Authorities in Northern Ireland have apprehended a 22-year-old man who is accused of a murder in Spain.
The police in Northern Ireland said that the authorities in Spain have issued a warrant to send someone back to Spain.
Police in Lurgan, County Armagh, teamed up with the National Crime Agency and authorities in Spain to find a wanted person at a place in the Craigavon area on Friday night.
He has to go to a court in Belfast on Sunday.
More update on this story soon.
A joint UK and Ireland venture of more than £60m is set to be declared to make two modern science investigate centres to see at climate alter.
The declaration is anticipated to made at the British and Irish Between time Conference (BIIGC) in Dublin afterward.
The centres will center on regions such as biodiversity and nourishment maintainability.
They will bring together scholastics and policymakers over government divisions in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK.
The declaration will be made by the Irish and UK science priests, Simon Harris and Michelle Donelan, as well as Katrina Godfrey, the gracious hireling in charge of Northern Ireland’s Division of Horticulture, Environment and Provincial Issues (DAERA).
It has long been perceived that cross-border co-operation is required to handle climate alter.
Numerous of the objectives in both wards are as of now adjusted, like coming to net zero by 2050.
So financing these co-centres brings together individuals and educate who may as of now be working on the same things but doing so uninformed of each other.
Breaking down those investigate silos ought to slope up the speed and scientific robustness of any discoveries conjointly lead to arrangements more rapidly.
Financing to discover arrangements is vital – but finding subsidizing to execute them is another thing.
One inquire about middle will see at climate, biodiversity and water whereas the other will be devoted to inquiring about maintainable and strong nourishment frameworks.
Each will be driven by a group of scholastics from the Extraordinary Britain, Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The program will be supported for six a long time with a total venture of €70m (£60.7m).
Typically made up of €40m (£34.7m) from Science Establishment Ireland, £17m from Northern Ireland’s Division of Horticulture, Environment and Country Issues (DAERA) and up to £12m through UK Investigate and Advancement (UKRI).
The centres will formally begin their work within the modern year and be supported until 2030.
Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris recently talked with Taoiseach Leo Varadkar about bringing back Stormont. This discussion happened during the introduction of a new financial support program for Northern Ireland.
Mr Heaton-Harris had a meeting with the Prime Minister of Ireland in Belfast on Monday at the Peace Plus event.
The plan, which is paid for by the UK, Ireland, and the EU, will provide £858m for Northern Ireland and the counties near the border.
The money will be given to people from 2021 to 2027.
The money news is happening when Northern Ireland doesn’t have a working government.
It fell apart last year when the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) pulled out because they were mad about the trade rules between Northern Ireland and Great Britain after Brexit.
The DUP has stated that they do not think the Windsor Framework deal, formed between the European Union and the UK Government to improve the Northern Ireland Protocol, adequately tackles their worries.
“A clear answer”
Mr Varadkar and Mr Heaton-Harris quickly talked about the ongoing deadlock in Stormont. Meanwhile, Maros Šefčovič, the chief negotiator for the EU, stated to journalists at the event that the framework offered a final solution to all unresolved matters.
Mr Šefčovič said that both the UK government and the European Union know that they have reached their limits.
The UK government is giving £730 million to the Peace Plus scheme.
Jayne Brady, who is in charge of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, and Paschal Donohoe, who is the Irish Public Expenditure Minister, are also present at the event.
Leo Varadkar, who is the Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister), is in Belfast on Monday to announce some money that will be given.
Mr Varadkar was supposed to express Dublin’s worries about the UK government’s contentious Legacy Bill when he met with Mr.
It will pass its final stage in the House of Lords this week, even though political parties and victims’ groups in Northern Ireland are against it.
The Irish government has said that it might take the UK to court over the law.
A statement about the UK’s re-admission to the EU’s flagship research programme, Horizon, is anticipated shortly.
After an agreement was reached on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland earlier this year, discussions on the UK becoming a full member of the EU’s €100 billion (£85 billion) programme reopened.
There has been progress in the EU-UK negotiations, according to sources in Brussels.
However, neither party has made any official announcement of a signed agreement.
The Brexit Trade and Cooperation Agreement included an agreement in principle for the UK to be an associate member of Horizon, but the matter was stymied by the conflict over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
According to a research group, the UK has “let down” many Afghan refugees, some of whom have been living in hotels for up to two years and are now in danger of being evicted.
Lessons must be learnt, according to More in Common, to better assist refugees in the future.
It occurs on August 15, 2021, the anniversary of both the UK’s evacuation plan and the Taliban’s capture of Kabul.
Minister Johnny Mercer acknowledged “challenges” but declared he was committed to making Afghan plans succeed.
During Operation Pitting, the UK airlifted approximately 15,000 individuals out of Kabul, including British nationals, UK employees in Afghanistan, and their families.
Those who didn’t have a place to dwell were put up in motels paid for by the government. In spite of the fact that this was meant to be a temporary arrangement, by the end of March, there were still about 8,800 Afghans living in hotels.
The government has given Afghans until the end of August to leave hotels, but authorities have warned that some may end up homeless because they are unable to find other places to live.
132 Afghans living in the UK were polled by More In Common, a group established in the wake of the murder of Labour MP Jo Cox.
It was reported that there had been breakdowns in housing-related communication between local governments and the Home Office, that rental applications had been frequently denied, and that unsuitable properties had been offered, sometimes hundreds of miles away.
One instance included a refugee who was given permanent housing in Northern Ireland while residing in temporary housing in Bristol, where they had family.
Amir Hussain Ibrahimi has been residing in a hotel in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, ever since the UK evacuated him from Afghanistan two years ago.
The 24-year-old Afghan journalist and photographer claimed that after being captured and attacked by the Taliban, he was forced to leave his family behind.
“The first days when I was in the hotel we had a lot of promises – the government told us that you’re going to stay three months, four months, or five months,” he said to BBC News.
It is challenging since you are unsure about your life’s next move.
He remarked, “Sometimes you want to feel a place is like a home,” and he has experienced depression on occasion since moving to the UK.
After being turned down by more than ten landlords, Mr. Ibrahimi said he was delighted the council had finally given him a permanent home. He is currently anticipating whether this landlord will approve him as a tenant.
He claimed to know numerous other families who had been unsuccessful in finding housing, though.
Mr. Ibrahimi admitted that there were difficulties because many Afghans had huge families and had never worked in the UK. He did note that additional assistance was required from the government.
It was admitted that “things could have always been done differently” and that Afghan families had been housed in hotels “for far too long” by Cabinet Office minister Mr. Mercer, who served in Afghanistan during his time in the military and is in charge of the resettlement programme.
The deadline for guests to check out of hotels by the end of August, he told the PA news agency, had been “a controversial move,” but it had been made “with compassion in mind.”
“I couldn’t have generated that momentum without putting that hard deadline in there,” he claimed, adding that 440 Afghans had been matched to homes in the previous week.
According to the government, it has already assisted more than 10,500 Afghans in making the transition from hotels to long-term housing with financing totaling £285 million.
A representative for the Local Government Association claimed that despite facing difficulties such as a housing scarcity, councils have worked “incredibly hard” to support Afghan families.
