kotenko was stationed in Lviv. They went running together on the weekends and trained together. It was a happy time. On 31 December, their families got together in the village to ring in the new year, and a month or so later Kotenko came to Lviv to visit Yarovenko, before he was due to deploy south on an operation. They stayed up late talking. Along Ukraine's borders, Russia's forces were massed, waiting for orders to invade, but in Lviv life was normal and that night the war felt like a distant thing.
The next morning, Kotenko and Yarovenko said their goodbyes and Kotenko went south. They continued messaging every day. On 24 February, the long-awaited invasion came. On 26 February, Kotenko stopped responding to messages, and Yarovenko feared the worst. Eventually he reached the commander of Kotenko's unit, who told him over the phone that his friend had been killed by a mortar shell.
"I don't have all the details yet," Yarovenko said. "There was shelling, there was an explosion, Dmytro died."
Kotenko was buried alongside Kyrylo Moroz, who also could not be taken home
When Yarovenko dialled the number for Kotenko's parents, there was still a phone connection, and in a short conversation he told them that their son was gone. When he tried to call later about the funeral, the aerial bombardment of Sumy had worsened and the line would not connect. He kept trying but the line stayed dead. So Kotenko's body was brought to Lviv to be buried there without them, because the city was safe from falling shells.
At the heart of Lviv lies the Saints Peter and Paul Garrison Church, which has a long affiliation with Ukraine's armed forces. Along the sides of the church's nave, there are boards mounted with pictures of Ukraine's war dead. The first pictures were put up by the chaplains in 2014, to honour the fallen soldiers who had been members of the church. Then, bereaved parents from around Lviv saw the pictures and wanted their sons and daughters to be there, and gradually the collection of portraits grew.
"They bring us photographs because they know we pray every day for those who died in war," said Father Vsevolod, one of the chaplains. "We are part of this city's mission to bury army men and women with honours, so their acts of bravery are never forgotten."
Father Vsevolod stands in front of the portraits of the dead. "We will be honouring the fallen all our lives," he said
Before the invasion, the church held a funeral for a soldier once or twice a month, Father Vsevolod said. Now it was burying two or three men a day. None of the recent dead had yet been added to the wall of portraits. Kotenko was not there. But the pictures would be put up, Father Vsevolod said, and if a family was cut off and did not know their son was being buried in Lviv, the church would add it for them, he said.
On the day of Kotenko's funeral, Yarovenko travelled alone from his base to the church and he stood alone on one side of the nave, next to the portraits of the dead, under the vaulted ceiling painted with saints, as smoke from burning incense drifted over the priests and the mourners.
There were three coffins in the church that day. One of the men was from a village near Lviv, and the church was filled with his family and friends. After the service, they took him home. The two other coffins went quietly to the Lychakiv Cemetery, with a small group of soldiers from a local unit who help to commemorate the dead.
The gravediggers at the Lychakiv Cemetery cover Kotenko's coffin with earth
Kotenko was buried alongside Kyrylo Moroz, 25, a paratrooper from his unit, who could also not be taken home. They were laid to rest in a far corner of the cemetery, among the dead from the first and second world wars and the war with Russian-backed forces in Donbas.
Kotenko and Moroz were the fourth and fifth men killed in this invasion to be buried at the Lychakiv. Their graves were almost bare, but for a bunch of roses and a bunch of asters laid by the church and marked with the designation of their unit. The three other graves, for soldiers from Lviv, were festooned with flowers and lanterns.
The following day, the gravediggers at the Lychakiv buried two more men. The day after, three. Eventually, the wooden crosses bearing their names will be replaced by headstones that will hold their memory here for good.
"Thank God we do not have fighting yet here in Lviv," said the groundsman, "so we can bury the soldiers who are defending our home."
Vadym Yarovenko travelled alone to see his friend buried. He is waiting for his turn to be called up
Yarovenko is still trying to reach Kotenko's parents, but the line is dead. They are likely still trapped in Sumy. The invasion has robbed them first of their son, and then of one of the few things that might have ameliorated their grief — the right to be by his side when he went into the ground.
As Kotenko's coffin was lowered, Yarovenko stood to one side, behind the honour guard that fired the guns. It was the saddest thing he had ever experienced. "I watched my friend being buried far from his home," he said. Afterwards, he stood silently, looking at the grave, the sole mourner left, alone with the gravediggers as they cleared away their tools.
"We never got the chance to meet at the front," he said. All that was left was the hope of speaking to Kotenko's parents soon, and the memory of their son, which he will carry with him as he waits for his turn to fight and carry with him to the frontline when he goes. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60801586 |
A young soldier's funeral and a city facing starvation - Ukraine war daily round-up - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Fears that Russia wants to starve Mariupol into surrender, and a young soldier isolated from his family is buried. | Shelling by Russian forces has prevented civilians from being able to evacuate the besieged port city
There seems to be no let-up to the horrors facing the southern city of Mariupol.
Ukrainian MP Dmytro Gurin has accused Russian forces of trying to starve the besieged port into submission.
Around 300,000 people are believed to be trapped there with supplies running out and aid blocked from entering.
Residents have endured weeks of Russian bombardment with no power or running water.
But Mr Gurin said there was no question of Mariupol surrendering, and a Monday morning deadline set by the Russians for the city to lay down its arms came and went.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner gives four reasons why taking Mariupol is so important for Russia.
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In the capital Kyiv, eight people were reported dead after a shopping centre and a number of houses were shelled in the Podilskyi district.
Witnesses says the blast at the shopping centre shook the whole city.
Firefighters were seen trying to rescue people stranded beneath the rubble.
The Retroville mall was opened just before the Covid-19 pandemic and boasted 250 shops, a multiplex cinema and a 3,000-space car park.
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko announced a curfew in the city from 2000 local time on Monday to 0700 local time on Wednesday.
The city of Kherson has been under Russian control since the beginning of March. It is the largest city to be occupied by the invading forces since the offensive began.
But it has seen daily anti-Russian protests by local residents, and media reports on Monday said several people had been injured after troops opened fire to disperse protesters.
Footage shared on social media, verified by the BBC, also showed explosions which were reported to be stun grenades.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. WATCH: Russian forces open fire on protesters in the city of Kherson
Dmytro Kotenko died near the southern city of Kherson and was buried in Lviv, safe for now from falling bombs
The BBC's Joel Gunter uncovered the story of a young Ukrainian soldier killed in the early days of the invasion.
Dmytro Kotenko, 21, was buried hundreds of miles from his family, who are stuck in the northern city of Sumy, cut off from the outside world.
Kotenko's childhood friend Vadym Yarovenko was the one who broke the news to Kotenko's parents - it took him all night to work up the courage to make the call to tell them he had died.
When he tried to call later about the funeral, the aerial bombardment of Sumy had worsened and the line would not connect. He kept trying but the line stayed dead.
The sole mourner at his funeral, Yarovenko said it was the saddest thing he had ever experienced.
"I watched my friend being buried far from his home," he said.
He hopes he can speak to Kotenko's parents again. And he says his will carry the memory of his friend as he waits for his own turn to fight on the frontline.
Russia's stock market has partially resumed trading after a nearly month-long suspension because of the war.
Only bonds issued by the Russian government can be traded as part of a phased re-opening of the market.
Andrei Braginsky, a spokesman for the Moscow Exchange, said he hoped that trading in stocks would be able to start again soon.
The invasion and sanctions imposed by Western governments are taking a toll on the Russian economy.
Some supermarkets are rationing sales of basic goods such as salt and cooking oil.
Reports from across the country suggest sugar and other staples are being restricted.
However, deputy industry and trade minister Viktor Yevtukhov insists "there is no problem with sugar".
Boris Romantschenko survived detention in four separate concentration camps between 1942 and 1945
Boris Romantschenko survived the Nazi Holocaust, spending time in Buchenwald and several other camps.
But at the age of 96 he was killed by Russian shelling of his apartment block in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Friday.
The Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation, of which he was vice-president, announced the death on Monday, saying it was "deeply disturbed" by Mr Romantschenko's death.
It said he had "worked intensely on the memory of Nazi crimes".
"We mourn the loss of a close friend. We wish his son and granddaughter, who brought us the sad news, a lot of strength in these difficult times," the foundation's statement added.
Russian forces have been relentlessly shelling Kharkiv, which lies just 30 miles (50km) from the border, for over three weeks. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60825630 |
Sabita Thanwani killing: Family pay tribute to 'irreplaceable angel' - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Relatives of Sabita Thanwani say she was "ripped away from those who loved her so very dearly". | Sabita Thanwani, 19, was studying psychology at university to "help everyone", her family say
The family of a 19-year-old woman found dead in student accommodation have paid tribute to their "beautiful, irreplaceable angel".
Student Sabita Thanwani was found with neck injuries in the halls of residence in Sebastian Street, Clerkenwell.
Police and medics went to Arbour House at about 05:10 GMT on Saturday but she died at the scene.
Police have arrested Maher Maaroufe, 22, on suspicion of murdering Ms Thanwani. He remains in police custody.
In a statement, Ms Thanwani's family said: "Sabita was our daughter. Our angel.
"Her life, that we hoped would be long, was cut tragically short. She was ripped away from those who loved her so very dearly; her mum, dad, brother, grandparents, extended family and friends.
"We can only pray that lessons will be learnt and that somehow, there will come a day when girls and women are safe.
"Sabita was the most caring and loving person we have ever known. She inspired us every day of her precious 19 years of life. Her mission was to help everyone.
"Her whole life was ahead of her, a life where her radiant smile and incredible heart could only spread warmth and kindness.
"In her short life, she helped so many. Sabita was pure and did not see bad in anyone, because there was no badness in her own awesome heart.
"We will never ever stop loving or missing our beautiful, irreplaceable Sabita. The girl that was an angel upon the earth is now an angel in heaven.
"We will never be able to thank the Metropolitan Police enough for their dedication and tireless work in finding justice for our Sabita. From our hearts, we thank everyone for their love and support."
Arbour House, near City, University of London, is owned by Unite Students and houses 188 students
Ms Thanwani was studying psychology at City, University of London, which is near to the student accommodation where she died.
Mr Maaroufe was arrested by officers in Clerkenwell area after a police appeal to trace him.
He had been in a relationship with Ms Thanwani at the time of her death, police said.
A post-mortem examination has also been arranged.
Note 5 April 2022: This article was amended to include more details from the family statement.
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-60821179 |
In Mariupol, children bear the brunt of Vladimir Putin's war - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | At a children's hospital near the besieged city, the true impact of Russia's tactics are on display. | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: Survivors from the bombardment of Mariupol are receiving treatment nearby in the city of Zaporizhzhia
In his hospital bed, little Artem stares into space. He clutches a small yellow toy tractor but says nothing as specialist nurses monitor his condition. The Russian shell that blasted shrapnel into his belly also badly wounded his parents and grandparents as they tried to flee Mariupol. A victim of Putin's war and he's not yet three years old.
In the next bed to Artem lies 15-year-old Masha, also from near Mariupol. Her right leg was amputated after it was torn apart by the blast from a Russian shell last Tuesday.
The very worst of Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine and what the relentless Russian bombardment has done to the people trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol, can be seen at the Regional Children's Hospital in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia.
Masha is among the hundreds of Ukrainian civilians injured in Russian shelling over the past three weeks
Hundreds of people have been evacuated here. Their physical wounds are obvious and may, to an extent, heal. The psychological trauma will live with them forever.
Doctors here and the children's surviving relatives, asked us to tell their stories, among them Dr Yuri Borzenko, head of the Children's Hospital. He can't hide his contempt for what Russia has done.
"I hate Russia," says Dr Borzenko, without a flicker of emotion on his face. "The girl who lost her leg (Masha) was so traumatised she wouldn't eat or drink for days. She couldn't mentally handle what had happened. We had to feed her intravenously."
"Another boy," says the doctor, "a six-year-old, with shrapnel in his skull described - without any tears or emotion - watching his mother burn to death in their car after it was hit. Two days later he said 'dad buy me a new mum, I need someone to walk me to school'."
What is happening in Mariupol is a humanitarian disaster, even - perhaps - a war crime. An estimated 90% of the city's buildings have been damaged or destroyed. After last week's destruction of a theatre where more than 1,000 people were sheltering, reports today that an arts school, with 400 people inside, has also been attacked.
Dr Yuri Borzenko has found himself leading a children's hospital at a time of war
Those who've been able to escape Mariupol talk of unimaginable horrors. First-hand accounts of bodies lying in the streets, of homes destroyed. Carrying those memories they put as much physical distance as they can between themselves and what they went through.
In a café in the central city of Dnipro, which itself has come under Russian fire, we met Oksana Gusak. With her husband Andrii, and her parents, Oksana fled Mariupol last week through mined roads and a dozen hostile Russian army checkpoints.
