Newsif Blog

A heartbroken mother has issued a warning to other parents after her two-year-old daughter died from swallowing a remote control battery.  Harper-Lee Fanthorpe, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, passed away on May 23, hours after swallowing the battery when the acid inside burnt through her food pipe. Mother Stacey Nicklin said she did not realise her daughter had swallowed the battery until she found the remote control with a missing button battery in her bedroom.  Harper-Lee Fanthorpe, from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, passed away on May 23, hours after swallowing the battery when the acid inside burnt through her food pip Mother Stacey Nicklin said she did not realise her daughter had swallowed the battery until she found the remote control with a missing button battery in her bedroom The two-year-old was being watched over by her older sister, Jamie-Leigh Nicklin-Hulme  She recalled her daughter's final words to her were: 'Mummy, I need you'.  The two-year-old was b

Sajid Javid tonight vowed to end all Covid restrictions on July 19. In a dramatic change of tone from predecessor Matt Hancock, the new Health Secretary said it was time to 'start returning to normal' after 15 months of crippling curbs. Mr Javid said restrictions should not last 'a moment longer' than necessary and he was determined that July 19 was the 'end of the line' for lockdown. He added that it was time for Britain to 'learn to live' with the virus. In another break from Mr Hancock's caution, he appeared to rule out the return of restrictions this winter. Mr Javid said: 'It's going to be irreversible – there's no going back.' The Sajid Javid said it was time to 'start returning to normal' after 15 months of crippling curbs Health Secretary's upbeat tone appeared to be infectious, with Boris Johnson also talking up the prospect of a release from remaining measures on July 19. The Prime Minister said the 'termin

A supermarket has sparked public outrage by 'mistakenly' tripling the price of face masks hours before new coronavirus restrictions were enforced.  Australian Capital Territory introduced the wearing of mandatory masks outdoors and public indoor settings on Monday in response to a growing outbreak in nearby Sydney. As Canberrans rushed out to stock up on masks, shoppers were shocked to find packs of 50 selling for $120 at Supabarn Kingston in the city's south. It didn't take long for locals to express their outrage and share photos of the price hike on social media.  Supabarn Kingston in the nation's capital were selling packs of 50 masks for $120 on Sunday night. The price has since been slashed to $40 'Didn't they make price gouging illegal? I am now boycotting Supabarn and will encourage whoever will listen to do so as well,' one person commented on Reddit. Other Reddit users shared similar experiences.  'Friend just forked out $200 for 50 at some

Fewer than one in 20 women support the replacement of men’s and women’s loos with gender-neutral ones, a poll reveals. Just four per cent would be happy if restaurants, hotels, bars, theatres, cinemas, concert venues and stadiums abolished separate toilets for two sexes. Men are almost as unenthusiastic. Fewer than one in ten support the loss of their own loos in public spaces. But a third of those questioned said they did support having gender-neutral toilets alongside those for men and women. A YouGov poll revealed fewer than one in 20 women support the replacement of men’s and women’s loos with gender-neutral ones  The findings from the poll carried out by YouGov and released yesterday suggest the rise in gender-neutral public loos is against the grain of public sentiment. The issue has become one of the battlegrounds between transgender rights lobbyists and feminists.  Attempts to introduce gender-neutral loos in public spaces or in offices have routinely provoked protests from wom

Spain and Greece were last night leading the resistance to Germany’s demand for Europe to effectively ban British holidaymakers this summer. EU diplomats clashed at a behind-closed-doors meeting in Brussels, with German officials pushing hard to convince other countries to quarantine all UK arrivals – even those who’ve been vaccinated. Yesterday, both Portugal and Malta announced new quarantine-on-arrival rules for British holidaymakers. However, they stopped short of German demands and exempted those who have received both doses of a coronavirus vaccine. Angela Merkel has been pushing for EU-wide restrictions on Britons amid fears on the continent over the Indian, or Delta, variant. Pictured: Merkel talks with France's President Emmanuel Macron Meanwhile, both Spain and Greece said they would not even require Britons to be fully vaccinated – insisting they would welcome UK tourists simply with proof of a negative Covid test. Angela Merkel has been pushing for EU-wide restrictions