It acknowledged that there were lessons to be learnt but accused the government of creating a lot of confusion by delaying financing and providing instructions.
When Kabul fell to the Taliban, Sir Laurie Bristow, the British ambassador there, remarked that the UK owed a debt of gratitude to its employees.
“There are people who worked for us and worked with us in Afghanistan and in refugee camps, and whose lives are in danger as a result of doing so,” he said on Radio 4’s Today programme.
Sir Laurie asserted that while the question of whether or not to negotiate with the Taliban is still up for dispute, doing so successfully might help to address the reasons why Afghans were migrating to the UK.
However, organisations have attacked relocation programmes for being too slow and for keeping many Afghans who want to immigrate to the UK stranded there.
Up until the end of March, only 40 refugees who had fled Afghanistan to nearby countries had been resettled in the UK under the Afghan Citizens Resettlement Scheme (ACRS), while only 14 members of at-risk groups had been resettled directly from Afghanistan since the original evacuation.
11,398 Afghans have been transported to the UK via a programme for those who worked for or with the UK government, while 9,059 more Operation Pitting immigrants have also been placed under the ACRS.
While others have chosen riskier routes, like travelling across the English Channel in small boats, Afghans have been the most frequent nationality to arrive this way so far this year.
The programmes, according to the human rights charity Justice, were characterised by “significant delays, a lack of transparency, and a lack of consistency.”
It demanded more efficient applicant communication and speedier processing times.
Mr. Mercer confirmed that once the Taliban took control, some people were left behind and were still not taken to safety.
Nevertheless, he declared that he was committed to making resettlement programmes “work properly” and that the UK should be “proud” of its efforts to save people.
According to a representative for the Home Office, there is “no need for Afghans to risk their lives by taking dangerous and illegal journeys” because the UK has “one of the largest commitments of any country to support Afghanistan.”
The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) has apologised for accidentally disclosing information about every one of its 10,000 employees.
The breach might result in “incalculable damage,” according to NI’s Police Federation.
The PSNI provided the names, bases, and duties of every police and civilian employee in answer to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
The information was subsequently posted online before being taken down.
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd apologised to the officers and called the mistake “unacceptable”.
The last thing anyone in the company wants to hear this evening, the speaker continued, is that our colleagues are currently under a serious threat from terrorism connected to Northern Ireland.
“I owe it to all of my colleagues to thoroughly investigate this, and we have started doing that.”
Republican paramilitaries have targeted Northern Ireland police; the most recent attack occurred in February.
Officers must be extra attentive about their protection due to the threat.
Many people, particularly those from nationalist communities, conceal their employment, sometimes even from large numbers of family members.
The PSNI was requested in the FOI request for a breakdown of every staff member’s rank and grade.
However, the PSNI also provided a spreadsheet in addition to a table listing the number of people holding roles like constable.
This included more than 10,000 people’s surnames, initials, and other information.
It seems to apply to every member of the PSNI, including Chief Constable Simon Byrne.
There are no private addresses present.
Trade over the Irish border has reportedly grown more economically significant since Brexit, according to a new research of foreign trade in Ireland and Northern Ireland.
ESRI, or the Economic and Social Research Institute, conducted the analysis.
The trade arrangements of the two economies can be compared more consistently thanks to changes in the way that trade data has been recorded since Brexit.
Because NI to GB trade is not recorded in the same way as an internal UK sale, this study has this restriction.
Some earlier studies found that there was less cross-border trade between Ireland and Northern Ireland than economic models suggested there should have been.
However, the study by the ESRI, which is based in Dublin, indicated that position has been reversed since Brexit.
Goods trade is typically driven by the size of markets and the physical distance between them.
The ESRI study found higher levels of trade integration between Ireland and Northern Ireland “than can be accounted for by these fundamental economic characteristics”.
“This is in contrast to previous research findings on this topic, which showed cross-border trade below levels predicted by similar models, with the different effect likely arising from the sharp increase in cross-border trade since Brexit,” it added.
The study also found a much greater diversity of goods is traded across the border compared to the highly concentrated nature of broader international trade in both economies.
Ireland has a particular concentration of trade in pharmaceuticals.
The chemicals and pharmaceutical sector accounts for 20% of all Irish imports and over 55% of exports.
According to climbing officials, a mountaineer from Northern Ireland died while coming down from the top of the world’s tenth-highest peak.
Noel Hanna, a ten-time Everest climber, reached the 8,091-meter (26,545-foot) Annapurna peak in west Nepal on Monday. He passed away the next day at Camp IV after descending from the mountain.
According to Yubaraj Khatiwada, a representative of the Department of Tourism, Hanna’s death’s circumstances are unknown.
He claimed that since Monday, a climber from India has been missing after falling into a crevasse on the lower parts of Annapurna.
Two other Indian mountaineers, who were caught up in bad weather while climbing Annapurna, were being rescued, hiking company officials said.
Annapurna peak in west Nepal, first climbed by Maurice Herzog of France in the early 1950s, is considered dangerous because of the risk of frequent avalanches.
At least 365 people have climbed Annapurna and more than 72 have died on the mountain, according to hiking officials.
Last week, three Nepali sherpa climbers died after being hit by an ice serac on the lower parts of Mount Everest.
Nepal has eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains. Climbing Himalayan peaks and hiking on their foot hills are popular adventure sports as well as a source of employment and income for the country which is tucked between China and India.
Joe Biden, the vice president of the United States, has just landed on Air Force One in Dublin in preparation for more engagements in the Republic of Ireland.
They will make their way to County Louth – where some of his ancestors hail from.
Due to the terrible weather, he will now travel by motorcade to Co Louth instead of by helicopter.
The White House says Biden will tour also Carlingford Castle
The president is also set for a full day of engagements in Dublin on Thursday.
President Biden’s lecture at Ulster University was not attended by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, according to claims made by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris.
Last night, Sunak welcomed Biden to Belfast. This morning, before the Ulster University event, the two met.
Heaton-Harris says the prime minister had other private engagements to attend afterwards, which was a “perfectly legitimate thing to do”.
“Actually the two of them get on really well, they meet each other all the time. The relationship is great,” he adds.
Sunak himself was asked earlier about his seemingly limited contact with Biden this week.
He said this was Biden’s fourth UK visit since becoming US president, and that they had a “very good discussion on a range of issues”.
Here are the key moments from US President Joe Biden’s speech in Belfast:
The DUP leader, Jeffrey Donaldson, emphasised that Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland today “does not change the political dynamic.”
President Biden has previously urged political leaders to reinstate its power-sharing government and offered US funding as an incentive.
He said the president made clear that “it is not his job – as we heard in his speech – to take decisions for political leaders in Northern Ireland but that the United States stands ready to support Northern Ireland in every way it can”.
Mr Donaldson added that he had a brief conversation with President Biden – and he welcomes the visit.
He said that the visit does not change the “political dynamic”, adding: “We know what needs to happen.“
The US president, Joseph Biden, is scheduled to arrive in Ireland and Northern Ireland today to begin his trip.The visit, which commemorates the signing of the Good Friday Agreement 25 years ago, will draw the largest police presence in over a decade.