Just drinking a glass of water now feels like a luxury for Oksana, after they had run out of everything in Mariupol. They all politely turn down our offer of coffee, saying it would be an insult to the family members they left behind in parts of Mariupol from where it was impossible to flee.
Her husband, Andrii, told me there was no water supply in the city, no power, no heating and no communications so they had no choice but to go.
Oksana Gusak and her family are among the 35,000 people who have been forced to flee from Mariupol
"Absolutely we were taking a risk but at that point I didn't care whether I'd die in Mariupol or die trying to get out," says Oksana.
"We knew there was a chance, we'd be targeted and we realised we had to take that chance. If we would have stayed, the chances of surviving would be zero."
Andrii and Oksana are fortunate to have escaped unharmed and with each other. They know that.
At Zaporizhzhia's Children's Hospital, I came across one grief-stricken, inconsolable father whose family had been completely torn apart.
His daughter Natasha, who was 26, and his 4-year-old granddaughter Dominica, were killed when a Russian shell landed near the shelter where the whole family was seeking refugee from the bombardment of Mariupol.
"I looked at the ground and there lay my little granddaughter with her head completely torn to pieces," says Vladimir. "She lay there without a single breath and right next to her was my daughter with her legs fractured, open fractures."
Vladimir with his family before the war
Dominica - whose pictures her grandfather almost caresses on his phone - was killed instantly. Her mother died from her injuries the next day.
As broken as he is, Vladimir is trying to stay strong for his second daughter, Diana. She was also critically wounded in the blast and was about to undergo emergency surgery.
But he could not hide his pain. "God, why would you bring all this upon me? I was not supposed to bury my children, my lovely girls, I failed to protect you." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60814913 |
Ukraine war: Putin has redrawn the world - but not the way he wanted - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Because of his miscalculations, there's a new iron curtain at the Russian leader’s door - writes Allan Little | "Russia does not start wars, it ends them" reads a poster of Vladimir Putin in Simferopol, Crimea, 10 March
Vladimir's Putin's invasion of Ukraine has changed the world. We are living in new and more dangerous times - the post-Cold War era that began with the fall of the Berlin Wall is over.
It is a rare thing to live through a moment of huge historical consequence and understand in real time that is what it is.
In November 1989, I stood on a snow-flecked Wenceslas Square in Prague, the capital of what was then Czechoslovakia, and watched a new world being born.
The peoples of Communist Eastern Europe had risen in defiance of their dictatorships. The Berlin Wall had been torn down. A divided Europe was being made whole again.
In Prague, the dissident playwright Vaclav Havel addressed a crowd of 400,000 from a second-floor balcony. It was an exhilarating moment, dizzying in its pace. That evening, the Communist regime collapsed and within weeks Havel was president of a new democratic state. I sensed, even at the time, that I had watched the world pivot - that it was one of those rare moments when you know the world is remaking itself before your eyes.
How many such moments had there been in the history of Europe since the French Revolution? Probably, I thought then, about five. This, 1989, was the sixth.
But that world - born in those dramatic popular revolutions - came to an end when Putin ordered Russian forces into Ukraine.
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called this moment a zeitenwende - a turning point - while UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said it was a "paradigm shift". The age of complacency, she said, was over.
Quentin Sommerville, one of the BBC's most experienced war reporters walked through the wreckage in Kharkiv recently and said of the Russian bombardment: "If these tactics are unfamiliar to you, then you haven't been paying attention."
He should know, he spent enough time under Russian rockets in Syria to be paying very close attention. But the governments of the democratic world - how much attention have they been paying to the nature of the Putin regime?
The evidence has been building for years.
Two decades have passed since he sent troops into Georgia claiming he was supporting breakaway regions.
Later, he sent spies into British cities armed with nerve agents to murder exiled Russians.
In 2014, he invaded Eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea.
Despite all this, Germany, and much of the EU, were locking themselves into an unhealthy dependence on Russian gas. A year after the annexation of Crimea, they approved the building of a new pipeline, Nord Stream 2, to boost supplies.
The "complacency" Liz Truss refers to also indicts her own country. London has been a safe haven for Russian money since John Major was prime minister. Russian oligarchs have parked billions here, laundered their money, bought up the most prestigious private homes in the capital, socialised with politicians and donated to their campaign funds. Few questions were asked about where their vast wealth, acquired so suddenly, had come from.
So, no. The Western democracies have not been "paying attention" to the nature of the menace that has been incubating on their eastern frontier.
But Putin, too, has seemed complacent.
Receiving station for the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, near Lubmin, Germany
First, he believed the West was in chronic decline, weakened by internal division and ideological rancour. The election of Donald Trump and Brexit he saw as proof of this. The rise of right-wing authoritarian governments in Poland and Hungary was further evidence of the disintegration of liberal values and institutions. The US's humiliating withdrawal from Afghanistan was proof of a waning power withdrawing from the world stage.
Second, he misread what was happening on his borders. He refused to believe that a series of democratic uprisings in former Soviet Republics - Georgia (2003), Ukraine (2004-5) and Kyrgyzstan (2005) - could possibly be authentic expressions of the popular will. Because each was aimed at removing corrupt and unpopular pro-Moscow governments, it seemed self-evident to the Kremlin that these were the work of foreign intelligence agencies, the Americans and the British in particular - Western imperialism's forward march into territory that was rightfully and historically Russia's.
Third, he has failed to understand his own armed forces. It is clear now that he expected this "special military operation" to be over in a few days.
Russia's military incompetence has astonished many Western security experts. It brings echoes for me of a smaller, more containable, but nonetheless devastating war, in former Yugoslavia.
In 1992, Serb nationalists launched a war to strangle the newly independent state of Bosnia at birth. They argued that Bosnian identity was bogus, that Bosnian statehood had no historical legitimacy, that it was really part of Serbia. It is exactly Putin's view of Ukraine.
A Bosnian special forces soldier and civilians come under fire from Serbian snipers, Sarajevo, 6 April 1992
Like Russia today, Serb forces enjoyed overwhelming firepower superiority. But they often stalled wherever local non-Serbs put up resistance. They seemed unable to seize towns or cities - unwilling to fight street-by-street on foot. The Bosnian defenders were initially very poorly equipped - I remember boys in tennis shoes in the trenches of Sarajevo with one AK-47 between three of them. But they defended their capital for nearly four years. There is a similar resolve in the young men volunteering to defend Kyiv.
So instead of taking the cities and towns, the Serbs laid siege to them - surrounding them, bombarding them, cutting off water, gas and electricity. It is already happening in Mariupol. Besiege a city and cut off its water supply, and within 24 hours, every toilet is a public health hazard. Citizens have to go out into the streets to find water standpipes and fill up receptacles just to flush their loos. Cut off the electricity and you freeze in your own home. Soon the food runs out. Is that what the Russians intend for Mariupol, for Kharkiv, for Kyiv? To starve them into submission?
But nearly four years of this cruelty gave Bosnian nationhood a founding narrative of resistance, suffering and heroic struggle. Ukraine's identity, too, will be strengthened further by the way Ukrainians have fought. Ukraine's Russian speakers have not felt "liberated" by the invasion. The evidence is that they, too, believe in Ukraine as a sovereign state. Putin's war, aimed at reunifying what he sees as two parts of the Russian nation, is already having the opposite effect - strengthening the will of most Ukrainians to seek a destiny free from Russian domination.
Scrambling for rationed food during the siege of Sarajevo, 1992
In 1994, while the war in the Balkans was still raging, the rest of Eastern Europe was looking to the future - each nation eager to take what it saw as its natural place in a Europe of independent sovereign states at peace with each other. But it was still far from certain that any of them would be allowed to join Nato.
There was a debate, back then, about whether a third security block should be formed by the newly-liberated East European nations, to act as a buffer between Nato and Russia. Russia was weak in the 1990s, and the nations that had endured Soviet occupation for 40 years did not trust it to stay weak for long. In the end, they wanted nothing short of Nato membership.
Under President Bill Clinton, the US pressed ahead with Nato expansion. The Russian president Boris Yeltsin, who saw himself as a loyal ally of Clinton's, was said to be furious when he found out - at a press conference - that Nato was planning to admit new members without consulting Moscow.
And the tearing down of the Iron Curtain had raised a new question in geopolitics - how far east does the Western world extend? I was commissioned by the BBC to take a road trip through Poland, Belarus and Ukraine to address the question, "Where is the eastern edge of the Western world now?"
I went to the hunting lodge in Belarus where, in late 1991, the President of the Russian Federation, Boris Yeltsin, had met his counterparts from Ukraine and Belarus. Here, they agreed to recognise each other's Soviet Republics as independent nation-states. They then rang the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and informed him that the country of which he was head of state - the Soviet Union - no longer existed.
It was a moment fraught with both danger and opportunity. For Belarus and Ukraine, it was the chance to liberate themselves from Moscow rule - domination by Russian imperialism in both its Tsarist and Soviet forms.
For Yeltsin, it represented the chance to liberate Russia too - from its historic role as an imperial power. The UK and France had both ceased to be imperial powers after World War Two - as Austria had done after WW1. In Turkey, Kemal Ataturk had built a modern European secular republic - a Turkish nation-state - after the multi-ethnic Ottoman Empire had been defeated and dismembered in 1918.
US President George HW Bush with Boris Yeltsin in Maryland, 1992
Could Boris Yeltsin do the same thing - build a modern Russian nation-state, at peace with its sovereign neighbours, on the ruins of the Soviet Empire? In the early 1990s, he began his Westernising experiment, to try to turn an imperial power into a democratic state.
But the rush - encouraged by the Western democracies eager for investment opportunities - to turn a sclerotic, state-owned command economy into a free-market system was disastrous. It created gangster capitalism. A tiny elite became fabulously rich by plundering the assets of the major industries - especially oil and gas.
The wheels finally came off the experiment in 1998. The economy collapsed, the rouble lost two-thirds of its value in a month and inflation hit 80%.
I stood with a middle-aged couple in a queue at a Moscow bank. They wanted to take their money out in dollars or pounds - anything other than roubles. The queue was long and slow-moving and, every few minutes, a bank employee changed the displayed exchange rate, as the rouble plunged further. People could see their life savings dropping in value by the minute. The couple got close to the head of the queue when suddenly the shutters came down - there was no cash left.
I went to a former coal-mining region near the Ukraine border, where the mines were barely functioning. I met a graduate mining engineer who had lost his job - a man in his 30s with a young family. He took me to his dacha outside the city, which had about an acre of land. "About 80% of what my family eat in the year," he said. "I grow on this patch of land. The rest, like coffee and sugar, I barter for. I haven't used or even seen cash in about 18 months." Nothing spoke more powerfully about Yeltsin's failure to transform Russia than the sight of this highly educated man digging for his own dinner.
"Stalin turned a nation of peasants into an industrial superpower in a generation. Yeltsin is doing the same thing in reverse," he told me.
Ordinary Russians felt robbed. The great westernising experiment had been a con trick that had enriched a criminalised elite and impoverished everyone else. Many of the reports we filed from Russia at that time boiled down to a single question: "What are the political consequences of the profound disenchantment that Russians now feel?"
The answer was that Russia, eventually, would revert to type - a retreat from democracy and a return to authoritarian rule. A retreat from nation-statehood and return to a more assertive imperial attitude to its "near abroad" - the countries that had previously been part of the Soviet Union.
The former US National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski famously said that Russia could be a democracy or an empire, but it could not be both. The Russian emblem, the double-headed eagle, looks both east and west. History has pulled Russia in opposing directions - democratic nation statehood in one direction, domineering imperial power in the other.
Go to St Petersburg and you will see another aspect of this dual character. It is the country's beautiful bay window on the Gulf of Finland. It is an 18th Century city, facing west. It is the European Enlightenment in architectural form. Under the Tsars it was the imperial capital.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Bolsheviks moved the capital back to Moscow and power retreated behind the high, crenellated walls of the Kremlin. It is the architecture of defensiveness, of suspicion, even fear. When Russian leaders look west from here, they see flat open countryside rolling away to the south and west for hundreds of miles. There are no natural frontiers.
The crenellated red walls of the Kremlin in Moscow
When I was the BBC's Moscow correspondent in the late 1990s, there was a driver who could remember, as a boy, seeing German troops on the outskirts of Moscow in the 1940s. Every time he took us to Sheremetyevo Airport, we would pass a monument designed to look like metal anti-tank defences - so-called Czech hedgehogs - and he would say: "This is how close they came, the Germans."
Napoleon's army had gone further the previous century. That experience - that chronic sense of an insecure western frontier - informs the way Russian leaders have thought about their "near abroad".
In another conversation about the "near abroad", a friend recited a rhyming couplet to me. In Russian it rhymes nicely, but in English it goes: "A chicken's not really a bird; and Poland's not really abroad." Russia's sense of what it is entitled to in the lands to its west penetrates popular consciousness, too.
