docterr

A further 232 people have died within 28 days of a positive Covid-19 test, while an additional 20,263 people tested positive for the virus on Wednesday. The latest data from the Department of Health confirmed the UK coronavirus death toll has risen to 64,402. Separate figures published by the UK’s statistics agencies show that more than 78,000 deaths involving coronavirus have now occurred in the UK. The total number of coronavirus cases in the UK has now risen to 1,869,666. A further 179 people who tested positive for coronavirus have died in hospital in England, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths reported in hospitals to 44,464, NHS England said on Monday. Patients were aged between 40 and 99. All except four, aged between 74 and 92, had known underlying health conditions. The deaths were between December 5 to December 13. Seven other deaths were reported with no positive Covid-19 test result.

One western official working in counter-terrorism in the region said it was possible bandits may have transferred some or all of the kidnapped schoolboys to the extremists in return for money, weapons or other resources. Across the entire Sahel region, there are close relations between armed criminals, traffickers and Islamist extremists. More details have emerged of Friday’s attack. Musa Adamu, 18, was sleeping in the school’s dormitory when he heard gunshots. “The sound got louder, then I ran and jumped out of the window and over the fence of the school and ran along with many others into the forest. We spent the night there, because we were afraid to come back to the school,” he said.

Boko Haram kidnapped 276 girls from their school dormitory in Chibok, in north-eastern Borno state, in April 2014 and about 100 are still missing. The group has also taken other schoolchildren as well as thousands of people across north-east Nigeria and has recently expanded into the country’s north-west. There is doubt over the direct involvement of Boko Haram in the latest mass abduction, however. Shekau’s statement lacked detail, and officials in Katsina have already received ransom demands from a group of bandits that witnesses said were responsible.

It's not over, not yet. The two sides in this complicated and drawn out process have agreed that it is worth trying one last time to find a way through their profound differences. But the statements from the prime minister and the EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, signal clearly that a trade deal is out of reach right now - spelling out that if no-one budges in the next few days, it's simply not going to happen. A feature of Brexit negotiations has often been the last minute stand off, the political emergency, before suddenly, lo and behold, a deal emerges from the wreckage. By Monday night, that tradition may have been proven again. Yet it seems there is a lot more to be done than ironing out a few last minute glitches.

Joe Biden was formally elected as the next president of the United States by members of the electoral college on Monday, all but ending Donald Trump’s unprecedented bid to subvert the will of millions of Americans and overturn the results of the presidential election. With California’s 55 electoral votes, Biden crossed the 270-vote threshold needed to win the White House, a milestone that moves him one procedural step closer to his inauguration on 20 January despite Trump’s refusal to accept his defeat and concede the race.

Three blocks from the White House, office space for more than 500 Biden transition staffers sits mostly idle.The government is shipping out laptops so staffers can work from home.US President-elect Joe Biden, surrounded by just a handful of aides in Delaware, is using Zoom to oversee his plans to assume power.But Biden soon will be entering a no-Zoom zone at the White House – just one sign of the challenges his new administration will face when it moves to Washington in the midst of a pandemic.After months of making a virtue of the cautious approach his campaign and transition team have taken towards COVID-19, Biden’s prudence will be tested by technology and tradition when he arrives on January 20.

The leader of Boko Haram, the Islamist extremist group that abducted hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria six years ago, has claimed responsibility for the mass abduction of students in north-western Katsina state last week. In an audio tape released on Tuesday, Abubakar Shekau said: “Our brothers were behind the abduction in Katsina.” A large group of men armed with AK-47s overran the all-boys Government Science secondary school in the town of Kankara on Friday night, marching more than 300 students into surrounding forests.

Before shelling by Ethiopia’s army ripped through Humera in early November, life in the airy, agricultural city in Tigray was idyllic, says Brhane Haftu, a geography teacher. “I was rich, not because of money, but happiness. I had my home, my own cellar, my TV, my kitchen, my refrigerator,” says the 31-year-old, flipping through pictures on his smartphone of his wife and five-year-old daughter. “I didn’t even recognise how good things were for me.” From the distant vantage of a growing refugee camp in Hamdayet, across the Sudanese border, vague outlines of Tigrayan structures, and the life it offered, faintly emerge from the skyline. Yet while visible, for many, any prospect of a return home feels remote. Haftu and his daughter are among 3,000 in the camp. His wife remains alive in Tigray, he hopes: a communications blackout means it’s three weeks since they last spoke. “Now I have nothing. I have one yellow T-shirt, one pair of jeans, one pair of trainers. I wash it each day and wear it the next day.”

