UK

A 13-year-old girl, a 13-year-old boy and a 14-year-old boy have been charged with murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm in connection with the death of 13-year-old Olly Stephens. The trio, all from Reading, have been remanded in custody to appear in Reading Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. Two other boys, both aged 13,

Teacher assessments will replace GCSE and A-level exams in England this summer, the education secretary has announced. “This year, we’re going to put our trust in teachers, rather than algorithms,” Gavin Williamson told MPs in the Commons. Setting out his plans for students as MPs prepared to vote on England’s latest lockdown, Mr Williamson said

More than a million people in England are currently infected with coronavirus, the prime minister has said. Boris Johnson was speaking at a Downing Street news conference on the first full day of the nation’s third lockdown, as the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said one in 50 people in England have COVID-19. Figures show

The government “should be able” to begin easing England’s coronavirus lockdown in March, a senior minister has told Sky News. Michael Gove said the public should not expect a sudden relaxation of the COVID-19 rules, with restrictions “progressively” relaxed instead. “The government is doing everything it can in order to ensure that we can roll

Boris Johnson has announced a new national lockdown for England – with people instructed to “stay at home” as they did during last March’s first shutdown. The prime minister revealed the action in an eight-minute TV address on Monday night, after being told that COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly in every part of the country

A nationwide lockdown will be introduced in Scotland from midnight tonight, Nicola Sturgeon has announced. The first minister told the Scottish Parliament there will be a legal requirement for people to stay at home for the rest of January, with schools remaining closed to most pupils until the start of February at the earliest. “It

A murder investigation has been launched after a 13-year-old boy was stabbed to death. Thames Valley Police were called to reports of a knife attack in Bugs Bottom fields in the Emmer Green area of Reading at around 3.50pm on Sunday. The teenager died of his injuries at the scene. His family have been told

Boris Johnson says he expects “tens of millions” of coronavirus vaccine jabs to be administered in the UK over the next three months. The prime minister said the government hoped to give up to two million doses a week as it tries to get the country’s COVID-19 epidemic under control. Live updates on coronavirus from

Hundreds of new vaccination sites are expected to be up and running this week as the NHS expands its coronavirus immunisation programme. Some 530,000 doses of the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine will be available across the UK from Monday. At first, only a small number of hospital will distribute the vaccine but after a few days,

Public Health England (PHE) has said it does not recommend mixing COVID-19 vaccines from different suppliers. The warning comes as distribution of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is due to start in the UK next week, the second roll-out following the launch of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in December, with both requiring two doses. On New Year’s Eve,

Boris Johnson is facing calls to close every school in England after an embarrassing government U-turn which means all primary schools in London will remain shut next week. A union leader claimed what was right for London was right for the rest of the country and called on ministers to “do their duty” and close

Vaccine shortages are likely to cause problems for “several months”, England’s chief medical officer has warned, amid fears that emergency healthcare staff at COVID “battle stations” are at risk of burnout. Professor Chris Whitty said the UK needs to urgently maximise the number of people who are vaccinated, as he defended a shift to prioritise

The UK has welcomed in 2021, saying goodbye to a year that for many was the strangest, toughest or even worst in recent memory. It was ushered in by the chimes of Big Ben – an hour after the nation’s clock marked the end of the Brexit transition period – without any of the thousands

Nightingale hospitals across England are being “readied” for use if needed as COVID-19 patient numbers rise. The NHS in London has been asked to make sure the Excel centre site is “reactivated and ready to admit patients” as hospitals in the capital struggle. Other Nightingale hospital sites across England include Manchester, Bristol, Sunderland, Harrogate, Exeter

A further 20 million people are under tighter restrictions after the government announced an extension of Tier 4 rules in England in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus. On the day the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine was approved to tackle COVID-19, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said a new strain of the virus was “surging across

The toughest coronavirus restrictions could be expanded to more areas in England, as daily recorded cases continue to surge and hospitals report record numbers of patients being treated for the virus. Possible changes to COVID-19 tier areas were discussed as Prime Minister Boris Johnson chaired a meeting of ministers on Tuesday. Sky News understands that