BBC News says the Church of England’s archbishops have urged the public to reflect on the “enormity” of the pandemic after the official number of coronavirus deaths in the UK passed 100,000.
In an open letter, they called on people to join a daily “prayer for the nation”.
The PM said he was “deeply sorry for every life lost” and said he took “full responsibility”, adding: “We truly did everything we could.”
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CityAM says, CEO of AstraZeneca Pascal Soriot is confident the UK will hit its vaccine rollout targets and has confirmed AZ will not reconsider its pre-agreed contract with the UK in the face of supply shortages in the EU.
Speaking to Italian news site Repubblica, Soriot said the UK will have succeeded in vaccinating 28 to 30 million people, adding: “The Prime Minister has a goal to vaccinate 15 million people by mid-February, and they’re already at 6.5 million, so they will get there.”
The CEO also gave a thumbs up for the one-dose strategy being used by the UK at the moment in order to offer more people protection from the coronavirus over a shorter period of time.
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France24 says the number of people hospitalised in France for COVID-19 rose by more than 1,000 over the last two days and the number of patients in intensive care units for the disease exceeded 3,000 for the first time since Dec. 9.
A growing number of medical experts have called for a third lockdown in France while the government rolls out the vaccine, but French media reported that President Macron was trying to avoid such a measure.
Macron hopes a 6 p.m. curfew put in place 10 days ago will be enough to rein in the surge in new infections prompted by the emergence of more contagious variants of the virus.
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RT News says Iran won’t be using US vaccines due to a mix of public health and political concerns, instead, relying on Covid-19 jabs from its allies and a homemade immunization said FM Mohammad Zarif.
Zarif told host Oksana Boyko that the Russian jab against the coronavirus will be both “used and produced” in the country. On Tuesday, Iran became yet another nation to register Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine.
“We will get the Russian vaccine; we will get the Chinese vaccine, and we’re in close touch with all of them. We will get the Indian vaccine,” said Iran’s top diplomat, who is currently on an official visit to Moscow. Iran’s own vaccine has gone through Phase 1 human clinical trials.
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Arab News says the closure and curfew period in Lebanon has been extended for two more weeks to contain the spread of Covid-19 prompting people in Tripoli, Beirut, and Sidon to take to the streets.
The protests were spontaneous, considering that the neighbourhoods from which they started are poor, where the residents work for daily wages.
Minister Ramzi Musharrafieh said on Tuesday that “230,000 families in Lebanon benefit from aid and have been receiving 400,000 Lebanese pounds ($263) per month since the beginning of the crisis.” He added that “25 per cent of the Lebanese people do not need aid.”
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Aljazeera says Israel’s military is refreshing its operational plans against Iran and any US return to the 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran would be “wrong”, a top general warned.
Israeli Lieutenant-General Amir Kohavi made the remarks on Tuesday in an address to Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies.
“A return to the 2015 nuclear agreement, or even if it is a similar accord with several improvements, is bad and wrong from an operational and strategic point of view,” Kohavi said.
The comments were an apparent signal to US President Joe Biden to tread cautiously in any diplomatic engagement with Iran.
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TRT World says a federal judge has barred the US government from enforcing a 100-day deportation moratorium that is a key immigration priority of President Biden.
The judge said the Biden administration had failed “to provide any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.”
His order is an early blow to the Biden administration, which has proposed far-reaching changes sought by immigration advocates, including a plan to legalise an estimated 11 million immigrants living in the US illegally.
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VOA says most Republicans in the U.S. Senate voted against holding an impeachment trial for former President Trump on whether he incited insurrection in the January 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, signalling that he likely has enough votes to secure an acquittal.
The vote was 55-45 in favour of proceeding with a trial, but only five Republicans joined all 50 Democrats. A two-thirds vote is required for conviction, which would require 17 Republicans to turn against Trump, assuming the Democrats vote as a bloc after hearing the case against him when the trial starts in earnest February 9.
This morning will be dry for most, with sunny spells most likely in central England and northern Scotland This afternoon, a band of heavy rain will begin to push eastwards across south-western areas.
Overnight the band of rain will gradually sweep across much of the UK, although northern Scotland should escape the rain tonight. The rain will turn to sleet and snow over the hills in northern areas.
“We did everything we could.” pic.twitter.com/7pjWajXOWJ
https://twitter.com/RDHale_/status/1354143465509105665
https://wtxnews.com/2021/01/26/in-review-2020-celebrity-culture/
“Toto, I’ve a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore.”
Girls’ levels of self-esteem and wellbeing sharply drops in their early teens while boys remains steady, a new study has found.
The report, carried out by the Education Policy Institute and the Prince’s Trust, discovered around one in seven girls report being unhappy with the way they look at the end of primary school, but this increases to almost one in three by the age of 14. – The Independent
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A totally blind guinea pig and her sister that helps guide her around are in need of a new home after being taken in by the RSPCA.
Ami, a six-year-old black guinea pig, relies on her sister, Yuki, for help due to her condition.
They were taken in by the animal charity’s Danaher Animal Home in Essex earlier this year, after their owner could no longer care for them. – Sky News
Italy’s political crisis and the resignation of Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has raised concerns in Brussels that the distribution of the country’s pandemic recovery funds could be hampered.
