FBI conducting vast security sweep as Sunday?€?s protests see law enforcement and media outnumber members of ?€?Boogaloo Bois?€?
The FBI is vetting all 25,000 National Guard troops arriving in Washington DC for president-elect Joe Biden?€?s inauguration amid fears of an insider attack, as heavily fortified state capitals across the US saw only small-scale protests by far-right groups on Sunday.
Commanders have been warned to be on the lookout for problems within their ranks, and Guard members are being trained to identify potential insider threats, army secretary Ryan McCarthy told the Associated Press.
US and European figures call for Kremlin critic?€?s immediate release after he was detained on return to Moscow
The United States and Europe have condemned the arrest of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, who was detained when returning to Russia for the first time since a suspected poisoning by the FSB last year.
Joe Biden?€?s incoming national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, called for Navalny?€?s immediate release, adding that the ?€?perpetrators of the outrageous attack on his life must be held accountable?€?.
Coronavirus vaccines will be offered to millions of over 70s and the clinically extremely vulnerable from this week as the Government expands the rollout amid a border crackdown to keep out new strains, PA Media reports.
More than 3.8 million people in the UK - including over-80s, care home residents, and NHS and social care staff - have already received their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine, but from Monday it will be rolled out to the next two priority groups.
The Government said it would remain the priority to vaccinate those in the first two groups, but that sites which have enough supply and capacity to vaccinate more people will be allowed to offer jabs to the next cohorts.
Boris Johnson has pledged to offer vaccinations to the first four priority groups by the middle of next month, while Dominic Raab said on Sunday that all adults would be offered a first dose by September.
The expanded rollout arrives as a ban on quarantine-free travel into the UK came into force at 4am in a bid to keep out new coronavirus strains - such as those which have been discovered in Brazil and South Africa.
The new rules mean arrivals from every destination will need to self-isolate for 10 days, or receive a negative result from a coronavirus test taken at least five days after they enter the UK.
Passengers flying in from overseas will now also have to show proof of a negative Covid test before setting off - as part of rules which had been due to come into force last week.
A man has been living in a secure section of Chicago?€?s international airport for three months, apparently telling police he was too afraid of coronavirus to return home to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.
The 36-year-old man, Californian Aditya Singh, was arrested this weekend and charged with criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport, a felony, and theft, a misdemeanour, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Two men in their 20s were arrested and remain in police custody after the incident in Southall
A brawl between 40 men using knives, bottles and a sword has been broken up by police in west London.
Police initially reported that two swords had been used in the fight in Southall in the early hours of Sunday, but later corrected this to ?€?at least one sword?€?.
At least 12 of 22 gold miners survived the blast in eastern Shandong province, note sent to surface suggests
Twelve workers trapped underground after an explosion at a gold mine in eastern China a week ago are still alive, according to a note retrieved from the site, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing local authorities.
A total of 22 workers were trapped in the Hushan mine, in Shandong province, after the blast on 10 January. It was not until 30 hours later that the accident was reported, however, leading to severe criticism of those responsible and the sacking of two senior local officials.
Heavy rain could lead to further collapses, rescue workers fear, as thousands of homeless seek refuge
Torrential monsoon rains have hampered the hunt for survivors of Friday?€?s powerful earthquake on Indonesia?€?s Sulawesi island, as the death toll rose to at least 81, with thousands left homeless.
Excavators and cranes were deployed across the devastated seaside city of Mamuju, where buildings were reduced to a mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete, including a hospital and the regional governor?€?s office.
Former senator Surangel Whipps Jr promises to stand by allies US and Taiwan when he takes office on Thursday
Palau?€?s president-elect has vowed to stand up to Chinese ?€?bullying?€? in the Pacific, and said the small archipelago nation will stand by its alliances with ?€?true friends?€?, the United States and Taiwan.
Fifty-two-year-old Surangel Whipps Jr, a supermarket owner and two-time senator from a prominent Palauan family, will be sworn in as the new president on 21 January, succeeding his brother-in-law Tommy Remengesau Jr.
