In this issue

June 28, 2022

'Barbaric' missile strike hits Ukraine shopping centre

Putin's 'cruel' attack comes as Nato reveals huge troop surge

3 mins

British aid pledge 'nowhere near enough' as UN warns 49 million at risk of famine

Boris Johnson's commitment to help developing countries facing an unprecedented hunger crisis is "nowhere near enough", a coalition of leading aid charities has said.

2 mins

UK must be ready to fight and win', says army chief

Britain is facing a new "1937 moment" after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and must be prepared to "fight and win" to prevent the spread of war in Europe, the new head of the army has said.

1 min

Johnson urges Russian scientists to defect to UK

Boris Johnson has urged Russian scientists to defect to the UK to escape Vladimir Putin's oppression as he also set out a package of support for Ukrainian researchers.

1 min

Covid patients in hospital up 37% as fifth wave hits

Hospital beds taken up by Covid patients have surged by 37 per cent, as experts warn the UK has entered its fifth wave. The number of Covid positive patients in hospitals across England has jumped to 7,822 - up by more than 2,000 in a week.

2 mins

Mums-to-be are warned of rubella risk as jab rate falls

Diminishing rates of measles, mumps, and rubella jabs have prompted a Royal College warning about the risks to pregnant women, as the NHS raises concerns London is "lagging" behind the national uptake.

2 mins

Rebels to act 'lightning fast' to remove PM if he is found guilty of lying to Commons

After this month's botched attempt to remove Boris Johnson in a confidence vote Conservative rebels will hold their fire until his position is "irrecoverable", a former minister has said.

3 mins

'Patriot' May condemns Johnson's bid to override Northern Ireland protocol

Theresa May yesterday called Boris Johnson's patriotism into question as she declared she would not support his attempt to override the Northern Ireland protocol he agreed with the EU as part of his Brexit withdrawal deal in 2019.

4 mins

Councils risk going bust over £2.4bn budget cuts

Councils will soon be forced to make "disastrous" cuts to essential services including adult social care, road repairs and bin collections as soaring costs push some local authorities towards bankruptcy, a report has warned.

2 mins

Doctors mull strikes as they seek 30% 'pay restoration'

Doctors say they have suffered a real-terms pay cut of 30 per cent since 2008, raising the prospect of strikes as a new wave of Covid-19 threatens to put hospitals under higher pressure.

2 mins

Sturgeon backs abortion clinic safety 'buffer zones'

Nicola Sturgeon has backed establishing buffer zones around abortion clinics in Scotland so women can access services "free of harassment and intimidation".

1 min

Can the Lib Dems build on their by-election successes?

To their many enemies, the Liberal Democrats are the Japanese knotweed of British politics - once established, very, very difficult to get rid of. Like the invasive weed, you can think you've extirpated it entirely and there's no sign of it for years and then, one day, you notice a little orange shoot poking up through the apparently impenetrable tarmac you've laid. The Tiverton and Honiton by-election win is just such a remarkable sprouting, punching through the solid weight of a Conservative majority of 24,200 votes.

3 mins

Viruses can survive in water by clinging to microplastics

Viruses can survive and remain infectious by "hitch-hiking" on microplastics in freshwater, scientists have found, raising concern about the impact on human health.

2 mins

Corbyn to fight blogger's libel claim in High Court

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is due to give evidence at a three-week High Court trial after being accused of libel by a political blogger, a judge has been told. Richard Millett has sued Mr Corbyn over remarks he made during an interview on the BBC's The Andrew Marr Show in 2018, when he was leader of the opposition.

2 mins

Read all stories from The Independent

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