Tui UK boss calls on ministers to give clarity over ‘air bridges’ June 30, 2020 The UK boss of Europe’s largest holiday company has called on the government to provide certainty on “air bridges” this week to allow Brits to go on holiday. Ministers are expected to provide further details of the plan this week, which will lift blanket 14-day quarantine measures for European countries such as France, Spain and [...]
Leicester enters local lockdown after coronavirus outbreak June 30, 2020 The government will be imposing a fresh spate of lockdown rules on the city of Leicester after the area was hit with an outbreak of coronavirus cases. “We will be bringing forward a legal change very shortly, in the next couple of days, because some of the measures that we’ve unfortunately had to take in [...]
Boris Johnson to ‘build, build, build’ UK back from coronavirus slump June 30, 2020 Boris Johnson will today pledge £5bn in fast-tracked infrastructure investment as he promises to “build, build, build” the UK’s economy out of the coronavirus crisis. Drawing inspiration from US president Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “new deal” after the great depression of the 1930s, the Prime Minister will seek to create jobs and drive investment through a [...]
China passes national security law in turning point for Hong Kong June 30, 2020 China’s parliament passed national security legislation for Hong Kong today, setting the stage for the most radical changes to the former British colony’s way of life since it returned to Chinese rule 23 years ago. State media is expected to publish details of the law later today. It comes in response to last year’s often-violent [...]
Exclusive: UK unhappy with treatment from EU in Airbus-Boeing dispute June 29, 2020 Trade secretary Liz Truss has complained to the EU Commission that the UK is being unfairly represented by Brussels in a long-running trade dispute between Boeing and Airbus. EU sources told City A.M. that Truss set up meetings with high-level figures from the Commission to complain that the other three European countries involved in the [...]
Greece extends ban on flights from UK June 29, 2020 The Greek government has extended a ban on direct flights from Britain until 15 July, amid fears the rate of infection in the UK could spring up as lockdown measures are lifted. Brits had strong hopes that summer holidays to Greece would be given the green light this week, as so-called air bridges with European [...]
Sadiq Khan calls for government clarity on local lockdown powers June 29, 2020 Sadiq Khan has urged the government to provide more clarity on what powers local authorities have to deal with regional coronavirus outbreaks. The mayor of London wrote to health secretary Matt Hancock today to ask if councils had the power to implement local lockdowns and for additional resources in the case of localised flare ups. [...]
“Vaccine will come, but not without huge challenges” – leading world epidemiologist June 29, 2020 | City Talk Professor Peter Piot, a legend in the field of virology and the fights against HIV and Ebola, is optimistic about a Covid vaccine. But he sees recurrent outbreaks as unavoidable. Professor Peter Piot was not surprised by the outbreak of a global pandemic earlier this year. “We always assumed there would be a big one”, [...]
Barnard Castle lab offers Dominic Cummings coronavirus antibody test June 29, 2020 A Barnard Castle-based laboratory has offered Dominic Cummings a coronavirus antibody test – and the Downing Street adviser doesn’t even need to make a return trip. Honeyman Group today said it was willing to send Cummings a coronavirus antibody test, which it says takes 24 hours to check a blood sample for signs of Covid-19 [...]
Lords urge government to take immediate action against online misinformation June 29, 2020 Ministers have been urged to beef up regulation of digital and social media to stub out a “pandemic of misinformation and disinformation” that is destroying public trust and leveraging power to big tech companies. A new report by the Lords Democracy and Digital Technologies Committee, chaired by Labour peer and film director David Puttnam, proposes [...]