David Perry is giving China a PR coup by acting against pro-democracy activists, foreign secretary says
David Perry QC, the barrister acting for the Hong Kong government in its efforts to jail pro-democracy activists, is behaving in ?€?a pretty mercenary way?€? and providing the Chinese government with a PR coup, the foreign secretary Dominic Raab said on Sunday.
Perry has agreed to represent the Hong Kong government in prosecuting nine activists, including the media proprietor Jimmy Lai, arising from demonstrations in August 2019. The trial is due to begin next month.
First demonstration launch failed in May last year
Richard Branson?€?s Virgin Orbit reached space on Sunday, eight months after the first demonstration flight of its air-launched rocket system failed, the company said.
Phil Spector, the music producer behind some of pop music?€?s biggest hits, has died aged 81 while serving a prison sentence for murder.
Media reports said Spector, who had been sentenced to 19 years to life for murdering the actor Lana Clarkson, died after being diagnosed with Covid-19 four weeks ago.
A man has been living in a secure section of Chicago?€?s international airport for three months, apparently telling police he was too afraid of coronavirus to return home to Los Angeles, according to multiple reports.
The 36-year-old man, Californian Aditya Singh, was arrested this weekend and charged with criminal trespass to a restricted area of an airport, a felony, and theft, a misdemeanour, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Dealing with the deadly second wave of Covid has left the NHS in the most precarious position in its 72-year history, chief executive Sir Simon Stevens has warned, as ministers said they were aiming to get all adults in the UK vaccinated by September.
The over-70s and clinically extremely vulnerable, who number more than 5.5 million nationwide, will be invited to receive the vaccine from Monday in areas where most of the first priority groups of care home residents and the over-80s have now had the jab.
India launches bid to vaccinate 300m people amid fears over efficacy of domestically produced vaccine
Emerging from Holy Family hospital in New Delhi, Ram Verma, a sanitation worker, breathed a deep sigh of relief. As one of the first in India to receive a coronavirus vaccine on Saturday - marking the start of the world?€?s largest vaccination programmes - he had been feeling a little jittery.
?€?I must admit I was nervous,?€? said Verma, who had received his Covaxin jab in a centre set up in the hospital car park. ?€?A lot of us were. I thought I might faint or have side-effects. After all, it is something totally new. But I?€?m fine. There is nothing to worry about.?€?
The cross-Channel train service has seen a 95% fall in passengers during the Covid-19 pandemic
Eurostar has said it is facing an existential threat, as business leaders pleaded with the government to step in and save the ?€?vital link?€? with Europe.
A 95% drop in passenger numbers has brought the cross-Channel train service to its knees, and the company reiterated on Sunday that while government loans had been extended to aviation, international high-speed rail had also been severely affected by the pandemic.
Presence of military garrison in city on a scale not seen since the civil war a reminder that endemic racism remains a greater menace to national security than any external threat
In easier times, the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal church would be crowded, especially on the Sunday morning before a presidential inauguration a few blocks away.
Musician and maker of ?€?heroic?€? Netflix documentary warns his country is on a dangerous path
When the black Brazilian rapper Emicida imagines his country?€?s whitewashed history, he sees a textbook missing a succession of key pages.
In his songs and on stage, the São Paulo-born musician tries to correct that skewed telling, remembering the lives and times of black Brazilian academics, artists and activists in the hope of changing Brazil?€?s future.
What happens to Vladimir Putin?€?s opponent after his arrest depends on what officials think they can get away with
Since Alexei Navalny emerged as a top critic of Vladimir Putin more than a decade ago, the Kremlin has done its utmost to smother him: tying him up in courtrooms, locking him down under house arrest, and taking his brother as hostage by sentencing him to a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence.
Finally, a decision appeared to have been taken to eliminate him when he was allegedly poisoned by Russia?€?s FSB spy agency. With that operation a failure and Navalny defying the Kremlin to return to Moscow, Putin?€?s dilemma remains what to do with one of his most stalwart and effective critics.
