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Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are preparing to launch a legal battle over COVID secrets, just hours before a deadline for handing over sensitive material to the official pandemic inquiry.

Mr Johnson, prime minister during the pandemic, is battling to prevent the Cabinet Office releasing all his unedited WhatsApp messages and diaries to the inquiry’s chairwoman, Baroness Hallett.

With the clock ticking towards the 4pm deadline, Baroness Hallett is demanding to see all government messages, which she claims are vital for the inquiry’s deliberations on COVID decisions.

She is said to have warned the government that failure to release material would amount to a criminal offence, a claim the government disputes and is therefore poised to launch a legal challenge.

The government argues that handing over all ministers’ messages to the inquiry – including those of Mr Johnson – would stop them communicating freely in future and that much of the material is irrelevant.

In a ruling last week, Baroness Hallett said: “The entire contents of the documents that are required to be produced are of potential relevance to the lines of investigation that I am pursuing.”

Baroness Hallett opens preliminary hearing for COVID-19 Inquiry
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Baroness Hallett

But the government’s opposition to handing over WhatsApp messages and diaries in full and the threat to launch a legal challenge was strongly backed by the former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith.

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Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, he accused Lady Hallett of “trying to be Agatha Christie” by turning the COVID inquiry into a “whodunnit” rather than “whatdunnit”.

Sir Iain said: “It’s completely unnecessary chasing individuals. They are on a fishing expedition and they should stop fishing. There is enough evidence out there to know what went wrong.”

Mr Johnson has claimed publishing his diaries in full would be a breach of national security.

And the standoff now appears to be heading for the extraordinary spectacle of a legal battle between the government and the inquiry.

Mr Sunak and the former PM are expected to speak this week, for the first time since last year, about their approach to the COVID inquiry and also to discuss the former PM’s controversial resignation honours list.

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Boris Johnson denies fresh claims

Mr Johnson is already furious with the Cabinet Office for referring a dozen diary entries to the police and the Privileges Committee of MPs, which is investigating claims that he lied to the House of Commons.

As a result, officers from the Metropolitan Police and the Thames Valley force are now considering whether meetings that took place with allies in Downing Street and at Chequers in May 2021 broke COVID rules.

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The diary entries include Chequers visits by outgoing BBC chairman Richard Sharp, Mr Johnson’s cousin Sam Blyth, who loaned him £800,000, and Tory peer Lord Brownlow, who funded decorations to the Downing Street flat.

Another diary entry refers to a visit to Chequers by two friends of Carrie Johnson, though Mr Johnson’s spokesman has insisted that this event was “entirely lawful”.

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‘Leave Boris Johnson alone’

In an exclusive Sky News interview at Dulles Airport in the United States last Friday, a defiant Mr Johnson declared: “None of them constitute a breach of the rules during COVID. They weren’t during lockdown.

“They were during other periods of the restrictions. None of them constitute a breach of the rules. None of them involve socialising. It is total nonsense.”

Mr Johnson’s allies are also accusing Oliver Dowden, Cabinet Office minister, deputy prime minister and Mr Sunak’s closest ally, of sanctioning “a political stitch-up” to smear Mr Johnson and prolong the Privileges Committee inquiry.

It has been reported that Mr Johnson believes Mr Dowden “has form”, after helping to trigger his downfall last year with a dawn resignation as party chairman within hours of two disastrous by-election defeats for the Conservatives.

The former PM told Sky News: “I think it’s ridiculous that elements of my diary should be cherry-picked and handed over to the police, to the Privileges Committee, without even anybody having the basic common sense to ask me what these entries referred to.”

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‘Is Boris Johnson toast?’

Johnson allies have also demanded a leak inquiry to catch the “ratty rat” who disclosed that his diary entries had been passed to police, a reference to the so-called “chatty rat” who leaked a lockdown announcement in November 2020.

Despite the threat of a looming legal battle, a spokesperson for the Cabinet Office said: “We are fully committed to our obligations to the COVID-19 inquiry.

“As such, extensive time and effort has gone into assisting the inquiry fulsomely over the last 11 months.

“We will continue to provide all relevant material to the inquiry, in line with the law, ahead of proceedings getting under way.”

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‘Treated like dogs’: Russia recruiting thousands of Nepali men to fight in war on Ukraine

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'Treated like dogs': Russia recruiting thousands of Nepali men to fight in war on Ukraine

Around 2,000 Nepali men have been recruited by Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine, Sky News understands.

Driven by poverty, many of the Nepali mercenaries are now desperate to return.