I will borrow an anecdote from another friend in Moscow at the time. The same driver picked her up from the airport and asked her where she had been. "I've been for a weekend in Prague," she said. "Oh Prague," came the reply. "That's good. That's ours."
But it wasn't. The Berlin Wall had come down nine years earlier and the nations of Eastern Europe had ceased being "ours".
Except Ukraine. Putin regards it not as a neighbouring country, but as the frontier land of Russia itself - and he wants it brought back into the Russian fold.
What would it take to do that? How can a nation that has put up so unified a resistance be subdued? Almost certainly he has overreached himself. Several factors must now be alarming him.
The first is the state of his own armed forces.
The second is the resilience of the Ukrainian defence. Did Putin really expect the Russian-speaking people of Ukraine to welcome his troops as liberators? Did he really believe that the uprising of 2014 - which replaced the pro-Moscow government with one oriented to the West - was all a Western plot? If he did, then it reveals how little the Kremlin understands about its "near abroad".
But his biggest miscalculation has been to underestimate the resolve of the West. And this is what makes 2022 one of those pivotal years - the zeitenwende, in the words of Chancellor Scholz.
Almost overnight, Germany has transformed its attitude to its role in the world. Traditionally reluctant - for sound historical reasons - to throw its weight around, it had preferred the exercise of soft power to hard. Not now. It has announced a doubling of defence spending, and is sending lethal weapons to Ukraine. Gone, too, is the ostpolitik - the decades-old German policy of seeking peace through engagement, especially trade.
Germany, along with the rest of the democratic world, will now move to end its dependence on Russian gas. The Nord Stream 2 project is suspended - though not yet scrapped. We are seeing a root-and-branch redrawing of the map of global energy distribution, aimed at cutting Russia out of it.
Russia is highly integrated into the global economy. But now it has been expelled from the system the world uses to exchange payment for goods and services. Its industries, including oil and gas, depend on imported goods and components. Soon production will grind to a halt. Employers will have to lay off their workers. Unemployment will rise.
No-one expected the West to sanction the Russian Central Bank. Already, the rouble has collapsed and interest rates have doubled. No other major economy has ever been subjected to a package of sanctions this punitive. It amounts to the expulsion of Russia from the global economy. More workers will be laid off. Major industries will find it hard to carry on. Unemployment will rise further. Soaring inflation will erode life savings.
We will all be affected. Potentially, this is the rolling back of the globalised economy that emerged after the end of the Cold War.
The US and the EU have, in effect, divided the world up. Those states and companies that continue to trade with Russia will find themselves punished - also frozen out of trade with the rich world.
It amounts to a new economic iron curtain separating Russia from the West.
Much will depend on how China negotiates this new landscape. China and Russia are bonded by their shared antipathy to American power, and their conviction that the greatest threat is from a resurgent, more unified democratic world.
China does not want Putin weakened, or the West strengthened. Yet that is exactly what the effect the war in Ukraine has had.
Some China watchers believe Beijing will try to challenge the dominance of the dollar as a reserve currency by carving out a distinct yuan zone as an alternative space in the global economy that can be protected from any future attempt by the US to sanction China. Putin's war, therefore, could redraw the international financial map.
But above all, this is a war that pits the world's democracies against the world's authoritarian regimes.
It is also a war between two conflicting conceptions of the rules by which international relations should function.
The Oxford scholar Timothy Garton Ash says these two world views can be expressed in short form by two words - Helsinki versus Yalta.
At Yalta in 1945, Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill carved post-war Europe into "spheres of influence" - most of Eastern Europe to Russia, the West to the trans-Atlantic alliance that would set about rebuilding Europe's democracies.
"Helsinki", by contrast, describes a Europe of independent sovereign states, each of which is free to choose its own alliances. This grew out of the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 and gradually evolved into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
Ukraine's defenders are fighting for Helsinki. Putin has sent his troops in to impose a modern version of Yalta - which would kill off Ukraine's independence and leave it under Russian domination.
Garton Ash argues that the West has been too half-hearted in defending the values of Helsinki - that it has formally acknowledged Ukraine's right to join Nato at some unspecified date in the future without ever intending to make it happen.
But Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has signalled a readiness to compromise on Helsinki principles, by agreeing to abandon Ukraine's ambition to become a Nato member. With all the risks that entails, it may yet be the price Ukraine pays for the survival of its statehood.
My generation grew up with the existential terror of the threat of nuclear annihilation. The conflict has brought that fear back to public consciousness. Putin has threatened to use Russia's nuclear arsenal.
That makes this the most dangerous moment since the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. Then, the Soviet Union shipped nuclear missiles to its ally Cuba. The US assembled a fleet to blockade (or "quarantine") Cuba and was considering an attack on the island by air and/or sea.
What the Americans did not know is that the Soviets didn't only have long-range strategic missiles. They also had smaller, tactical nuclear missiles - so-called battlefield nuclear weapons. And that Soviet military doctrine delegated first-use decision making to commanders on the ground.
Had the threatened invasion gone ahead, it would have triggered a nuclear exchange.
The then American Defence Secretary Robert McNamara only found out about this when the Soviet archives opened in 1991. Only then, did he understand how close the world had come to catastrophe.
In a remarkable film called Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert McNamara, he explained how the world had avoided destroying itself. Was it skilled diplomacy? Wise leadership? No.
"Luck," he said. "We lucked out."
That experience, now fading from memory, should focus minds.
Correction: This article previously referred to Zbigniew Brzezinski as a former US secretary of state, rather than former national security adviser | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60767454 |
New P&O crew on less than £2 an hour, union claims - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The RMT union says Indian seafarers recruited to work in Dover are on rock bottom rates. | The RMT union has not offered proof of the hourly rate and P&O will not comment on agency workers' pay
Indian agency workers hired to replace P&O Ferries crews in Dover are being paid £1.81 an hour, a union claims.
The Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) said the low pay was a "shocking exploitation" and "a betrayal of those who have been sacked".
P&O said the figure was inaccurate but said it could not comment on how much agencies pay workers on ferries.
Some of P&O's ferries are registered in Cyprus, meaning they do not have to pay the minimum wage required by UK law.
Firms using UK ports often register ships in other countries, allowing them to pay lower wages.
The minimum wage in the UK for people aged 23 and above is £8.91 per hour.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told Parliament: "Maritime employees have not, in this country, indeed throughout much of the world, received some of the same benefits and protections that exist otherwise for workers and this is simply not good enough and it's a practice we have been seeking to end."
He said ships in UK waters operated under international law governed by treaties, so UK law did not always apply.
"These complications allow for employers to take advantage in a way that we've seen I think with P&O Ferries," Mr Shapps added.
Mr Shapps told MPs that he first found out about the prospect of P&O redundancies at 20:30 GMT the evening before the workers were being sacked, but he said it wasn't until he was at the despatch box the next day that he was made fully aware of the scale.
Previously, officials at the Department of Transport had told the BBC that Mr Shapps and the maritime minister Robert Courts had not been informed until Thursday.
Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said government ministers had "completely failed to act" and the reported rates of pay were "nothing short of a betrayal of the workers who protected this country's supply chain during the pandemic".
A spokesman for P&O said safety was the utmost priority and the new crewing management model was used by many competitors.
"They have recruited high-quality experienced seafarers, who will now familiarise themselves with the ships, going through all mandatory training requirements set out by our regulators," he said.
Mr Shapps said the government was reviewing all of its contracts with P&O Ferries.
He had asked the insolvency service whether P&O had followed rules for redundancies - and if they had not, "that would be a matter for criminal prosecution and unlimited fines".
Mr Shapps also told MPs P&O Ferries should remove British references from their ships if they replace sacked workers with non-UK staff.
The Spirit of Britain, Pride of Canterbury and Pride of Hull are among the names used for the operator's ferries.
The Transport Secretary told MPs it would be "completely inappropriate" for the company to "attach themselves to this country" without having British workers.
Protests took place close to Parliament and also outside the London offices of P&O owners, DP World on Monday.
John, a former seafarer with P&O Ferries based in Dover said the redundancies were "a catastrophe" for all crew involved and he wants the company's chief executive to resign.
"A company who had built up its reputation over 180 years just to be trashed in one single morning of madness by those responsible.
"It's not just a job, it's a home and to be kicked off the ship in the most unceremonious way...it's a catastrophe for all our lives," John, who did not want to give his surname, added.
He expects to lose his severance pay for speaking out to media, but said he "knew the difference between right and wrong".
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said P&O staff were "being replaced by exploited workers, vulnerable workers from overseas".
"We have no beef with those people. We want those people to be paid the wages that we've negotiated for in this country," he said.
The union has called for a boycott of P&O services and is urging the government to look at legal options to reinstate the sacked workers.
Ferries between Liverpool and Dublin have restarted and other routes are expected to follow by the end of the week.
Protests have taken place over the sackings
Services were stopped on Thursday after P&O announced in a video call that 800 staff were being sacked with immediate effect.
The M20 in Kent will close between junctions 8 and 9 from 20:00 GMT while a barrier system is put in place to manage any disruption caused by P&O freight, National Highways said.
The motorway is expected to reopen at 06:00 GMT on Tuesday when lorries heading for the Port of Dover or the Eurotunnel will use the coastbound carriageway on the M20, where they will be queued if necessary.
All other traffic - including local freight and car drivers headed for the continent - should follow the signs and cross over to enter the contraflow on the M20 London bound carriageway, National Highways said. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60821266 |
Nottingham Forest 0-1 Liverpool: Jurgen Klopp's side set up semi-final date against Man City after edging past hosts - BBC Sport | 2022-03-21 | Liverpool will play Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley after they edge past Nottingham Forest in a pulsating quarter-final at the City Ground. | Last updated on .From the section FA Cup
Liverpool will play Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley after edging past Nottingham Forest in a pulsating encounter at the City Ground.
Diogo Jota scored the only goal of the game for the visitors, prodding in Konstantinos Tsimikas' cross from the left with 12 minutes remaining.
Jurgen Klopp's quadruple-chasing side dominated possession but were made to work for their victory by their relentless Championship opponents.
Steve Cooper's side saw a late penalty appeal turned down by VAR when midfielder Ryan Yates fell after a challenge with Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson.
The hosts also regarded Philip Zinckernagel's miss as decisive to the outcome, the Danish winger side-footing wide from six yards from Brennan Johnson's inviting cross just a couple of minutes before Jota's goal.
"I think the game was decided on a defining two minutes - we had a good chance that we didn't take and they created one and did," said Cooper.
While Forest had already beaten both Arsenal and Leicester in this season's competition, they found themselves taking a significant step up in class against Liverpool despite Klopp making seven changes to his starting XI.
And while they were galvanised by the electric atmosphere in what was the first meeting between the clubs in the FA Cup since the rescheduled 1989 semi-final that followed the Hillsborough disaster, they spent long periods of the game under severe pressure.
Yates also had a chance to head a late equaliser, but Liverpool, who also carved open several excellent opportunities of their own, deservedly advanced to the last four.
While Forest made an encouraging start despite the absence of three first-choice defenders, Liverpool's Premier League pedigree quickly became evident.
The visitors' slick movement repeatedly caused problems as did the hosts' own attempts to play out from the back.
And had Roberto Firmino not fluffed a golden chance to open the scoring, Klopp's side would have headed into the interval with a deserved advantage and possibly having laid the platform for a more convincing performance.
Instead the Brazilian's attempted dink was well saved by Forest goalkeeper Ethan Horvath, who bailed out his team after Jack Colback's glaring mistake.
"It was the game we expected, especially if you don't use your chances," said Klopp.
"We could have played better, but we should have scored in the first half. If we scored earlier it would be a completely different game. Everything was prepared to give us a knock as well but because we were prepared for a fight we came through."
Reinforcements were summoned just after the hour mark with Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Takumi Minamino and Luis Diaz all introduced to try and turn the contest in Liverpool's favour.
But having survived a scare at one end of the pitch it was Jota who made the difference with his 19th goal of the campaign - his best ever return in front of goal in a single season.
And it ensured that Liverpool reached the semi-final of the competition for the first time under Klopp and maintained their superb domestic form which has seen them win 13 consecutive games plus the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea after a penalty shootout.
Forest were bottom of the Championship when Cooper took charge in September and the former England Under-17s boss has since overseen a significant upturn in fortunes.
This was only Forest's second defeat since the turn of the year and, while they will take heart from pushing one of Europe's elite clubs so close, they can now focus all of their attention on trying to join Liverpool in the Premier League next term.
Forest are three points off the Championship play-off positions with games in hand on all the sides around them in the table.
And if the likes of Joe Worrall, Joe Garner and Keinan Davis continue to perform in the same vein as they did here, they appear to have the spine of a team capable of reaching the top flight for the first time since 1999.
