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MPs are calling for 'strategic clarity' from the Government

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Michael Gove insisted the Government "should not be thinking of lifting" lockdown restrictions yet as he launched a staunch defence of Boris Johnson's management of the coronavirus crisis.

Brits could be allowed to meet up with small "bubbles" of up to 10 of their closest family or friends in an effort to wind down the coronavirus lockdown.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for a coronavirus lockdown "exit strategy" with the Government facing increasing pressure to reveal its next steps.

Italians were today looking forward to a gradual easing of their coronavirus lockdown after the unveiling of a detailed exit strategy by prime minister Giuseppe Conte.

PM urged UK to "contain your impatience" Said it is too soon to "go easy" and relax the lockdown Described virus as "invisble mugger" as he drew on own treatment

University students have told how they are more anxious than excited about starting their careers after graduation amid the coronavirus pandemic.

People headed to the beach and fast food outlets after New Zealand lifted its strict lockdown rules that were put in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Dominic Raab has warned against relaxing the UK lockdown, saying the number of Covid-19 infections in Germany grew when restrictions were eased.

An aquarium in Japan has urged the public to video-chat their eels, who are forgetting that humans exist.

PM makes declaration but UK sees second highest rise in cases in 24 hours, with 6,032 more

Boris Johnson is preparing a plan for the UK's escape from lockdown after declaring the nation has "past the peak" of its coronavirus outbreak.

Commercial space trips are a step closer to becoming reality after Virgin Galactic's spaceship took a glide and landed safely in the New Mexico desert.

Primary schools are set to reopen as soon as June 1 as part of Boris Johnson's coronavirus lockdown exit strategy, The Sunday Telegraph reports.

Anxiety levels soared to unprecedented heights around the time lockdown was announced in late March, according to the Government's official "happiness index".

Measures being considered to help safely reopen workplaces included staggered shift times and reduced hot-desking, according to a draft Government plan.

Brits will be left in the lurch unless ministers set out a clear path for lifting the Covid-19 lockdown, a former prime minister's think tank said.

A distressing video of an unidentified woman boxing her German Shepherd dog has sparked outrage on social media and prompted an investigation into alleged animal cruelty.

Wales has taken the first step to easing lockdown by relaxing exercise rules and reopening some libraries, tips and garden centres.

Deputy Irish Premier Simon Coveney has said the Covid-19 pandemic has made the timeline for a UK-EU trade deal "virtually impossible".

For the first time, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo rocket plane flew free in the skies over New Mexico's Spaceport America, its new base of operations. The SpaceShipTwo plane, known as VSS Unity, has made rocket-powered flights beyond the 50-mile space milestone during tests at California's Mojave Air and Space Port, but today's unpowered test flight was the first to be flown from Spaceport America. "Today's VSS Unity flight is another exciting milestone for Virgin Galactic's progress in New Mexico," Dan Hicks, executive director of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, said in a news release. "We are extremely happy and proud of… Read More

Police have dropped an investigation into two prominent Brexit campaigners accused of breaching spending rules during the referendum campaign. In 2018 the Electoral commission said that Alan Halsall, of Vote Leave, and Darren Grimes, founder of pro-Brexit youth group BeLeave, failed to declare a payment related to the campaign. The watchdog said that BeLeave "spent more than £675,000 with (Canadian data firm) Aggregate IQ under a common plan with Vote Leave". This spending took Vote Leave over its £7 million legal spending limit by almost £500,000. Vote Leave paid a £61,000 fine, but denied wrongdoing, while Mr Grimes won an appeal against his £20,000 fine in July. The Commission also referred the pair to the Metropolitan Police but on Friday it was revealed that the investigations had now been dropped. A spokesman for the Leave campaigners said: "The Metropolitan Police has written to Vote Leave board member Alan Halsall and BeLeave founder Darren Grimes to confirm that it will not be acting on allegations made against them by the Electoral Commission and various Remain campaigners. "This marks the end of a two-year ordeal for both individuals." Mr Grimes, 26, said the development called into question whether the Electoral Commission was "fit for purpose". He had insisted since the allegations were first made that he was "completely innocent" of making false declarations in relation to the £680,000 donation. In a statement, Mr Grimes, a former fashion student originally from County Durham, said: "The Metropolitan Police has found, after investigation and consultation with the Crown Prosecution Service, that there is no case to be answered. "Once again the Electoral Commission has been found to be part of the mob, a quango out of control that isn't policing elections so much as punishing Leavers who have the temerity to win them. "My ordeal at the hands of the kangaroo court that is the Electoral Commission is now over, but questions must now be asked of whether that body is fit for purpose." Mr Halsall, the responsible person for Vote Leave, said he was "delighted to have been exonerated" and thanked the police for their "professional" investigation. "I was very disappointed that my colleagues at Vote Leave and myself were never given the opportunity of making our case in person to the Electoral Commission before being fined and reported to the police," he added. "It seems a rather unusual way of conducting an inquiry into such matters that only the so-called whistleblowers who made these allegations are interviewed by the regulator." A spokesman for the Met said an investigation into the Electoral Commission's allegations against Vote Leave and BeLeave, submitted on July 17 2018, was handed over in October to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). "On Tuesday, March 3 preliminary advice was received from the CPS," said the force spokesman. "This advice has now been duly considered and no further action will be taken."

