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Susanna Reid confronts Piers Morgan over 'fat shaming' her in interview

The Good Morning Britain hosts opened the show today and Susanna demanded to know why she looked "twice the size" of him this today

‘It's Obviously A Lot Easier When You Have More Shared Values’ - Jacinda Ardern On Biden As President

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says it is “obviously easier” with "more shared values”, when pressed on her feelings about President Donald Trump versus the current US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that being “woke” was “important for everybody”.

How a cannabis farm cured my fear of nature

There’s always a detail in apocalypse fiction that looms horrifically in your subconscious from your first encounter with the genre, when you were a bit too young for it. Mine is plants bursting through concrete, that stark reminder that mankind is evanescent and nature is stronger. As a child, it was the most terrible thing I could imagine: grass growing through pavement, creepers tendrilling out of defunct offices. I think I got this phobia...

Biden wants unity and democracy. But in the US these have always been in conflict

The three words that stood out in Joe Biden’s powerful inaugural address, if only for the number of times he used them, were “democracy”, “unity” and “truth”. But it was democracy that took centre stage. “This is democracy’s day,” he said, in his first statement after taking the oath of office. “The will of the people has been heard … Democracy has prevailed.” Is this apparent vindication of democracy enough for unity and truth to prevail as...

Japanese PM faces mounting pressure over pandemic response

Japanese PM faces mounting pressure over pandemic response

‘You don’t have a country’: Ten years after Egypt uprise, exiles disillusioned

When Egyptians first took to the streets on January 25, 2011, their numbers quickly swelled in Cairo's Tahrir Square, state security forces backed off and, within less than three weeks, then-president Hosni Mubarak stepped down. But a decade later, thousands are estimated to have fled abroad to escape the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, which many consider to be even more oppressive. The loss of academics, artists, journalists and...

‘Hotel quarantine’: What travellers to the UK could soon face

Ministers are contemplating introducing tough travel restrictions – of the kind that have been in force since last March in Asia and Australasia. These are the key questions and answers. Surely no one should be travelling? No leisure travel is allowed for anyone living in the UK, but some of the people coming in left the country before the third lockdown started on 5 January and have been on long-stay trips. People who have been staying in a...

From factory to faraway village: behind India's mammoth vaccination drive

From factory to faraway village: behind India's mammoth vaccination drive

Biden set to reimpose travel ban on UK and EU over fears of new COVID variants

US President Joe Biden will reimpose a number of travel bans that were repealed by his predecessor.

Starwatch: follow the moon to the Winter Hexagon

The moon will guide you to a fun asterism this week called the Winter Hexagon. Asterisms are patterns made by connecting stars, whereas constellations are the areas of the sky that contain the asterisms. Not all asterisms belong to a single constellation, however. This week’s pattern joins seven stars from six different constellations. The chart shows the view from London, looking south at 22.00GMT on 25 January. The almost full moon will be...

China pushes fringe theories on pandemic origins, virus

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — Chinese state media have played up questions about Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine and whether it could be lethal to the very old. A government spokesperson suggests the coronavirus could have emerged from a U.S. military lab. As the ruling Communist Party faces growing questioning about China's vaccines and renewed criticism of its early COVID response, it is hitting back by encouraging fringe theories that some experts say...

Monday briefing: New Covid could 'slip through' without quarantine

Top story: London and south-east at risk of ‘levelling down’ Hello, Warren Murray putting the news afoot immediately to hand. Boris Johnson is facing increasing pressure from cabinet ministers and scientists to require all new arrivals, including British citizens, to quarantine at their own expense in government-supervised hotels. “Anyone who slips through could be a new mutant strain, hence the need for blanket measures,” one Home Office source...

Pets may need to be vaccinated to stop Covid-19 spread, scientists suggest

Cats and dogs may be the a concern in the not too distant future as we look at controlling the spread of coronavirus

Israel ‘closes skies’ to air travel to prevent spread of coronavirus variants

Israel on Sunday announced a week-long ban on most incoming and outgoing flights in a bid to slow the spread of new variants of the novel coronavirus. The measure will begin at midnight from Monday into Tuesday and remain in effect until Sunday, a statement from the prime minister's office said. Exceptions will be made for cargo and firefighting flights, as well as trips for medical treatments, funerals and legal procedures. A panel of health...

US-UK trade deal: Boris Johnson charms US President Joe Biden over shared love of trains

BORIS JOHNSON and Joe Biden held their first telephone conversation on Sunday, bonding over their shared love of trains.

Ivanka Trump: ‘Nervous' Florida senator quizzed amid rumoured Senate challenge

IVANKA TRUMP could be poised to start her new political career with a challenge for the Florida Senate.

