British singer Rita Ora has apologised for breaking the UK's lockdown rules after holding her 30th birthday party in a London restaurant with friends in tow.
Writing on Instagram on Monday, November 30, the R.I.P. singer called the party, which took place on Saturday in Notting Hill, a serious and inexcusable error of judgment.
"It was a spur of the moment decision made with the misguided view that we were coming out of lockdown and this would be OK," Ora wrote on Instagram.
"I feel particularly embarrassed knowing first-hand how hard people have worked to combat this terrible illness. Even though this won't make it right, I want to sincerely apologise."
London police confirmed that officers had been called to the restaurant over a breach of Covid-19 regulations.
Multiple reports suggest the party hosted up to 30 guests, though sources told the Daily Mail seven people were in attendance.
"Officers continue to assess the allegations and are liaising with the local authority regarding a potential breach of regulations at the premises. Enquiries continue," a Metropolitan police statement said.
The singer of hits that include Let You Love Me and How to Be Lonely has volunteered to pay a fine.
Police in England can issue fines of up to £10,000 ($13,352) for breaches of lockdown curbs.
England was placed under four weeks of restrictions to stop the spread of coronavirus in November. Restaurants and pubs were among businesses affected, and are supposed to open for takeaway and delivery orders only. People were also banned from meeting indoors with people from other households, with groups of no more than six people allowed to mix.
The lockdown is set to end on Wednesday, December 2, and be replaced by a tiered system allowing hospitality venues to reopen in certain areas and under social-distancing rules.
"It's important that everybody in society sets an example by following the rules – that is for every member of the public, including celebrities," the prime minister's official spokesman said. "But it's up to police to decide what action to take."
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
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From Zero
Artist: Linkin Park
Label: Warner Records
Number of tracks: 11
Rating: 4/5
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
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War 2
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
Company profile
Date started: 2015
Founder: John Tsioris and Ioanna Angelidaki
Based: Dubai
Sector: Online grocery delivery
Staff: 200
Funding: Undisclosed, but investors include the Jabbar Internet Group and Venture Friends
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