Plus, the three rogue orcas causing havoc in the Atlantic
| Cummings to leave No 10 by Christmas |
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| | | A turbulent week at No 10 ends with news that Boris Johnson's senior adviser Dominic Cummings is expected to leave his position by the end of the year. A senior Downing Street source tells the BBC Mr Cummings will be "out of government" by Christmas. Mr Cummings' ally, Downing Street communications director Lee Cain, had already said he was standing down this week, amid reports of tensions within No 10. However, Mr Cummings tells the BBC rumours he too had threatened to resign are "invented", and points out he said in a blog post in January he wanted to make himself "largely redundant" by the end of 2020. Despite that, our political editor Laura Kuenssberg says there is no question the announcement of his departure by the end of the year was "accelerated by turmoil in No 10 in recent days". She adds: "A No 10 insider told me Mr Cummings 'jumped because otherwise he would be pushed soon', suggesting that, in the last few days, the prime minister saw that the former Vote Leave team was just 'in it for themselves'." Mr Cummings ran the pro-Brexit campaign in the EU referendum and was behind the "Get Brexit Done" message that helped secure the Conservatives a large majority in the last election. Since then, he's provoked controversy by travelling to northern England from London when non-essential travel was banned at the height of the coronavirus lockdown. Read more about him. | |
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| US election officials reject Trump claims |
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| While US President Donald Trump continues to claim the White House vote he's projected to have lost was plagued by fraud, US federal election officials are now describing it as the "most secure in American history". The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency committee spoke out after Mr Trump claimed without proof 2.7 million votes for him had been "deleted". It announced: "There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised." There remains no sign of Mr Trump conceding to Democrat Joe Biden, as the president's team continues to pursue legal challenges to projected results in key states. | |
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| Shootout win sends Scotland to Euros |
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| Scots have endured a long wait to see their men at a major football tournament. But the Tartan Army can march again - pandemic allowing - after a European Championship play-off final victory over Serbia. As if a 23-year gap between the 1998 World Cup in France and next summer's delayed Euro 2020 finals wasn't enough, celebrations were subject to an agonising delay. Having dominated the game, and led for much of the second half thanks to Ryan Christie's strike, they conceded a last-minute equaliser. And it went to the last penalty of a shootout before goalkeeper David Marshall pulled off the match-winning save. You can relive the agony and ecstasy with BBC Sport's review of how the night unfolded. | |
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| | | | | When Sidali Mohamed left his maths lesson a few minutes early on 13 February last year, he seemed happy. The 16-year-old was going to pick up his younger brother. It was a journey he didn't get to complete. Sidali was murdered outside the gates of his college by a boy the same age as him. He was the first of three Birmingham teenagers who were stabbed within 12 days of each other last February. They died within 10 days of one another. These cases fell into a BBC project, tracking the first 100 killings of 2019. We discovered a high number of stabbings and the prevalence of young murder victims and perpetrators. | |
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| | Steve Swann & Thomas Mackintosh | BBC News | |
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| | | | The ongoing turbulence at No 10 leads several papers, with the Guardian reporting that Conservative MPs have warned Boris Johnson he has one last chance to "overhaul a dysfunctional Downing Street operation". According to the Times, the prime minister wants to soften the government's image after the resignation of communications director Lee Cain by "ending culture wars, promoting the green agenda and taking a less dogmatic approach to the Union". It suggests Mr Johnson's fiancee Carrie Symonds has emerged as the Downing Street power broker. On its front page, the Daily Star offers readers a cut-out mask of Mr Johnson's special adviser, Dominic Cummings, and suggests readers can wear it to help him "skulk out" of No 10 "without losing face". Telegraph cartoonist Matt pictures a viewer watching a report on the "power battle" and wondering: "Is this the second wave or third wave of Dominic Cummings?" Read the review. | |
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| | | Coronavirus Too early for Christmas travel plans - European countries |
| | | | Universities Offers based on predicted grades could be ditched |
| | | | Covid Learning disability death rates 'six times higher' |
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| If you do one thing today |
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| If you listen to one thing today |
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| If you read one thing today |
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| Need something different? |
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| | | 1985 About 20,000 people are feared dead after the Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupts in northern Colombia. |
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