Speaking hours after a petrol bomb attack on Easter Monday in Londonderry, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said officials were aware of the “recent violence” and that the president was “grateful” for the work of the security forces in Northern Ireland to keep people safe.
Asked again if there are any concerns about the president’s safety during the trip, Mr Kirby said: “You know we don’t ever talk about security requirements, protecting the president.
“But the president is more than comfortable making this trip and he’s very excited to do it.”
During the attack at an Easter parade on Monday, petrol bombs were thrown at an armoured police Land Rover while officers attended what they described as an “unnotified” march by dissident republicans.
Officers condemned the attack as “senseless and reckless”.
MI5 raised the terror threat in Northern Ireland to “severe” at the end of last month, meaning an attack is highly likely.
Joe Biden has often spoken proudly of his Irish roots, and the Irish prime minister Leo Varadkar has said his visit this week is about “welcoming a son of Ireland home”.
The US president – who is among 32 million people in the US with Irish heritage – can trace his ancestry to opposite sides of the island.
His great-great-grandfather Owen Finnegan emigrated to the US from the Cooley peninsula of Co Louth in eastern Ireland.
Another great-great-grandfather, Patrick Blewitt, was born in western Ireland – in the town of Ballina, Co Mayo.
He left during the Irish famine of autumn 1850 to settle in the US.
Distant Irish relatives toasted to the US president’s 2020 election win and celebrated his inauguration in January 2021.
The US president’s plane, Air Force One, has begun its flight to Belfast.
The journey should take approximately six to seven hours, with Joe Biden expected to touch down between 9pm and 10pm.
Rishi Sunak is expected to greet the US leader on the runway.
Mr Biden will spend half a day in the Northern Irish capital tomorrow before going to Ulster University to mark the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
Joe Biden has boarded a plane in the United States headed for Belfast.
Asked on the runway what his top priority was for the trip, the president said: “Make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor agreement stay in place; keep the peace. That’s the main thing.”
He said two of his family members will accompany him on the visit.
Joe Biden spent his childhood in Scranton, a town in Pennsylvania where his Irish ancestors settled.
The town is twinned with Ballina, in Ireland’s Co Mayo, and has a strong Irish-American community.
US correspondent James Matthews speaks to people in the town ahead of Mr Biden’s trip…
By Stephen Murphy, Ireland correspondent
In rural Co Louth, the clattering of heavy military helicopters breaks the quiet of a sleepy Easter weekend.
Two US Army Chinooks accompany a pair of the famous “white tops”, the Sikorsky Sea Kings in presidential green-and-white livery, as they swoop down to land on a GAA pitch.
One of the Sea Kings will be known as Marine One when it lands here again with a distinguished guest on Wednesday. But not yet.
Across the nearby border, the Police Service of Northern Ireland is drafting in an extra 300 officers from other UK forces to help with a major security operation.
Against the background of an increased terror threat level (put by MI5 at “severe”), there is intelligence that dissident republicans may mount a “spectacular” – an attack against police while the US president is in town.
Motorists gawp on the M2 as armoured American vehicles arrive, including the presidential “roadrunner” communications truck.
In Dublin, a flight of four Chinooks thundering overhead causes a football game to pause. They’ve arrived from US bases in Europe, via Cardiff, and are now en route to the Irish military air base at Baldonnel.
And across the country, in Ballina, Co Mayo, on the Atlantic Coast, the manhole covers are being sealed. There’s a newly renamed Biden’s Coffee Corner to caffeinate the visitors, and the town’s mural of its most famous son will greet him before he makes his homecoming address, at a cathedral built with bricks supplied by his great-great-great-grandfather.
Yes, it’s hard to miss the impending arrival of Joe Biden, with the awesome logistical machinery of a US presidential visit highly visible as early as a week before his arrival. Ireland is ready. Northern Ireland is ready.
All eyes will now be on this most Irish of American presidents to see how he shapes a visit billed here as the ultimate homecoming.
The island of Ireland – especially the Republic – has a rich history of welcoming US presidents.
John F Kennedy once referred to his Irish visit in 1963 as “the best four days of his life”. It came just months before his assassination.
Richard Nixon‘s official state visit to Ireland in 1970 has often been called “the forgotten visit”. It was considered poor timing, as many people in Ireland opposed the war in Vietnam.
Ronald Reagan, who had Irish ancestry, visited Ireland in 1984. During a speech to the Irish parliament, he said his feelings could be summarised as “home, home again”.
Bill Clinton made history by becoming the first US president to visit Northern Ireland in 1995, with the aim of encouraging the peace process.
He visited again in 2000 on a farewell trip as his presidential term came to an end.
George W Bush visited Northern Ireland in 2003 to hold talks over the political process in the country and the war in Iraq.
He also made a flying visit to Ireland in 2004 for an EU-US summit that was marked by anti-war protests.
Barack Obama visited his family roots in the tiny village of Moneygall in Ireland in 2011 – and also made a stirring speech in Dublin.
In 2013, he travelled to Northern Ireland with his family to attend the G8 summit.
Donald Trump declared that he “loves the Irish” within minutes of touching down at Shannon Airport in Ireland in 2019. But there was an awkward moment as he compared the Irish border situation with a US-Mexico “wall” – with Leo Varadkar, the Irish PM, having to hastily interject.
Joe Biden is “very much looking forward” to his visit and is not concerned about threats of violence, the White House has said.
Speaking hours after a petrol bomb attack on Easter Monday in Londonderry, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said officials were aware of the “recent violence” and that the president was “grateful” for the work of the security forces in Northern Ireland to keep people safe.
Asked again if there are any concerns about the president’s safety during the trip, Mr Kirby said: “You know we don’t ever talk about security requirements, protecting the president.
“But the president is more than comfortable making this trip and he’s very excited to do it.”
During the attack at an Easter parade on Monday, petrol bombs were thrown at an armoured police Land Rover while officers attended what they described as an “unnotified” march by dissident republicans.
Officers condemned the attack as “senseless and reckless”.
MI5 raised the terror threat in Northern Ireland to “severe” at the end of last month, meaning an attack is highly likely.
Read more on what that means below…
The policing operation around Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland will be the biggest in nearly a decade – and it’s set to cost around £7m.
Around 300 officers from other parts of the UK will travel to the area to help police a series of events to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.
The US president and Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, will both fly in this evening, Assistant Chief Constable Chris Todd of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said.
The force is hoping to “maintain business as usual” while delivering “safe and secure events”.
It will be a “significant operation” of a size not surpassed since Northern Ireland hosted the G8 summit in 2013, Mr Todd added.
He said “elements of the operation will actually be more impactful than we saw then”.
“In terms of the number of movements of protected persons and vehicle escorts… it’s a very significant operation.”
Police have been planning for the arrival of the US leader for several weeks and are “prepared for all the various contingencies”, Mr Todd said.
But although it’s a high-profile visit, he said, the “style and tone” of policing will remain “community focused”.
Mr Todd said the PSNI would initially shoulder the £7m cost but would look to “recover costs as best we possibly can” in the future.
