Rishi Sunak has brought back Covid travel rules for the first time since all restrictions were lifted in February, with travellers from China required to have negative Covid tests.
Meanwhile, four of the Lionesses who won England’s first international football trophy since 1966 have received New Year Honours for their services to football, but the rest of the team have been left out.
Headlines: Today’s essential news
Travel rules | The Prime Minister decided on Friday that anyone flying from China to the UK from Jan 5 will be required to return a negative Covid test within 48 hours of their departure. The new restrictions come amid concerns that Beijing’s secrecy over Covid outbreaks is hampering global efforts to track potential dangerous new strains. But not everyone agrees with the new travel curbs, with some experts claiming they are unlikely to prove effective.
‘Twindemic’ | NHS in the grip of rising flu admissions on top of Covid
The NHS has said it is in the grip of a “twindemic” as soaring flu admissions and the impact of Covid “hitting staff hard” threaten to overwhelm hospitals.The number of patients in hospital with flu has surged sevenfold in a month, the latest official data show, with 3,746 patients a day in beds last week – up from 520 a month before.Almost 4,000 hospital beds across England were occupied by flu patients on Christmas Day – 1,520 more than the week before and the biggest weekly rise so far this winter.
Cheating crackdown | Schools could get official chatbot guidance
Exams watchdog says it will consider drawing up rules amid fears children might use online tool to plagiarise coursework
Schools could be given guidance on how to prevent pupils from cheating on coursework with a new artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, the exams watchdog for England has said.Ofqual said it will consider whether new guidance should be drawn up after The Telegraph revealed that head teachers were preparing for emergency talks on potential widespread plagiarism that could go undetected.
Report fury | Police describe paedophiles as ‘minor-attracted people’
Campaigners see the contentious term, used in a force report, as an attempt to rebrand offence as a harmless sexual preference
Police Scotland has used the term “minor-attracted people” (MAP) to describe paedophiles in a major report, despite warnings it normalises child abuse.Chief constable Iain Livingstone’s annual assessment of the force’s performance made reference to it working in a European project targeted at MAP.
Markets | FTSE tops rivals as best-performing major stock index
The FTSE 100 was the world’s best performing major stock index during a miserable 2022 for financial markets after oil titans and arms makers were boosted by the war in Ukraine.As tumbling global stock markets suffered their worst year since 2008 in a near 20pc plunge, London’s blue-chip index eked out a 0.9pc gain over 2022.It made the FTSE 100 the only major market to deliver investors positive total returns when also including dividends. The index finished the year at 7,451.74 points with total returns of 4.6pc.
Around the world: Top Stories
‘True legend’ | Television news pioneer Barbara Walters dies aged 93
Barbara Walters, one of American television’s most prominent interviewers and the first woman to anchor an evening news broadcast, has died at 93.Walters, who created the popular ABC women’s talk show The View in 1997, died at her home in New York, Robert Iger, chief executive of ABC’s corporate parent, the Walt Disney Co, said on Twitter.
Income unveiled | Trump bragged about trimming tax burden Donald Trump boasted of his success in lowering his tax burden after it emerged that he claimed back $46,000 (£38,000) in travel expenses for a $50,000 (£41,000) speaking engagement.The former president’s financial situation while in the White House was laid bare after Democrats in Congress published six years’ worth of his tax returns.It revealed that Mr Trump and Melania, his wife, reported negative income in four of those six years. He paid no tax in his final year in office.
Idaho | PhD student who researched criminals charged with murder
Bryan Christopher Kohberger, 28, was arrested in a dramatic early morning raid on Friday by a Swat team in Pennsylvania
charged with the murder of four Idaho university students in their home last month.
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Mr Kohberger graduated from Pennsylvania’s DeSales University this May with a master’s degree in criminal justice.His study included examining how “emotions and psychological traits influence decision-making when committing a crime”, according to the Daily Mail.As part of his research, he posted an appeal on social media for participants to take a study help “to understand the story behind your most criminal offence”.
