The mother of a schoolboy found dead in a storm drain six days after he went missing has said he gave her a lifetime of love in his 14 years. The tribute from Fiona Donohoe about her son Noah was relayed by a priest during his Requiem Mass at St Patrick's Church in Belfast. The priest said Ms Donohoe had also called the teenager a "beautiful soul with a beautiful mind". Image: Noah Donohoe, 14, was missing for six days Well-wishers lined the street outside the church while a small private funeral service took place inside. The cortege later travelled to Noah's school, St Malachy's College, where the Community Rescue Service who found his body formed a guard of honour along the road. Advertisement There was applause from the crowds packed on to the footpaths as the hearse containing Noah's white coffin topped with white flowers and his photograph passed by. Inside the grounds of the school, pupils formed a guard of honour. More from Belfast Noah's bo..

Shares in drugs titan Pfizer Inc (NYSE:PFE) surged on Wednesday in New York as did those of German group BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) as the pair posted positive early-stage trial results for a vaccine against the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19). An ongoing collaborative Phase1/2 clinical trial in the US and involving 45 participants aged between 18 and 55 have received either 10, 30, or 100 microgram doses of the drug BNT162b1 vaccine or a placebo over 21 days. READ: Coronavirus: Whats happening in the labs of pharma companies worldwide[hhmc] It was reported that 24 people who received two doses of the vaccine had 'significantly elevated' antibodies within four weeks of the first injection. "These preliminary data are encouraging in that they provide an initial signal that BNT162b1 targeting the RBD SARS-CoV-2 is able to produce neutralizing antibody responses in humans at or above the levels observed in convalescent sera – and that it does so at relatively low dose levels. We lo..

FTSE 100 index closes in red Pfizer's vaccine shows early signs of efficacy US private payrolls increase by 2.2mln in June 5pm: FTSE closes down FTSE 100 index closed marginally lower on Wednesday after what was a volatile trading day. The UK's index of leading shares finished in the red to the tune of nearly 12 points, or 0.19%, to close at 6,157. However, the more domestic focused FTSE 250 added over 70 points to close at 17,189. "Stocks saw a lot of volatility today as health concerns weighed on sentiment in the morning, but the mood picked up on hopes of a Covid-19 vaccine," noted David Madden, analyst at CMC Markets. "The tick up in tensions in Hong Kong also contributed to the negative move. Beijing have introduced a controversial law that will give it more control over the former British Overseas Territory, and that could impact Chinas international relations," he added, Shares in drugs firms Pfizer (NYSE:PFE) and BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX) ticked higher in New York..

Tech platforms such as Alphabet Incs (NASDAQ:GOOG) Google and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) that rely on digital advertising to make money are facing renewed pressure on their market dominance after UK regulators called for new rules to boost competition in the sector. On Wednesday, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said existing laws were “not suitable to effective regulation” and a new “pro-competition regulatory regime” was needed to govern the platforms. READ: Google faces multi-billion dollar lawsuit for monitoring private internet usage[hhmc] The watchdog pointed out that of the £14bn spent on digital advertising in the UK in 2019, 80% of this was earned by Google and Facebook, with the former also controlling more than 90% of the £7.3bn search advertising market in the UK. “While both [platforms] originally grew by offering better services than the main platforms in the market at the time, the CMA is concerned that they have developed such unassailable market positions t..

A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage after a statue of slave trader Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol. The bronze monument was toppled and then pushed into the city's harbour during a Black Lives Matter protest on 7 June. No arrests were made at the time, but Avon and Somerset Police later released 15 images of people they wished to speak to after looking at footage of the statue being pulled down with ropes. Image: The empty plinth where the statue of Edward Colston once stood The statue had been in the city centre since 1895 and is one of a number of tributes to Colston in the city. The council has since retrieved the statue from the harbour and plans to display it in a museum along with placards from the BLM protest. Advertisement Demonstrations took place across the US and the UK last month following the killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in Minneapolis in May. Referring to the toppling of the statue, Detective Superinte..

