The deaths of six British people who had gone on holiday to Cape Verde have sparked a “bombshell legal move” against the Tui tourism group, said The Sun. UK law firm Irwin Mitchell says it has launched High Court proceedings on behalf of “hundreds” of holidaymakers who “fell ill during or shortly after” taking a package holiday to Cape Verde between 2022 and 2025.

The 10 volcanic islands that make up Cape Verde, 350 miles to the west of Senegal in the Atlantic Ocean, have become an increasingly popular sunshine destination for European tourists seeking a cheaper alternative to the Caribbean. But there is trouble in paradise.

Who has died?
In a three-month period last year, four Brits died in Cape Verde “after falling ill and receiving poor medical care in local hospitals”, said The Sunday Times. They were all aged between 54 and 64 and had “underlying but manageable health conditions”. They “died of various medical complications”, including gastroenteritis, fractured bones and heart failure. All were staying in a Riu hotel that was part of a Spanish chain of six resorts in Cape Verde when they first fell ill. Two other Brits have died, and more than 1,500 British tourists, including children, have fallen ill in Cape Verde since 2022.

Why are tourists getting sick?
Many of those who became unwell reported severe gastric illness. Late last year, the UK Health Security Agency spotted an increase in diagnoses of shigella, a gastrointestinal bacteria that can cause severe diarrhoea, fever, stomach cramps and, in rare cases, sepsis. Further investigation linked the outbreak to Cape Verde: 80% of the 137 people affected between October and December had travelled to the islands.

What are the lawsuits?
Several other group action lawsuits “are expected to be listed at the High Court in the coming months”, said The Sun. The current one involves over 300 Brits who fell ill after staying at Riu Palace in 2022. Their claim alleges that Tui “breached its legal duties” as a tour operator “by failing to protect holidaymakers from illness, and by not ensuring that hotel and swimming pool facilities were maintained to reasonable standards of cleanliness”.

Tui is contesting the allegations. Together with Riu Hotels & Resorts, it issued a statement saying that both companies were “deeply saddened” by the deaths, and offering “heartfelt condolences to the families affected”.

In Northern Ireland, where the Irish language is a proxy battleground between unionists and nationalists, dual-language signs have become a “key point of contention at Stormont”, said the BBC. When Belfast City Council approved a draft policy in October to promote the Irish language in public life, with bilingual signs across its facilities and buildings, Sinn Féin hailed it as a “historic milestone”. But unionists objected and one campaigner has now brought the issue to Northern Ireland’s High Court.

A ‘greening’ of Ulster?
“What was once dismissed as a fading tongue is undergoing an exhilarating and vibrant revival,” said The Irish Times. North of the border, Belfast is leading the way. Bilingual street signs, permitted in Northern Ireland since the peace process, previously required approval by a two-thirds majority of residents. That was typically reached only in majority-Catholic neighbourhoods. But, in 2022, Belfast City Council reduced the approval threshold to just 15%.

The dual-language signs are sparking anger in some areas “badly scarred by the Troubles”. This is “a land where territory has long been marked by murals, flags and kerbstones daubed in national colours”, so the rollout of Irish signs is “seen as a ‘greening’ of Ulster by nationalists”. Existing bilingual street signs in the capital “have been vandalised more than 300 times in five years”, said the BBC.

‘Imposed without consent’
Irish was declared the first official language of the Irish Free State in 1921 but, in the six counties that remained in the UK as Northern Ireland, the language was treated with suspicion by the authorities. Less than 2.5% of the population in Northern Ireland speaks it daily, according to 2021 census figures.

The Identity and Language Act of 2022 bestowed official, protected status on the Irish language in Northern Ireland and overturned a ban of almost 300 years on its use in court. Last year, Stormont appointed Northern Ireland’s first Irish language commissioner to promote its use across public bodies. But unionist leaders reject “what they see as an erosion of their identity and traditions”, said The Irish Times. “They argue the language is being imposed, without consent, on daily lives.”

An iguana lies on the ground in Miami after falling victim to the cold snap sweeping across the US. The reptiles are dropping from Florida’s trees after entering a cold-stunned state as temperatures there hit -4C, the lowest in February for 100 years.

Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Have you ever wanted to step inside a movie scene? Here are some hotels where you can relive your favourite on-screen moments.

The Savoy Hotel, London
A scene shot in the “opulent” Lancaster Ballroom of this “prestigious” hotel served as a “memorable moment” in “Notting Hill”, when the “book-ish, floppy-haired” William (Hugh Grant) interrupts a press conference in his efforts to win back “demure American actress” Anna (Julia Roberts).

Park Hyatt Tokyo
Very few films depict the “isolation of finding yourself alone in a big city desperate for connection” as “brilliantly” as “Lost in Translation”, said Condé Nast Traveller. The story follows failing actor Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), the “lonely young wife” of a photographer, who meet in a bar (pictured above) and engage in “late-night chats in hotel rooms, and spontaneous adventures around Tokyo”. Fans of the film flocked to the Park Hyatt Tokyo in an attempt to “experience the same kind of romance and melancholy at the dimly lit” bar on the 52nd floor.

Armani Hotel Dubai
The Armani Hotel was the backdrop for “one of cinema’s most vertigo-inducing stunts” when Tom Cruise famously scaled its exterior for scenes in “Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol”, said Lela London in GQ. The property, housed within the famous Burj Khalifa building, “still trades on that spectacle”. The interiors are as impressive as the striking exterior, with “muted palettes and bespoke furniture designed by Giorgio himself”. The “sweeping views over Dubai” are also an undeniable draw.

Starmer’s Chinese takeaway leaves a nasty taste
Eliot Wilson in City A.M.
“The prime minister returns from China a rather diminished figure,” writes Eliot Wilson. “Pursuing relations” with Beijing is “an extraordinarily demanding task” and Keir Starmer is simply “not good enough to achieve it”. Downing Street is “trumpeting” the “modest” trade deals agreed, but Beijing “continues to engage in espionage, subversion and territorial expansionism at the expense of the West” and particularly the UK. Starmer “looks like a man who has been mugged”.

Green voters don’t care about the environment
Louisa Dollimore in The New Statesman
The Green Party’s “identity is being reshaped”, writes Louisa Dollimore of the Good Growth Foundation think tank. “Zack Polanski talks far less about carbon targets” and “sustainability” and “far more about the cost of living” and “a political system rigged in favour of elites”. It’s working – but “there’s a catch”. Councils run by Greens are “nimby-ish” and resistant to change, exposing a dangerous “gap” between what new party voters want “and what Green politicians are willing to do to deliver it”.

Every woman will recognise the same awful thing from these latest Epstein photos
Victoria Richards in The Independent
“The latest, lurid photographs of the former prince” Andrew make me “want to weep”, writes Victoria Richards. “I want to scoop up my daughter” and keep her “from harm at the hands of men like this”. We see their type “everywhere”, men who have “sought to hurt” us. I look at the newly released images of Andrew hunched “over the body of a woman” and it “feels like a violation” – like seeing the images of a “drugged” Gisèle Pelicot.