NBA star Ben Simmons won't play for Australia in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics after the Philadelphia 76ers point guard confirmed he will use the offseason 'to focus on individual skill development'. According to basketball reporter Marc Stein, the 24-year-old informed Basketball Australia 'he requires this upcoming period of time to focus on individual skill development' after being slammed for his poor form in the NBA playoffs.  The decision is a crushing blow for Australia's medal chances at the event as Simmons was set to lead a team heavy in NBA talent.  Simmons has been widely criticised after a hugely underwhelming series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Atlanta Hawks where Philadelphia crashed out in Game 7 at home.  'Pathetic. @BenSimmons25 needs to sack his advisers and get some people who tell him what he needs to know rather than wants to hear,' journalist Greg Jericho said.  'That’s good cause Australia needs shooters anyw

Former NYT opinion editor Bari Weiss has slammed Amazon for releasing a woke 'Inclusion Playbook' for its studios - while their majoritively black and Hispanic warehouse staff are 'afraid to take a bathroom break'. Weiss dismissed the Amazon Studios' Playbook, released last Wednesday, as nothing more than a 'smokescreen', on Substack. 'By focusing the attention and energy of the rich and powerful on say, whether using the word Latinx is preferable to Hispanic, we let them off the hook for actually doing something about the fact that Latinos remain more than twice as likely to live below the poverty line as whites and Asians,' she said. 'By now, this is a familiar story: Amazon is turning the making of TV and film into the same woke numbers game played at every other elite institution. (Exhibit A: Sixty-eight percent of the students admitted to Princeton’s class of 2025 self-identify as “people of color.”) she continued. The Playbook announces a g

Elton John's half-brother was today fined £200 after breaching coronavirus rules by going to an illegal 'rave' with more than 200 revellers in the Welsh countryside.  Geoff Dwight, 54, of Ruthin in North Wales, said the 'Blackpearl' event near Llandrillo on August 29 was a private spiritual gathering that he had attended for many years.  Dwight is estranged from Sir Elton and leaves an alternative lifestyle in the picturesque vale of Clwyd making harps and yurts, as well as organising music festivals. In 1954 he criticised how his father, Stanley, had been portrayed as cold and supportive in the Elton John biopic Rocketman.  Geoff Dwight, 54, is accused of organising an event attended by more than 30 people in Denbighshire on August 29 last year in breach of Welsh coronavirus regulations  Dwight and his partner Karen Webb, 58, also of Ruthin, had originally been accused of helping to organise an illegal music event in breach of coronavirus restrictions, but admitted

A former maintenance manager at the Miami condo building which collapsed last week claims its basement flooded every month during the five years he worked there. William Espinosa said the basement of Champlain Towers South was regularly inundated with salt water - which can corrode concrete and 'rebar' metal rods inserted into concrete to strengthen it during construction. Espinosa, who worked at the doomed building between 1995 and 2000, told CBS Miami: 'Any time that we had high tides away from the ordinary, any King Tide or anything like that, we would have a lot of saltwater come in through the bottom of the of the foundation,' he told CBS Miami, adding they had to use two large pumps to try and remove the rising water.  'But it was so much water, all the time, that the pumps never could keep up with it so we always had to be replacing pumps and the water would just basically sit there and then it would just seep downward,' he said.  'It would just go aw

They had been forced to wait two years for top-level tennis to return to Wimbledon – and four years to cheer on Andy Murray. But Centre Court fans were left on the edge of their seats last night as the home favourite battled hard to overcome a stubborn opponent in four sets. Murray’s return to SW19 was much anticipated after his lengthy injury problems. At first, the two-time Wimbledon champion, 34, seemed to be sailing through his first-round match against 24th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.  Andy Murray defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili to progress to the second round of Wimbledon The Brit produced one of the most extraordinary performances of his career to seal victory as the world no 28 rallied back to take the third set and had the momentum going into the fourth But Centre Court fans were left on the edge of their seats last night as home favourite Andy Murray battled hard to overcome a stubborn opponent in four sets He comfortably won the first two sets and was 5-0 up in the third bef