Joe Biden is marking the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland this week.
The US president is in Belfast over the next couple of days to mark the “tremendous progress” made since the deal was signed.
The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) was a deal signed with the aim of ending three decades of violence in Northern Ireland, known as the Troubles, which started in the late 1960s.
What were the Troubles?
After the partition of Ireland in the 1920s – which granted independence to the majority of the island while keeping the northern part in the UK – divisions remained between republicans who wanted a united Ireland and unionists who favoured political union with Britain.
Divisions erupted into conflict in the late 1960s, and more than 3,600 people were killed over the next 30 years.
How did the conflict end?
Multiparty talks began in the late 1990s and though they came close to collapse several times, they resulted in a peace deal being reached on 10 April 1998 – which was Good Friday that year.
The deal was ratified by voters in both Northern Ireland and the republic in May 1998.
What did the agreement say?
Through the deal, Northern Ireland’s multiple identities were officially recognised – meaning it was the birth right of residents to identify as British, Irish or both.
It also formed a new government in Northern Ireland representing both unionists and nationalists in order to foster cooperation between the two communities.
The GFA recognised that Northern Ireland is part of the UK, but that it could unite with Ireland if a majority of people in both the north and the republic vote in favour of it.
Joe Biden is set to kick off his four-day trip to Northern Ireland and Ireland today.
The visit marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
He will first travel to Belfast in Northern Ireland for two days to mark the “tremendous progress” made since the signing of the historic treaty.
Rishi Sunak, the prime minister, will fly into Northern Ireland this evening, and the pair will be involved in “a number of events” tomorrow.
Mr Biden will then travel to Ireland from 12 April to 14 April, where he is expected to visit Dublin, Co Mayo and Co Louth.
We’ll be bringing you all the latest updates throughout the president’s trip.
The number of Covid-19 infections in England has reached its greatest level since the year’s beginning, with about one in 40 people currently sick.
The final time that regular estimates of the rate of coronavirus infection will be made in England was just announced by health officials.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said today that the virus probably infected around 1,500,000 people in the week ending March 13.
This is up from 1,300,000 million the previous week, making it the highest total for the country since the week to January 3, when it stood at 2,200,000.
The ONS said infections have increased among younger and older ages groups especially, among those aged two to school Year 11 and those aged 50 and over.
The North West saw the highest recorded Covid-19 prevalence in the country, with an estimated 4.14% of people infected, or one in 25.
Figures for the rest of the UK are largely uncertain due to a small sample, though there are some signs there is an upswing in the virus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Around 136,200 people in Scotland were likely to have Covid-19 on any given day in the week of March 13, or around one in 40.
This compared with 105,100, or one in 50, the previous week.
For Wales, around one in 40 people have become infected with coronavirus, or 74,500 people, compared to 68,200.
Not enough samples were returned in Northern Ireland to get a grasp of the Covid-19 situation there.
This will be the final snapshot of England captured by the ONS’s long-running infection survey.
Moving forward, monitoring of the virus that has sickened 24,400,000 and killed more than 208,000 will be announced after a review into what’s more ‘cost-effective’, the UK Health Security Agency said.
ONS head of health surveillance dissemination Michelle Bowen said: ‘This week’s data show infections are rising in England; however, the trend is uncertain across the rest of the UK.
‘In England, positivity increased in children and those aged 50 and over.
‘The North West, East Midlands and South East of England all saw infections increase, though the trend is uncertain in all other regions.’
The infection survey has been running for the last three years since the coronavirus first began upending the lives of countless Brits.
By tracking known cases, deaths, hospitalisations and positive tests, the ONS survey has been vital in showing how the virus has spread over time.
It also helped supply information needed to decipher new wily variants as well as antibody counts and long Covid.
Tracking the virus nowadays has been tricky, to say the least, given that not everyone tests for the virus or still reports it back to health authorities.
But the ONS survey collects tests from households regardless of whether they knew they had coronavirus or if they reported results to the NHS.
Winding down the survey comes amid a sharp surge in hospital admissions in England for the third week in a row.
The number is now 10.6% per 100,000 people in the seven days to March 19 – again, the highest since the beginning of the year.
The gap in official data will now mean hospital admissions and death registrations will be the only two leading indicators for where and how the virus is spreading.
Sir David Spiegelhalter, emeritus professor of statistics at Cambridge University and chairman of the advisory board for the survey, said the survey has been ‘world-leading’.
‘It is expensive, and this has led to it being paused, but the participant group is not being disbanded and a survey should be able to ramp up when necessary,’ he said.
‘Meanwhile, there are important lessons to be learned for future emergencies, both by us and every other country.
‘The survey has been the envy of the world and is a jewel in the crown of UK science.’
Many David Browns, John Deeres, Zetor, and Massey Fergusons attended the weekend memorial service for a teen.
On December 4, 15-year-old Matthew McCallan, who would have been 16 yesterday, passed away from hypothermia.
For a 15-mile charity run to Dungannon in County Tyrone, tractors from farms all over Northern Ireland came on his hometown of Carrickmore to commemorate the event.
Hundreds of people showed up to see the parade and sang Happy Birthday before the balloons with the words Forever 15 and 16 were released.
The parade was led by Matthew’s mum, Frances, who said he would have loved the event.
She said: ‘He’s here, having a ball with us. We went to his grave this morning and put flowers on it. I’d a good cry and then just said, “that’s it, this is just a special day for Matthew and I’m going to enjoy it”.’
Grandmother Margaret Ann called the event ‘more sweet than bitter’, adding: ‘The generosity of people is unbelievable. I can’t believe there are this many tractors in Northern Ireland.’
300 tractors turn out to commemorate teenager
The celebration comes after months of pain for Matthew’s family. Frances said: ‘It’s been awful; horrific. Unless you have lost a child you won’t understand.
‘I’m empty. There’s part of me missing. My whole daily routine has changed. As a person, you’re changed. I’ll never be the person I was again, but I am a different person now and I’m fit for anything to be perfectly honest.
‘Whereas I would have been shy before — doing an interview, I would have hidden away from that — but now, I’m prepared to do anything.
‘I was going to say I can’t believe it [the generosity of everyone], but I can believe it, because there’s good people out there and the support they have given us this past couple of months has been amazing.
‘Matthew’s friends are amazing, I love them coming to the house, and all this today just speaks for itself and what people thought of him.’
The government has stated that the price of an NHS prescription would increase to £9.65 starting next month.
Patients in England will have to pay an additional 30p starting on April 1 in order to pick up their medication from a pharmacy.
After Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland all eliminated the fees more than ten years ago, only England remains in the UK that charges for prescriptions.
Prescription charges were frozen at £9.35 last April in order to help ‘ease cost of living pressures,’ marking the first time prices had not increased in 12 years.
But now the Department of Health and Social Care has announced prices will rise once again in line with inflation at a rate of 3.21 per cent.
The cost of prepayment certificates, prescription wigs and surgical bras will also be increased in line with the inflation rate.
The recently introduced HRT PPC- which gives women a sizable discount on their annual HRT costs- will also rise to £19.30, up from £18.70.
