Countries ban UK flights as Britain says new virus strain ‘out of control’

Travellers wearing protective face coverings to combat the spread of the coronavirus prepare to depart on the high-speed Eurostar service from St Pancras International railway station in London on December 20, 2020. (AFP)
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Updated 21 December 2020
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Countries ban UK flights as Britain says new virus strain ‘out of control’

  • Kuwait's civil aviation authority added the UK to its high-risk list of countries, meaning all flights from it are banned
  • Macron, Merkel, and EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel held a call about the matter

LONDON: European countries banned travel from the UK on Sunday and the WHO called for stronger containment measures as the British government warned that a highly infectious new strain of the virus was “out of control.”
As the World Health Organization urged its European members to beef up measures against a new variant of COVID-19 circulating in Britain, France blocked people and goods crossing the Channel while Germany, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Romania, The Netherlands and Belgium said they were moving to block air travel.
A German government source said the restriction could be adopted by the entire 27-member European Union and that countries were also discussing a joint response over sea, road and rail links with Britain.
Despite growing concerns about the new strain, European Union experts believe it will not impact the effectiveness of existing vaccines, Germany’s health minister said.
“According to everything we know so far” the new strain “has no impact on the vaccines,” which remain “just as effective,” Jens Spahn told public broadcaster ZDF, citing “talks between experts at European authorities.”
France’s ban on all but unaccompanied freight arriving from Britain is especially painful, as companies are scrambling to shift merchandise with days to go until Britain finally quits EU trade structures in the wake of Brexit.
But “flows of people or goods toward the UK will not be affected,” Paris said in a statement.
Rome and Berlin said on Sunday they would both be suspending flights to and from Britain from midnight. Dublin said it would suspend air links with Britain for “at least” 48 hours.
The Netherlands imposed a ban on UK flights from 6 am (0500 GMT) on Sunday and Belgium said it would follow suit from midnight with a ban on planes and trains from the UK.
Alarm bells were ringing across Europe — which last week became the first region in the world to pass 500,000 deaths from COVID-19 since the pandemic broke out a year ago — after it appeared that a new, even more infectious strain of the virus was raging in parts of Britain.
Austria’s health ministry told the APA news agency that it would also impose a flight ban, the details of which were still being worked out.
A spokeswoman for WHO Europe told AFP that “across Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble their control and prevention approaches.”
Romania also said it had banned all flights to and from the UK for two weeks starting Monday afternoon.
French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and EU chiefs Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel held a conference call on Sunday about the matter, Macron’s office said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the infectiousness of the new strain had forced his hand into imposing a lockdown across much of England over the Christmas period.
“Unfortunately the new strain was out of control. We have got to get it under control,” UK Health Secretary Matt Hancock told Sky News after Johnson U-turned on his previously stated policy of easing containment measures over the festive season.
Scientists first discovered the new variant — which they believe is 70 percent more transmissible — in a patient in September. And Public Health England notified the government on Friday when modelling revealed the full seriousness of the new strain.
But Britain’s chief medical officer Chris Whitty pointed out that while the new strain was greatly more infectious, “there is no current evidence to suggest (it) causes a higher mortality rate or that it affects vaccines and treatments, although urgent work is underway to confirm this.”
The novel coronavirus has killed at least 1,685,785 people since the outbreak emerged in China last December, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1100 GMT on Sunday.
And with the onset of colder winter weather in the northern hemisphere where respiratory diseases flourish, countries are bracing for new waves of COVID-19 with tighter restrictions, despite the economic damage such lockdowns wrought earlier this year.
The Netherlands is under a five-week lockdown until mid-January with schools and all non-essential shops closed to slow a surge in the virus.
Italy also announced a new regime of restrictions until January 6 that included limits on people leaving their homes more than once a day, closing non-essential shops, bars and restaurants and curbs on regional travel.
In Russia, health authorities said that the number of people who have died from the coronavirus has surpassed the 50,000 mark and now stands at 50,858.

