Charities say new figures show £20-a-week Covid benefit top-up should be extended beyond MarchCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe scale of the hardship caused by Covid-19 has been laid bare with new figures showing that more than a third of claims since universal credit was introduced have been made during the pandemic.The number of people claiming the payment has...

Sir James Bevan says extreme flooding in UK indicates urgent need for change if humanity is to surviveThe climate emergency is already hitting “worst case scenario” levels that if left unchecked will lead to the collapse of ecosystems, with dire consequences for humanity, according to the chief executive of the Environment Agency.Warning that this is not “science fiction”, Sir James Bevan...

Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Hungary and Sweden put on notice over curbs to free movementCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageBrussels has put six EU member states on notice that their tight Covid border restrictions, including exit and entry bans, should be lifted over fears of a wider breakdown in the bloc’s free movement of people and goods.Belgium, Denmark,...

Doctors and MPs say health secretary’s comment about supply to NHS staff on Covid frontline is ‘deeply insulting’Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageMatt Hancock has been criticised for a “disgustingly disrespectful” claim that there was never a national shortage of personal protective equipment during the pandemic.Doctors and MPs condemned the UK health...

Spectacular eruptions of red lava from Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, continued overnight from Monday into Tuesday, illuminating the night sky. The volcano’s lava fountains soared to 1,500 metres, according to the Etna Observatory at Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and VolcanologyMount Etna illuminates night sky with 1,500-metre lava fountain Continue...

Government mulls ban on businesses making access to services conditional on vaccinationsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coveragePeople could have their vaccine status or their latest Covid test result put on their NHS app – though the government is considering whether to ban businesses from making access to services conditional on vaccinations.Boris Johnson said he...

Test developed in France is as accurate as PCR test and does not require lab processingCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageFrench researchers have developed a coronavirus test that they say delivers results three times faster than rapid lateral flow antigen tests with – according to initial trial data – almost the same accuracy as more reliable, but slower, PCR...

London-based group says video evidence casts doubt on claims Ahmad Erekat was conducting an attackIsraeli forces executed a 26-year-old Palestinian at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank last year, a report has alleged, challenging Israeli police claims that the man was a “terrorist” conducting an attack.Forensic Architecture, a British research body based at Goldsmiths, University of...

Instead of making this a polarised debate, a joined-up approach is needed to make sure the public are given clear information Coronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThere has been an explosion of medical misinformation since the pandemic began. It perhaps shouldn’t come as a surprise. As a health crisis of epic proportions plays out before us, people want fast access to...

Social media users say message is encoded in abstract red-and-white pattern on parachuteInternet sleuths claim to have decoded a hidden message displayed on the parachute that helped Nasa’s Perseverance Rover land safely on Mars last week. They claim that the phrase “Dare mighty things” – used as a motto by Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory – was encoded on the parachute using a pattern...

What would it be like if the Earth’s magnetic pole switched? Migrating animals and hikers would certainly need to reset their compasses, but could it play real havoc with life on Earth? Analysing the rings of an ancient tree pulled from a bog in New Zealand, researchers have been investigating what happened the last time north and south flipped – 42,000 years ago. Nicola Davis speaks to Prof...

Just before Alex Godfrey’s grandmother died from dementia, she snapped back to lucidity and regaled him with stories of her youth. Could moments like this teach us more about the workings of the brain?It was the red jelly that did it. It was Christmas 1999 in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Ward Porterfield, 83, was in a nursing home. He had been diagnosed with dementia three years earlier; he was...

Health secretary looks to personal responsibility to replace social distancing laws to get life back to normalCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageThe UK health secretary, Matt Hancock, has said that everyone needs to play their part in order to meet the targets set for easing lockdown in England with the aim to move to “personal responsibility” rather than having...

Without the technology to produce mRNA vaccines such as the Pfizer jab, Australia and region remain ‘vulnerable to supply shocks’, scientists warnLeading Australian scientists have called on the federal government to urgently develop additional onshore Covid vaccine manufacturing capability to protect against supply disruption as the country completes its second day of vaccinations.In a...