There are some exemptions in place for patients in England, including for those aged 16-18 and in full-time education or patients once they turn 60.
Most contraception drugs will also remain free.
Patients receiving Income Support, Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance or Income-related Employment and Support Allowance are also still entitled to free prescriptions.
Others entitled to free prescriptions include pregnant women and those who have had a baby within 12 months, people with physical disabilities and people on war pensions who hold a valid certificate.
The news comes following a survey from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) last month which revealed that half of pharmacists had seen an increase in patients asking them which prescription they can ‘do without’ in the last six months due to the cost of living crisis.
One in two pharmacists said they had also seen a rise in people not collecting their prescription.
Meanwhile, two-thirds had reported seeing an increase in requests for cheaper, over-the-counter substitutes for the medicine they had been prescribed.
The last time prescription charges increased was in 2021, when they rose 20p from £9.15 to £9.35.
In a “unimaginable tragedy” in Northern Ireland, a little child perished in a car accident.
According to eyewitnesses, a grandmother in Moira who was crossing the street with a pram was struck by a lorry close to traffic lights.
On Wednesday afternoon, the mom was stuck under the car and the child was killed.
Others raced to help, and the elderly woman was taken in critical condition to the Royal Victoria Hospital.
Councillor Jim Dillon said he’d been informed of the circumstances of the horrific incident, which had come as a ‘dreadful shock’ to the local community.
Noting that he knew the lorry driver, he added: ‘I want to express my deepest sympathies to the family concerned and to the lorry driver. It is an absolute tragedy that nobody could have envisaged.’
An Alliance Party MLA said that she was ‘devastated’ for the family involved.
‘My heart is just broken for them and I know we will all hold the family in prayer over the next while, God bless them all. Just devastating’, Sorcha Eastwood said on Twitter.
In a Facebook post, DUP MLA Paul Givan said it was ‘absolutely devastating news’ and that his thoughts and prayers were with the families affected by ‘this unimaginable tragedy’.
A community group is planning on starting a fundraiser for the family.
Pretty Mary’s bar in the town said on social media that it would close on Thursday as a mark of respect following the tragedy.
Main Street was closed after the collision, but reopened in the early hours of this morning.
In Northern Ireland, three persons have been detained after a prominent police detective was shot multiple times while not on duty.
DCI John Caldwell, who is widely known in the area for directing investigations into high-profile sectarian murders, paramilitary groups, and organised criminal gangs, is currently struggling for his life following the attack in Omagh, County Tyrone.
On Wednesday night, as the senior officer was wrapping up his time as a juvenile football coach, two masked assailants came up behind him and started shooting.
Colleagues say he was shot in front of his young son as he loaded footballs into the boot of his car and that he tried to flee before collapsing.
Police say the main focus of their investigation is the republican group New IRA and that the gunmen may have fled across the border.
The gunmen opened fire in a ‘crowded space where there [were] children and parents in the vicinity’, assistant chief constable Mark McEwan said.
Witnesses saw ‘many of those young people and children running in sheer terror to get to safety’, he added, branding the attackers ‘absolutely callous’ for risking so many innocent lives.
Crime scene after police officer shot at sports complex in Co Tyrone
Mr McEwan added: ‘At least two other vehicles have been struck, and again this highlights the callous and reckless nature of this attack.’
The gunmen are believed to have fled in a small dark car which was later found burned on the outskirts of Omagh.
The attack was quickly condemned by politicians on all sides of Stormont’s divides.
Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O’Neill said: ‘My immediate thoughts are with the officer and his family. I unreservedly condemn this reprehensible attempt to murder a police officer.’
DUP leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson said: ‘Our heart goes out to the family of this courageous police officer and to his colleagues.
‘We condemn outright the cowards responsible for this. These terrorists have nothing to offer and they must be brought to justice. We stand with the PSNI.’
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak added: ‘I am appalled by the disgraceful shooting of an off-duty police officer in Omagh tonight.
‘My thoughts are with the officer and his family. There is no place in our society for those who seek to harm public servants protecting communities.’
In Derry, Northern Ireland, a bomb was discovered close to where kids were playing football.
Just a few metres away from the location of the “viable” explosive are more than 20 people.
Following a failed hijack attempt in the city on Friday, police conducted a large-scale security operation and found the device.
Four men, aged 54, 29, 34 and 32 have since been arrested, and they remain in custody pending further enquiries.
Derry City and Strabane area commander, chief superintendent Nigel Goddard said the bomb has been taken away for further examination.
‘A number of cordons remain in place as police continue to search the area as part of our investigation,’ he added.
‘We would like to thank the local community for their patience and understanding during this time.
‘This explosive device was recklessly left in a public area, just metres away from houses and a sports area where a number of children were playing football.
‘Four people have been arrested and a number of searches have been carried out by detectives investigating this incident and an attempted hijacking on Friday.
‘They remain in custody assisting us with our inquiries.’
Mr Goddard added: ‘Our focus remains firmly on keeping people safe against the threat posed by violent groups.
‘No matter what level of involvement people have with any criminal or terrorist activity, we will investigate and where appropriate, put people before the courts to answer for their actions.
‘Our investigation into this incident is ongoing, and we strongly urge anyone with information, suspicions or concerns about dangerous and illegal activity in our community to contact us on 101.’
Having a taste of anything for the first time can come with its own beauty, but these Ghanaian nurses showcased their awe at seeing and feeling snow for the first time in a more enthralling way.
At the first opportunity, when these nurses, who work for Kingsbridge Private Hospital in Belfast, Northern Ireland, had the chance, they made their way to the streets, allowing the wintry flakes to fall on their faces.
According to the Belfast Telegraph, the moment the nurses – two women and one man – enjoyed this historic moment, was captured in photographs.
The photos have since delighted a lot of people on social media, the report added.
“Adwoa Aninkore, Richmond Koomson and Freda Dowaah had watched from inside the hospital as snow fell while they worked their rounds earlier in the day.
“During an evening break, they were delighted to see another shower and didn’t hesitate to dash outside,” the report stated.
Unable to hide her excitement, Adwoa, who was celebrating her 26th birthday on the same day, told the news portal that it made her feel like a baby.
“I felt like a child. Inside, I had that childlike feeling of joy.
“I was excited because I have only seen snow on the TV, and it was really, really nice to see it and feel it for real. I just wanted to soak the moment in.
“Where I live in Ghana, we have a rainy season and a dry season and here you have rain and a lot of cold and wind. You can get up in the morning and it is dry, and then in the afternoon it is raining. The weather here is a lot,” she is reported to have said.
The nurses are among 20 medical staff from across Africa who responded to an international recruitment campaign launched by Kingsbridge in 2021.
Following Ian Baraclough’s dismissal, Michael O’Neill has been rehired as Northern Ireland’s manager on a five-and-a-half-year deal.
O’Neill’s first tenure in command, which spanned from December 2011 to April 2020, saw him lead Northern Ireland to their first tournament in 30 years and the last 16 of Euro 2016.
The 53-year-old was fired from his position as Stoke City‘s manager in August after taking over in November and initially juggling it with his role as Northern Ireland manager.