Spector?€?s ?€?Wall of Sound?€? technique gave his artists?€? music an infectious joie de vivre, but the man behind it was damaged, bitter and violent
Three years before his death in 2006, I interviewed Gene Pitney. Talk inevitably turned to Phil Spector. He had written Spector?€?s real breakthrough record - the Crystals?€? 1962 No 1 He?€?s a Rebel - unequivocally one of the greatest singles in pop history, a perfect cocktail of soaring melody, echo-drenched production and Darlene Love?€?s exuberant vocal. A year before that, he?€?d sung Every Breath I Take, which, with its rumbling timpani, overload of backing vocals and dramatic orchestration, was one of the few early Spector productions to hint at the more-is-more Wall of Sound approach that would make him a legend. And, moreover, Spector was, as Pitney put it, ?€?kind of a hot news item?€?: he was awaiting trial for murder.
Like a lot of people who knew Spector, Pitney seemed horrified yet oddly unsurprised at this turn of events, as if something like that was bound to happen sooner or later: the booze, the drugs, the evident instability, the obsession with guns and the history of violence towards women. Spector, he suggested, had been in trouble from the start. ?€?I had dinner with him the first day he arrived in New York, and he said to me that his sister was in an asylum and she was the sane one in the family,?€? he recalled. ?€?I thought, ?€?Wow, where did that come from??€??€?
With online sales booming but retail in sharp decline, the pandemic has changed shopping for ever. Practical, comfortable items suitable for a lifestyle of working from home and occasional trips outside - such as Ugg boots, Crocs and trousers with elasticated waistbands - have seen rising sales.
The author of The Case for Keto argues that conventional approaches to tackling obesity and diabetes aren?€?t working, and that low-carbohydrate diets could be the way forward
Over the past two decades, the UK?€?s rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes have spiralled, something that has invariably been blamed on our intake of saturated fat. Conventional nutrition science argues this leads to elevated cholesterol levels and a greater risk of heart disease, but journalist Gary Taubes believes we need to rethink this idea. Over the past 20 years, Taubes has suggested that fat has been unfairly demonised, and instead our excessive carbohydrate and sugar consumption is to blame for many of these societal health problems, a concept that has begun to interest increasing numbers of scientists. In his new book, The Case for Keto, Taubes discusses the potential benefits of the ketogenic diet, a low-carbohydrate, high-fat diet that is being studied as a potential treatment for a range of diseases, from obesity and diabetes, to even cancer and Alzheimer?€?s.
You?€?ve long been one of the biggest advocates for the benefits of low-carbohydrate, high-fat diets. How did this all begin? I did an investigative piece for the journal Scienceback in 2001 on dietary fat and heart disease. I interviewed around 140 researchers and administrators, and I concluded that there was never really compelling evidence for this low-fat diet we?€?d all been told to eat since the mid-1980s. When writing the story, I had a National Institute of Health administrator say to me: ?€?When we told everyone to go on low-fat diets, we thought if nothing else they?€?d lose weight, because fat is the densest calorie in the diet. And instead they started eating more carbohydrates and everyone got fatter.?€? So I always had it my head that one of the main things that caused the obesity epidemic was this switch to a low-fat, high-carbohydrate diet.
Figures from England and Wales raise questions about IOPC?€?s efficiency as police forces?€? watchdog
Fewer than one in 10 British police officers found to have potentially committed gross misconduct by the watchdog are dismissed, the Guardian can reveal.
Figures released by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) show 641 officers in England and Wales may have so seriously breached standards that they were liable to be sacked between 2015 and 2020, but just 54 (8.4%) were fired after disciplinary action was conducted internally.
Wooden sarcophagi discovered at site south of Cairo along with funerary temple of Queen Naert
Egypt has announced the discovery of a new trove of treasures at the Saqqara necropolis south of Cairo, including an ancient funerary temple.
The tourism and antiquities ministry said the ?€?major discoveries?€? made by a team of archaeologists headed by the Egyptologist Zahi Hawass also included more than 50 sarcophagi.
The FBI announced that authorities had arrested the guitarist of heavy metal band Iced Earth in connection to the Capitol riot.
Jon Schaffer was allegedly among those who sprayed Capitol police with bear spray.