Ganesh, 35, is one of the few recruits lucky enough to have made it home. He spent four and a half months fighting in Donetsk and he says Nepalis were “treated like dogs”.

“It was very frightening. It wasn’t man to man, bullet to bullet. We were attacked by drones and it was terrifying,” he said.

We spoke to him in Kathmandu as he prayed at a temple, relieved but traumatised by his experience on the frontline.

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Ganesh, 35, in a training camp in Russia.
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Ganesh only escaped the Russian military on his third attempt

He says soldiers were taken to Avangard training centre, a military academy outside of Moscow, where they were for two weeks.

Ganesh served 10 years in the Indian army, but many others alongside him were young and inexperienced. He describes some as never having held a gun before.

‘Thrown into conflict with little support’

After training, he says there was a sharp shift in the way foreign mercenaries were treated: they were suddenly thrown into conflict with very little support.

“For the first two weeks of training, life was good. But once we were sent to Ukraine, we didn’t have enough food and were beaten by the Russians. It was really bad.”

Nepali men, Ganesh claims, were cannon fodder in their war. “The original Russian soldiers were behind us. On the frontline it was mercenaries.”

He describes a clear pecking order with Russian criminals, Nepalis and Indians ahead of Kremlin troops.

Ganesh saw three Nepali men killed on the battlefield, but has heard of many, many more casualties.

Ganesh, 35, in a training camp in Rostov-On-Don, Russia.
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‘Once we were sent to Ukraine, we didn’t have enough food and were beaten by the Russians’

Soldiers told Russia was ‘full of opportunities’

He says he was struggling to find work and when he went to an agent to see if he could work in Luxembourg, the agent suggested he should go to Russia instead because it was “full of opportunities”.

Ganesh then had to take out a loan and pay him one million Nepali Rupees (nearly £6,000) to travel from Moscow via Dubai on a tourist visa.

The average monthly Nepali salary is the equivalent of less than £150. But he was told by the agent he could earn about £1,675 a month if he joined the Kremlin’s campaign.

Once in Russia he then had to pay another agent nearly £800 just to be taken to the training camp.

Ganesh, 35, who was recruited by Russia to fight in its war against Ukraine.
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Ganesh said they were attacked by drones

The figure of 2,000 men recruited into the Russian army is based on the testimony of returning soldiers, as well as Russian immigration data. It has also been cross-referenced with estimates provided by campaigners supporting the families of those still serving or dead.

Many Nepalis have described being given student or tourist visas to get to Russia and the Nepali government is so concerned, that it has taken action.

Nepal has asked for soldiers to be repatriated

It was already illegal for Nepalis to fight for foreign militaries, including Russia’s. But in January this year, the government banned its citizens from travelling to Russia or Ukraine for work and has asked Moscow to repatriate all Nepalis who were recruited.

Superintendent Nawaraj Adhikari told Sky News the police are cracking down on agents – the men who help sort the documents required to cross into Russia and illegally fight its war.

“Police have already arrested 22 suspects,” he said. “It’s a big, serious problem.”

Read more:
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Superintendent Nawaraj Adhikari
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Superintendent Nawaraj Adhikari

The relatives of more than 150 Nepali mercenaries have filed requests appealing to the consular department after losing contact with their relatives. And yet, men desperate to escape poverty, continue to make the perilous journey to the battlefield.

‘It’s not like it looks on TikTok’

Many say they were wooed by watching TikTok videos of happy-looking recruits training in Russia. But Ganesh is urging anyone considering it not to sign up.

“I would tell them not to go. On TikTok you see them with fancy uniforms with fancy guns. But it’s nothing like that.”

TikTok videos showing Nepalese men in the Russian army.
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TikTok videos showing Nepali men in the Russian army

TikTok videos showing Nepalese men in the Russian army.

Getting out of the war is proving treacherous. Ganesh said he tried to flee with six other Nepali men, but was caught and badly beaten by Russian soldiers.

He tried a second time to use an agent. “There was a Nepali guy, I contacted him and he said to send me 200,000 rubles (£1,700).

“I did that, then ran away from the barracks and looked around for the taxi he was meant to send but it wasn’t there. Then he went out of contact.”

Ganesh said many of his fellow Nepalis had tried the same. “I have seen 10 to 15 Nepalis who were wandering around, out of their minds, cheated by agents.”

He eventually fled again on foot, sleeping in old buildings, spending a week in the forest before finally surrendering to the Russian police in Donetsk.

