Babak Belurs

Kamis, 02 Juli 2020

Coronavirus: All pupils must return to school in September, education secretary says - Sky News

All children will be told to go back to school from September, as the government said restarting learning was "critical to our national recovery".

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson announced mandatory attendance will be introduced when the new academic year starts to ensure pupils don't fall any further behind.

He said kids will be learning again "full-time" after schools were told to close their doors to anyone but children of key workers at the outset of the coronavirus lockdown.

Mr Williamson told MPs he wanted to make sure "all children who can be at school are at school".

He promised there will be no "dumbing down" of the curriculum and everyone will be taught a "full, broad and balanced" range of subjects - including arts and sports.

More details will be set out at a Downing Street news conference later on Thursday - the first one since the daily briefings were scrapped.

Williamson — 'Education recovery is critical'

What will happen if there is a COVID-19 outbreak?

"Small groups" of pupils and staff may have to self-isolate for up to 14 days if there is a positive case of coronavirus in a school or college.

But if two or more cases are found within 14 days, larger groups of young people will have to self-isolate as a "precautionary measure".

Closing schools, new guidance from the Department for Education says, "will not generally be necessary".

Will there be enough tests?

A small number of home testing kits will be sent to all schools and colleges by the start of next term, Mr Williamson vowed.

These will be given to pupils who would struggle to those who would struggle to go to a testing centre.

In cases where an outbreak is feared, a mobile testing unit could be dispatched to test others who have been in contact with the person who has the virus.

Will children have to social distance?

Limits on class sizes will be scrapped, and bubbles can encompass a whole class or a whole year group of potentially over 200 students.

There will not be a requirement for one metre or two metre distancing between children, but schools should "continue minimising contact between children" - particularly older pupils where they can, Mr Williamson said.

Teachers are strongly advised to keep a two metre distance from other adults and older pupils.

Who will have to wear a mask?

Children and staff will not be required to wear face coverings when in school, but those over the age of 11 will be required to do so if travelling in on public transport.

Will teaching be any different?

The curriculum pupils are taught will be "full, broad and balanced", Mr Williamson promised.

"And that includes the arts and humanities. It includes sports.

"It includes so much because we recognise that to give children the best opportunities to succeed in life they have to have that breadth of curriculum and we should not be seen to be dumbing down or reducing it."

Exams will go ahead in summer 2021, he added.

But Ofqual - the exams regulator - wants the start of GCSE exams to be delayed until after next summer's half-term break.

The watchdog has launched a consultation on how to alter the timetable to allow more time for teaching.

What will happen to children who need to self-isolate?

Schools will be expected to have plans in place for pupils who are self-isolating, including offering remote learning.

What about school inspections?

Ofsted inspections are hoped to restart from January next year, Mr Williamson said.

What do teachers and unions say about the plan?

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "The logistics of keeping apart many different 'bubbles' of children in a full school, including whole year groups comprising hundreds of pupils, is mind-boggling.

"School leaders will have to consider implementing staggered starts, finishes and lunchtimes, alongside transport to and from school, on an epic scale."

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, added: "The situation seen in Leicester this week has demonstrated that this crisis is far from over, and there will be further disruption ahead.

"It is therefore essential that Government continues to monitor the data when it comes to school return and that it also has a credible Plan B in place should it be required."

How many pupils are already back at school?

Currently 1.6 million students in England are back in the classroom, after a phased reopening began last month. England's 9 million children are all expected to return in September.

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2020-07-02 12:33:45Z
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The royal family 'distressed' by claims that Meghan Markle felt 'unprotected' during her pregnancy - Daily Mail

The Queen, Prince Charles and the Cambridges will be 'very distressed' by Meghan Markle’s claim that she felt 'unprotected' during her pregnancy, royal expert says

Daily Mirror royal editor Russell Myers said revelations would distress royals
Said the Queen, Prince Charles, Prince William and Kate Middleton likely sad
Meghan Markle shared documents saying didn't feel protected while pregnant

By Claire Toureille For Mailonline

Published: 10:39 BST, 2 July 2020 | Updated: 12:24 BST, 2 July 2020

The Queen and her family will be 'distressed' to hear that Meghan Markle did not feel 'protected' during her pregnancy, a royal expert has claimed.