War | Russian jets ‘almost all’ downed by Moscow’s defence systems
A failure by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine to interact with other branches of the military led to a number of “friendly fire” incidents that brought down Su-30M, Su-34 and Su-35S fighter aircraft, as well as Ka-52 helicopters.It was said that the Russian air force’s main enemy had become its own air defence systems.The claims were made by authoritative pro-Russian military bloggers via their channels on the Telegram messaging app.
‘Dear friend’ | Putin expects Xi Jinping to make Moscow state visit Vladimir Putin told Xi Jinping that he expects the Chinese president to visit Moscow for a state visit in the new year in what would be a show of support.The Russian president’s buoyant remarks at the start of a video call were in contrast to a short statement from Mr Xi, who made no mention of a visit to Moscow.In an attempt to counter Russia’s image of growing isolation, Putin said that he expects a state visit in the spring to “demonstrate to the world the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations”.
A-Z of 2022 | Our unique, interactive guide to a year when the news would not stop coming
Letters | The Church must reassure that donations will be spent wisely
Andrew Berkinshaw-Smith (Letters, December 29) criticises churchgoers for not donating more generously.However, he makes the assumption that more money would result in more paid clergy – whereas I suspect it would lead to a higher parish share and more bishops.+The Church of England’s director of communications says the Church is “doing everything it can to support its parishes”.
How I wish that were true. In the dioceses of Truro, Leicester, Lincoln, Liverpool, Sheffield and others, bishops are planning to merge up to 20 parishes into a single new parish with one parochial church council. Clergy will be pooled, and the rights and responsibilities of individual parishes taken away.
Today’s big-read
The people you might not have heard of who will shape the news in 2023
From the man in charge of the US economy to the king of crypto, this is who will shape your news agenda for the year ahead
The good apples | What shone out amid a barrel-load of bad in 2022
An old hand and a young gun mull the highs and many lows of a year like no other, from that Hollywood slap to a tea party to remember
Strops, swearing and Stravinksy | Life as a top female composer
Alice Farnham’s book In Good Hands wants to show that conductors aren’t just all shouty male maestros.
The book’s subtitle is The Making of a Modern Conductor, and at least half of its almost 300 pages are given over to explaining how the shy but gifted girl who always thought she was too nervous to appear in public made it to the podium. It was a strikingly traditional route that many 20th- and even 19th-century conductors would recognise: singing in choirs, learning the organ, getting a job as church organist, which led to conducting the choir; acting as a rehearsal pianist for opera companies, which led to the offer of actually conducting a performance.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who died this year aged 96, was the longest-serving monarch of the United Kingdom. During a period of remarkable change throughout her realms and the world at large, she proved herself one of the most effective and best-loved sovereigns the nation has known. Re-read the definitive Telegraph obituary – and that of 51 other famous names who died in 2022.
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II died on September 8. Credit: Max Mumby / Getty
Former Pope Benedict XVI dies aged 95
Former Pope Benedict XVI Credit: Shutterstock
The former Pope Benedict XVI has died in the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in the Vatican, a spokesman for the Holy See said.
It finally came home this year. Not for Gareth Southgate’s side, sadly, but Ella Toone helped England end 56 years of hurt by winning the Women’s European Championship. Read how the world reacted. Lionel Messi also firmly staked his claim in the GOAT race by finally emulating his idol, Diego Maradona, in lifting a World Cup for Argentina. The final was an epic for the ages on the pitch, but much of the wider winter tournament in Qatar was tainted by claims of sportswashing. In cricket, England lifted their second T20 World Cup after Jos Buttler did it his way.
Here is a selection of articles we think you’ll be interested in today.
The Kremlin chief hailed the efforts of Moscow and Beijing to counter “unprecedented Western pressure and provocations”, adding: “We aim to strengthen cooperation between the armed forces of Russia and China.”
Jools’ Annual Hootenanny, BBC Two, 11.30pm | Jools Holland is joined by guests including George Ezra and Self Esteem. More details – and other TV choices.
A joint effort of several authors who do find that nobody can keep standing at the side and that “Everyone" must care about what is going on in today’s world.
We are a bunch of people who do not mind that somebody has a totally different idea but is willing to share the ideas with others and to be Active and willing to let others understand how "today’s decisions will influence the future”. Therefore we would love to see many others to "Act today".
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