A hard Brexit is more likely due to the coronavirus crisis because Britain and the European Union have made so little progress in talks, Germany's foreign minister has said. Heiko Maas said that negotiations between Britain and the EU so far on the future trade relationship had yielded few gains with the UK disregarding the political declaration, which he said was "simply not on". Britain left the EU in January, and talks with the bloc are now focused on setting new trading terms from 2021, when London's status-quo transition period ends. However, the talks quickly hit an impasse when negotiations resumed last month, according to diplomats and officials. "It's worrying that Britain is moving further away from our jointly agreed political declaration on key issues in the negotiations," Mr Maas told the Augsburger Allgemeine newspaper. "It's simply not on, because the negotiations are a complete package as it's laid out in the political declaration." Mr Maas said there was currently neither common ground on how to shape a comprehensive trade deal or on whether to extend the negotiation period beyond the end of the year. "The British government is still refusing to extend the deadline," Mr Maas said. "If it stays that way, we will have to deal with Brexit in addition to the coronavirus at the turn of the year." Simon Coveney, Ireland's foreign minister, said on Friday that the coronavirus pandemic had made an already difficult timeline for a British-European Union trade deal "virtually impossible" and that it would make sense to seek more time.

What was thought to be a planet beyond our solar system appears to have disappeared, astronomers say.

Extremely high-resolution imagery allowed researchers to 'read' rocks on planet surface

Boris Johnson has insisted he will act with “maximum caution” in any measures aimed at easing the lockdown

No major Hollywood film since has attempted anything quite like Cast Away.

Jam Gelua says now more than ever people need to remember that mental health supports are available and they should reach out to anyone who can help. It makes a difference, she says.

The poll also found Britons are working 28 hours of overtime per month

Celebrity TV chef from MKR has been repeatedly criticised by scientific and medical groups over his views on health and nutrition

The controversial reality TV chef Pete Evans will exit My Kitchen Rules, Seven’s defining show of the decade which slumped badly in the ratings this year.

Evans, a self-styled health guru held one of the most lucrative jobs in television despite a series of controversies related to his views on health and nutrition.

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We were too slow to implement lockdown and make sure it was policed, Labour leader tells Tories Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: the symptoms

Follow our live coronavirus updates HERE Coronavirus: The symptoms

The EU's chief negotiator has branded progress in post-Brexit talks disappointing and warned the "clock was ticking".

Sir Keir Starmer has urged the Government to publish an exit strategy for the coronavirus lockdown amid warnings the country could "fall behind" without one.

The UK will begin the first round of post-Brexit trade deal talks with the US this week.

Cabinet Office minister says Government does not want the UK to continue with its 'European Union-lite membership' beyond December 2020

Britain and the US are set to begin negotiations on an "ambitious" post-Brexit free trade agreement.

Tracing out the shape of a galaxy may offer clues to the size of its supermassive black hole. And a new study shows citizen scientists are actually better at it than computer algorithms.

The government must be cautious in both the decisions it takes and the messages it sends

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The end is not in sight. With an estimated 20,000 new infections a day, and with experts warning that the reproduction rate of coronavirus may be rising again, any premature loosening of the lockdown will only prolong the crisis. When the prime minister speaks on Sunday evening, it is essential that he makes it clear that people should still be staying at home, not relaxing their guard.

Though so many other countries had been hit, the government did not act soon enough to either contain the threat or prepare for it. Those failures have made a longer and tougher lockdown necessary. It was slow to take the pandemic seriously, slow to impose stringent social distancing, and slow to pursue equipment, testing and tracing, as the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, noted this week.

Alexis Martin was serving 21 years to life behind bars

(Matador)
Will Toledo’s alt-rockers have emerged out of lo-fi fuzz, but seem unsure of where to turn as they drift toward the mainstream

Anyone wondering how things have changed in the world of lauded US alt-rockers Car Seat Headrest might consider the four years that separate Making a Door Less Open from their last album of new material. Ordinarily there would be nothing unusual about that gap – but in the first four years of Car Seat Headrest’s existence, its mastermind, Will Toledo, released seven albums (one of them a two-hour double), four EPs (one of them as long as an album) and two compilations of outtakes. That’s more than 150 songs and 12 hours of music: a lo-fi spewing forth of ideas that won Toledo a cult following, which then grew exponentially, both in size and rabidity, when he recruited a band and signed to the august US indie label Matador.

Uranus is the seventh planet from the sun and sits on an axial plane tilted at a jaw-dropping 97.7-degree angle. And yes, Uranus does actually stink.