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30/07/2014
Ebola Outbreak Threat To UK - Hammond
Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has said that an ebola virus outbreak in West Africa is a threat to the UK.
Mr Hammond is to chair an emergency Cobra meeting later today (Wednesday) on the outbreak, which has killed almost 700 people.
It is understood that no Britons have been infected to date, but Mr Hammond has told BBC News that the government is taking the outbreak "very seriously".
Mr Hammond went on to say that the government was investigation if there are precautions "we need to take - either in the UK or to protect our nationals in the area abroad".
"At the moment we don't think any British nationals [abroad] are affected and we are fairly confident there are no cases in the UK.
"But it is a threat, it is something we need to respond to and we will be doing so through the Cobra mechanism."
(MH/CD)
Mr Hammond is to chair an emergency Cobra meeting later today (Wednesday) on the outbreak, which has killed almost 700 people.
It is understood that no Britons have been infected to date, but Mr Hammond has told BBC News that the government is taking the outbreak "very seriously".
Mr Hammond went on to say that the government was investigation if there are precautions "we need to take - either in the UK or to protect our nationals in the area abroad".
"At the moment we don't think any British nationals [abroad] are affected and we are fairly confident there are no cases in the UK.
"But it is a threat, it is something we need to respond to and we will be doing so through the Cobra mechanism."
(MH/CD)
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Accused Cleared Of Canal Boat Lovers' Murder
A man who stabbed his lover and best friend after catching them having sex on his canal boat has been cleared of their murders. William Cranston, 44, was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of provocation after claiming he did not know there was a kitchen knife in his hand when he pushed girlfriend Kay Morton, 39, and Paul Wilkins, 55.
Accused Cleared Of Canal Boat Lovers' Murder
A man who stabbed his lover and best friend after catching them having sex on his canal boat has been cleared of their murders. William Cranston, 44, was found guilty of manslaughter by reason of provocation after claiming he did not know there was a kitchen knife in his hand when he pushed girlfriend Kay Morton, 39, and Paul Wilkins, 55.
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The potential threat from a terrorist attack in the UK has been downgraded by one level. However, the Home Secretary, whose department sets the risk level, said the public can expect little change in security measures.
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The potential threat from a terrorist attack in the UK has been downgraded by one level. However, the Home Secretary, whose department sets the risk level, said the public can expect little change in security measures.
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The terror threat level to the UK has been downgraded from critical to severe, the Home Office has announced. The change means that the chance of a terror attack occurring in the UK is still regarded as "highly likely", but not "imminent".
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The terror threat level to the UK has been downgraded from critical to severe, the Home Office has announced. The change means that the chance of a terror attack occurring in the UK is still regarded as "highly likely", but not "imminent".
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Backlash over government's SARS response
In the wake of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) warning against travel to Toronto – the first time a Western city has been singled out by the agency – the UK government has been slammed for its "potentially lethal silence" in countering the threat posed by the SARS pandemic.
Backlash over government's SARS response
In the wake of the World Health Organisation's (WHO) warning against travel to Toronto – the first time a Western city has been singled out by the agency – the UK government has been slammed for its "potentially lethal silence" in countering the threat posed by the SARS pandemic.
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