Italy’s national parliament has already approved a first draft of how to utilise the money, but there are still many details of the plan left to be resolved.
But European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Euronews it is vital that the work on this continues. – Euronews
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Former Kosovo Prime Minister Albin Kurti has been barred from running in the country’s parliamentary elections next month.
Kosovo’s election authorities excluded Kurti due to his sentencing for a crime in the last three years, which makes him ineligible as a candidate.
The Central Election Commission and the Election Complaints and Appeals Panel has also ruled against other potential candidates from Kurti’s Self-Determination Movement, or Vetevendosje! party. – Euronews
For the first time since his inauguration, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Tuesday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, expressing concerns about the arrest of dissident Alexei Navalny, Moscow’s cyber-espionage campaign and bounties on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, two senior Biden administration officials said.
Biden’s stance appeared to mark another sharp break with that of former President Donald Trump, who often voiced delight at his warm relations with the Kremlin leader. At the same time, according to U.S. accounts of the call, Biden told Putin that Russia and the United States should complete a five-year extension of their nuclear arms control treaty before it expires in early February. – VOA
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Female soldiers can let their hair down, and flash a little nail color under new rules being approved by the Army. But male soldiers will still have to shave.
Army leaders announced Tuesday that they are loosening restrictions on various grooming and hairstyle rules, as service leaders try to address longstanding complaints, particularly from women.
The changes, which also expand allowances for earrings and hair highlights and dyes, are particularly responsive to women of various ethnicities, and will allow greater flexibility for braids, twists, cornrows and other styles more natural for their hair. – TRT World
The Yemeni government and its envoys abroad have cranked up a diplomatic campaign to convince the world to designate the Houthi militia movement a terrorist organization, stressing that doing so would put an end to Houthi attacks inside and outside Yemen, and smooth the way for peace.
The official news agency SABA reported on Monday that Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed said during a video conference with the EU ambassadors to Yemen that the EU should follow the example of the US by designating the Houthis terrorists, since it would end the Houthis’ objections to peace plans, and hinder Iran. He repeated his government’s pledges to work on mitigating the effects of the designation on humanitarian activities in Houthi-controlled areas. – Arab News
Hong Kong has begun using “ambush lockdowns” to suddenly close off and test everyone inside neighbourhoods where COVID-19 cases have spiked, as a spate of recent outbreaks lays bare the rampant inequality in the wealthy Chinese finance hub.
Police cordoned off a row of densely packed tenement buildings in the Yau Ma Tei area overnight on Tuesday (Jan 26) through to Wednesday morning to conduct mandatory tests. – CNA
Despite the pandemic, almost two thirds of people around the world now view climate change as a global emergency.
That’s the key finding from the largest opinion poll yet conducted on tackling global warming.
More than a million people in 50 countries took part in the survey, with almost half the participants aged between 14 and 18. – BBC News
Homeowners hold off marketing properties in face of Covid upsurge – FT News
Brexit: Amazon prepares to stop selling some products to NI – BBC Business
Home secretary expected to announce mandatory hotel quarantine for some travellers – Sky Business
U.S. says $35 billion more in pandemic loans approved, trying to fix program snags – Reuters
Man City climb to the top of the Premier League by handing West Brom another home hammering – Read on
Thomas Tuchel: Chelsea appoint former PSG manager after sacking Frank Lampard – Read on
Tokyo 2020: Uncertainty persists over Olympics and Paralympics as IOC meets – Read on
England in Sri Lanka: Joe Root’s side impress in Sri Lanka but must improve in India – Read on
Elliot Page: Juno actor to divorce Emma Portner – Read on
US actress Jane Fonda to get Golden Globes’ lifetime achievement award – Read on
COVID-19 vaccine: Stars bust myths in video urging people from ethnic minority communities to get the jab – Read on
Jennifer Lopez: ‘Please don’t call me a liar,’ says star as she addresses Botox speculation – Read on
On January 6, 2021, a mob of rioters supporting United States President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election stormed the U.S. Capitol, breaching security and occupying parts of the building for several hours.
After attending a rally organized by Trump, thousands of his supporters marched down Pennsylvania Avenue before many stormed the United States Capitol in an effort to disrupt the electoral college vote count during a joint session of Congress and prevent the formalization of President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
After breaching police perimeters, they occupied, vandalized, and ransacked parts of the building for several hours. The insurrection led to the evacuation and lockdown of the Capitol building and five deaths. – Read on
Brexit was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) at the end of 31 January 2020 CET.
To date, the UK is the first and only country formally to leave the EU, after 47 years of membership within the bloc, after having first joined its predecessor, the European Communities (EC), on 1 January 1973.
It continued to participate in the European Union Customs Union and European Single Market during a transition period that ended on 31 December 2020 at 23:00 GMT. – Read on
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
It was first identified in December 2019 in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in January 2020 and a pandemic in March 2020.
As of 11 January 2021, more than 90.3 million cases have been confirmed, with more than 1.93 million deaths attributed to COVID-19.
Meaning of “coronavirus” and related terminology “coronavirus” means severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
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Get the latest NHS information and advice about coronavirus (COVID-19)
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