More than 300 schoolboys kidnapped in northern Nigeria have been rescued, the Katsina state governor has said. The 344 boys, whose abduction was claimed by the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, were on their way back to Katsina, Aminu Masari told the state broadcaster on Thursday. “At the moment, 344 of the students have been handed over to security agents. I think we have recovered most of the boys if not all of them,” he said. “By tomorrow we will get them medically examined and then arrangements will be on the way to reunite them with their families.” But it was not immediately confirmed if the group included all the boys who were taken in the raid last Friday on a rural school in Kankara. More than 800 students were at the Government Science secondary school when it was attacked last week by armed men, but hundreds escaped.

Egypt’s public prosecution has officially closed its investigation into the murder of Giulio Regeni, rejecting Italian prosecutors’ findings that accused four Egyptian security officials of kidnapping and torturing the Italian doctoral student in 2016. Italy officially indicted four Egyptian security officials including two from Egypt’s national security agency in early December. The four men were accused of kidnapping Regeni, whose body was found on an outlying Cairo highway in February 2016 showing signs of torture. One of the suspects, named as Magdi Ibrahim Abdel Al Sharif, is accused of grievous bodily harm. Italian prosecutors gave the four men 20 days to respond to the charges. On the day of the deadline, Egypt’s public prosecution officially closed its own investigation, after suspending it when Rome prosecutors released their findings.

The EU's chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, tweeted after the statement was published, saying: "We will see if there is a way forward." Ireland's Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheal Martin also took to Twitter, welcoming the news that the teams would resume trade talks. He said: "An agreement is in everyone's best interests. Every effort should be made to reach a deal." Labour's shadow Cabinet Office minister Rachel Reeves said: "The British people were promised a deal and, with time running out, we urge both sides to get on with reaching an agreement." The UK Opposition, the Labour Party, setting up their position of Criticism in the event of a No Deal! The People of the UK were promised Brexit, if a Deal can be done, Brilliant; but No Deal is better than a Bad Deal. The Labour Party are pro- EU, they are anti- UK!

For months the SNP failed to pass on the UK Government emergency funds to councils and is still holding back vast sums from businesses. It has repeatedly lied about the total amounts coming to Scotland, pretending that only funds spent via the Scottish Government count, rather than the additional billions going direct to people and companies through furlough and the may other routes. Senior SNP figures have made grossly irresponsible statements that have encouraged nationalist thugs and racists to "demonstrate" at the border and elsewhere, and those same SNP figures have been slow to condemn that thuggery. An SNP MP decided it was ok just to ignore the rules and travel form London to Scotland when she knew she was COVID positive - but she remains a member of the SNP because Sturgeon is too spineless to kick her out.

A breakthrough in the three-and-a-half-year dispute between Qatar and its neighbouring Gulf states appears to have been achieved following what were described as “fruitful” talks to resolve the conflict. The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, said “significant progress” had been reached in the last few days and he was optimistic all countries were close to finalising a resolution. In talks brokered jointly by Kuwait and Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, Saudi Arabia appears to have agreed to open its land and air border with Qatar as a confidence-building measure.

Israel’s formal ties with the Arab world now extend from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the east to Morocco in the west. On December 10th President Donald Trump announced the latest breakthrough in his diplomatic push on behalf of the Jewish state. Morocco, the Arab world’s oldest monarchy, will become the fourth Arab state in as many months to establish diplomatic relations with Israel (following the UAE, Bahrain and Sudan). The agreement is a win for Israel, and also for Morocco. As part of the deal, Mr Trump recognised Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara. The territory, slightly larger than Britain, is also claimed by the Polisario Front, a nationalist movement backed by Algeria.

Boris Johnson is being accused of putting Britain on course for a no-deal Brexit, claiming it is now “very, very likely”, as it emerged that Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel have flatly rejected his appeal for direct talks. In a pointed toughening up of his language, the prime minister claimed Britain was on a path to leaving the single market and customs union without any trade or security agreement, describing it as a potentially “wonderful” outcome. Earlier in the day, the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, had similarly warned about the trajectory of the talks, telling EU leaders she believed there was a greater chance of a no-deal exit than an agreement.

