7 h. ago Covid rates surge 97% as new infectious variant gains foothold in UK

Covid rates in the UK are surging as a new strain spreads - the NB.1.8.1 variant has been detected in at least 12 cases so far in Britain

Science

8 h. ago Covid surge in Asia sparks concern about emergence of more infectious variants

Authorities monitoring Omicron subvariants for driving surge

Science

53 h. ago Health chiefs' urgent warning over record highs of deadly measles

As cases rise in parts of England officials warn there could be a fresh wave of infections as Britons return from their summer holidays with measles surging in Europe.

Events

53 h. ago Jimmy Barnes: Defiant review – familiar but reliable territory from the indestructible rocker

If this album were any more 1990s, it would come with a Hawkeian cigar and a Rachel haircut“He’s been wondering lately, where did all the good times go?” While this line in the opening song on Jimmy Barnes’ new album is ostensibly about a couple struggling to make ends meet, it’s hard not to think of Barnes lying in a hospital bed, a recurring sight in recent years: recovering from infection, then hip surgery, then bacterial pneumonia, then open heart surgery, then hip surgery again but eventually “it’s a new day”, as Barnes sings on the second track, a sentiment delivered without a question mark.If you’re wondering where all the good times are, it seems Barnes’ answer is: wherever the hell I want them to be and, until it all ends, I’m going to be a rock star. Specifically a rock star of the late 80s and early 90s, when he didn’t have to dress down, à la grunge, or gloss up, à la ozone-depleting poodle metal, and instead slipped on a leather jacket and leaned into the camera as a fr...

Politics

56 h. ago UKHSA warning to parents travelling for summer holidays amid ongoing outbreak

Travelling for holidays could risk a surge in cases of a highly infectious disease, health officials warn

Events

62 h. ago A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern review – not your usual PM

New Zealand’s former prime minister is a refreshingly informal narrator of her remarkable rise and fallJacinda Ardern was the future, once. New Zealand’s prime minister captured the world’s imagination with her empathetic leadership, her desire to prioritise the nation’s happiness rather than just its GDP, and her bold but deeply human approach to the early stages of the pandemic (though her “zero Covid” strategy of sealing borders to keep death rates low came back to bite her). She governed differently, resigned differently – famously saying in 2023 that she just didn’t have “enough in the tank” to fight another election – and has now written a strikingly different kind of political memoir. It opens with her sitting on the toilet clutching a pregnancy test at the height of negotiations over forming a coalition government, wondering how to tell the nation that their probable new prime minister will need maternity leave.Ardern is a disarmingly likable, warm and funny narrator, a...

Politics

5 d. ago Girl, 2, left fighting for life as family's 'dream holiday becomes worst nightmare'

Victoria Finnigan, 25, has instructed lawyers to investigate the cause of the E.coli infection after her daughter Freya Finnigan-Haynes was left needing emergency surgery

Politics

1 week ago Malawi battles mpox as cases of the infectious disease surge in Africa

Medicine shortages plus limited testing and hospital capacity exacerbated by withdrawal of USAID as outbreak gathers pace across countries in the regionMalawi’s ministry of health has announced three new cases of mpox in the capital, Lilongwe, bringing the number of confirmed cases to 11 since the country’s first was reported in April.Malawi is one of 16 countries in Africa reporting mpox outbreaks as health officials battle with vaccine shortages as well as limited testing and hospital capacity. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Surge in infection linked to colon cancer sparks health alert

The UK Health Security Agency linked many of the cases to four outbreaks traced to contaminated beef, salad leaves and dairy products.

Science

3 w. ago Health alert over outbreak of deadly virus 'spilling over to humans'

The disease has shown to have a mortality rate of 36 per cent – higher than Covid-19

Science