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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

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. An old maxim which may be giving some in Russia’s corridors of power pause for thought.  That is what a botched poisoning attempt and a rush to incarcerate have done to the man President Putin refuses to call by name, Alexei Navalny. The man who has courageously returned

Hundreds of people have reportedly been detained as a series of demonstrations in support of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny begins across Russia. The gatherings, which police have declared illegal, are the first by Mr Navalny’s supporters since he was arrested last weekend on his return to Moscow, after spending five months in Germany recovering

Momentum is building in Russia for widespread protests this weekend in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Videos have been posted on TikTok, Russia’s most popular iPhone app, encouraging people to defy authorities and turn out. Young Russians in particular have flooded the social media site using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan. Protesters have

Japanese officials have denied claims the Tokyo Olympic Games are being cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic. The 2020 Games have already been delayed once, with the opening ceremony currently scheduled for 23 July this year. But according to The Times, local officials have conceded the event cannot happen because of COVID-19. Image: The current