Northern Ireland, which fired Baraclough in October after he won just four of his 22 competitive games, has now brought him back into the world of international managing.
📸 Things you absolutely love to see 🤩 #MONBACK #GAWA pic.twitter.com/ZGGQga0bxP
— Northern Ireland (@NorthernIreland) December 7, 2022
“I am delighted to be the Northern Ireland senior men’s manager,” O’Neill said in a statement on Wednesday.
“I am excited to see what can be achieved with this group of players and can’t wait to be in front of the Green and White Army at the National Stadium once again.”
O’Neill’s first game in charge will be against San Marino on March 23 in Northern Ireland’s opening Euro 2024 qualifier.
Nurses in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland will go on strike for two days next month, in what will be the largest walkout in NHS history.
In its pay dispute with the government, the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) announced strikes on December 15 and 20.
Although nurses will continue to provide emergency care, routine services will be impacted.
The RCN claimed it had no choice after ministers refused to reopen talks, but the government claimed the 19% pay increase demanded was unaffordable.
“Ministers have chosen strike action,” RCN general secretary Pat Cullen said.
“Nursing staff have had enough of being taken for granted, enough of low pay and unsafe staffing levels, enough of not being able to give our patients the care they deserve.”
Under trade union laws, the RCN has to ensure life-preserving care is provided during the strikes, which will last from 08:00 to 20:00 GMT.
This is likely to mean some urgent cancer services, urgent tests and scans and ongoing care for vulnerable patients will be protected alongside A&E and intensive care – although it will be up to local health bosses and union leaders to negotiate exact staffing levels on strike days.
But it seems almost certain the walkout will increase the backlog in non-urgent hospital treatment – a record seven million people are already on the waiting list in England.
Louise Ansari, from the Healthwatch England patient watchdog, said she was “concerned” about the impact on this group of patients.
Hospital nurse Shaun Williams only started working as a nurse a year ago.
He said the thought of striking makes him sad, but he is prepared to do it.
“I am sorry we are having to do this.
“But we are doing it for the right reasons, we are doing it for patient safety.
“You are running on reserves most days. We do not have enough staff and because of the lack of nurses, patients are at risk.
“Unless we pay nurses more we are not going to attract people or keep people.”
And he says unless the situation changes he may even quit nursing.
GP services, however, will be unaffected as nurses working in practices were not entitled to take part in the ballot.
And because a series of individual ballots were held at NHS trusts and boards rather than one national ballot, nurses at more than 40% of England’s hospitals, mental health and community services are not entitled to strike because the turnout was too low in those votes.
However, walkouts can happen at all of Northern Ireland’s health boards and in all-but-one in Wales, the Aneurin Bevan.
What is not clear yet is just how many of the services where strike action can take place will see walkouts.
It is possible the RCN could stagger the action so some services go on strike in December, with others to follow suit next year if the industrial action continues.
It is seen by the union as a way of limiting the disruption to patients, while keeping the pressure on the government.
Individual NHS trusts and boards will not find out until next week whether they will see walkouts on the two dates, because that is when the formal notices will go out.
The RCN has called for a rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate, which currently stands at above 14%, but no UK nation has offered close to that.
In England and Wales, NHS staff, including nurses, have been given a rise of at least £1,400 – worth about 4% on average for nurses.
In Northern Ireland, nurses are yet to receive a pay award because there is no working government.
Strike action has been suspended in Scotland however after the government there made a fresh offer worth more than 8% for a newly-qualified nurse. More senior nurses are being offered less. The RCN said it was considering the offer.
During the ballot, the results of which were announced two weeks ago, the RCN had argued this year’s below-inflation pay award came after years of squeezes on nurse’s salaries.
But England Health Secretary Steve Barclay said the RCN’s demands were not affordable, adding he “deeply regretted” union members would be taking action.
He pointed out the government had met the recommendations of the independent NHS Pay Review Body in giving its award.
And it followed a 3% pay rise last year, in recognition of work during the pandemic, despite a public-sector pay freeze.
“Our priority is keeping patients safe. The NHS has tried and tested plans in place to minimise disruption,” he added.
The Welsh government said it was unable to enter pay talks without extra funding from the UK government.
Labour shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said talks should restart – although he would not commit to paying the above-inflation pay rise the RCN was seeking.
“Why on earth is the health secretary refusing to negotiate with nurses? Patients will never forgive the Conservatives for this negligence.”
This will only be the second time RCN members have been on strike.
In 2019, nurses in Northern Ireland walked out over pay, while nurses who are members of Unison in England walked out in 2014 over pay.
A host of other major health unions, including Unison, the Royal College of Midwives, GMB and Unite, have all started balloting members.
On Monday, new legislation will be introduced in Westminster to give the Northern Ireland secretary the authority to reduce the salaries of assembly members.
As the executive had not been restored, Chris Heaton-Harris confirmed the move earlier in November.
The Executive Formation Bill will give parties more time to return to power-sharing government.
It will also clarify civil servants’ “limited decision-making” powers in the absence of ministers.
Extra provisions are also being made to allow a regional rate to be set, should an executive not be in place, as well as powers for the approval of some public appointments.
Mr Heaton-Harris said the bill would address the “realities of the governance gap in Northern Ireland during the present impasse”.
Under the new legislation, a fresh timeline will be set for the restoration of a power-sharing government.
If the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) refuses to end its boycott of the Stormont institutions by 8 December, Mr Heaton-Harris has the option to either call an election – which would be for some time between mid-January and the beginning of March – or extend the deadline by six weeks to 19 January.
If nothing changes by then, an election could take place by 13 April.
Setting out details of the bill, the secretary of state said people in Northern Ireland were being “denied full democratic representation”.
“The government’s priority is to see politicians elected to return to fulfil their roles in a strong, devolved, locally-accountable government as laid out in the Belfast Good Friday Agreement,” he said
“I urge the Northern Ireland parties to use this extended time to come together and deliver for the interests of all the people in Northern Ireland, particularly in this time of rising costs.”
Northern Ireland has been without a government since February as the DUP has refused to return to power-sharing in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
Unionist politicians argue the post-Brexit trading arrangement undermines Northern Ireland’s position in the UK.
It keeps the region aligned with some EU trade rules to ensure goods can move freely across the Irish land border.
Despite an assembly election in May – in which Sinn Féin won the largest number of seats – and four attempts to elect an assembly speaker, the DUP continued to refuse to nominate executive ministers.
The UK and EU remain in talks about the protocol, in the hopes of getting a deal to suit both sides.
Three weeks after he backtracked on his legal obligation to call an assembly election, Chris Heaton Harris is playing for more time.
By providing the extra space with two new deadlines, he hopes the UK and EU will strike a deal over the Northern Ireland Protocol, which could pave the way for the DUP’s return to the Northern Ireland Executive.
That is a big ask given the gaps which remain between London and Brussels.
Don’t be surprised if we end up with more dates to circle in the calendar once the two set today join the long list of Northern Ireland’s movable deadlines.
As for cutting assembly members’ salaries, let’s see if that is a threat the secretary of state will stick to.
