News in A Flash

News In A Flash.

Daily News clips of events going on around the World.

Boris Johnson’s pledge to recruit 50,000 more NHS nurses is in doubt

Boris Johnson’s pledge to recruit 50,000 more NHS nurses is in doubt after the number coming from the EU fell again and coronavirus prevented thousands of arrivals from the rest of the world.

The prime minister made the promise a cornerstone of his general election campaign last year and has since reiterated many times his determination to deliver the increase.

UK-born twins face deportation to different countries

Twin brothers aged 13 born in London and brought up in state care could face deportation to two different Caribbean countries they have never visited.

Siblings of Darrell and Darren Roberts, 24, said they had been issued with deportation notifications and could be put on planes when released from jail for grievous bodily harm.

Darrell’s lawyer said his client was British and had served his sentence.

The Home Office denied it had issued a deportation order.

Firm with links to Gove and Cummings given Covid-19 contract without open tender

Research company owned by associates of senior Tory and PM’s adviser gets £840,000 job

The Cabinet Office has awarded an £840,000 contract to research public opinion about government policies to a company owned by two long-term associates of Michael Gove and Dominic Cummings, without putting the work out for tender.

Public First, a small policy and research company in London, is run by James Frayne, whose work alongside Cummings – the prime minister’s senior adviser – dates back to a Eurosceptic campaign 20 years ago, and Rachel Wolf, a former adviser to Gove who co-wrote the Conservative party’s 2019 election manifesto.

Boris Johnson insists he didn’t know virus could spread without symptoms

Boris Johnson claimed yesterday that “we just didn’t know” about transmission of coronavirus by people without symptoms, despite warnings stretching back to January.

The prime minister again resisted apologising for his comments on Monday that care home deaths were so high because “too many care homes didn’t really follow the procedures in the way that they could have”.

G4S selected to run Wellingborough ‘mega prison’

It is believed the contract to operate the jail in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, will be for 10 years at a cost of more than £300m.

The company has been told it has been chosen, but the contract has not been ratified and could be challenged.

An official announcement on the prison, which will hold 1,600 male inmates, is expected over the next few weeks.

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “The operator competition has not yet concluded. We will set out confirmed details in due course.”

‘Higher quality’

The decision comes as a surprise after G4S was stripped of its contract to run Birmingham Prison following a damning inspection report which said it was in a “state of crisis”.

Almost £5 billion of coronavirus bailouts handed out to firms based in tax havens

Almost a third of companies receiving coronavirus bailouts from the Bank of England are based in a tax haven or owned by someone living there, shocking research has revealed.

Analysis by TaxWatch UK, a thinktank, found that £4.79 billion in bailout cash has been handed to companies with links to tax havens, or that have been embroiled in financial controversy – close to 30 per cent of the money loaned out under the government’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility. 

One company – Baker Hughes, a subsidiary of American giant General Electric – was granted a £600 million loan, despite the fact that its parent company has been sued by HMRC over unpaid taxes dating back 16 years.

Luxury fashion brand Chanel – whose ultimate parent company is based in the Cayman Islands – also received £600 million, as did EasyJet – which is part-owned by a trust based in the Caribbean territory.

A further £25 million went to cruise operator Carnival, whose ships were registered in Panama. Dozens of people have died and over 1,500 confirmed cases of Covid-19 have so far been recorded in connection with the company’s cruises, after major outbreaks on ships like the Diamond Princess earlier this year.

Machine manufacturer JCB – whose parent company is located in the Netherlands – received a £600 million bailout. The company donated more than £50,000 to Boris Johnson in 2019 and its chairman, Lord Bamford, contributed a further £20,000 to the prime minister’s leadership campaign.

UK Radio DJ Steve Sutherland passed away

Steve Sutherland (also known as Steve ‘Smooth’ Sutherland) UK Radio DJ passed away earlier today.

Tributes are pouring in for DJ Steve Sutherland, after his death was confirmed this afternoon (Friday).

A founding DJ of urban club brand Twice As Nice, he has also held residencies at Pacha Ibiza, Ministry of Sound, Gatecrasher and Cookies and Cream London.

Sutherland got his first break in radio via an introduction from the then-BBC Radio 1 producer Ivor Etienne, (who dubbed him ‘Steve ‘Smooth’ Sutherland’), to the then-controller of Radio 1, Matthew Bannister, to host a four-hour radio show encompassing Hip Hop, R&B, Soul, UK Garage, Dancehall and House. 

