UK

Coronavirus vaccines for healthy children aged between 12 and 15 are not being recommended by the government’s advisers. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has announced it is widening the limited rollout to the most at-risk children in this age bracket who have underlying health conditions – including chronic major heart, lung, kidney,

Almost three quarters of people under 50 who needed hospital treatment for the COVID Delta variant last week in England were unvaccinated, figures have revealed. Data released by Public Health England showed 9,472 people were admitted to hospital with the highly transmissible coronavirus variant in the seven days up to 29 August. Of this number, 5,098

Racist chants were directed at England players during their 4-0 win over Hungary. Sky Sports News reporter Rob Dorsett said he heard “sporadic monkey chants from various areas of the crowd” at the Puskas Arena in Budapest. They were “primarily towards Raheem Sterling when he touched the ball”, Dorsett added. “I have seen four separate

The education secretary has insisted children must return to a “normal pre-pandemic” experience in schools, despite the risk of an increase in COVID cases. Gavin Williamson said testing would be key to guarding against rising infection rates, but refused to outline what the government’s “contingency plan” for other potential measures might involve. Experts are predicting

Adults who are fully vaccinated are 47% less likely to have long COVID should they contract COVID-19, a new study says. The team at King’s College London analysed data from more than two million people who logged their symptoms, tests, and vaccine status on the Zoe COVID Symptom Study app between 8 December 2020 and

Students go back to school in England and Wales this week amid concerns over a lack of preparedness for COVID-19. Representatives of headteachers and other school leaders have criticised the government for what they call a “hit and hope” strategy for pupils returning. Many of the precautions present during the last academic year – including

An alleged member of the ISIS group dubbed “The Beatles” is set to plead guilty in a court case in the United States. Alexanda Amon Kotey has been charged with conspiring to torture and behead American and European hostages in Syria. It is not immediately clear which charges he will admit at a change of

A 17-year-old girl who is in hospital after falling seriously ill with COVID says she has been targeted by anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists after urging young people to have the vaccine. Maisy Evans, a former member of the Welsh Youth Parliament, told Sky News she feared she would die when her oxygen levels “dropped dramatically”

A policeman’s widow is increasing her pressure on politicians to make killing an emergency worker punishable with a mandatory life sentence, a  year after launching her campaign. Lissie Harper was left bereaved when her husband, PC Andrew Harper, was caught in strapping attached to a car in August 2019 and dragged behind the vehicle. It

The former Royal Marine who founded an animal shelter in Afghanistan has apologised for the “incredibly embarrassing” language he used in a voicemail to a government aide as he tried to leave the country. Paul “Pen” Farthing arrived at London Heathrow on a privately-funded charter flight from Kabul at around 7.30am on Sunday – with

A woman found dead at a property in Kettering, Northamptonshire, has been named as Maddie Durdant-Hollamby. Northamptonshire Police said the 22-year-old’s death is being treated as murder. The body of a man was also found in the property, and police have said they are not looking for anyone further in connection with their inquiries. Senior

The human cost of Britain’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will be felt by those who were eligible to return to the UK but did not make it on to flights out of Kabul.  It is unclear exactly how many eligible people remain, but among them are the family of a man called Mohammad, whose name has

The last remaining UK troops have been flown out of Kabul airport, ending Britain’s 20-year campaign in Afghanistan. It comes as the last dedicated flight purely for the evacuation effort left the Afghan capital last night – ahead of the 31 August deadline set by Joe Biden for American forces to withdraw. Operation Pitting has

One of the Britons killed in the Kabul bomb attack has been named as Mohammad Niazi, who died along with his wife and two of their children after he went to Afghanistan to rescue them. The 29-year-old taxi driver and father-of-four travelled to Kabul on Tuesday to bring his family to safety in the UK.

Two British men and the teenage child of a third UK national were among those killed in the terror attack outside Kabul airport yesterday, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has said. Some 95 mostly Afghans, and 13 US troops, died in the suicide bombing, which was claimed by ISIS-K, an offshoot of the so-called Islamic State

Scotland has recorded its highest number of daily COVID cases ever but the government has denied it will go into a circuit breaker lockdown. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said there was a “very sharp rise” yesterday as 6,835 cases were recorded, 1,910 more than the day before. It is the highest number of infections recorded

It all sounds dreadfully familiar. As the summer ends and the autumn term approaches, cases of COVID-19 are rising. We all know what happened next last winter: cases rose through the roof, as did deaths. The winter wave of this pandemic turned out to be considerably worse than the first wave in the spring. This

Police have found a man wanted in connection with two murders in Westminster after nearly a week-long search. Officers are “confident” they discovered Lee Peacock, 49, on a canal barge near Ferrymead Avenue in Ealing, west London, just before 6pm on Wednesday. He had sustained serious injuries thought to be self-inflicted. London Ambulance Service paramedics

Festival-goers will be able to grab a COVID-19 jab as easily as a beer or a burger at the Reading and Leeds festivals this weekend. It comes as more than half a million 16 to 17-year-olds have received their first shot, according to NHS England. Music fans can get vaccinated in between sets at pop-up

A woman and two children have died in a crash involving a motorhome and a lorry. The woman, 44, a nine-year-old girl and a five-year-old boy were passengers in the grey motorhome which collided with a white HGV on the A64, near York, on Tuesday night, North Yorkshire Police said. A spokeswoman said a six-year-old