Kym Sims
Kym Sims (born 23 August 1966) is an American singer, whose biggest success came outside her home market. Sims began her career as an advertising jingle singer before breaking through into the dance music market.
Stagecoach announces plans to increase bus services across north-east
Bus operator Stagecoach has announced plans to increase services across Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray from next week.
Services connecting Aberdeen to Elgin, Inverness, Banff, Peterhead and Fraserburgh are all set to welcome more journeys from April 19.
From the same date, Service X17 connecting Aberdeen city with Prime4 Business Park, Kingswells P&R and Westhill will be replaced with services 4, 5 and 6.
The operator says this change formed part of the public consultation held by Stagecoach in February 2020, but the introduction of the revised service was postponed due to the impact of the pandemic.
COVID-19: Top Chinese official admits efficacy of China's vaccines is low
China's top disease control official has admitted that the efficacy of the country's coronavirus vaccines is low - and mixing them is among the strategies being considered to boost their effectiveness.
Gao Fu, the director of the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said efficacy rates needed improving, in the rare admission.
Giving people doses of different vaccines is one way to improve vaccines that "don't have very high rates of protection", he said.
Live COVID updates from across the UK and around the world
"Inoculation using vaccines of different technical lines is being considered," he added, during a conference in the Chinese city of Chengdu.
Busted
Busted are an English pop rock band from Southend-on-Sea, Essex, consisting of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson. Formed in 2001, the band had four UK number-one singles, released two studio albums, Busted (2002) and A Present for Everyone (2003), one compilation album and one live album before breaking up in January 2005 following Simpson's decision to pursue a career fronting post-hardcore band Fightstar. They have also won two Brit Awards and won The Record of the Year in 2004 with their single "Thunderbirds", amongst other awards. Busted have sold over 5 million albums worldwide.
In November 2013, Willis and Bourne announced plans to tour together with McFly as the supergroup McBusted in 2014, and this continued into 2015. On 10 November 2015, it was revealed that Simpson had rejoined Busted after successful secret writing sessions. The band then embarked on the Pigs Can Fly arena tour in May 2016 and released their third studio album,
Second man due in court over death at Aberdeen high rise
A 17-year-old is set to appear at Aberdeen Sheriff Court today after he was arrested and charged in connection with a death at a high rise in Aberdeen.
Scott Hector, 20, died following an incident at Marischal Court on Friday - his death is being treated as murder.
An 18-year-old will also appear in court today after he was charged on Saturday in connection with the same incident.
Police were called out to the property at round 7am on Friday.
Mr Hector's family paid tribute to their "dearly beloved son" in a statement.
Rapid, twice-weekly COVID tests to be offered to everyone in England - including home delivery
It is aimed at people without symptoms, because one in three people with coronavirus don't have them and may be spreading the virus unwittingly.
The government says the offer is currently for England only and the devolved administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland will make their own decisions.
A major marketing campaign encouraging people to take up the offer of twice-weekly lateral flow tests will also start in England this Friday.
Tests will be available through:
• A home ordering service, which allows people to order lateral flow tests online to be delivered to their home
Mozambique insurgency: Unseen pictures show 'carnage' of Islamic State attack that killed British man
Mozambique is in the throes of an insurgency by Islamic State-linked militants, which has left a British man among those killed.
Dozens were killed in an attack last month in the town of Palma - with Briton Philip Mawer among them. Chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay reports on pictures of the aftermath passed exclusively to Sky News.
The first pictures of the attack by Islamist militants on the northern Mozambique town of Palma show scenes of absolute carnage and a hectic rescue mission to save survivors who were being hunted down by insurgents.
Another 10 coronavirus-related deaths have been reported in the UK for the second day running, while new cases are at their lowest since early September.
Taiwan: At least 48 killed and dozens injured after train 'crashes into truck' and derails
At least 48 people have died and more than 100 others have been injured after a train derailed in eastern Taiwan, officials have said.
The train, carrying around 490 people, is believed to have come off the rails in a tunnel just north of Hualien causing some carriages to hit the wall of the tunnel.
It is believed to have hit a truck that was "not parked properly" and is suspected to have slid onto the train tracks in the mountainous area, the official Central News Agency said.
Between 80 and 100 people have been evacuated from the first four carriages of the train, while carriages five to eight have "deformed" and are hard to gain access to, firefighters said.
Boris Johnson's most senior black adviser to step down in May
Samuel Kasumu will leave his post as special adviser for civil society and communities in May.
The news comes a day after a government-backed review of racial disparities in Britain was published.
Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities' 258-page report was criticised for being "steeped in denial".
But a Number 10 spokesman rejected reports that Mr Kasumu's resignation, first reported by Politico, was linked to this.
"Mr Kasumu has played an incredibly valuable role during his time at No 10," he said.
"As he previously set out, he will be leaving government in May - this has been his plan for several months and has not changed.
North-east hospital patients to benefit from new surgical robots
NHS Grampian has unveiled three new surgical robots as part of a £3.5 million investment in improving patient care and reducing waiting times in the region.
Medics in the north-east were the first at a board in Scotland to have a robotic-assisted surgical system in 2015, and since then have seen improved and shorter recovery times for those who are operated on using them.
The latest cutting-edge surgical technology, two new da Vinci Xi robots, and a Mako Robotic-Arm Assisted Surgery System for orthopaedic joint replacement surgery, comes as NHS Grampian moves to increase capacity, as it looks to emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic to treat more patients more quickly.
North-east rail passengers face second weekend of disruption due to strike action
Rail passengers in the north-east are facing a second weekend of disruption due to strike action.
Members of the RMT union will walk out on Sunday in a dispute with ScotRail over rest day working pay.
Staff already took part in industrial action last Sunday, resulting in services to and from Aberdeen being cancelled.
Mick Cash, RMT general secretary, said: "I have no doubt that our ScotRail members will continue to show full support and stand shoulder to shoulder during the days of industrial action exactly as they did last Sunday.