• None Attempt missed. Diogo Jota (Liverpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Takumi Minamino.
• None Offside, Liverpool. Jordan Henderson tries a through ball, but Roberto Firmino is caught offside.
• None Attempt missed. Cafú (Nottingham Forest) right footed shot from the right side of the box is close, but misses the top right corner. Assisted by Tobias Figueiredo with a through ball.
• None Attempt saved. Ryan Yates (Nottingham Forest) header from the centre of the box is saved in the top centre of the goal. Assisted by Brennan Johnson with a cross.
• None Brennan Johnson (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick on the right wing.
• None Goal! Nottingham Forest 0, Liverpool 1. Diogo Jota (Liverpool) right footed shot from very close range to the top right corner. Assisted by Konstantinos Tsimikas with a cross.
• None Attempt missed. Philip Zinckernagel (Nottingham Forest) left footed shot from the centre of the box is close, but misses to the right. Assisted by Brennan Johnson with a cross following a fast break.
• None Attempt blocked. Takumi Minamino (Liverpool) right footed shot from the right side of the box is blocked. Navigate to the next page Navigate to the last page | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/60698123 |
Unite union 'refused to exempt special schools from strike' - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Members of Unite are taking action over a local government pay offer of 1.75%. | Unite workers are on strike in a dispute over pay
The Unite union refused requests to exempt special school services from strike action, the Education Authority has claimed.
The authority said the union declined requests it made on Wednesday 16 March and Monday 21 March.
The Unite union has been contacted by BBC News NI for a response.
Members of Unite are taking action over a local government pay offer of 1.75%, which the union has called a "real terms pay cut".
Unite is one of the largest public sector unions.
The union said its members in councils, the Education Authority and the Housing Executive expressed overwhelming support for the industrial action in ballots.
Gareth Scott, from Unite, told BBC Radio Ulster's Good Morning Ulster the offer was "totally inadequate".
"These local authority workers have seen their pay cut in real terms by 22% in last 12 years," he added.
"Over the last two years, during the pandemic, they have been essential workers and now we have the cost of living crisis - the response from employers was to offer a meagre 1.75% increase."
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. We're not being offered a living wage'
When asked if the union had considered making an exception for special schools, he said the problem lay with the employers.
"This could have been avoided by the employers making a fair and reasonable pay offer - something that goes a lot closer to meeting the cost of living," he said.
"Our members do not want to be on strike. But they have got to the point where they feel they have no alternative."
Some school transport, meals, council bin collections, leisure services and Housing Executive maintenance will be disrupted by the week-long action by over 2,000 Unite members.
Some special schools are expected to be particularly affected by the unavailability of Education Authority transport as they rely heavily on the so-called yellow buses.
Some classroom assistants in special schools who are members of Unite may also be on strike.
But only one of 39 special schools - Glenveagh in Belfast - has said it cannot offer pupils face-to-face teaching "due to lack of staffing".
The Education Authority, though, said it had asked on Wednesday 16 March for classroom assistants at Glenveagh to be exempt from the strike.
It had also asked for yellow bus drivers in greater Belfast who transport wheelchair-using pupils to be allowed to continue to work.
The strikes may cause some disruption to school meals
The authority said that on Monday it had gone further and asked Unite to exempt all special school staff and bus drivers from the strike action.
The Education Authority's director of human resources Clare Duffield told BBC Radio Ulster's Evening Extra that Unite had been asked to "protect" special schools.
"It is very disappointing that children with special educational needs are having their normal routine disrupted," she said.
"And it's really disappointing that those requests have been rejected at this stage."
"We have made the requests on a number of occasions and will continue to escalate those requests so that we can attempt to minimise the disruption throughout the week."
"We absolutely respect the right of a trade union and their members to take lawful industrial action but it's very disappointing when that impact son the most vulnerable children and young people."
Ms Duffield said that around 100 out of over 2,000 EA bus routes had been affected by strike action on Monday but that pupils from special schools has been most affected. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-60816376 |
War in Ukraine: Kyiv shopping centre hit by Russian missile - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | A nearby camera captured the moment the shopping centre in Kyiv was struck by a missile. | Video released by Ukraine's State Emergency Service captured the moment when a shopping centre in Kyiv was hit by a Russian missile.
Authorities say at least eight people were killed when the Podilskyi district of Kyiv was struck.
Firefighters were seen trying to rescue people stranded beneath the rubble. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60819030 |
Covid hospital numbers in Scotland reach new peak - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | A record 2,128 patients in Scotland have Covid-19, the highest number since the start of the pandemic. | The number of patients in hospital with Covid is higher than it has ever been
The number of patients in Scottish hospitals with Covid has reached the highest level seen during the pandemic.
Latest figures reveal 2,128 patients recently tested positive for the virus, higher than the previous peak in January 2021.
The number requiring ICU treatment, however, remains relatively low as fewer patients become seriously ill.
The latest Covid surge is thought to be driven by a more transmissible sub-variant of Omicron.
The latest daily figures revealed that a further 9,533 new cases were reported on Monday. No new deaths were reported but register offices are generally closed at weekends.
The number of people with Covid in hospital has risen by 78 since Friday but only 31 of the 2,128 Covid-positive patients were so ill that they required intensive care.
Hospital Covid numbers have risen far higher than during the most recent Omicron peak in January.
On Friday, data from the Office for National Statistics suggested that one in 14 Scots, a total of 376,300 people, had Covid in the week ending 12 March. Most cases are thought to involve the more transmissible BA.2 sub-variant of Omicron.
Omicron infections tend to be milder and with a large proportion of people vaccinated, the risks of becoming seriously unwell with this variant are relatively low.
Despite this, Prof Linda Bauld, an expert in public health at the University of Edinburgh who also advises the government, told BBC Radio Scotland's Good Morning Scotland programme the NHS was still under real pressure.
Prof Bauld said Covid-positive patients required more protocols which take more time, even if they were originally admitted to hospital for other ailments.
Waiting lists and staff absences have also been affected by outbreaks, she added.
She advised people should take up the offer of vaccines and expect future vaccines to protect against multiple variants.
Many health boards say they are seeing more Covid patients in hospital now than at any point in the pandemic.
Yet there is no clamour from medics and health officials for more restrictions - that's because Covid itself is less of a direct threat than it once was.
The vast majority of Covid patients do not need to be admitted to intensive care and are recovering more quickly. That's down to high vaccination rates and better treatments.
Instead Covid is causing a different sort of pressure on hospitals.
Patients need to be kept separate to limit infection spread, limiting bed capacity in some wards. You may need to pull nursing staff from places like outpatients or day surgery to cover gaps caused by staff absences. And shortages in social care mean it's harder to get people out of hospital.
It all leads to less capacity, people waiting too long in emergency departments and ever-growing waiting lists.
These are the sort of pressures that the NHS is going to have to deal with for a long time to come.
Most of the remaining legal Covid restrictions in Scotland have now officially come to an end.
Businesses are no longer required to retain customers' contact details - although the legal requirement to wear face coverings in shops, hospitality venues and public transport remains in place.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has said the rule will stay for "a further short period" because of the surge in cases.
The measure will be reviewed again before the Scottish Parliament's Easter recess on 2 April, and is expected to become guidance shortly afterwards.
Vaccine boosters have already been offered to the most vulnerable people and public health experts expect them to be rolled out to people in their 50s and 60s in the autumn.
Asymptomatic people will still be advised to test regularly until 18 April - with tests free of charge - and people with symptoms should continue to get a PCR test until the end of that month.
However, the population-wide testing and contact tracing system will come to a close at the end of April - a move criticised by public health expert Prof Devi Sridhar.
She told BBC Scotland's The Nine: "We won't be able to pick up if there's a new variant spreading, if that's causing higher hospitalisation rates. People won't know if they're infectious to others.
"I think there's a real risk that we lose sight of this virus in surveillance so I think giving up testing is a huge mistake. Giving up testing will cost us not just in terms of the infection spreading but in the people it finds and kills."
People with symptoms should continue to get a PCR test until the end of April
Some public health experts have questioned whether face coverings will have any effect on the jump in case numbers.
Christine Tait-Burkard, from The Roslin Institute, has told BBC Scotland the impact that mask-wearing makes without many of the other restrictions in place "is small, or is smaller than it ever was before".
But she backed the extended retention of the legal requirement as "last reminder" of the need for caution.
The first minister has said a sharp rise in infections was putting "significant pressure on hospital capacity", but that vaccines were still giving people good protection.
Ms Sturgeon, giving an update on the government's strategic framework for managing the virus last week, said she needed to "ask everyone to be patient for a little while longer on face coverings".
The Scottish Conservatives have described the retention of the mask rules as "a blow for households and businesses".
Scottish Labour's finance spokesman Daniel Johnson said the challenges facing Scotland's economy "didn't start with Covid and they won't end today".
He added: "Businesses across Scotland will breathe a sigh of relief as restrictions are lifted - but there is no room for complacency.
"The cost of living crisis will pile added pressure on to businesses, but the SNP and the Tory governments are failing to get to grips with the challenge."
A Scottish government spokesperson said its economic plan included "a ruthless focus on working with business and industry to deliver the changes we want to see". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-60806381 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's family 'relieved' by Iran release - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | After years of campaigning, a relative says Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe's return is "mind-blowing". | Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, husband Richard and daughter Gabriella shared a hug after she landed at RAF Brize Norton
A relative of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe says news of her return to the UK is "absolutely mind-blowing" after six years of being detained in Iran.
The 43-year-old and another detainee, Anoosheh Ashoori, were met at RAF Brize Norton in the early hours.
Alex Loftus, cousin of Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's husband, said she did not think it had "sunk in properly yet".
Mrs Loftus, from Warwickshire, added it had been "so moving" seeing the images of her being reunited with family.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori, 67, left Tehran on Wednesday after their release was secured following months of negotiations.
Alex Loftus said she was "absolutely over the moon" after years of campaigning over Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's release
It marked the end of an ordeal that saw the British-Iranian national detained, after being accused in 2016 of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government.
She was sentenced to a further year in prison in April last year and a one-year travel ban on charges of propaganda against the government.
Both Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Mr Ashoori have consistently and vigorously denied allegations.
Their release came after the UK settled a debt to Iran of almost £400m dating from the 1970s.
Mrs Loftus, who lives near Southam, said a couple of years ago Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe "made the very brave decision of sending" her now seven-year-old daughter, Gabriella, back home.
The girl rushed to hug her mother after she touched down at Brize Norton.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released after the UK settled a near £400m debt to Iran
Mrs Loftus added: "She could then start having a normal sort of, well the British life that she was meant to have in the first place and go to school, be with her dad.
"Thankfully we now have Skype... [but] things like... giving Gabriella a kiss goodnight, walking her to school, things like that... she just missed out on."
The cousin said 3.7 million people had signed a Change.org petition and that there had been regular family meetings.
"We've been there so many times, that there's been hope," she said.
"I don't think any us were ever going to believe it until actually Naz was on that plane out of Iranian airspace.
"We'll have our time to see them, but at the moment it just needs to be the three of them."
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-60782380 |
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe: I should have been freed six years ago - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The British-Iranian was speaking publicly for the first time since her release from Iran last week. | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe has said it should never have taken the government so long to secure her release from prison in Iran.
She told a news conference she had been overwhelmed with emotion to be reunited with her husband and daughter, describing the reunion as precious.
But she said "what's happened now should have happened six years ago".
The British-Iranian was speaking for the first time since her dramatic return to the UK last week.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested on spying charges while visiting her parents in Iran, with her then two-year-old daughter Gabriella, in April 2016. Last week, she was freed after spending six years in detention.
Her release came after the UK government paid a £400m debt to Iran dating back to the 1970s, although both governments have said the two issues should not be linked.
Speaking to the media in Westminster, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe thanked all those who had worked to get her released, paying tribute to her "amazing, wonderful" husband, Richard Ratcliffe, who she said had campaigned tirelessly. She also thanked her daughter "for being very, very patient with mummy".
But she took issue with the credit her husband had granted Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for her release, saying: "I have seen five foreign secretaries change over the course of six years. How many foreign secretaries does it take for someone to come home?"
She added: "We all know… how I came home. It should have happened exactly six years ago."
Describing her arrival back in the UK, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe recalled the "precious" and "glorious" feeling of stepping off the plane and seeing her daughter again.
"I had been waiting for that moment for such a long time," she said.
"It was lovely to get to hold her, to braid her hair and to brush her hair. That was a moment that I really, really missed."
She said she was looking forward to getting to know Gabriella better again and doing everyday things like taking her to school.
Also speaking at the news conference, Mr Ratcliffe joked that it was "nice to be retiring" from his role as a campaigner, and thanked everyone for "making us whole again".
"I'm so pleased she's back home, that she came home to us. We're still negotiating whether daddy's allowed in the same bed as Gabriella and Nazanin. We'll get there."