Royal editor Russell Myers told Lorraine Kelly on Good Morning Britain that the senior members of the royal family will be upset at new claims that Meghan Markle felt the Firm failed to protect her while she was pregnant with her first child Archie in 2019.

The claim was made within the latest documents released as part of her High Court battle against the Associated Newspapers Limited, publishers of The Mail On Sunday, over an article which reproduced parts of a letter she had sent to her father Thomas Markle in August 2018.

Myers added that upcoming books which will be published this summer and claiming to uncover 'the truth' about Megxit were also likely to deepen the upset.

Royaeditor for the Daily Mirror Russell Myers told Lorraine Kelly the royal family will be distressed by reports that Meghan Markle did not feel 'protected' during her pregnancy

Speaking to Lorraine, the royal expert said the situation was 'very very sad indeed,' and added the royal family were likely to feel upset by the Duchess of Sussex's latest court submissions.

'They're all also disturbing readings for the royal family. They will be really, really distressed,' he said.

He added he had looked back at the public statements the queen had issued in January following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's announcement that they intended to withdraw from their royal duties.

'I think at the time, and certainly reading back on them now, they're very, very heartfelt,' he said.

In documents submitted in regards to her legal action against Associated Newspapers Limited, publishers of the Mail on Sunday, Meghan Markle has aired some complaints. She said she felt 'unprotected by the institution of the royal family' during her pregnancy with Archie last year (pictured in February 2019 in London)

'The queen mentions family, how they took Meghan into their heart of the family, how she was so impressed with her.

'And certainly these claims that she felt unprotected, especially when pregnant, will be very, very distressing to hear for the Queen, Philip, Charles, Kate and William,' he said.

In document submitted in her legal case, Meghan Markle claimed she felt 'unprotected by the institution of the royal family' during her pregnancy and was 'prohibited from defending herself' against media reports while pregnant.

Myers said the royal familly will be 'absolutely upset' by the revelations of upcoming books claiming to uncover the truth about Prince Harry and Meghan's much talked about Megxit from the royal family

In legal filings, her lawyers said Meghan had 'become the subject of a large number of false and damaging articles by the UK tabloid media, specifically by the defendant, which caused tremendous emotional distress and damage to her mental health.'

Lorraine added she could not help feel these untimely revelations would divide the family further, and remarked: 'This is not gonna help, is it? They looked like they wer just coming together and then BAM you've got this.

However, the presenter noted that learning Meghan felt this way during her pregnancy was 'very very sad.'

Lorraine Kelly said she felt the situation was 'very very sad' and that the new claims would 'not help' the family come together again

Meghan's submissions also claimed that her royal wedding to Prince Harry at Windsor Castle raised more than £1billion in tourism revenue for Britain.

She also said the income generated for the public purse 'far outweighed' the contribution of taxpayers' money towards crowd security in May 2018.

UK taxpayers contributed to the estimated £32million cost of the wedding, although the church service, flowers and reception were paid for by the Royal Family.

The majority of the estimated figure - £30million - was funded by the taxpayer and mostly spent on security measures, including costs on protecting Windsor with a heavy police presence, crowd control and restrictions placed on businesses.

Claims made in upcoming book about the royal couple and their incredible exit from the royal family are likely to open some old wounds as well.

A new book, Royals at War, by investigative journalists Dylan Howard and Andy Tillett, in their explosive new book Royals At War, reveals the former American actress' announcement didn't go down well with the Duke of Sussex, 35.

The book claimed Meghan 'embarrassed' Prince Harry after divulging she was pregnant during Princess Eugenie's wedding day 'in a huge social gaffe' which left the bride and her mother Sarah Ferguson 'furious', a new book has claimed.

The Duchess of Sussex, 38, is said to have revealed she was carrying her first child when celebrating Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank's nuptials with the rest of the Royal family on 12 October 2018.

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2020-07-02 11:51:16Z
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Hundreds arrested as crime comms system cracked - BBC News

A top-secret communications system used by criminals to trade drugs and guns has been "successfully penetrated", says the National Crime Agency.

Major crime figures were among 746 arrests after messages on EncroChat were intercepted and decoded.