Jon Schaffer, Columbus, IN, has been arrested in connection to Jan 6 incident at the U.S. Capitol. Schaffer faces 6 charges including engaging in an act of physical violence in a Capitol building. Schaffer was allegedly among rioters who sprayed Capitol police with "bear spray."
Activists will write to companies in bid to persuade them to use their influence with Chinese government
Campaigners fighting against the persecution of Uighur Muslims in China are to target private companies sponsoring the Beijing Winter Olympics in an attempt to persuade them to use their influence with the Chinese government ahead of the 2022 event.
Uighur campaigners in 10 different countries are coming together to write to companies asking them to use their platforms to educate and inform the world of the persecution under way in Xinjiang province. The first to be targeted is the chief executive officer of Airbnb, Brian Chesky.
Victoria premier Daniel Andrews says people in most of Sydney can apply for a permit to travel to the state while 10 LGAs still remain in red zones. Follow latest updates live
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, is addressing the media about the approach of Cyclone Kimi in the state?€?s north.
She says she is ?€?very comfortable with the preparations?€? that are in place, but warns the situation is ?€?unpredictable?€?.
All of the preparations are in place. There is going to be a lot of rainfall. Of course, the key message here is if it?€?s flooded, forget it. If you don?€?t need to be on the roads tonight, don?€?t go on the roads tonight. And similarly ,down here in the south-east, there?€?s also going to be storms this evening, the next couple of hours. There is going to be a lot of rainfall, anywhere between 50 to 100mm. So, once again, a lot of rainfall in the south-east as well. And, please, if you don?€?t need to be on the roads, don?€?t during this time.
New South Wales Health have just released a new list of venues linked to a recently confirmed case of Covid-19. The department says it is ?€?still investigating?€? the source.
Anyone who attended the following venues at the times listed below is asked to get tested immediately and self-isolate until a negative result is received. If symptoms appear, please isolate and get tested again.
As opposition leader?€?s home is surrounded by army and police he says he fears for his life
The party of the Ugandan opposition leader Bobi Wine says it is preparing to challenge President Yoweri Museveni?€?s election victory as it condemned what it called the house arrest of Wine and his wife.
Amid growing international concern about the conduct of the election, Wine said in an interview from his house, where he is surrounded by army and police, that he was ?€?worried about my life and the life of my wife?€?.
Vouchers and money to buy food bring families the dignity everyone deserves, as the World Food Programme has shown
Dignity is not a word that you would normally associate with your weekly supermarket shop, or with planning how you might be going to feed your children each night.
But right now, when families are under intense pressure to find enough money to keep food on the table and ensure their children have access to a healthy and nutritious diet, dignity is something we should all be demanding for those who depend on others for the means to feed their loved ones.
Disparity with white women shows need for action, doctors say, despite slight improvement in mortality rate
Black women are still four times more likely than white women to die in pregnancy or childbirth in the UK, and women from Asian ethnic backgrounds face twice the risk, according to a new report.
The data shows a slight narrowing of the divide - last year?€?s report found black women were five times more likely to die - but experts say that is statistically insignificant and not a sign of progress.
Focus must be on justice for those fleeing impact of extreme weather events, says new scientific adviser to Vatican
The pope?€?s newly appointed scientific adviser said the coronavirus pandemic has forced world leaders to face up to the ?€?existential risk?€? of the climate crisis.
Prof Ottmar Edenhofer said rich countries now had a moral duty to compensate poor countries already suffering the impacts.
Delays in publication of official list of those killed and wounded provokes anger and claims of government indifference
Moslem Kasdallah rests on his crutches, the stump of his amputated leg on display. His voice hoarse, he yells the demands that, after years of delay, have brought him and the other wounded and bereaved of the Tunisian revolution to the steps of the government building they have been occupying since December.
Some are on hunger strike, others have sewn their lips shut. Kasdallah carries a bottle of fuel and a lighter, ready to self-immolate.