The rapid rollout of vaccinations is now seen as the only effective way to end the crisis and the economically devastating shutdowns used to halt its spread.
Europe is expected to start a massive vaccination campaign after Christmas following the United States and Britain, which have begun giving jabs with an approved Pfizer-BioNTech shot, one of several leading candidates.
Russia and China have also started giving out jabs with their own domestically produced vaccines.
The United States on Friday authorized Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use, the first nation to authorize the two-dose regimen from Moderna-- now the second vaccine to be deployed in a Western country after the one developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
The Wall Street Journal reported that US lawmakers had agreed on pandemic spending powers for the Federal Reserve late Saturday, clearing the way for a vote on a roughly $900-billion COVID-19 relief package for millions of Americans.


South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

Updated 34 sec ago
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South Korean prosecutors indict ex-President Yoon for abuse of authority

  • The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges
  • The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office

SEOUL: South Korean prosecutors have indicted former President Yoon Suk Yeol for abuse of authority, Yonhap said on Thursday.
The indictment is in addition to an ongoing trial on insurrection charges, brought against Yoon over his brief imposition of martial law in December.
The latest indictment is without arrest, Yonhap said, citing the prosecutor’s office. An official at the prosecutor’s office could not be immediately reached for comment.


Scorching 1,500m return for Olympic great Ledecky in Florida

Updated 22 min 53 sec ago
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Scorching 1,500m return for Olympic great Ledecky in Florida

  • Ledecky, who won her first Olympic title at the 2012 London Games, has already indicated she plans to extend her career to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028
  • Ledecky now owns the 22 fastest times ever in the 1,500m freestyle, and has not been beaten in the event since she lost a race in Maryland way back in 2010 when she was just 13 years old

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida: Nine-time Olympic gold medalist Katie Ledecky made a blistering return to the swimming pool on Wednesday, clocking the second fastest 1,500m freestyle in history in heats at the TYR Pro Series meeting in Florida.

The 28-year-old American star, who has not raced in an elite event since last year’s Paris Olympics, touched the wall in Fort Lauderdale in a time of 15min 24.51sec.

That was just outside her own world record of 15:20.48 set in Indianapolis in 2018, and some 39.62sec faster than her next fastest rival, Jillian Cox.

“I’m pretty fired up,” Ledecky said. “I’ve been training really well and feeling good going into this meet, but you never know.

“It’s not like it’s the biggest meet of the year or anything, I just wanted (my time) to be a season best, which would have been 15:36. I’m pretty ecstatic.”

Ledecky now owns the 22 fastest times ever in the 1,500m freestyle, and has not been beaten in the event since she lost a race in Maryland way back in 2010 when she was just 13 years old.

Ledecky, who won her first Olympic title at the 2012 London Games, has already indicated she plans to extend her career to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Her time on Wednesday was around five seconds quicker than her winning time in the 1,500m final in Paris last August.

“I don’t feel like I’m close to being finished in the sport yet,” Ledecky said of her plans for the future after her win in Paris last year.

“I think all the US athletes are thinking about how cool that could be in Los Angeles having the home crowd. So that would be amazing to be able to compete there.”


Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

Updated 47 min 58 sec ago
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Indian FM says Kashmir attackers ‘must face justice’