More than two tonnes of drugs, several dozen guns and £54m in suspect cash have been seized, says the NCA.

The NCA worked with forces across Europe on the UK's "biggest and most significant" law enforcement operation.

Officers are said to have prevented people being murdered after covertly monitoring planned attacks and threats to life on the encrypted service.

The NCA says the Europe-wide operation, which lasted over three months and involved police forces across the UK, has had the biggest impact on organised crime gangs it has ever seen.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, whose force made 132 of the arrests and seized £13.3m in cash, described it as a "game changer".

She said: "This is just the beginning. We will be disrupting organised criminal networks as a result of these operations for weeks and months and possibly years to come."

'Criminal marketplace'

An estimated 60,000 people, among them up to 10,000 in Britain, subscribed to France-based Encrochat, which has now been taken down.

The system operated on customised Android phones and, according to its website, provided "worry-free secure communications".

Customers had access to features such as self-destructing messages that deleted from the recipient's device after a certain length of time.

There was also panic wipe, where all the data on the device could be deleted by entering a four-digit code from the lock-screen.

The NCA says the messaging system has been used as a "criminal marketplace" to co-ordinate the supply of Class A drugs across the world, and import weapons including assault rifles, sub-machine guns, shotguns, pistols and hand grenades.

Law enforcement agencies began getting data from the site on 1 April after the encryption code is believed to have been cracked in March.

Gangs are also believed to have used the handheld devices to plot attacks on rival groups, plan ways of enforcing drug debts and arrange for money to be laundered.

Threats to life detailed on the site included acid attacks and threats to chop off limbs.

Dozens of organised crime groups have been dismantled, says the NCA, with the bulk of arrests in London and north-west England.

Lockdown "worked in our favour", says the agency, in that many more suspects were at home when they were raided.

Many of those arrested are said to form the "middle tier" of crime gangs while some are described as the "Mr and Mrs Bigs" of the underworld.

'High-end lifestyle'

In London, those targeted in the Met operation, codenamed "Eternal", are alleged to include members of "high-harm" organised crime networks with longstanding links to violent crime and drug dealing.

Dame Cressida said: "These people are in business to make enormous amounts of money. Many of them lead a very respectable lifestyle - and definitely a high-end lifestyle in fancy houses with big cars going to... clubs and restaurants, splashing the cash sometimes, but sometimes being very discreet about it."

The Met said that earlier this month, its detectives identified a plot by an international drugs and firearms gang to shoot dead a member of a rival network.

According to the force, it managed to prevent the shooting by arresting an individual for conspiracy to murder and seizing a loaded pistol, which was believed to be the planned murder weapon.

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2020-07-02 11:48:45Z
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Hundreds arrested as crime comms system cracked - BBC News

A top-secret communications system used by criminals to trade drugs and guns has been "successfully penetrated", says the National Crime Agency.

"Iconic" crime figures were among 746 arrests after messages on EncroChat were intercepted and decoded.

More than two tonnes of drugs, several dozen guns and £54m in suspect cash have been seized, says the NCA.

The NCA worked with forces across Europe on the UK's "biggest and most significant" law enforcement operation.

Officers are said to have prevented people being murdered after covertly monitoring planned attacks and threats to life on the encrypted service.

The NCA says the Europe-wide operation, which lasted over three months and involved police forces across the UK, has had the biggest impact on organised crime gangs it has ever seen.

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Dame Cressida Dick, whose force made 132 of the arrests and seized £13.3m in cash, described it as a "game changer".

She said: "This is just the beginning. We will be disrupting organised criminal networks as a result of these operations for weeks and months and possibly years to come."

'Criminal marketplace'

An estimated 60,000 people, among them up to 10,000 in Britain, subscribe to Encrochat, which works on customised Android phones and, according to its website, provides "worry-free secure communications".

But the NCA says the messaging system has been used as a "criminal marketplace" to co-ordinate the supply of Class A drugs across the world, and import weapons including assault rifles, sub-machine guns, shotguns, pistols and hand grenades.

Gangs are also believed to use the handheld devices to plot attacks on rival groups, plan ways of enforcing drug debts and arrange for money to be laundered.

Many of those arrested are said to form the "middle tier" of crime gangs while some are described as the "Mr and Mrs Bigs" of the underworld.