Later Steve went to host his show on many stations.

The Steve Sutherland Show quickly became one of the most popular urban shows in the United Kingdom. His show broadcast on the entire Galaxy Network (Galaxy Birmingham, Galaxy Manchester, Galaxy North East, Galaxy Scotland, Galaxy South Coast, Galaxy Yorkshire and Galaxy Digital).

He has released 12 studio albums, with seven breaking into the Top 40 compilations charts in the UK.

Steve also won four MOBO Awards during his life.

They were for Best Club DJ in 2000 and 2004, and Best Club & Radio DJ in 2002 and 2006.

He was also nominated for a number of other awards spanning between 2001 and 2009.

Steve will be sadly missed by his Friends, Family and Music Lovers around the world.

UK ‘has walked away from EU coronavirus vaccine scheme’

Ministers have rejected offers to join a European Union bid for a coronavirus vaccine amid anger at “costly delays”, according to sources.

The EU is planning to spend around €2bn (£1.8bn) on the advance purchase of vaccines that are undergoing testing on behalf of the 27 member states.

The UK has been holding talks with Brussels over the scheme for weeks, which aims to leverage the bloc’s collective bargaining power to strike deals with global pharmaceutical giants.

Coronavirus: Boris Johnson considering enforcing ‘stricter’ rules on mandatory face masks in shops

Boris Johnson has given his strongest hint yet that face coverings may be made mandatory in English shops, saying said he is looking at ways to be “stricter” about their use.

The comment came as Mr Johnson signalled an apparent shift in government on the return to normal life, saying people should “go back to work if they can”. The government has previously said that people should work from home if it is possible.

Masks now required at all indoor public spaces in Michigan, violators face $500 fine

MICHIGAN – Governor Whitmer is taking further action to ensure the safety of all residents during the coronavirus pandemic.

On Friday, the governor signed an executive order that reiterates that individuals are required to wear a face-covering whenever they are in an indoor public space.

The order also requires the use of face coverings in crowded outdoor spaces.

Under the order, any business that is open to the public is required to refuse entry or service to people who refuse to wear a face covering, with limited exceptions.

Governors in the states of Kansas, Maine, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Washington have imposed similar requirements on businesses.

Boris Johnson plans radical shake-up of NHS in bid to regain more direct control

Boris Johnson is planning a radical and politically risky reorganisation of the NHS amid government frustration at the health service’s chief executive, Simon Stevens, the Guardian has learned.

The prime minister has set up a taskforce to devise plans for how ministers can regain much of the direct control over the NHS they lost in 2012 under a controversial shake-up masterminded by Andrew Lansley, the then coalition government health secretary.

Jada Pinkett Smith admits she DID have an affair with rapper August Alsina while married to Will Smith

Jada Pinkett Smith has admitted she did have an affair with rapper August Alsina while married to Will Smith. 

The 48-year-old sat down for a tell-all conversation on her Facebook show, Red Table Talk and revealed she developed a friendship with August around four years ago. 

She said around the same time, the married couple were going through a ‘difficult time’ and they had ‘basically’ broken up. 

New bill would require NY cops to have personal insurance for liability suits

State lawmakers are churning out more proposed laws to hold cops accountable for misconduct.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D-Bronx) would require police officers to obtain personal liability insurance to cover civil lawsuits filed against them for excessive force and other abuses as a way to deter misconduct.

Under current law, cops who are sued are represented by the city law department and taxpayers foot the bill for any verdict or settlement.

Biaggi’s proposal would require each officer to obtain individual liability insurance. The city or other local governments would still be required to cover the basic insurance policy to cover tort litigation costs.

Looming evictions may soon make 28 million homeless in U.S., expert says

Emily Benfer began her career representing homeless families in Washington, D.C.

Today, Benfer is a leading expert on evictions. She is the chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force Committee on Eviction and co-creator of the COVID-19 Housing Policy Scorecard with the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Throughout the public health crisis, Benfer has been investigating how states are dealing with evictions and sharing what she finds in a public database. 

How does the eviction crisis brought on by the pandemic compare with the 2008 housing crisis? 

EB: We have never seen this extent of eviction in such a truncated amount of time in our history. We can expect this to increase dramatically in the coming weeks and months, especially as the limited support and intervention measures that are in place start to expire. About 10 million people, over a period of years, were displaced from their homes following the foreclosure crisis in 2008. We’re looking at 20 million to 28 million people in this moment, between now and September, facing eviction.