White House, bipartisan group of lawmakers discuss Biden's COVID-19 relief plan

White House officials and 16 moderate Democratic and Republican senators discussed President Biden's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan on Sunday, The Washington Post reports, with several lawmakers saying they want to see aid targeted to those who are most in need. The hourlong Zoom call was organized by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and led by National Economic Council Director Brian Deese. Biden has called for unity and wants to see...

British Virgin Islands at a crossroads as outgoing governor decries corruption

The shuffling of diplomats around the UK’s Caribbean territories rarely makes much of a splash. But Gus Jaspert ensured his last days as governor of the British Virgin Islands would be remembered. In an emotional Facebook video post to the BVI’s 30,000 inhabitants, he accused the country’s government of overseeing a “plague” of corruption, interfering in the criminal justice system and attempting to silence anyone who raised concerns about the...

The Poltergeist review – you are invited to a new circle of hell

Philip Ridley’s interest in the dramatic monologue long precedes the pandemic, even if the form has since become the central, Covid-secure medium for playwrights. What is marked about this one-man play about family dysfunction and wasted genius is the absence of any signs of our current reality, and it feels all the more liberating for it. It was the same with Ridley’s lockdown series, The Beast Will Rise, comprising 14 theatrical monologues on...

Italy's prime minister looking to resign, then form new govt: papers

Italy's prime minister looking to resign, then form new govt: papers

English and Scottish get drunk most often, 25-nation survey finds

The English and Scottish have topped an international league table of how often people get so drunk that they lose their balance and slur their speech. The Global Drugs Survey (GDS) for 2020 suggests the UK’s drink problem is far more dangerous than use of any other drug. More than 5% of people under 25 in the UK reported having sought hospital treatment after getting drunk, compared with a global average of 2%. The GDS report noted: “Seeking...

Covid: Tories revolt as government fails to guarantee school reopenings by Easter

Conservative MPs have heaped pressure on the government to get children in England back to school as quickly as possible after the health secretary warned any return may be pushed back beyond the Easter break. Schools have been off limits to most since the beginning of the year, with only vulnerable pupils and the children of critical workers allowed to attend to limit the spread of the coronavirus. While the government never set a formal end to...

Boris Johnson is 'scared' of democracy says Nicola Sturgeon

Boris Johnson is 'scared' of democracy according to Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. She says Boris Johnson 'fears' the will of the Scottish people.

Lee Rigby murderer fighting for life after Covid-19 diagnosis

Islamic terrorist Michael Adebowale has contracted coronavirus.

Indiana community surprises longtime pizza deliveryman with a new car

Over the last three decades, Robert Peters has gotten to know a lot of people in Tipton, Indiana, and when they learned he was having car trouble, they were more than happy to lend a hand. Peters has worked at a Pizza Hut in Tipton for 31 years, and Tanner Langley, 28, told Good Morning America he's the only pizza deliveryman he's ever known. "The town of Tipton calls him Mr. Smiley," Langley said. "He makes that impact on everybody and he's a...

Nicola Sturgeon announces extension to Scotland lockdown

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announces an extension to the national lockdown in Scotland.

UK Coronavirus LIVE: Boris plots border crackdown as children ‘face months at home’

Boris Johnson is reportedly set to approve a new border crackdown this week that could see travellers, including British citizens, escorted to quarantine hotels at their point of entry. Foreign passport-holders from countries where the coronavirus is mutating could also be banned altogether from entering the UK, according to the Sunday Times. Cabinet ministers are said to be split over whether the hotel quarantine plan should apply to all...

Yes the DUP voted to Leave but some other unionists didn’t read the anti EU mood of the silent majority

A letter from Bobby Baxter:

UK coronavirus LIVE: Schools must open before Easter, Boris Johnson told as lockdown easing ‘to start in April’

England’s schoolchildren have become the “forgotten victims” of the coronavirus pandemic, Tory MPs have warned as Boris Johnson faces mounting pressure to reopen schools after the February half-term. On Sunday, Health Secretary Matt Hancock suggested the full reopening of schools before Easter was a “hope” rather than an expectation, as he warned that the easing of lockdown restrictions was a “long, long, long way” off. It comes amid reports...

Edward Colston statue toppling: Four to appear in court charged with criminal damage

Four people will appear in court charged with criminal damage following the toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol. Rhian Graham, 29, Milo Ponsford, 25, Jake Skuse, 32, and Sage Willoughby, 21, all of no fixed abode, will appear before Bristol Magistrates’ Court for their first hearing on Monday. The bronze memorial to the 17th century slave merchant was pulled down during a Black Lives Matter protest on June 7 last year,...