Mr Ratcliffe continued: "I think we'll do this and then we will disappear off and heal a bit."
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe declined to speak about her ordeal, saying it would always haunt her.
But she added: "I always felt like I was holding this black hole in my heart all these years... I am going to leave that black hole on the plane."
While in Iran in September 2016, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe, a project manager for the Thomson Reuters Foundation, was accused of plotting to overthrow the Iranian government and was given a five-year sentence.
Then, in April 2021, she was sentenced for another year on charges of propaganda against the government.
Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe has always denied those allegations and said that she was only in Iran to visit her family.
Speaking on Monday, she said she had been told by Iranian authorities shortly after her arrest that they wanted "something off the Brits", and that they would not let her go until they had got it.
"And they did keep their promise," she said.
Earlier during her visit to Westminster, Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe met Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle in his parliamentary rooms.
Sir Lindsay gave Gabriella a Speaker Bear fluffy toy, which she decided to call Speechless
The Speaker told her "the whole nation rejoiced" when she returned to the UK.
He added: "You have achieved something that many others before you have not - in uniting the House in their efforts and hope to get you home."
Another British-Iranian national, Anoosheh Ashoori, was released at the same time as Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
But Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe also used the event to draw attention to the plight of other dual nationals still detained in Iran.
Morad Tahbaz, who has British, Iranian, and American citizenship, remains in detention, and there are numerous people from other countries who are being held on various allegations of working to undermine the Iranian regime.
Mr Tahbaz's daughter, Roxanne, also appeared at the conference, and said her family felt her father had been "abandoned and left behind" in Iran.
She said they had been told by the Foreign Office that Mr Tahbaz would be included in any deal to release hostages in Iran, and called on the prime minister and the foreign secretary to continue to work for his release.
"I believe that the meaning of freedom is never going to be complete until such time that all of us who are unjustly detained in Iran are reunited with our families," Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe said.
"There are so many other people - we don't know their names - who have been suffering in prison."
Tulip Siddiq, Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn, has called on the Foreign Affairs Select Committee to investigate why the debt the UK had with Iran took "so long" to be paid.
Ms Siddiq - who represents Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's constituency and has called herself the "Nazanin MP" - said she had written to the chair of the committee, Tom Tugendhat.
Mr Ratcliffe welcomed the investigation and said it would be "really valuable for Parliament to take up that challenge and to talk it through". | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60819018 |
Sheffield boy steals Covid van then crashes it into car - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The boy was arrested and the driver of the car was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital. | A child stole a Covid testing van and crashed it into a car before fleeing on foot, police have said.
South Yorkshire Police said staff at a business on Weedon Street called officers at 04:15 GMT to report the van stolen.
Police spotted the van on Bramall Lane at 06:30 and it stopped on Queens Road after colliding with a silver Ford Ka.
The driver, a 13-year-old boy from Sheffield, was found nearby and detained, police said.
They said he had been arrested on suspicion of burglary/theft of a motor vehicle.
The driver of the car, a man in his 50s, was treated at the scene by Yorkshire Ambulance Service before being taken to hospital
The driver of the Ford KA, a man in his 50s, was treated by paramedics and taken to hospital.
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service also attended to help make the scene safe, and Queens Road was closed at the junction with Duchess Road for a time but has since reopened.
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The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-60813757 |
Video clip of hoax call with UK minister Ben Wallace published - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The UK blames Russia for the call targeted at Ben Wallace during a visit to Poland last week. | Ben Wallace, shown here at the Conservative spring conference, revealed he was targeted last week
Two prominent Russian hoaxers have published footage from a call they made to the UK defence secretary.
In a recording posted online, Ben Wallace can be heard speaking to a man in a video call, made while Mr Wallace was visiting Poland on Friday.
Mr Wallace revealed the hoax last week, saying he had been targeted by an "imposter" posing as the Ukrainian PM.
The UK government has blamed Russia for targeting British ministers with fake calls about the conflict in Ukraine.
Home Secretary Priti Patel revealed she had received a hoax call last week, whilst No 10 said Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries has also been targeted.
The recording of the video call to Mr Wallace was posted online by Vladimir "Vovan" Kuznetsov and Alexei "Lexus" Stolyarov.
The pair have targeted a number of politicians and public figures in the past. They were credited with a hoax call to then-foreign secretary Boris Johnson in 2018, in which he was targeted by a caller pretending to be the prime minister of Armenia.
Previous recordings of their alleged conversations have been aired on Russian TV.
In the published footage, which lasts around a minute, Mr Wallace, shown in a car, is asked questions about an alleged nuclear weapons programme for Ukraine.
A defence source told the BBC the clip had been "doctored".
After the video was published, Mr Wallace said: "Things must be going so badly for the Kremlin that they are now resorting to pranks and video fakes."
Earlier, Boris Johnson's spokesman told reporters that "the Russian state was responsible for the hoax telephone calls made to UK ministers last week".
The spokesman did not give further details, but added: "This is standard practice for Russian information operations.
"Disinformation is a tactic straight from the Kremlin playbook to try to distract from their illegal activities in Ukraine and the human rights abuses being committed there."
It is understood that Mr Wallace was put through to a Microsoft Teams video call which lasted about 10 minutes.
The video call was set up after an email, purportedly from an aide at the Ukrainian embassy in London, was sent to a UK government department and then forwarded to the Ministry of Defence.
A cross-department government inquiry into how the call happened is ongoing.
Asked whether defences against hoax calls were strong enough, the No 10 spokesman said there was guidance on how such calls should be handled.
The Russian duo have also claimed to have interviewed politicians including Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and US Senator John McCain. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-60829542 |
Mariupol: Why Mariupol is so important to Russia's plan - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The most bombarded city in Ukraine’s war with Russia is key to Moscow’s military campaign. | Mariupol has become the most heavily bombed and damaged city in Ukraine's war with Russia - having suffered the brunt of sustained Russian attacks. It is key to Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. But why?
There are four main reasons why taking the port city would be such a strategic win for Russia - and a major blow for Ukraine.
Geographically, the city of Mariupol occupies only a tiny area on the map but it now stands obstinately in the way of Russian forces who have burst out of the Crimean peninsula.
They are pushing north-east to try to link up with their comrades and Ukrainian-separatist allies in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
General Sir Richard Barrons - former commander of UK Joint Forces Command - says capturing Mariupol is vital to Russia's war effort.
"When the Russians feel they have successfully concluded that battle, they will have completed a land bridge from Russia to Crimea and they will see this as a major strategic success."
If Mariupol was seized, Russia would also end up with full control of more than 80% of Ukraine's Black Sea coastline - cutting-off its maritime trade and further isolating it from the world.
By holding out against advancing forces for the past three weeks, the defending Ukrainians have managed to preoccupy a large number of Russian troops. But that failure by Russia to secure a rapid capture of the city, has prompted Russian commanders to resort to a 21st Century version of mediaeval siege tactics.
They have pummelled Mariupol with artillery, rockets and missiles - damaging or destroying over 90% of the city. They have also cut off access to electricity, heating, fresh water, food and medical supplies - creating a man-made humanitarian catastrophe which Moscow now blames on Ukraine for refusing to surrender by an 05:00 deadline on Monday. A Ukrainian MP has accused Russia of "trying to starve Mariupol into surrender".
Ukraine has vowed to defend the city down to the last soldier. It may well come to that. Russian troops are slowly pushing into the centre and, in the absence of any kind of workable peace deal, Russia is now likely to intensify its bombardment - drawing little if any distinction between its armed defenders and the beleaguered civilian population which still numbers over 200,000.
If, and when, Russia takes full control of Mariupol this will free up close to 6,000 of its troops - organised into 1,000-strong battalion tactical groups - to then go and reinforce other Russian fronts around Ukraine.
There are a number of possibilities as to where they could be redeployed:
Mariupol has long-been a strategically important port on the Sea of Azov, part of the Black Sea.
With its deep berths, it is the biggest port in the Azov Sea region and home to a major iron and steel works. In normal times, Mariupol is a key export hub for Ukraine's steel, coal and corn going to customers in the Middle East and beyond.
For eight years now, since Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, the city has been sandwiched uncomfortably between Russian forces on that peninsula and the pro-Kremlin separatists in the breakaway self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Losing Mariupol would be a major blow to what is left of Ukraine's economy.
Mariupol is home to a Ukrainian militia unit called the Azov Brigade, named after the Sea of Azov which links Mariupol to the rest of the Black Sea. The Azov Brigade contains far-right extremists, historically including neo-Nazis.
Although they form only the tiniest fraction of Ukraine's fighting forces, this has been a useful propaganda tool for Moscow, giving it a pretext for telling Russia's population that the young men it has sent to fight in Ukraine are there to rid their neighbour of neo-Nazis.
Azov Battalion training camp at a former holiday resort near Mariupol, February 2019
If Russia manages to capture alive significant numbers of Azov Brigade fighters it is likely they will be paraded on Russian state-controlled media as part of the ongoing information war to discredit Ukraine and its government.
The capture of Mariupol by Russia, if it happens, will be psychologically significant for both sides in this war.
A Russian victory in Mariupol would enable the Kremlin to show its population - through state-controlled media - that Russia was achieving its aims and making progress.
For President Putin, for whom this war appears to be personal, there is a historical significance to all this. He sees Ukraine's Black Sea coastline as belonging to something called Novorossiya (New Russia) - Russian lands that date back to the 18th Century empire.
Putin wants to revive that concept, "rescuing Russians from the tyranny of a pro-western government in Kyiv" as he sees it. Mariupol currently stands in the way of him achieving that aim.
But to Ukrainians, the loss of Mariupol would be a major blow - not just militarily and economically - but also to the minds of the men and women fighting on the ground, defending their country. Mariupol would be the first major city to fall to the Russians after Kherson, a strategically much less important city that was barely defended.
There is another morale aspect here and that is of deterrence.
Digging graves by the roadside in Mariupol, 20 March
Mariupol has put up fierce resistance - but look at the cost. The city is decimated, it lies largely in ruins. It will go down in history alongside Grozny and Aleppo, places that Russia eventually bombed and shelled into submission, reducing them to rubble. The message to other Ukrainian cities is stark - if you choose to resist like Mariupol did then you can expect the same fate.
"The Russians couldn't walk into Mariupol," says Gen Sir Richard Barrons, "they couldn't drive in with their tanks, so they've pounded it to rubble. And that's what we should expect to see anywhere else that really matters to them."
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Ukraine war: Western agents seek to get inside Putin's head - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine shook the West. Now its leaders are trying to predict his next move. | Russia's leader Vladimir Putin is trapped in a closed world of his own making, Western spies believe. And that worries them.
For years they have sought to get inside Mr Putin's mind, to better understand his intentions.
With Russian troops seemingly bogged down in Ukraine, the need to do so has become all the more necessary as they try to work out how he will react under pressure.
Understanding his state of mind will be vital to avoid escalating the crisis into even more dangerous territory.
There has been speculation that Russia's leader was ill, but many analysts believe he has actually become isolated and closed off to any alternative views.
His isolation has been evident in pictures of his meetings, such as when he met President Emmanuel Macron, the pair at far ends of a long table. It was also evident in Mr Putin's meeting with his own national security team on the eve of war.
Mr Putin's initial military plan looked like something devised by a KGB officer, one Western intelligence official explains.
It had been created, they say, by a tight "conspiratorial cabal" with an emphasis on secrecy. But the result was chaos. Russian military commanders were not ready and some soldiers went over the border without knowing what they were doing.
Western spies, through sources they will not discuss, knew more about those plans than many inside Russia's leadership. But now they face a new challenge - understanding what Russia's leader will do next. And that is not easy.
"The challenge of understanding the Kremlin's moves is that Putin is the single decision-maker in Moscow," explains John Sipher, who formerly ran the CIA's Russia operations. And even though his views are often made clear through public statements, knowing how he will act on them is difficult intelligence challenge.
"It is extremely hard in a system as well protected as Russia to have good intelligence on what's happening inside the head of the leader especially when so many of his own people do not know what is going on," Sir John Sawers, a former head of Britain's MI6, told the BBC.
Mr Putin, intelligence officials say, is isolated in a bubble of his own making, which very little outside information penetrates, particularly any which might challenge what he thinks.
"He is a victim of his own propaganda in the sense that he only listens to a certain number of people and blocks out everything else. This gives him a strange view of the world," says Adrian Furnham, a professor of psychology and co-author of a forthcoming book The Psychology of Spies and Spying. The risk is what is called "group think" in which everyone reinforces his view. "If he's a victim of group think we need to know who the group is," says Prof Furnham.
The circle of those Mr Putin talks to has never been large but when it came to the decision to invade Ukraine, it had narrowed to just a handful of people, Western intelligence officials believe, all of those "true believers" who share Mr Putin's mindset and obsessions.
