UK

The government plans to offer booster vaccines to everyone over the age of 18 by the end of January, Boris Johnson has said. Speaking at a Downing Street news briefing on Tuesday, the PM said the rollout of booster programme will go in age order, and that there will be more than 1,500 community pharmacy

Three more cases of the Omicron COVID-19 variant have been identified in Scotland, taking the UK’s total to 14. Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf said there are now five cases in the Lanarkshire area and four in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. Scotland hosted South Africa in a rugby international at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium on

A judge has ruled that a 14-year-old convicted of shooting schoolboy Keon Lincoln can be now identified. The decision comes as the teenager and four other youths convicted of killing the 15-year-old await their sentences. The judge at Birmingham Crown Court lifted reporting restrictions and Yussuf Mustapha can now be named as the boy who shot

Six cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant have been found in Scotland, authorities have confirmed. They are in addition to the three already detected in England. Four cases are in the Lanarkshire area and two have been identified in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area. Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf said: “This will be a

A 14-year-old boy has been charged with the murder of 12-year-old Ava White, who suffered “catastrophic injuries” in an assault in Liverpool city centre on Thursday, police have said. The youth, who cannot be named for legal reasons, has also been charged with possession of a bladed article. He is due in court on Monday.

The health secretary has said it is going to be a “great Christmas” as he defended not imposing stricter restrictions to combat the new COVID variant. Sajid Javid told Trevor Phillips On Sunday it would be “irresponsible to make guarantees” but the measures announced this week in reaction to the Omicron variant will “buy us

Boris Johnson has said that people who come into close contact with anyone who tests positive for coronavirus with the new Omicron variant will have to self-isolate, regardless of their jab status, as he delivered a press conference in Downing Street. The prime minister warned the Omicron variant could reduce the effectiveness of vaccines, as

So the new variant has a name, but we’ve no idea about its reputation. On paper at least the Omicron variant looks terrifying. It has more mutations than any previously observed strain of COVID. And the mutations aren’t just a random jumble of genetic changes. A worrying number of them are in parts of the

No cases of the new COVID variant have been detected in the UK, but it is highly likely it has now spread beyond southern Africa, the health secretary has said. Sajid Javid warned the new strain could be more transmissible than the Delta variant and there is a “possibility it might have a different impact

A rare red “danger to life” weather warning has been issued by the Met Office for Storm Arwen – with winds so strong they could destroy homes and buildings, disrupt travel and bring down power lines and trees, it says. The Met Office issued its highest alert, warning that gusts in excess of 80mph are

Britain is bringing in travel restrictions for six African countries due to a new COVID variant that UK experts have called the “worst one we’ve seen so far”. Health Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: “UKHSA (UK Health Security Agency) is investigating a new variant. More data is needed but we’re taking precautions now. “Six African countries

An alleged victim of a Hull grooming gang has told how she was bitten, beaten and burned during a violent rape – and that police and her school had concerns she was being abused but failed to stop it. Warning: This article includes graphic content The teenage girl’s mother was so worried after her daughter

Boris Johnson may have been voted in as prime minister by the British people but he relies on the continued support of his Conservative backbench MPs to remain in position. But after a series of scandals over lobbying, a Peppa Pig World speech, the Downing Street flat refurbishment and reports of Christmas parties during last

Bulb, Britain’s seventh biggest energy supplier, has formally entered into administration – becoming the biggest victim so far of the crisis in the industry. The collapse – confirmed by the government on Wednesday night – comes after the company, which was launched in 2015 and has 1.7 million customers, confirmed earlier this week that it

Police searching for an 18-year-old who has been missing for three days have found a body, and two men have been arrested on suspicion of murder. Teenager Bobbi-Anne McLeod left her home in the Leigham area of Plymouth at about 6pm on Saturday evening. She had been due to catch a bus into the city

Police have been urged to “declare war” on a child grooming gang after several women told Sky News they were abused by a group of men operating in Hull. A police probe into the alleged crimes has gone dormant, but the UK’s former top child abuse investigator has called for detectives to “double down” on

The government is advising people to take a COVID-19 test before they spend time in “crowded and enclosed spaces” this winter. The Cabinet Office had previously advised people to take two lateral flow tests a week, especially if they have school-age children or are meeting clinically vulnerable people. Now the public is being told to take rapid

A man is facing life in jail for murdering a vulnerable woman after following her off a bus in east London. Maria Rawlings, 45, suffered multiple injuries in the attack by 21-year-old Valentin Lazar who then left her in undergrowth in Romford. Ms Rawlings was killed after she visited accident and emergency following a fall.

A minister has failed to guarantee people will not have to sell their homes to pay for social care ahead of a possible Tory rebellion over the issue. Paul Scully, the small business minister, told Sky News Boris Johnson’s 2019 manifesto promise was a “single headline” and it is not possible to tackle the problem

The taxi driver who survived the Liverpool terror attack has said it is a “miracle that I’m alive” in his first statement since the explosion on Remembrance Sunday. David Perry and his wife Rachel have thanked the public for their “amazing generosity” in the wake of the attack outside Liverpool Women’s Hospital one week ago.