The bill also gives the secretary of state the power to amend assembly members’ salaries while the assembly is “unable to conduct business and maintain public service delivery”.
This could see their wages cut by 27%, or just over £14,000, reducing their incomes from £51,500 to £37,337.
“At present MLAs (members of the legislative assembly) are not in a position to fulfil the full range of their duties, so it is right that we take steps to reduce their salaries, especially in the current economic climate,” Mr Heaton-Harris said.
He also criticised outgoing ministers for “poor decisions” which he said helped create the current £660m black hole in public finances.
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, the DUP leader, has stated that his party does not believe any progress has been made to alleviate concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol, and thus will not support the nomination of ministers to the executive.
Speaking to reporters today, Sir Jeffrey said: “We were given a clear mandate in the assembly elections that we would not nominate ministers to an executive until decisive action is taken on the protocol to remove the barriers to trade within our own country and to restore our place within the United Kingdom internal market.
“That remains our position.
“And so today we will not be supporting the nomination of ministers to the executive.”
He went on to say he would “not rest” until the issue was resolved.
For the first time in its 106-year history, the Royal College of Nursing is holding a vote among all of its members in the UK on going on strike.
The organisation is urging its 300,000 members to strike over salary; the outcome of the vote is expected next month.
If strikes go ahead, the RCN says they would affect non-urgent but not emergency care.
The government has urged nurses to “carefully consider” the impact on patients.
The RCN has been calling for a rise of 5% above the RPI inflation rate of 12%, but no UK nation has offered close to that.
In England and Wales, NHS staff, including nurses, are being given an average of 4.75% more, with extra for the lowest paid, while in Scotland, 5% has been given. In Northern Ireland, nurses are yet to receive a pay award.
The RCN said it had commissioned research showing average pay had fallen by 6% between 2011 and 2021 – once inflation had been taken into account – compared with the 4.6% average for the whole economy.
General secretary Pat Cullen told the BBC: “We’re not asking for the salaries of bankers or billionaires that seems to be the focus of this government.
“We’re just asking for a decent wage for our nursing staff so they can continue to do the brilliant job they do every day for their patients, and so that we can absolutely retain the staff that we’ve got.”
She added: “They need to give them a decent wage so they can look after their families, pay their bills.”
Speaking about how a strike would work, she added: “We will add no additional risk to the risk patients are facing every single day as a consequence of not having the right numbers and expertise of nursing staff looking after them.”
Starting salaries for nurses in England are currently just above £27,000, rising to nearly £55,000 for the most senior nurses.
The RCN said the average pay for a full-time established nurse was just above £32,000 last year – similar to average pay across the economy.
The union is inviting members of the public to co-sign a letter to Prime Minister Liz Truss, backing its stance.
The 380,000 members of Unison, including about 50,000 nurses, are also being balloted.
These ballot papers have been sent out in Scotland, with the rest of the UK following suit in the coming weeks.
Midwives in Scotland have also been balloted on strike action by the Royal College of Midwives, while the British Medical Association has said it will ballot junior doctors over industrial action.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health and Social Care in England pointed out the independent NHS Pay Review Body had recommended its pay award.
And it followed a 3% pay rise last year, in recognition of work during the pandemic, despite a public-sector pay freeze.
“We value the hard work of NHS nurses and are working hard to support them. Industrial action is a matter for unions and we urge them to carefully consider the potential impacts on patients,” she added.
Scottish Health Secretary Humza Yousaf said: “Any ballot for industrial action is disappointing. We are engaged with health unions and I hope we can come to an agreement on pay in the near future.”
In 2019, RCN members went on strike in Northern Ireland over pay, while nurses who are members of Unison in England walked out in 2014 over pay.
During any strike action, some nurses would continue to work to ensure emergency and urgent services continue.
Catholics currently outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland, which might be used to strengthen aspirations for a united Ireland.
According to the statistics for 2021, Catholics make up 45.7% of the population, while Protestants make up 43.5%.
A decade ago the census showed Protestants outnumbered Catholics by 48% to 45%, after falling below 50% for the first time. The shift could drive support moves for a united Ireland.
Last year’s figures also showed that 9.3% of the population belonged to no religion, up from 5.6% in 2011.
Northern Ireland was established in 1921 to maintain a pro-British Protestant “unionist” majority as a counterweight to the newly independent and predominantly Catholic Irish state in the south.
At the time the population split was roughly two-thirds Protestant and one-third Catholic.
The census also asked about people’s sense of national identity, with 31.9% saying they were British only and 8% saying they were British and Northern Irish.
The proportion saying they were Irish only was 29.1%, and 19.8% were Northern Irish only.
In the 2011 census, 40% said they were British only, 25% were Irish only and 21% were Northern Irish only.
Colum Eastwood, the leader of the SDLP, the moderate Irish nationalist party, said the shift was “a seminal moment in the history of modern Ireland” that should not be played down.
Sinn Fein MP John Finucane said that “historic change is happening”.
The census also showed a 63.5% increase in the number of people in Northern Ireland with an Irish passport and Brexit is undoubtedly a factor.
All English, Welsh and Northern Irish football and professional Scottish football has been postponed this weekend as a mark of respect following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
Ten Premier League and six Scottish Premiership fixtures were scheduled.
EFL games were due to take place on Friday and Saturday, with six Women’s Super League fixtures – the first of the season – on Saturday and Sunday.
England’s National League, FA Trophy and grassroots football is also off.
Friday’s play at golf’s PGA Championship was called off, along with all British horse racing and cricket’s Test between England and South Africa.
British horse racing will return on Sunday, with rugby union’s Premiership season beginning on Saturday after two fixtures on Friday were postponed.
British Boxing Board of Control tournaments have been postponed on Friday, with a decision yet to be made on the world boxing title fight between Savannah Marshall and Claressa Shields.
Sunday’s Great North Run will go ahead as planned, with organisers saying it is “an opportunity to come together and express our condolences while celebrating the life of our extraordinary Queen”, and that the event would be “more subdued out of respect”.
Queen Elizabeth II, the UK’s longest-serving monarch, died on Thursday aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.
The government’s national mourning guidance advised that cancelling fixtures was not obligatory, leaving the decision to individual sports.
Government guidance for the day of the funeral also advised that cancellation was not obligatory, but suggested events could be rescheduled so that they do not clash with the timings of the service.
It is unclear whether England’s cricket Test against South Africa will resume and whether Saturday’s play at golf’s PGA Championship will go ahead.
The rugby union Premiership match between Bristol and Bath has been moved from Friday evening to 17:30 BST on Saturday, while Sale v Northampton will not take place on Friday and is yet to be rearranged.
All other Premiership matches on Saturday and Sunday will go ahead as scheduled.
Formula 1 held a minute’s silence with all teams prior to practice on Friday for the Italian Grand Prix, with the race weekend to proceed as planned.
At the tennis US Open in New York, there was a moment of silence before the first women’s semi-final match on Thursday with the first men’s semi-final on Friday.
In rugby league, the Super League play-off between Catalans Dragons and Leeds is on Friday, with Huddersfield and Salford due to play on Sunday. The Championship fixture between Sheffield Eagles and Dewsbury Rams has been postponed.