A Lebanese judge has reportedly charged caretaker Prime Minister Hassan Diab and three ex-ministers with negligence over August's Beirut port explosion. Judicial sources said the four would be questioned next week about warnings they received over the unsafe storage of ammonium nitrate in a warehouse. A fire triggered the detonation of 2,750 tonnes of the chemical, causing a massive blast that killed 200 people. Mr Diab said his conscience was clear and expressed surprise at the charges. He and his cabinet resigned days after the explosion, which he blamed on what he called a "system of corruption... bigger than the state". The disaster compounded a deep economic crisis in Lebanon that has led to hundreds of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand the removal of a political elite that they accuse of graft, mismanagement and negligence.

Incompetent Freeman oversaw a shambles in which thousands of people were sent incorrect information about shielding, with wrong dates, and many people incorrectly told to shield, and, much much worse, incorrectly told not to shield. Cancer scans and treatments that could have been restarted in April or May were still on hold into the autumn, and people are dying as a result. The SNP failed on care homes, sending thousands into care homes from hospital with no testing, and then lied about the numbers. The SNP failed on testing, especially in care homes, and continues to fail with only a fraction of the testing required actually being done for front-line workers.

Boris Johnson and the European commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, met in person over a three-hour scallop and turbot dinner to try to unlock the Brexit trade negotiations deadlock. As expected, both sides agreed to continue talking – but they agreed that the gaps between their positions remain wide.

The US government and more than 40 states have sued Facebook for illegally crushing competitors and demanded the company undo its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp. There’s a legal reason Instagram and WhatsApp are at the heart of the state and federal lawsuits. Trying to reduce competition by purchasing rivals is an explicit violation of America’s antitrust laws. That’s exactly what government lawyers say Facebook did and will keep doing. The tricky thing, however, is that the government had given Facebook permission to buy Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014. Facebook’s argument is that it’s unfair for government officials to try a do-over now, and that Facebook made Instagram and WhatsApp better than they could have been on their own.

EU and UK negotiators have until Sunday to reach agreement on a future trade deal following an inconclusive three-hour meeting between British Prime Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. A senior UK source described the discussion as "frank". "Very large gaps remain between the two sides and it is still unclear whether these can be bridged," the source said. "The prime minister and Ursula von der Leyen agreed to further discussions over the next few days between their negotiating teams. "The prime minister does not want to leave any route to a possible deal untested. The Prime Minister and Ursula von der Leyen agreed that by Sunday a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks."

In their statement, Mr Johnson and Ms Von der Leyen said they "welcomed the fact that progress has been achieved in many areas". But, they added: "Nevertheless, significant differences remain on three critical issues: level playing field, governance and fisheries. Both sides underlined that no agreement is feasible if these issues are not resolved. "Whilst recognising the seriousness of these differences, we agreed that a further effort should be undertaken by our negotiating teams to assess whether they can be resolved."

The Prime Minister and President von der Leyen met for dinner in Brussels this evening. The leaders had a frank discussion about the state of play in the negotiations. They acknowledged that the situation remained very difficult and there were still major differences between the two sides. They agreed that Chief Negotiators would continue talks over the next few days and that a firm decision should be taken about the future of the talks by Sunday. The Prime Minister is determined not to leave any route to a fair deal untested, but any agreement must respect the independence and sovereignty of the UK.

The imprisoned terrorist Hashem Abedi, 23, has admitted for the first time his involvement in planning the Manchester Arena bombing that killed 22 people, a public inquiry has heard. Abedi, 23, the brother of the suicide bomber Salman Abedi, 22, made the admission in prison in October while being interviewed by two members of the legal team for the inquiry into the atrocity on 22 May 2017. Abedi pleaded not guilty earlier this year to 22 counts of murder, attempted murder and plotting to cause an explosion likely to endanger life. He did not give evidence at the Old Bailey but provided a pre-prepared defence statement in which he denied involvement, claimed to have been “shocked” by what his brother had done, and that was a practising Muslim who did not hold extremist views. In the statement, he added: “Had I any idea of it, I would have reported it to my mother initially and then to other family members to prevent it from happening. I was shocked my brother had done this and felt bad for everybody.”

December 2020. Brexit - or how Britain is leaving the European Union (EU) - is back in the headlines. It's because the talks on what the future relationship between the UK and the EU could look like are reaching a crucial stage. Whether a deal is agreed or not will set a path for the UK for the next few years and could have a big impact on UK jobs, businesses and prices.