Ring in the New Year from around the world

New Zealand rings in 2021 with a fireworks display in Auckland amid strict lockdown and border closures in the country. Australia rings in the New Year with a fireworks display in Sydney, without the crowd. In China, the annual New Year Light show in the capital Beijing has been cancelled with celebrations scaled-down in cities…

New Year Honours 2021

EX footballer Jimmy Greaves, 106-year-old Charity volunteer Anne Baker, from Salisbury, who has been involved with fundraising for the NSPCC since the 1950s,  104-year-old Ruth Sanders another charity worker during Covid who walked a marathon to raise money for Thames Valley Air Ambulance this year, Emma Henderson, from Moray, who set up a first-class lounge…

Sydney will usher in New Year without crowds

Australia’s Sydney will mark New Year’s Eve with a fireworks display which will run approximately seven minutes instead of the usual 12 as crowd number will be limited to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The city precinct will be restricted to those with restaurants, cafés, and hotel bookings. Households will now be limited to only…

Landslide in Norway

A Landslide in the Village of Gjerdrum, 15 miles east of Oslo, Norway,  in the early hours of Wednesday covering 210, 000m², buried houses and injured 10 people, still 21 unaccounted for. Five hundred people have been evacuated from Gjerdrum.  Several people are believed to be trapped. Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg posted on social…

Brexit Bill approved by the Commons

The House of Commons votes on the first stage of the EU-UK Brexit trade deal which put the agreement into law. The Commons approves the measures by 521 votes to 73 at its first stage in Commons as the Parliament was recalled to put the agreement into UK Law, one day before the UK stops…

Storm Bella with gusts of 100 mph in UK

Heavy rain and high winds lashed parts of UK by 106 mph Storm Bella. The Met Office issued  yellow warnings for snow and ice for parts of Wales, North-west England, Scotland and the entire Northern Ireland. The Ports of Dover and Calais have warned Channel crossings were also being affected by weather, with strong head…

Pope pleads coronavirus vaccine access for all

Pope Francis in a Christmas Day address delivered online for the first time from a lectern in a chamber inside the Vatican, the pontiff warned against putting up walls to treatments  by calling on world leaders to ensure unfettered access to coronavirus vaccines for everyone. The pandemic meant this year the annual Urbi et Orbi…