The sense of how small his inner circle has become was emphasised when he publicly dressed down the head of his own Foreign Intelligence Service at the national security meeting just before the invasion - a move which seemed to humiliate the official. His speech hours later also revealed a man angry and obsessed with Ukraine and the West.
Those who have observed him say the Russian leader is driven by a desire to overcome the perceived humiliation of Russia in the 1990s along with a conviction that the West is determined to keep Russia down and drive him from power. One person who met Mr Putin remembers his obsession with watching videos of Libya's Col Gaddafi being killed after he was driven from power in 2011.
When the director of the CIA, William Burns, was asked to assess Mr Putin's mental state, he said he had "been stewing in a combustible combination of grievance and ambition for many years" and described his views as having "hardened" and that he was "far more insulated" from other points of view.
Is the Russian president crazy? That is a question many in the West have asked. But few experts consider it helpful. One psychologist with expertise in the area said a mistake was to assume because we cannot understand a decision like invading Ukraine we frame the person who made it as "mad".
The CIA has a team which carries out "leadership analysis" on foreign decision makers, drawing on a tradition dating back to attempts to understand Hitler. They study background, relationships and health, drawing on secret intelligence.
Another source are read-outs from the those who have had direct contact, such as other leaders. In 2014, Angela Merkel reportedly told President Obama that Mr Putin was living "in another world". President Macron meanwhile when he sat down with Mr Putin recently, was reported to have found the Russian leader "more rigid, more isolated" compared with previous encounters.
Did something change? Some speculate, without much evidence, about possible ill-health or the impact of medication. Others point to psychological factors such as a sense of his own time running out for him to fulfil what he sees as his destiny in protecting Russia or restoring its greatness. The Russian leader has visibly isolated himself from others during the Covid pandemic and this also may have had a psychological impact.
"Putin is likely not mentally ill, nor he has changed, although he is in more of a hurry, and likely more isolated in recent years," says Ken Dekleva, a former US government physician and diplomat, and currently a senior fellow at the George HW Bush Foundation for US-China Relations.
But a concern now is that reliable information is still not finding its way into Mr Putin's closed loop. His intelligence services may have been reluctant before the invasion to tell him anything he did not want to hear, offering rosy estimates of how an invasion would go and how Russian troops would be received before the war. And this week one Western official said Mr Putin may still not have the insight into how badly things are going for his own troops that Western intelligence has. That leads to concern about how he might react when confronted with a worsening situation for Russia.
Mr Putin himself tells the story of chasing a rat when he was a boy. When he had driven it into a corner, the rat reacted by attacking him, forcing a young Vladimir to become the one who fled. The question Western policymakers are asking is what if Mr Putin feels cornered now?
"The question really is whether or not he doubles down with greater brutality and escalates in terms of the weapon systems that he's prepared to use," said one western official. There have been concerns he could use chemical weapons or even a tactical nuclear weapon.
"The worry is that he does something unbelievably rash in a vicious press-the button way," says Adrian Furnham.
Mr Putin himself may play up the sense that he is dangerous or even irrational - this is a well-known tactic (often called the "madman" theory) in which someone with access to nuclear weapons tries to get his adversary to back down by convincing them that he may well be crazy enough to use them despite the potential for everyone to perish.
For Western spies and policymakers understanding Mr Putin's intentions and mindset today could not be more important. Predicting his response is pivotal in working out how far they can push him without triggering a dangerous reaction.
"Putin's self concept does not allow for failure or weakness. He despises such things" says Ken Dekleva. "A cornered, weakened Putin is a more dangerous Putin. It's sometimes better to let the bear run out of the cage and back to the forest." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60807134 |
China Eastern: Plane carrying 132 people crashes in Guangxi hills - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The Boeing 737 crashed into a hillside in southern China and there are fears no-one survived. | A Chinese passenger plane with 132 people on board has crashed in a forested hillside in southern China.
The China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 was flying from Kunming to Guangzhou when it plunged to earth in Guangxi province and caught fire.
The number of casualties and reason for the crash are not yet known. Rescuers have seen no signs of survivors.
Chinese airlines generally have a good safety record - the last major accident took place 12 years ago.
The crash has caused shock in China, where President Xi Jinping has ordered an immediate investigation to determine the cause. China Eastern Airlines has grounded all its 737-800s.
Flight tracking data suggested the plane lost height rapidly from its cruising altitude before plummeting to the ground.
More than 600 emergency responders are said to be at the crash site. Firefighters reached the scene first and managed to extinguish a blaze in the hills caused by the crash.
Footage taken by local villagers and shared on Chinese social media - and by state broadcasters - showed fire and smoke from the crash, with plane debris on the ground.
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Air safety and aviation standards in China have improved vastly in recent decades, following a series of accidents in the 1990s, and crashes such as this are now very rare.
The country's last major plane accident was in August 2010, when a flight from Harbin crashed in north-east Yichun during foggy weather, killing 42 people.
China Eastern has set up a hotline for people seeking information about those on board. It expressed "its deep condolences for the passengers and crew members who died".
Earlier, it greyed out its logo on its Weibo account and also changed its website to black and white in an apparent sign of mourning.
As a precaution, China Eastern's entire fleet of Boeing 737-800 jets has been grounded.
It took just two and a half minutes for an apparently normal flight to turn into a tragedy.
The aircraft was a 737-800, a well-proven design first produced in the late 1990s. It is a workhorse of the aviation world, with thousands still in service.
It has a strong safety record. Fatigue cracks have been found in some older planes, but this one was not quite seven years old.
There is no connection here with the 737 MAX, a newer version of the 737, which was grounded for more than a year and a half after a design flaw triggered two major accidents.
Investigators will be looking at many possible causes - among them deliberate action, such as terrorism, technical issues such as structural failure, or a mid-air collision.
They will look at communications from the pilots, examine the state of the wreckage - and search for the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
Those recorders should contain the information needed to confirm exactly what happened during those minutes and why.
Staff at Guangzhou airport are directing worried relatives to a separate zone set up to receive them.
One woman waiting for news there told local media she had booked a seat on the flight, but ended up switching to an earlier plane.
"I feel very sad," she said. Her sister and four friends were on the crashed plane, AFP news agency reports.
State-owned China Eastern is one of China's big three airlines, along with China Southern and Air China.
Flight MU5735 left Kunming at 13:11 local time (05:11 GMT) and was scheduled to arrive in Guangzhou at 15:05.
A file photo from 2015 of the China Eastern Airlines Boeing 737-800 which crashed
Flight tracking sites report the plane was in the air for just over an hour and was nearing its destination when it went down in Wuzhou, a verdant, hilly area prone to mixed weather at this time of year as China enters its annual flood season.
The weather was cloudy, but visibility was reported to have been good at the time of the crash.
Footage said to be of Flight MU5735 plummeting vertically from the sky has been circulating on social media.
The plane dropped thousands of metres in three minutes, flight tracker data showed.
According to FlightRadar24 data, the plane was cruising at 29,100ft, but two minutes and 15 seconds later it was recorded at 9,075ft. The last sourced information on the flight showed it ended at 14:22 local time, at an altitude of 3,225ft.
"Usually the plane is on autopilot during cruise stage. So it is very hard to fathom what happened," Li Xiaojin, a Chinese aviation expert, told Reuters news agency.
Another expert, Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge, told China's Global Times newspaper: "It is very likely that the aircraft lost power at cruising altitude, resulting in the pilot losing control of the aircraft.
"This is a very serious technical failure in which the plane inevitably enters a high-speed descent."
The Boeing 737-800 plane was nearly seven years old, according to tracker websites. It is the predecessor model to the Boeing 737 Max line, which were the planes involved in deadly crashes in Indonesia in 2018 and Ethiopia in 2019.
China banned that model after those crashes.
Boeing issued a statement on the crash of MU5735, saying: "We are aware of the initial media reports and are working to gather more information."
China's Civil Aviation Administration said it had dispatched its investigators to the scene. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-60819760 |
Ukraine war: Drone footage shows level of devastation in Mariupol - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Video shows destroyed blocks of flats and a shopping mall in the besieged Ukrainian port city. | Blocks of flats and a shopping mall have been completely destroyed in Mariupol, Ukraine.
The besieged port city has faced constant shelling since the war started three weeks ago.
The Mayor of Mariupol Vadym Boichenko told the BBC that fighting has reached the city centre.
Read more on the attack on Mariupol here.
This video has no sound | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60800581 |
William and Kate dance and taste chocolate during day two of Belize tour - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | "They were shaking their waists like nobody's business," said a local woman who danced with the duke. | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. Watch: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge show off their dance moves in Belize
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have been dancing with locals and sampling chocolate at a cocoa farm as they explored Belize.
"They were shaking their waists like nobody's business," said Laura Cacho, a local festival organiser who danced with William.
On the second day of their Caribbean tour, the royals visited the Che 'il chocolate farm
They ground cacao nibs, before the future king jokingly asked for a job.
The duke and duchess were rewarded with a taste of the products at the family-run cocoa farm in the village of Maya Center in southern Belize, with Catherine admitting their children would be "jealous".
The duke and duchess later showed off their moves on the dancefloor as they experienced the culture of the Garifuna community in the coastal village of Hopkins.
Ms Cacho, 57, said it was a "pleasure" to dance with William.
"He shook his waist to the music. He had beautiful rhythm. It was a pleasure for me.
"Kate was excellent as well and definitely has Garifuna culture in her."
The duchess also had a shimmy to the delight of the Belize crowds
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge got stuck in to grind cacao nibs on a visit to a family-run chocolate farm in southern Belize
Earlier, during the trip to the cocoa farm, the royal couple learnt first-hand about the work that goes into producing the chocolate.
William, 39, who had been pounding away with a mortar and pestle made from volcanic rock, quipped about swapping his royal day job for one on the farm, asking the owner, Julio Saqui: "Do you take apprentices?
"Can I come and work for you? It's my kind of thing."
The duke and duchess were shown cocoa trees laden with fruit, with Catherine, 40, asking the owner's brother, Narcisio, how often they are harvested.
As they took a break from the blistering sun under a marquee, the royal couple heard from Narcisio about the importance of the cocoa bean.
The future king joked about swapping his royal day job for an apprenticeship on the farm
William and Catherine tasted the farm's fruit as they learnt about the importance of the cocoa bean
The Saqui family are part of Belize's Maya community, where the cocoa bean is sacred and has been a key part of their culture for thousands of years.
The cocoa bean was once considered more valuable than gold to the Maya people, who served it to royalty and continue to offer it to important guests.
The duke expressed his surprise after using a club to break open a cocoa pod - which was filled with white sticky seeds that have to be fermented, dried, roasted and ground to make chocolate - exclaiming: "That's not what I expected at all."
The couple later got to taste some of the farm's goods as they dipped tortilla chips into chocolate fountains, and tried hot chocolate made from organic products.
The duchess admitted the couple's three children - Prince George, eight, Princess Charlotte, six, and Prince Louis, three - would be "very jealous".
William and Catherine later met conservationists on the Hopkins' beach to learn about the area's marine environment and efforts to preserve Belize's barrier reef.
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William and Catherine's tour of the Che 'il chocolate farm came after a planned trip to a similar producer had to be axed after reported opposition from local residents.
The Cambridges' visit to the Akte 'il Ha cacao farm in Indian Creek village was cancelled amid a reported dispute between villagers and Fauna and Flora International (FFI), which has William as patron, over land owned by the conservation organisation.
Residents are also reported to have raised concerns saying they were not consulted about plans for the couple's helicopter to land on a local football pitch.
Kensington Palace and the Belize government confirmed the schedule change, while a spokesman for FFI said the charity would "support the livelihoods, educational opportunities and the customary rights of local people" as part of its project in the area.
On landing at Belize City's Philip S. W. Goldson International Airport on Sunday, the duke and duchess were greeted by Belize's governor general and a guard of honour from the Belize Defence Force.
They royal couple later met Prime Minister Johnny Briceno and his wife Rossana, with Mr Briceno telling them: "We're so happy you're here."
The Cambridges landed at Belize City's airport on Sunday
The royal couple will also visit Jamaica and the Bahamas as part of their eight-day tour, with highlights set to include a sailing regatta in the Bahamas in honour of the Queen's 70-year reign, and a celebration of Jamaica's musical and sporting heritage. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60814541 |
Jonathan Van-Tam granted freedom of Boston in ceremony - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | England's deputy medical officer can now drive sheep across a bridge in his home town of Boston. | This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser.
England's deputy chief medical officer has been granted the freedom of Boston.
In a ceremony held at the ground of Prof Sir Jonathan Van-Tam's beloved Boston United, he was made a freeman of the borough in recognition of his role during the Covid-19 pandemic response.
The 58-year-old came to public prominence during the daily government coronavirus briefings where he won fans with his frequent football analogies.
He said it was a "tremendous honour" and he was "very humbled by it all".