The number of deaths registered in England and Wales over one week has fallen below the five-year average for the first time since before lockdown was imposed, but concerns remain over high numbers of deaths in peoples homes. In the week ending 19 June, deaths were slightly (0.7%) below usual levels, according to data published by the Office for National Statistics. While excess care home and hospital deaths have declined significantly in recent weeks, deaths at home remain high, prompting concerns that people are not seeking medical attention during the health crisis. Almost 20,000 more people have died in their own homes since the start of the pandemic than the comparable periods average, with just 13% of these deaths attributed to Covid-19. There have now been 19,957 excess deaths in private homes across England, Wales and Scotland. Another significant milestone was passed as the total number of excess deaths, a measure which compares the number of deaths in a given week with t..

Rape cases where a woman was held at knife point, a film of an attack was found on a suspects phone and an alleged perpetrator admitted the offence in text messages are among those dropped by the Crown Prosecution Service, documents shared with the Guardian reveal. The details have emerged in papers that are to be submitted to an ongoing government review of how rape is treated throughout the criminal justice system. They include statements from dozens of rape victims whose cases were not prosecuted and an account by a CPS whistleblower. Reported rapes have increased steadily over the past decade and more than 58,000 were recorded by police in England and Wales in 2018/19. However, charges, prosecutions and convictions for rape in cases brought by the CPS have fallen to their lowest levels in more than a decade. The decline is a key area of inquiry in the review. The previously unpublished evidence and detailed legal arguments, shared exclusively with the Guardian, have been compile..

The backlog of untried cases in the criminal justice system – which has ballooned during lockdown – could take a decade to clear, an official watchdog has warned. The inspectorate that monitors the Crown Prosecution Service cautions that delays are likely to be “highly detrimental to justice”, will require “radical solutions” and that the problem could prove to be “more complex than dealing with the immediate crisis”. The report is published as the justice secretary, Robert Buckland, is preparing emergency legislation for some trials to be conducted temporarily without juries to get around problems of social distancing in courtrooms. His proposals have provoked strong opposition in defence of the traditional jury system among criminal barristers in England and Wales who would prefer larger, alternative venues to be hired as emergency “Nightingale courts” where jurors can be more easily accommodated. Kevin McGinty, chief inspector of HM Crown Prosecution Service, says in the report:..

Police are investigating whether criminal charges should be brought against a hospital trust where hundreds of cases of poor maternity care are being examined, including allegedly avoidable deaths of babies and mothers. Failures in care at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust have been described as the worst maternity scandal in the history of the NHS. An independent review was established in 2017 to look into a cluster of baby deaths at the trust, initially focusing on 23 cases. Image: The trust has been the focus of investigations Since then, hundreds more families have come forward, and the investigation is now looking at more than 1,200 cases, including deaths of babies and mothers and babies who have been left with permanent brain damage. The incidents being examined range from 1979 to this year. Advertisement Richard Stanton and Rhiannon Davies helped push for that investigation after their daughter Kate died just six hours after her birth in 2009. An inquest conf..

The number of people who have died with coronavirus in the UK has increased by 155, according to government figures. A total of 43,730 people are recorded as dying with COVID-19 in hospitals, care homes and the wider community as of 5pm on Monday, up by 155 from 43,575 the day before. The figures from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) only include people who have tested positive and died. The Office for National Statistics reports there are just under 55,000 deaths in total. 'We're not going to cheesepare our way out' Monday's DHSC figures were substantially higher than Sunday's, when 25 people died with the virus. However, figures over the weekend are always much lower than the week and the government's scientific advisers will be looking at how many deaths are recorded in the coming days to assess how the UK is tackling the pandemic. Advertisement The DHSC said as of 9am on Tuesday, 9,426,631 people had been tested for COVID-19, w..