NEW DELHI: India’s foreign minister said Thursday that those who planned and carried out an attack in Kashmir last week that left 26 men dead “must be brought to justice.”
New Delhi blames Pakistan for the gun attack on civilians at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22.
Islamabad has rejected the charge and both countries have since exchanged gunfire in Kashmir and issued a raft of tit-for-tat punitive diplomatic measures.
“Its perpetrators, backers and planners must be brought to justice,” India’s top diplomat Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said in a statement following a conversation with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday evening in which they discussed the attack.
Rubio also spoke to Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and in a US readout of the call, told Sharif of the “need to condemn the terror attack” in Kashmir.
Indian and Pakistani soldiers fired at each other overnight along the Line of Control, the de facto border in contested Kashmir, the Indian army said.
It was a seventh straight night gunfire was reported by India.
“During the night... Pakistan Army posts initiated unprovoked small-arms fire across the Line of Control opposite Kupwara, Uri and Akhnoor,” the army said in a statement.
“These were responded proportionately by the Indian Army.”
There were no reported casualties and there was no immediate confirmation from Pakistan.
Indian police have issued wanted posters for three men accused of carrying out the Kashmir attack — two Pakistanis and an Indian — who they say are members of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba group, a UN-designated terrorist organization.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave the military “complete operational freedom” to respond to the attack during a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, a senior government source told AFP.
Pakistan’s government has denied any involvement in the shooting and vowed that “any act of aggression will be met with a decisive response.”
 


Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

Updated 01 May 2025
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Stay as long as you want, Trump says as chief disruptor Elon Musk eyes exit

  • At a Cabinet meeting, Trump hinted at Musk giving up his DOGE role “to get back home to his cars”
  • Musk's Tesla car company had been hit by boycott calls over his role in gutting the US bureaucracy

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said Tesla boss Elon Musk could stay working for the White House as long as he wanted but understood the tycoon wanted to get back to his businesses.
Musk last month said he will step back from his role as the unofficial head of the administration’s cost-cutting “Department of Government Efficiency” to focus more on his troubled Tesla car company.
“The vast majority of the people in this country really respect and appreciate you,” Trump told Musk during a White House cabinet meeting, which could be his last before giving up his DOGE role.
“And you know you’re invited to stay as long as you want,” Trump said, though added that Musk may want “to get back home to his cars.”
Musk, the world’s richest person, has seen his Tesla car company, which is the major source of his wealth, suffer significant brand damage from his political work.
Tesla showrooms have been hit by vandalism and boycott calls in Europe and the United States in a backlash against public service cuts introduced by Musk in his role as a close adviser to Trump.
“You really have sacrificed a lot. They treated you very unfairly,” Trump said of opponents to Musk.
“They did like to burn my cars, which is not great,” Musk responded.
The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Tesla’s board had begun procedures several weeks ago to find a successor to Musk as CEO.
The outlet reported — citing people familiar with the matter — that the board had met with Musk and told him that he needed to spend more time with the company, rather than in Washington.
David Sacks, a close Musk ally who is also a member of the Trump administration, last week said that Musk would not be leaving DOGE but reducing his role.
This was the same plan he carried out during his takeover of Twitter in 2022, he said.
“Once he felt like he had a mental model and he had the people in place that he trusted, he can move to more of a maintenance mode,” Sacks told the All-In podcast.
 


After sparking trade war, US now reaching out to China for tariff talks: Beijing state media

Updated 01 May 2025
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After sparking trade war, US now reaching out to China for tariff talks: Beijing state media

  • Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products, forcing China to retaliate
  • US President Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs , which Beijing denies

BEIJING: US officials have reached out to their Chinese counterparts for talks on vast tariffs that have hammered markets and global supply chains, a Beijing-backed outlet said on Thursday citing sources.
Punishing US tariffs that have reached 145 percent on many Chinese products came into force in April, while Beijing has responded with fresh 125 percent duties on imports from the United States.
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that China has reached out for talks on the tariffs — claims Beijing has vehemently denied.
On Thursday Yuyuan Tantian, a Chinese outlet linked to state broadcaster CCTV, said citing sources that Washington was “proactively” reaching out to China via “multiple channels” for talks on the tariffs.
“From a negotiation standpoint the US is currently the more anxious party,” the outlet, which blends analysis with news reporting, said on the X-like platform Weibo.
“The Trump administration is facing multiple pressures,” it added.
AFP has reached out to China’s foreign ministry for comment.
Beijing has repeatedly urged the United States to engage in dialogue in a “fair, respectful and reciprocal” manner.
But it has also said it will fight a trade war to the bitter end if needed, with a video posted on social media this week by its foreign ministry vowing to “never kneel down!”