“I realised I could not cross the border and that I wouldn’t survive if I stayed here. I gave myself up and went to the police. I was detained for one-and-a-half months and then they sent me back to Nepal.”

Kritu Bhandari, a Kathmandu-based politician and social campaigner, has become the leader of a group of family members of Nepali mercenaries who are calling for their return from Russia.

She says in recent weeks about 700 families have asked her for help in bringing their relatives home. She says she is also aware of 260 mercenaries who are out of contact with their loved ones.

Drone shot of a low sun by the mountains near Kathmandu.
Kathmandu.
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Kathmandu

The Nepali government told Sky News 246 of its citizens are fighting for the Russian army currently and that at least 21 have been killed. But lawmakers and human rights’ campaigners in Nepal say those official estimates vastly underestimate the real numbers.

According to the Nepali Foreign Ministry, Russian authorities have reportedly agreed to provide compensation to the victims’ families and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has assured his Nepali counterpart that he will address their concerns.

But Moscow has said nothing yet about stopping the recruitment of Nepalis or repatriating the dead. Sky News asked the Russian Ministry of Defence and the embassy in Nepal to comment on Ganesh’s allegations, and to provide the number of Nepali mercenaries in its armed forces. Neither have yet responded.

What is clear is that Nepal is caught in a conflict it has no stake in, driven by many who were trying to escape poverty.

They now look increasingly exposed with no guarantees of a safe return.

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Canada refuses to apologise over British children abuse scandal

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Canada refuses to apologise over British children abuse scandal

The Canadian government has refused the latest request for an apology to British children abused in the country.

Campaigners for youngsters shipped to Canada in the 19th and 20th centuries have petitioned the country’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to apologise for their mistreatment.

His government has declined – a decision campaigners have said “compounds the historical injustice”.

About 115,000 youngsters, so-called British Home Children, were sent to Canada from the UK between 1869 and 1948.

They were typically used as cheap labour on farms or as domestic servants and many were subject to mistreatment and abuse.

The UK and Australia have issued formal apologies for their roles in the transport of British children into punishing circumstances overseas and petitioners asked Canada to do the same.

In responding, the Canadian government said: “It is generally agreed that [the children’s] living and working conditions were poorly supervised in Canada, leaving the children vulnerable to abuse and prejudice.”

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Canada’s British ‘Home Children’

However, the response contained no apology which has infuriated petition organisers.

Lori Oschefski, of British Home Children Canada, told Sky News: “By rejecting an apology, the government not only overlooks the enduring trauma suffered by these individuals and the intergenerational trauma passed down to their some four million descendants, but also fails to demonstrate a commitment to rectifying historical wrongs.

“For a nation to move forward, it is imperative to confront and learn from its historical missteps, and the current refusal to apologise for the mistreatment of the British Home Children reflects a disheartening lack of progress in this critical aspect of Canada’s historical consciousness and compounds the historical injustice, perpetuating a narrative of neglect and indifference towards the victims of this reprehensible chapter in Canadian history.”

Read more:
‘People thought we were scum’ – forgotten legacy of British children sent to Canada

In its response to the petition, the Canadian government highlighted its initiatives to recognise the experience of Home Children, including the adoption in 2017 by its House of Commons of an apology to the British Home Children and their descendants.

Campaigners point out that it falls short of the formal apology they want, of the sort made by the UK and Australia.

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Israel-Hamas war: Biden and Netanyahu hold first phone call in a month amid warnings of ‘imminent famine’ in Gaza

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Israel-Hamas war: Biden and Netanyahu hold first phone call in a month amid warnings of 'imminent famine' in Gaza

US President Joe Biden and his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu have held their first phone call in a month, amid warnings of an “imminent famine” in northern Gaza.

It comes as a group of aid agencies warned that an estimated 70% of the population in northern Gaza faced catastrophic hunger, and that virtually everyone in the besieged strip is struggling to get enough food.

The European Union’s top diplomat also blamed Israel for the crisis on Monday, saying an impending famine in Gaza was “entirely man-made”.

Meanwhile, amid talk of tension between the US and Israel, White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, confirmed that Mr Netanyahu had held a phone call – their first in 31 days.

He said they had agreed to send a team of Israeli officials to Washington to discuss with members of Mr Biden’s team to hear US concerns about a possible military assault on the southern Gazan city of Rafah.

He said the talks, expected to involve military, intelligence, and humanitarian experts, were set to be held in the coming days.

But he stressed that the US felt a major ground operation in Rafah would be a “mistake” and that Mr Biden had warned Mr Netanyahu against it.