Analysis: centrist Armin Laschet, the new leader of Germany?€?s CDU, will need to deliver on promises of reconciliation
The election of Armin Laschet as the new leader of Germany?€?s Christian Democratic Union has been welcomed by those hoping for a smooth transition after the imminent departure of Angela Merkel from political leadership. But his detractors have warned he faces an uphill challenge to unite not just his party but also the country in the event that he becomes chancellor, at a time of national crisis and division.
Laschet, who is now in line to succeed Merkel as chancellor after the parliamentary elections in September, secured victory at the weekend despite the odds having been on Friedrich Merz, a prominent conservative and investment banker. Norbert Röttgen, chair of the Bundestag foreign affairs committee, dropped out after the first round, prompting many of his supporters to back Laschet. The digital vote must still be confirmed by a postal ballot.
Travel corridors will be axed in effect from Monday morning. The corridors, which exempted inbound travellers from the requirement to quarantine for 10 days, may make little practical difference to the airline and travel industry in the current context.
Though questions remain that still need answering, there are encouraging signs that proof of immunity to Covid-19 could help people return to normality
As the world?€?s biggest ever vaccination programme gets underway, so-called immunity passports are back in the headlines. A document verifying the holder?€?s status as Covid-free could allow international borders as well as concerts and other events to reopen.
So are immunity passports just the ticket, or do they remain a flight of fancy?
A timeline of what was promised and what has been delivered so far
In mid-March, the World Health Organization had a simple message to countries on how to tackle the spread of coronavirus: test, test, test. In the chaotic months of mixed messaging and policy U-turns that followed, the UK government developed a chronic habit of over-promising and under-delivering, not least when it came to testing.
We look back at the major events in the buildup of the UK?€?s testing regime, what was promised and what has happened since.
Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny has been detained at Sheremetyevo airport on his return from treatment abroad after a suspected poisoning attempt by Russia's FSB spy agency. Navalny, whose investigations into corruption in Vladimir Putin?€?s inner circle have angered the country?€?s most powerful men, had vowed to return home despite signs that the Kremlin was preparing to arrest him
Speaking on BBC One?€?s The Andrew Marr Show, Sir Simon Stevens says the NHS has never been in a more precarious position. With 3.5m doses of the Covid vaccines being delivered by 16 January, Stevens said that meant the NHS was vaccinating four times faster than people were newly catching coronavirus
The foreign secretary has said every adult in the UK will be offered a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine by September. In an interview on Sky?€?s Sophy Ridge on Sunday, Raab said he hoped that by the early spring, some restrictions could be lifted gradually so the country could ?€?get back to normal?€?. He added that people arriving in the UK could be asked to stay in quarantine hotels under plans being considered by ministers
Jenna Ryan, a Texas real estate broker who took a private jet to Washington to join the attack on the US Capitol, pleaded with Donald Trump to pardon her after she was arrested by federal authorities. Ryan said she thought she was following what her president ?€?asked us to do?€? and that she had been 'displaying my patriotism' in travelling to Washington DC, where she filmed herself entering the Capitol building. 'I'm facing a prison sentence,' she told CBS 11 News at her home in Dallas. 'I do not deserve that'
A Washington DC police officer who tried to stop rioting Trump supporters from entering the Capitol building on 6 January has revealed that some shouted 'kill him with his own gun' as he lay injured on the ground. Michael Fanone told CNN he considered using his weapon as he was overwhelmed by the mob, but decided against it out of fear for his own life. 'I tried to appeal to their humanity,' Fanone said. 'I just remember yelling out that I have kids, and it seemed to work.'
Bobi Wine, the Ugandan opposition leader, said soldiers were attacking his home. 'Our lives are in danger,' Wine said. 'Our only security is letting the world know what is happening.'
Lt Col Deo Akiiki, Uganda?€?s deputy military spokesperson, said the soldiers were at Wine?€?s house to protect him
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, has said it is possible that members of Congress could face prosecution if found to have 'aided and abetted' the violent attack on the Capitol earlier this month that left five people dead
Large number of US citizens demonstrated against the war in Iraq (and the possible war in Iran) during this October weekend. Massive turnout in Boston and San Fransisco, and also in Chicago, LA and DC people took to the streets. The message was: NO more war in Iraq! NO to a war with Iran!