EU backlash: French doctor predicts RIOTS over coronavirus vaccines amid delay chaos

CORONAVIRUS vaccine delays in the European Union may cause an "explosive" situation with riots, a French doctor has claimed.

Mexican officials confirm President López Obrador has COVID

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador,, revealed he's tested positive for COVID-19 and is isolating at home with 'mild' symptoms.

UK weather forecast: Severe warnings for snow and flooding as temperatures plunge to -10C

The mercury is set to drop to between minus 10C and minus 12C in parts of the Midlands and Wales amid ice and flooding warnings following a weekend of heavy snow across the UK

Pressure grows on PM to reopen schools amid warning children are pandemic's 'forgotten victims'

The prime minister and education secretary are coming under increasing pressure to reopen schools.

Spanish officials under fire for jumping queue for Covid-19 vaccine

A steady drip-feed of public officials admitting to having been vaccinated ahead of priority groups has sparked uproar on social media in Spain at a time when several regions are tightening restrictions in an effort to curb a spike in infections. Several local mayors admitted to getting vaccinated before their turn, while the regional health chief of the exclave of Ceuta was heavily criticised both for getting vaccinated early and for saying he...

NHS trusts urge people to 'walk like penguins' through the snow

With yet more freezing temperatures expected in the UK today, NHS trusts have issued an odd edict urging members of the public to 'walk like penguins' in order to avoid falls in the snow.

FILE PHOTO: An employee of the El Viso nursing home, Yadira Toral holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Madrid, Spain January 7, 2021.

FILE PHOTO: An employee of the El Viso nursing home, Yadira Toral holds a vial of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Madrid, Spain January 7, 2021.

Your Morning Briefing

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know to start your day with our daily briefing.

Covid-19 pandemic makes rich much richer as poor suffer, inequality report says

Billionaires including Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Tesla founder Elon Musk have seen their wealth soar during the Covid-19 pandemic while the world’s poor face years of hardship, charity Oxfam said on Monday as it demanded steps to tackle inequality. Nations have a “shrinking window of opportunity” to build a fair, green recovery, according to “The Inequality Virus” report, published as global leaders tune in for the World Economic Forum’s virtual...

Ivanka Trump discusses being 'competitive' like her father in 2014

Ivanka Trump discusses her 'competitive' nature and her relationship with her father Donald in 2014. Ivanka says 'he told me that if you dream, you may as well dream big'.

Joe Biden to drop Donald Trump’s military transgender ban – reports

Mr Biden has been widely expected to overturn the Trump policy in his early days in office.

Chapter Chat: Royal Black launches its plans to mark centenary of NI

The Royal Black Institution has launched its plans to mark the centenary of Northern Ireland.

Nicola Sturgeon SAVAGED for ‘prioritising independence over coronavirus'

NICOLA STURGEON has come under fire on social media with critics accusing the SNP leader of prioritising a second independence referendum over the fight against coronavirus.

A Minute Of Kindness: The Military Veterans Who Cleaned DC Streets After Capitol Riot

After the deadly insurrection of the US Capitol carried out by pro-Trump supporters, a group of veterans helped to clean the streets of Washington, D.C. and remove the marks left by the hatred and violence of January 6th. The effort was organised by the non-profit group Continue to Serve, a group of military veterans who support social justice causes including Black Lives Matter, voter safety and immigration.

Why Christina Ricci filed a restraining order against her husband

The information warriors fighting 'robot zombie army' of coronavirus sceptics

Sometimes, Stuart Ritchie feels like he’s being pursued by an army of smiley faces. The lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s College London, is not delusional: instead, and somewhat to his surprise, he is on the frontline of a coronavirus information war. The emojis often decorate the Twitter profiles of the self-proclaimed “lockdown sceptics”, a subset of social media users who remain unconvinced that...

Mexican president's past health woes sharpen focus on COVID-19 diagnosis

Mexican president's past health woes sharpen focus on COVID-19 diagnosis

Wattlebridge security operation ends - ‘no community should live under threat of such violence’ - device found in bus shelter declared a ‘hoax’

The local community in Wattlebridge, Co Fermanagh have been thanked again for their ‘patience and support’ as the PSNI confirm the security operation in the area has ended,

Russian hack of US agencies exposed supply chain weaknesses

Donald Trump’s niece wants to change her name to distance herself from former president

Mary Trump, Donald Trump’s niece, has said she wants to change her last name in order to disassociate herself from her uncle as it comes with a “negative connotation” due to the “damage” done by him. The former president’s relative, who publicly criticised Mr Trump and wrote a scathing memoir about him, said her uncle did “incalculable damage" to the country. "I am prepared to change my name if need be," she said in an interview to The...