Month: January 2021

Myanmar’s military says it has taken control of the country for one year, after detaining a number of leading politicians. A state of emergency has been declared, according to military-owned TV, and power has been handed to the commander in chief of the armed forces, Min Aung Hlaing. Myanmar’s leader Aung San Suu Kyi was

Hundreds of people have been arrested in Russia as rallies have broken out across the country in demand of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s release. Thousands of people have taken to the streets in nationwide protests that have rattled the Kremlin, with more than 500 people detained so far. The rallies, taking place in Moscow

The UK will formally apply to join a huge free trade pact including Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore, under the government’s post-Brexit plans. International Trade Secretary Liz Truss will use a conversation with ministers in Japan and New Zealand on Monday to request membership of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Announcing the move

Austria has found 96 foreigners – including British people – at a top ski resort in breach of travel and lockdown rules. The people from across Europe were found in St Anton am Arlberg. The local mayor has said dozens of young tourists had come to the town, circumventing lockdown rules under which ski lifts

France is to close its borders to all countries outside the European Union from Sunday, according to prime minister Jean Castex. All people looking to enter from the EU will need a negative PCR test, except for commuters. UK transport secretary Grant Shapps later clarified the ban would not apply to hauliers, adding “trade will

The EU has introduced controls to prevent the export of COVID-19 vaccines from the bloc to Northern Ireland. Brussels triggered Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol that forms part of the Brexit withdrawal deal. The move comes amid a row with vaccine maker AstraZeneca over the supply of vaccine doses to the 27 members

A Donald Trump supporter who wrote about attacking high-profile Democrats and the offices of Twitter and Facebook has been charged with stockpiling weapons and homemade explosives. Officials found dozens of firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition, pipe bombs and manuals like The Anarchist Cookbook and US Army Improvised Munitions Handbook when they raided the home

The EU should consider legal means to secure vaccine doses promised by drug companies including AstraZeneca, the president of the European Council has said. Charles Michel made the comments in a letter as Brussels and AstraZeneca are embroiled in an escalating row over the EU’s slow start to its inoculation programme. AstraZeneca announced it would

The discord between the EU and drug manufacturer AstraZeneca remains despite a meeting between senior figures on Wednesday, with politicians demanding a plan from the company on how they will provide the promised number of coronavirus vaccine doses. European Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides said after the meeting that the bloc “regret the continued lack

Masked men have broken into the Moscow flat of detained Vladmir Putin critic Alexei Navalny, according to one of his allies. Ivan Zhdanov, head of Mr Navalny‘s anti-corruption foundations, said that they broke down the door of his apartment on Wednesday afternoon and searched it. Mr Zhdanov added that Mr Navalny’s brother, Oleg, was in

AstraZeneca’s chief executive has hit back at the EU by saying that “glitches” in the supply of coronavirus vaccines to the bloc are due to it signing its contract three months after the UK. In an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica, Pascal Soriot admitted there had been “teething problems” in various regions, including Europe

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte has resigned, according to the country’s president. Mr Conte survived two confidence votes in parliament last week, but then lost his absolute majority in the Senate after centrist ally and former PM Matteo Renzi defected. This has made it much more difficult for the premier to pass legislation or make

The UK is to offer its genomics expertise to help other countries identify new COVID variants, Health Secretary Matt Hancock will announce. The launch of the New Variant Assessment Platform will see other countries offered UK laboratory capacity and advice to analyse new strains of coronavirus. It will be led by Public Health England working

Conditions in the city of Manaus, deep in the Amazon rainforest where the Brazilian variant of COVID-19 is believed to have originated, are now so bad that people are suffocating in hospital beds without oxygen. It’s being described as like a “medieval plague” and the fear is that it’s going to continue to spread. With

Hostile states and criminals are displaying a “huge amount of innovation” when using information as a weapon to cause harm, a senior British security official has said. Paul Chichester, director of operations at the National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ, was referring to the act of hacking private files and leaking them online

Eleven gold miners have been rescued a fortnight after they were trapped by an underground explosion in China, according to state media reports. It is not known how many others are still alive in the mine. State media footage showed the first miner to be rescued, a black blindfold across his eyes, being lifted out