Prof Van-Tam described the honour as 'unbelievable' and spoke fondly of picking vegetables in local fields while growing up
Prof Van-Tam was knighted in the New Year Honours list along with England's chief medical officer Prof Chris Whitty, who attended a Boston United fixture with him on Saturday.
In mid-January, it was announced he would be leaving his role at the end of this month and will become pro-vice chancellor at the University of Nottingham's faculty of medicine and health sciences.
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Speaking at the ceremony organised by Boston Borough Council, which now allows him to drive sheep over the Town Bridge and into the Market Place, Prof Van-Tam said: "What a superb accolade to be recognised by your home town and by the people you grew up with.
"I connect to my home town these days through my really happy memories, through people I still know in the town and of course through the football club."
Speaking about growing up, Prof Van-Tam said his childhood memories "live with you for a lifetime" and reminisced about growing up in the outskirts of Boston and picking vegetables.
Deputy chief medical officer for England since 2017, he often appeared alongside Prime Minister Boris Johnson at televised news briefings, where he caught the public's attention by the way he described coronavirus.
He said his formative years in the town had aided him in giving the briefings, saying: "It's really helped me think about my audience. When I get deeply complex scientific questions, I think back to my audience and think: 'Well, what would they want to know?'."
He told BBC Radio Lincolnshire the pandemic had been "really difficult" for people, and in addressing his high profile during the response, he said: "It's something you have to face if you're in a national role, but I'd rather be Mr Ordinary."
Prof Van-Tam, who previously worked in the pharmaceutical industry and for the UK Health Protection Agency, also volunteered as a vaccinator to help distribute Covid-19 jabs.
On receiving his honour, he wanted to stress the team effort of the last two years, saying: "There are thousands upon thousands of people in this country who have done every bit as much as I have in their own roles either locally or regionally, and they all to deserve recognition and thanks."
The ceremonial plaque confirming Prof Van-Tam is now an honorary freeman
Follow BBC East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Send your story ideas to yorkslincs.news@bbc.co.uk. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lincolnshire-60826339 |
Kaden Reddick: Topshop and Arcadia guilty of safety breaches - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Kaden Reddick suffered a fatal head injury at the store in Reading during a family shopping trip. | Kaden Reddick was fatally injured at Topshop in Reading's Oracle shopping centre
Topshop and its former owners have been found guilty of health and safety breaches after a 10-year-old boy died when a queue barrier toppled on him.
Kaden Reddick suffered a fatal head injury at the Reading store during a family shopping trip in 2017.
Following a two-month trial, Arcadia Group and Topshop/Topman were convicted of failing to discharge a health and safety duty.
A jury found barrier manufacturer Realm Projects not guilty of the same charge.
This video can not be played To play this video you need to enable JavaScript in your browser. CCTV video showed the barrier at the Reading store "wobble" as people leaned on it
Stoneforce Ltd, which was contracted to fit the barriers, had earlier pleaded guilty to failing to discharge a health and safety duty.
During the trial, Reading Crown Court heard the barrier was installed between 2013 and 2014, during a major store refit.
The plinth supporting the barrier at the store in Reading's Oracle shopping centre had only been fixed to the floor with two narrow screws and the "wobbly" barrier fell on Kaden, prosecutors said.
Arcadia, Topshop/Topman and Stoneforce Ltd will be sentenced at a later date.
The jury was shown a picture of the barrier around the time it was installed
Follow BBC South on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to south.newsonline@bbc.co.uk
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-60826883 |
Covid: Spring booster jab launches for over-75s and high risk in England - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Experts say it will help keep the most vulnerable protected against severe illness amid rising infections. | People aged 75 and over, residents in care homes and those with weakened immune systems can now book an extra booster jab against Covid in England.
It comes as official figures show infection rates are rising in all age groups - including the over-70s.
The rollout follows recommendations from the UK's vaccine advisers who say additional jabs will help boost protection for the most vulnerable.
Spring boosters are already being rolled out in Wales and Scotland.
A wider booster programme - involving more people - is expected this autumn.
It comes as the UK is seeing rising cases of Covid, with an estimated one in every 20 people infected, according to latest figures.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said that people with symptoms of the virus should "behave sensibly" but he said that it would be down to the individual to decide whether or not to take a test.
"I think we need to step back and think about how we learn to live with Covid and focus on our very best form of defence and that's the vaccination programme," he said.
While vaccines have been shown to provide good protection against severe disease, protection wanes over time.
And as many of the oldest received their last jab in autumn 2021, their immunity may now be declining, experts say.
Now, a second booster - to be administered six months after the previous dose, or sooner if deemed appropriate - will be offered to:
Over seven million people in the UK will be eligible to have the extra booster jab - with the first 600,000 people in England to be invited from this week.
Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the NHS's vaccination programme, urged everyone eligible to book their boosters as soon as possible.
She said: "With infections rising this is a really important opportunity for people who are eligible to come forward and get booked and get their spring booster."
The extra jabs will be given around six months after the last dose of vaccine.
Across the UK more than two-thirds of people aged over 12 have had two Covid vaccines plus a single booster jab.
A first booster dose is currently available for everyone aged 16 and over, and at-risk children aged 12 to 15.
But up until now only people with severely weakened immune systems had been eligible for a fourth dose - three doses plus a booster.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation has suggested further boosters will be offered to a wider group of people in autumn.
Experts believe winter is likely to be the season when the threat from Covid is greatest - for individuals, the NHS and care homes.
Recent research from the UK Health Security Agency has shown that the NHS booster programme has helped prevent around 157,000 hospitalisations since mid-December.
Despite this NHS hospitals have treated more than 100,000 patient with Covid since the start of the Omicron wave.
• None How to get a Covid booster - NHS The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-60795121 |
P&O Ferries' sackings were appalling, says Sunak - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The government is examining the legality of the ferry firm's actions, the chancellor confirms. | P&O Ferries' sacking of 800 staff without warning last week was "awful" and "wrong", Chancellor Rishi Sunak has told the BBC.
The government is examining the legality of the firm's actions, the chancellor confirmed.
However, the Sunday Times reports that ministers knew of the plan to sack crew beforehand, but failed to challenge it.
The Department for Transport said "full details" were not available at that stage.
A memo sent to ministers by a senior Whitehall official - and seen by the Sunday Times - outlined P&O Ferries' strategy before the sackings took place, the newspaper said.
According to the Sunday Times, the note said the sackings were designed to ensure P&O remained "a key player in the UK market for years to come through restructuring".
The memo, as reported in the newspaper, said: "We understand that P&O Ferries have an intention to try and re-employ many staff on new terms and conditions or use agency staff to restart routes; they estimate disruption to services lasting 10 days."
It was circulated before Thursday's announcement, made over Zoom, telling 800 P&O staff that they were losing their jobs with immediate effect.
The news was met with outrage from trades unions representing crew and ministers responded with strong criticism, announcing they would review all government contracts with the firm.
Mr Sunak, speaking to Sophie Raworth on the BBC's Sunday Morning programme, said P&O's approach was "appalling in the way that they've treated their workers".
The government does not appear to have voiced concerns directly to P&O before the sackings.
The Department for Transport (DfT) said it was standard practice for officials to outline what they had been told by a private firm in an internal memo.
"This was sent before ministers were advised of the full details and as soon as they were informed, they made clear their outrage at the way in which P&O staff had been dismissed," a DfT spokesperson said.
The DfT said the memo made clear that the department's priority was to "work with unions to ensure workers' rights continue to be protected".
The transport secretary had urged the company to "sit down with workers and reconsider this action", the DfT added. Grant Shapps has said he was "deeply concerned" at the move.
Protests have taken place outside the P&O head office near Dover
Louise Haigh MP, Labour's shadow transport secretary, said: "This bombshell letter proves that the government was not only aware of P&O ferries' scandalous action - but complicit in it.
"They knew people's livelihoods were on the line and they knew P&O was attempting to use exploitative fire and rehire practices. But they sat back and did nothing."
In a statement, P&O Ferries said: "We took this difficult decision as a last resort and only after full consideration of all other options but, ultimately, we concluded that the business wouldn't survive without fundamentally changed crewing arrangements, which in turn would inevitably result in redundancies."
Chris Parker, a director at DFDS, one of P&O's competitors, told the BBC that his company is prepared to hire some of those sacked by P&O Ferries.
"We reduced the capacity of vessels quite sharply during the pandemic because of social distancing. We're increasing that back up again now and we're looking for some staff to come in and help us with that," he said.
P&O Ferries is owned by Dubai logistics giant DP World which is, in turn, controlled by the Dubai sovereign wealth fund.
Last year, DP World's revenue soared by more than a fifth to over £3.7bn ($4.9bn) as the global economy began to pick up after coronavirus lockdowns. The company received support of around £10m during the pandemic to furlough 1,100 workers. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-60812328 |
Anonymous: How hackers are trying to undermine Putin - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The BBC speaks to hacktivists about past and future attacks in their "cyber war" against Vladimir Putin. | The Anonymous hacktivist collective has been bombarding Russia with cyber-attacks since declaring "cyber war" on President Vladimir Putin in retaliation for the invasion of Ukraine. Several people operating under its banner spoke to the BBC about their motives, tactics and plans.
Of all the cyber-attacks carried out since the Ukraine conflict started, an Anonymous hack on Russian TV networks stands out.
The hack was captured in a short video clip which shows normal programming interrupted with images of bombs exploding in Ukraine and soldiers talking about the horrors of the conflict.
The video began circulating on the 26 February and was shared by Anonymous social media accounts with millions of followers. "JUST IN: #Russian state TV channels have been hacked by #Anonymous to broadcast the truth about what happens in #Ukraine," one post read.
It quickly racked up millions of views.
The video was sent to a woman in the US, Eliza, by her father in Russia
The stunt has all the hallmarks of an Anonymous hack - dramatic, impactful and easy to share online. Like many of the group's other cyber-attacks it was also extremely hard to verify.
But one of the smaller groups of Anonymous hackers said that they were responsible, and that they took over TV services for 12 minutes.
The first person to post the video was also able to verify it was real. Eliza lives in the US but her father is Russian and called her when his TV shows were interrupted. "My father called me when it happened and said, 'Oh my God, they're showing the truth!' So I got him to record it and I posted the clip online. He says one of his friends saw it happen too."
Rostelecom, the Russian company that runs the hacked services did not respond to requests for comment.
The hackers justified their actions saying innocent Ukrainians were being massacred. "We will intensify the attacks on the Kremlin, if nothing is done to restore peace in Ukraine," they added.
Anonymous says it has also taken down Russian websites and stolen government data, but Lisa Forte, a partner at cyber-security company Red Goat says most of these attacks have so far been "quite basic".
Hackers have mostly been using DDoS attacks, where a server is overwhelmed by a flood of requests, she said. These are relatively simple to carry out and only take websites offline temporarily.
"But the TV hack is incredibly creative," she said, "and I would think quite difficult to pull off."
Anonymous hackers have also defaced Russian websites. Forte says this involves gaining control of a website to change the content displayed.
So far, the attacks have caused disruption and embarrassment, but cyber-experts have become increasingly concerned by the explosion of hacktivism since the invasion.
They are worried that a hacker might accidentally knock out a hospital's computer network or interrupt critical communication links.
"I've never seen anything like this," says Emily Taylor from the Cyber Policy Journal.
"These attacks do carry risks. [They] could lead to escalation, or someone could accidentally cause real damage to a critical part of civilian life."
Anonymous has not been this active in years. Roman, a Ukrainian tech entrepreneur who heads a group of hackers called Stand for Ukraine, had no links with the organisation until Russia invaded his country.
But he told me that when he and his team briefly defaced the website of the Russian state news agency, Tass, with an anti-Putin poster, they included an Anonymous logo.
Roman works from his apartment in Kyiv, co-ordinating his team as they create websites, Android apps and Telegram bots to help Ukraine's war effort, and hack Russian targets.
"I am ready to go and pick up a rifle for Ukraine, but at the moment my skills are better used at the computer. So I'm here in my home with my two laptops, co-ordinating this IT resistance."
Roman at work: "Sometimes I see rockets in my sky"
He says his group took a Russian regional train ticket service offline for a number of hours, although the BBC has not been able to verify this.
He defends his actions saying: "These things are illegal and wrong until there is a threat to you or your relative."
Another group that has merged with Anonymous is a Polish hacking team called Squad 303, named after a famous Polish fighter squadron in World War Two.
"We work together with Anonymous all the time and I now consider myself a member of the Anonymous movement," says one of the group, who uses the name of WW2 pilot Jan Zumbach as his moniker.
He didn't want his photograph published but another member of his team, a Ukrainian, sent a picture of himself in a helmet and mask. He described his situation as "on the barricade with a rifle during the day and hacking with the Squad/Anonymous at night".