In London, those targeted in the Met operation, codenamed "Eternal", are alleged to include members of "high-harm" organised crime networks with longstanding links to violent crime and drug dealing.

The Met said that earlier this month, its detectives had identified a plot by an international drugs and firearms gang to shoot dead a member of a rival network.

According to the force, it managed to prevent the shooting by arresting an individual for conspiracy to murder and seizing a loaded pistol, which was believed to be the planned murder weapon.

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Coronavirus vaccine WILL give protection for years and may be ready before winter, Oxford study chief says - The Sun

THE SCIENTIST whose team at Oxford University is leading the world in the hunt for a coronavirus vaccine is "optimistic" it will give protection for "several years at least" and may be ready by the autumn.

Professor Sarah Gilbert said a vaccine would only be likely to "take the edge off" symptoms, rather than giving complete protection.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

A vaccine volunteer gets an injection at the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital in Soweto, Johannesburg, last week

Oxford University researchers have partnered with drugs giant Astrazeneca to mass produce it.

Professor Gilbert told MPs on the science and technology select committee: "Manufacturing is scaling up. We're getting improvements in the ability of companies to manufacture the vaccine.

"The aim is by the autumn to have a large amount of vaccine ready to use.

"And as soon as we have the efficacy results and can go through the emergency use licence process we'll be able to start vaccinating."

She said it had been difficult to recruit enough people to test whether the vaccine was working because coronavirus cases in the UK had fallen substantially after the end of March when the country was put in lockdown.

It means the Oxford University team has been forced to recruit thousands of new test subjects in Brazil and South Africa, where there has been a spike in new infections.

Volunteers last week received some of the first injections of the Oxford coronavirus jab.

Lockdown is set to lift further across England this weekend Credit: Reuters

The delay means a vaccine will take longer than expected. Prof Gilbert had previously said was "80 per cent confident" the vaccine would work and that it could be ready as soon as September.

She told MPs yesterday: "When we started our phase-one trial, we were told by the modellers that if we could get 1,000 people vaccinated by the end of April we would have a result of vaccine efficacy during May because the transmission at the time was predicted to be such that we would see the results clearly.

"The country went into lockdown and now transmission has reduced a lot."

However she was hopeful the jab would offer immunity for "several years at least".

She said: "It's something we have to test and follow over time - we can't know until we actually have the data - but we're optimistic based on earlier studies that we will see a good duration of immunity, for several years at least, and probably better than naturally acquired immunity."

Kate Bingham, chairwoman of the UK's Vaccine Taskforce, told the committee that while she was optimistic a vaccine would be developed, in the short-term it may just be one that reduces the severity of the disease, rather than prevents people from getting it.

"I'm relatively optimistic we will have 'a' vaccine," she said. "But in the near term we may just have to satisfy ourselves with a vaccine that reduces the severity of the disease."

Asked when a vaccine may be available, she said maybe by early next year depending on the success of clinical trials.

Speaking at the same committee, Sir John Bell, regius professor of medicine at Oxford University, warned the UK must "prepare for the worst" this winter instead of relying on the development of a successful vaccine.

Sir John said: "This whole epidemic has relied too heavily on assumptions that have turned out not to be true.

"So, my strong advice is be prepared for the worst."

The MPs also heard that it could be chaos in hospitals if the UK sees a resurgence of coronavirus this winter, alongside a serious flu season.

Sir John said it was therefore important to make sure that people were getting the flu vaccine.

He explained: "I think one of the things that clinical staff in hospitals worry about is if we do have a significant flu season.

"Then we are going to have a bit of a clinical problem if we've also got Covid running alongside because you'll get people with severe pneumonias arriving with fever and all the usual things, and it'll be pandemonium in the A&E departments.

"So, what I'm rather hoping is that first of all we ideally expand the number of people getting flu vaccines so we get better coverage, and secondly we push quite hard to make sure people are compliant and participate in the flu vaccine programmes."

Local lockdowns will become ‘new normal’ until vaccine found, warns Jeremy Hunt

CORONAVIRUS CRISIS - STAY IN THE KNOW

Don't miss the latest news and figures - and essential advice for you and your family.

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2020-07-02 09:58:50Z
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