“It would lead to more innocent civilian deaths, worsen the already dire humanitarian crisis, deepen the anarchy in Gaza, and further isolate Israel internationally,” Mr Sullivan added.

“Israel has not presented us or the world with a plan for how or where they would safely move those civilians, let alone feed and house them and ensure access to basic things like sanitation.”

President Joe Biden speaks during a Women's History Month reception in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 18, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
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President Joe Biden speaks during a Women’s History Month reception at the White House. Pic: AP

U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S., March 18, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan speaks during a press briefing at the White House. Pic: Reuters

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivers his speech after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Jerusalem, Sunday, March 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, Pool)
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Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu delivers his speech after a meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Jerusalem on Sunday. Pic: AP

In other developments in the Israel-Hamas war:

• Israeli forces launched another raid on the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital on Monday, saying Hamas militants had regrouped there;

• They also said they had killed a Hamas commander who was armed and hiding inside the medical centre;

• It emerged Israel had urged the top UN court to reject the latest request by South Africa for interim orders to prevent starvation in Gaza;

• A top UN aid official for Palestinian areas called for an opening of “all roads” into Gaza to help avert the potential famine.

On Monday, a new report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification warned of an “imminent famine” in northern Gaza.

The group, a partnership of more than a dozen governments, UN aid and other agencies that determine the severity of food crises, said virtually everyone in Gaza was struggling to get enough food.

It also said that some 210,000 people in the north were in “Phase 5”, its highest category, referred to as “catastrophic hunger”.

A looming Israeli ground attack in Rafah would worsen the crisis, it warned, claiming it would drive around half of the 2.3 million people in Gaza into Phase 5.

FILE PHOTO: Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, shelter in a tent camp, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip March 11, 2024. REUTERS/ Bassam Masoud/File Photo
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Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses, shelter in a tent camp in Rafah. Pic: Retuers

On Monday, Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, accused Israel of weaponising food to provoke famine.

“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” he said at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels.

“Trucks are stopped. People are dying, while the land crossings are artificially closed,” he said.

Aid agencies say they have struggled to get enough aid in because of a burdensome Israeli process to import humanitarian aid, and that the continuing conflict has made distribution in the north of Gaza virtually impossible.

Israel says there are “no limits on the amount of aid that can go into Gaza”.

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Israel using starvation as ‘weapon of war’

The US and other countries have carried out airdrops in recent days and a sea corridor has just opened up.

However, aid groups have said those efforts are costly and inefficient and are no substitute for Israel opening up more land routes.

It comes as Israeli forces launched another raid on the Gaza Strip’s largest hospital on Monday, saying Hamas militants had regrouped there and had fired on them from inside the site where Palestinian officials say tens of thousands of people have been sheltering.

The army last raided al Shifa Hospital in November after claiming that Hamas maintained an elaborate command centre within and beneath the facility.

However, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) and Israel Securities Authority (ISA) said military activity had not stopped and they had launched a “precise operation to thwart terrorist activity”.

The IDF said it killed a Hamas commander who was armed and hiding inside the medical centre, and that one of its own soldiers was killed in the operation.

Palestinian authorities described the raid as a “war crime” that had resulted in multiple casualties.

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Screams heard after al Shifa raid

Separately, on Monday, the US said Israel had killed Hamas number three, Marwan Issa, in an operation last week.

A spokesperson for the IDF said they had “no comment on the matter”.

Read more from Sky News:
Netanyahu vows to push ahead with assault on Rafah
‘Words are not enough’ from US on Middle East conflict – Sinn Fein leader

Later on Monday, it emerged that Israel has urged the top UN court to reject the latest request by South Africa for interim orders to prevent starvation in Gaza as part of a case accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention with its military offensive against Hamas.

In a written response published on Monday by the International Court of Justice, Israel said that claims by South Africa in its request filed earlier this month were “wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court itself”.

Israel fervently denies that its military campaign in Gaza amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention.

Last-known photo of Marwan Issa, taken in 2015
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Last-known photo of Marwan Issa, taken in 2015

It acknowledged in its written response to South Africa’s request that there are “also tragic and agonising civilian casualties in this war”.

“These realities are the painful result of intensive armed hostilities that Israel did not start and did not want,” it said.

No date has been set for judges to rule on the South African request.

At hearings in January, lawyers for Israel argued that the war in Gaza was a legitimate defence of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

After the hearings, the court ordered Israel in late January to do all it could to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive triggered by the deadly 7 October incursion into southern Israel by Hamas.

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