Squad 303 has built a website allowing members of the public to send text messages to random Russian phone numbers, telling them the truth about the war. They claim to have facilitated more than 20 million SMS and WhatsApp messages.
Two Anonymous groups I spoke to cited this as the most impactful thing the collective has done so far for Ukraine.
Asked how he justified the Squad's illegal activity, Jan Zumbach said they did not steal or share any private information and were only trying to speak to Russians, with the aim of winning the information war.
However he also said they were planning a more impactful hack in the coming days.
Vigilante groups in Russia are also carrying out attacks on Ukraine, but seemingly on a smaller scale.
There have been three major waves of co-ordinated DDoS attacks against Ukraine since January, plus three incidents of more serious "wiper" attacks that deleted data on a small number of Ukrainian computer systems.
On Wednesday a manipulated video of President Zelensky appeared on the Ukraine 24 TV channel website after an apparent hack.
In the current environment, though, it's hard to know exactly who is behind any given cyber-attack.
"The Achilles heel of Anonymous is that anyone can claim to be Anonymous, including state actors operating against what we're fighting for," says long-standing Anonymous hacker Anon2World.
"With our current rise in popularity, it's (almost) a given that there will be obvious repercussions from a government entity. As for adding to the chaos, we're used to chaos, especially online."
• None The return of the Anonymous hacker collective | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-60784526 |
Anger and grief as crowds rally to support Child Q - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Hundreds of people marched through north London. Their message? Let black girls be black girls. | Let black girls be girls. That was the message that hundreds of people wanted to express when they gathered for a rally in north London on Sunday.
Crowds marched in support of Child Q - a black 15-year-old girl who was strip-searched at school after being wrongly suspected of carrying drugs.
The incident happened in 2020 and the girl's family is suing her school and the force. The family said the girl had become "a shell of her former bubbly self".
But it has reignited concerns over the treatment of black people by the Metropolitan Police. The Met has apologised for what happened but people at the rally say they want assurances that what happened to Child Q won't be repeated.
Holding banners and chanting, people demanded justice. One placard read "protect our black children".
But aside from the anger and outrage, the sense of grief and trauma was palpable. Many shed tears in the midst of chanting for change.
Omega Douglas said she felt sick when she heard what happened to Child Q. She came along to the rally with her mother and daughter. Like many, she believes the Met has failed black people several times.
"I'm old enough to have lived through the Brixton riots," she said, citing the "multiple abuses of power by the police in this country". She added: "I am appalled."
Omega came along to the rally with her mother and daughter
Jacqui Courtenay set up the rally after hearing about the case of Child Q a few days ago.
She said she had a strong urge to act because "a child out there has been caused such harm, a black child, and that could have been my kids... that could be [my] nieces and nephews".
Jacqui and several others say they felt particularly traumatised after hearing how the 15-year-old was strip searched by two female police officers, and made to take off her sanitary towel. The teenager was on her period at the time.
The ordeal took place at Child Q's school, with no appropriate adult present.
It's the first time that Jacqui, a city worker, has set up an event of this kind. She reached out to Patrick Vernon, a Windrush campaigner who helped organise the rally with the support of other human rights activists like Marai Larasi.
Jacqui said she was overwhelmed by the response of the hundreds of people who came to the rally in solidarity with Child Q.
"I feel like it's an out of body experience... It's been so long since we've seen such an outpouring of love for a black person, let alone a black girl."
Jacqui Courtenay was one of the organisers of Sunday's event
Many people told the BBC of their anger at the "adultification bias" which the safeguarding review said was highly likely to have been a factor in the case. Adultification is a form of racial prejudice that causes adults to perceive black children as being older than they are.
"They are seen as troublemakers" said Izzy, a youth worker at the rally. "They're seen as aggressive or loud, a threat. I get them telling me about that quite a lot."
Speaking through her tears, Holly Adamoh said that the school involved should have looked after Child Q.
"You should not have to feel racially profiled within a school, and you shouldn't have to ever feel threatened," she said. "You should be listened to and looked after." Frustrated, Holly said she believed the police showed a lack of empathy towards Child Q.
Holly and Izzy were among the hundreds of people at the rally
Former Met Police superintendent Leroy Logan was also at the rally. He retired in 2013 but spent some of his career in Hackney, where the incident took place.
He told the BBC that the false accusation made about Child Q smelling of cannabis did not give the police the authority to carry out the strip search.
The Met Police has apologised, with Scotland Yard saying its officers' actions were "regrettable" and "it should never have happened". Last month, a senior Met officer told the BBC that racism remains a problem in the force - but he denied the Met was a racist organisation.
Logan added that many people are disgusted by the case and "know their child could be next".
"This is not a time just to say we regret," he said. "There has to be action." | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60816934 |
Bahrain Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc wins as both Red Bulls retire - BBC Sport | 2022-03-21 | Charles Leclerc wins a close battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen before taking a classy victory in a dramatic season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix. | Last updated on .From the section Formula 1
Charles Leclerc won a close battle with Red Bull's Max Verstappen before taking a classy victory as Ferrari took a one-two in a dramatic season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Verstappen staged a thrilling wheel-to-wheel dice after their first pit stops, swapping places five times in two laps before Leclerc moved ahead.
The closing laps were packed with drama, with a safety car period and then reliability problems forcing Verstappen's retirement promoting Carlos Sainz to second.
And then the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez suffered a failure at the first corner of the final lap leaving Lewis Hamilton to take the final podium place for Mercedes.
Hamilton had looked set for fifth place as Mercedes' pace problems became ever clearer during the race but Red Bull's nightmare provided the seven-time champion an unexpected boost.
The irony that Hamilton gained from Red Bull's misfortune in the first race after he lost the world title in the controversial climax to last season will be lost on few.
Leclerc's victory was out of the top drawer and underlined his quality as one of the leading lights of the new generation.
And if Ferrari can stay competitive throughout this long, 23-race season, he will be a serious contender for the championship.
It was clean getaway for every car at the start
Verstappen should have taken second place but he suffered as Red Bull's day imploded in the final three laps.
The Dutchman tried his best, fighting vigorously with Leclerc after their first pit stops but ultimately losing out in the fight, and was looking set for a frustrated second place before his race unravelled.
He had already started to complain about heavy steering, and then a lap into the final sprint after the safety car he asked what was happening with the battery. He slowed and pulled into the pits with three laps to go.
Sainz moved into second and Perez was left holding off Hamilton for third place.
The Mexican was also suffering problems but was managing to keep Hamilton just at bay when he spun at the start of the final lap as the engine suddenly stopped and Red Bull went from second and fourth to nothing in a few moments.
Team principal Christian Horner said he did not yet know what had gone wrong but it "looks like an issue in the fuel system" for both cars.
Verstappen said: "It looked like there was no fuel coming to the engine and everything just turned off so I just rolled into the pit lane."
After snatching pole position from Verstappen with the very final lap of qualifying, Leclerc held off the Dutchman's charge at the first corner and consolidated his lead through the first stint.
The Monegasque was 3.7 seconds in front by the time Verstappen made his first pit stop, but when Leclerc stopped the next time around, the Red Bull was right on the Ferrari's tail.
The defining period of the race followed.
Verstappen tracked Leclerc for a lap before diving down the inside into the lead into Turn One at the start of lap 17.
Leclerc repassed Verstappen around the outside into Turn Four, cutting across Verstappen as he edged ahead, but remained under threat.
Verstappen passed again at Turn One the next time around, and again Leclerc re-took the lead into Turn Four, this time diving to the inside.
Verstappen tried again into Turn One for a third time the next time around, but locked his front tyre, and slid straight on, allowing Leclerc to retake the lead.
From there, the Ferrari driver eked out his advantage again, building a lead of close to five seconds.
The last few crazy laps
After that, the Ferrari driver had just that bit too much pace for Verstappen.
Realising they had nothing to lose, Red Bull threw the dice with just over 10 laps to go, fitting soft tyres to Verstappen's and Perez's cars for a final sprint to the flag.
Ferrari chose not to follow Verstappen in with Leclerc but the new dynamic had no time to play out as Pierre Gasly pulled off with his Alpha Tauri in flames and the safety car was deployed.
Leclerc judged the restart beautifully, while Verstappen's attempt to harry Leclerc before he bolted from the last corner backfired and he came under pressure from Sainz.
He held him off, only for his race to unravel.
George Russell took fourth for Mercedes ahead of the revived Haas of Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas' Alfa Romeo, a strong drive from the Finn after a dreadful start dropped him right down the field from his sixth place on the grid.
The new rules introduced this year with the aim of closing up the field and making overtaking easier have certainly shuffled the pack, with Mercedes and McLaren the biggest losers and Ferrari and Haas gaining most.
But the race did not provide sufficient evidence for a definitive conclusion to be drawn as to whether their prime intentions have succeeded.
What happens next?
The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix next weekend - last year's maiden race on the fast Jeddah street circuit was dramatic. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/60815376 |
Morad Tahbaz: British-US national detained in Iran on hunger strike - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | The family of Morad Tahbaz, who has cancer, says it is distraught that Iran has not yet freed him. | Morad Tahbaz and fellow conservationists were using cameras to track endangered species when they were arrested
The family of a British-US national who they expected to be freed by Iran last week as part of a deal with the UK has gone on hunger strike, they say.
Morad Tahbaz, 66, who also has Iranian citizenship, has been confined to a hotel, the Foreign Office has said.
His sister Taraneh told the BBC his family was "absolutely distraught" and feared he would be forgotten about.
The Foreign Office says it is continuing to lobby Iran at the highest levels for Mr Tahbaz to be released.
Hopes had been raised that Mr Tahbaz would be freed when Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori were released and flew back to the UK on Thursday, but he was returned to Evin prison on Friday.
The Foreign Office said it had been informed by the Iranians this move was in order for Mr Tahbaz to have an electronic ankle bracelet fitted. On Sunday, the Foreign Office said he had been moved to a hotel in Tehran.
Appearing alongside Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe at a news conference on Monday, Mr Tahbaz's daughter, Roxanne, said the family had been led to believe her father would be released with the other dual nationals.
"From the outset, we were always assured by the [UK government] that my father would be included in any deal that was made to release all of the hostages.
"So we're truly devastated, knowing now that this was not the case."
Roxanne Tahbaz said the family "just want them [the UK government] to do whatever they have to do" to bring her father and mother, who is also subject to a travel ban inside Iran, back home.
Speaking on the Today programme earlier, Taraneh Tahbaz said Mr Tahbaz had gone on hunger strike.
"He continues to be used as a pawn on a chessboard and it's very distressing," she said. " We're agonised and we're absolutely distraught and we don't know what the next moves are."
Mr Tahbaz was doing conservation work when he was held in Iran in January 2018.
Family photo of Morad Tahbaz, as a younger man, with his family
He and seven other conservationists were accused of collecting classified information about Iran's strategic areas under the pretext of carrying out environmental and scientific projects.
The conservationists - members of Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation - had been using cameras to track endangered species including the Asiatic cheetah and Persian leopard, according to Amnesty International.
All eight denied the charges and Amnesty International said there was evidence that they had been subjected to torture in order to extract forced "confessions".
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison with his colleagues on vague charges of spying for the US and undermining Iran's security.
Last year, UN human rights experts warned that Mr Tahbaz, who has cancer and has twice had Covid, had been denied access to proper treatment in prison despite his health condition deteriorating. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60816960 |
Covid: Spring booster rollout begins and most Scotland's legal curbs end - BBC News | 2022-03-21 | Five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday morning. | Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Monday morning.
People eligible for an additional Covid jab as part of the spring booster rollout can now book an appointment. Those aged 75 and over, residents in care homes and with weakened immune systems in England are being urged to do so as infections continue to rise across the UK. Read more here.
Most legal restrictions relating to Covid bar wearing face coverings have ended in Scotland. The change means businesses, for example, are no longer required to retain customers' contact details. Face coverings remain due to a surge in cases but the rules will be reviewed in April.
While most countries are trying to live with coronavirus, China and Hong Kong have been trying to eliminate it. But they are currently seeing the worst outbreak in more than two years which has raised questions about the zero-Covid strategy. So how long can China hold on to this goal? Find out here.
Post-primary school pupils in Northern Ireland no longer need to wear face coverings in classrooms. The rule introduced during the pandemic has been dropped, bringing Northern Ireland into line with the rest of the UK and the Irish Republic.
Councillor Jennifer Burke-Davies says remote council meetings introduced during the pandemic meant she could attend and watch her children. She believes this change has been helpful with childcare. And one academic says this surge in virtual meetings could boost the number of women in local government. Here's the full story.
Here are the full details about who will be offered a Covid booster this spring.
You can find more information, advice and guides on our coronavirus page.
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If you are reading this page and can't see the form you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question or send them via email to YourQuestions@bbc.co.uk. Please include your name, age and location with any question you send in. | http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-60815941 |
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