The British Elite Ice Hockey League said the weekend’s season-opening games would go ahead as planned.
The Football Association said fixtures between 9 and 11 September are postponed, adding that as a “long-standing patron” of the FA the Queen “has left a lasting and indelible legacy on our national game”.
The Premier League and EFL have confirmed that all fixtures will be rescheduled.
While policing was not a factor in postponing this weekend’s Premier League games, it is understood it could be a consideration in next weekend’s games depending on state funeral arrangements.
There is confidence fixture congestion can be solved in the second half of the season and a meeting will be held next week to discuss the calendar with relevant bodies.
The Premier League took the decision to honour the Queen’s “extraordinary life and contribution to the nation” and said updates on future fixtures during the period of mourning “will be provided in due course”.
The league’s chief executive Richard Masters said: “We and our clubs would like to pay tribute to Her Majesty’s long and unwavering service to our country.
“This is a tremendously sad time for not just the nation but also for the millions of people around the world who admired her, and we join together with all those in mourning her passing.”
In Scotland, the postponements include the Scottish Professional Football League, Scottish Women’s Premier League and Scottish Highland and Lowland Football Leagues, as well as Women’s Scottish Cup fixtures.
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said it was appropriate to “mark the event with all possible solemnity” and added that there would be a further update “when we have clarity over official arrangements for Her Majesty’s funeral”.
The Women’s Super League was preparing to kick off the 2022-23 season this weekend with clubs enjoying record ticket sales following England’s summer success at Euro 2022.
Tottenham were scheduled to host Manchester United in the larger main stadium used by their male counterparts, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, while Chelsea were set to welcome West Ham to Stamford Bridge.
Tickets had sold out for Manchester City’s fixture against Arsenal at the 7,000-capacity Academy Stadium on Sunday.
Reading have five times the amount of season ticket holders compared to last year, while reigning champions Chelsea sold out their 1,500 season tickets for the second season in a row.
British racing has been cancelled on Saturday but will resume on Sunday, with the exception of Musselburgh in Scotland.
The world’s oldest Classic race, the St Leger, has been put back 24 hours and will feature in an extended nine-race card at Doncaster.
While Chepstow is also set to go ahead on Sunday, Musselburgh’s meeting has been called off due to the Queen lying in state in Edinburgh.
British Horseracing Authority chief executive BHA chief executive Julie Harrington said the Queen had “an enduring and unique” relationship with the sport.
“The return of racing on Sunday will see the running of the St Leger, one of Britain’s five Classic races and a race which the Queen won with her filly Dunfermline in 1977,” she said.
“This will also provide an opportunity for the sport and its supporters to pay its respects to Her Majesty, for the contribution which she has made to the sport to be marked.”
Source: BBC
There have been 300 more deaths than expected across Northern Ireland in the past 10 weeks, many as a result of acute pressures on the health system.
These excess deaths are a measure of how many more people are dying compared to the five-year average.
Experts say this trend may continue into the winter months and beyond unless healthcare pressures are eased.
An ageing population, delayed diagnoses and access to services as well as Covid are seen as contributing factors.
The 10-week window offers a snapshot into a very complex issue.
There were 3,200 deaths in the last 10 weeks, which is 16% more than the five-year average, according to NI Statistics and Research Agency (Nisra) data.
The number of people older than 70 increased by 15% in the past five years.
Once the changing demographics are considered – chiefly people getting older – death rates are 12% higher than normal, which equates to 340 more deaths than what is expected at this time of year.
A large number of the 340 people will have been elderly who will have died from conditions such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
While the pandemic may be a factor, compared to previous years, people have never been better protected against the virus.
Most have either been vaccinated, had the virus, or both, which means resistance to Covid-19 is higher.
There are also more effective drugs to treat the most chronic of cases.
Image caption, Even with Northern Ireland’s ageing population, the excess death rate is still much higher than normal
So why in recent months have there been more deaths that expected?
The founder of the Covid-19 Actuaries Response Group said it was difficult to see numbers falling because Northern Ireland’s healthcare system was under tremendous pressure.
“It’s hard to see the pressures that the health system is under relenting in the very short term,” Stuart McDonald told BBC News NI.
“So it’s quite possible that we see a continuation of this excess deaths pattern into the winter months, which would be a really bad outcome.
“We are talking about a third year of very high mortality.”
A virologist based at Queen’s University Belfast said the consensus was that the Covid-19 vaccines were highly unlikely to be contributing to or driving these excess deaths.
Dr Connor Bamford said the safety of the vaccine was taken very seriously, with any side effects being extremely rare.
He said that the known side effects were also very specific and are “not really fitting with the general cause of these excess deaths which we have seen”.
“The best evidence we have is that this seems to be a worse problem for the UK, which doesn’t really fit with the global usage of these vaccines over the last couple of years,” he added.
GP Dr Alan Stout agrees that excess deaths in Northern Ireland are likely to rise over the coming months.
He has also warned that the Nisra figures have yet to reflect the “lag” of delayed cancer diagnoses.
It could take another three to six months to translate those into statistics, he added.
Dr Stout also said an increase in mortality figures was predicted, mainly due to a growing and ageing population.
He said healthcare professionals had “struggled to change the system for a number of factors to accommodate that”.
Source: BBC
The cost of fraudulent Universal Credit (UC) claims in Northern Ireland almost doubled to £102m last year, a public spending watchdog has said.
The figure has emerged in the auditor general’s annual audit of the Department for Communities accounts.
The department said a significant number of fraudulent claims date to the start of the pandemic.
At that time certain conditions were eased to allow unprecedented numbers of people to get financial help.
In the previous year, the cost of fraudulent UC claims was £51.8m.
The number of households on UC in Northern Ireland almost doubled between February and July 2020 when people lost jobs or had their income reduced as a result of pandemic restrictions.
UC is the main benefit for unemployed or lower-paid working-age people and is claimed by about 130,000 people in Northern Ireland.
In 2021/22, expenditure on UC was £912m, accounting for nearly 13% of overall benefit expenditure.
The department’s analysis of UC fraud cases shows that 28% of the cases concerned an initial claim made during the early days of the pandemic.
A significant proportion relates to self-employed income, which is more difficult to verify than taxed income through HMRC records.
‘Concerned’
Auditor general Kieran Donnelly said: “I note that the situation in Great Britain with respect to UC is similar to Northern Ireland in terms of increasing expenditure and estimated overpayment rates due to customer fraud.
“Nonetheless, I remain concerned that estimated overpayments due to fraud are so high here, given our relative size.”
Mr. Donnelly said the department told him it was taking “a number of initiatives” to address the issue.
Meanwhile, he said that as part of a UK-wide problem nearly 5,000 people in Northern Ireland were underpaid their state pension.
In August 2020 the UK Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) found there was a significant issue and estimated it had underpaid 134,000 pensioners over £1bn, an average of £8,900 each.
DWP’s review of all possibly affected cases is ongoing and so far 5,000 cases have been reviewed and £4.6m in arrears has been paid out to Northern Ireland claimants.
Source: bbc.com