The first digital vaccine certificate is set to be launched by the world's airlines this month as part of a four-step plan for summer holidays being considered by the Department for Transport (DfT). The Travel Pass app, developed by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), will allow passengers to present pre-departure test or vaccine certificates on arrival at their destination, enabling them to sidestep quarantine or other restrictions. IATA is in talks with the DfT over the app, to which immunity certificates for those who have had Covid but have not been vaccinated could be added. It will be trialled by 10 airlines including IAG, which owns BA, Qantas and Singapore Airlines, starting initially with pre-test data but ready to be adapted to include vaccine certificates once they are digitised. At present, most countries are using paper to confirm people's inoculations, which the airlines are concerned could delay the introduction of a travel pass with both vaccinations and test data and lead to lengthy queues at airport immigration desks. The app is part of a four-stage approach IATA has proposed to the DfT that would see international travel restart in May, with pre-departure testing or vaccines being used for entry to a country before the eventual removal of all restrictions to allow free travel between "green list" countries. It proposes three tiers of countries including a "red list", where there may still be quarantine and pre-departure testing, an "amber list" where quarantine is replaced by tests or vaccine certificates, and a "green list" where travel corridors between low-risk countries could allow unrestricted travel.
$10bn was set aside by Congress to help care providers pay for staffing, protective gear, care for uninsured individuals, and vaccine distribution
The residents of the largest US state will not follow the mask mandate from 10 March
Piers Morgan has declared he’s ‘done seeing naked, pregnant celebrities’ and claims women are doing it ‘just for clicks’ after seeing Emily Ratajkowski’s naked bump pics. The Good Morning Britain host was back on a rant this morning, noting Emily’s latest Instagram naked photos of her baby bump progress. While Susanna Reid looked on the photo favourably, saying that the model was ‘celebrating her body’, Piers took a far more dim view of the pics, saying she was using her pregnancy ‘for clicks’.
Nicola Sturgeon is facing calls to resign after two witnesses in the Alex Salmond scandal corroborated his version of key events and provided damning evidence she repeatedly misled parliament. In a potentially devastating development for the First Minister, ahead of her appearance before a Holyrood inquiry on Wednesday morning, a pair of former special advisers contradicted her claims about two meetings in 2018. Ms Sturgeon has told parliament she only found out about the allegations when Mr Salmond visited her home on April 2, 2018 and but she refused to intervene. Last week she denied during First Minister's Questions the identity of one of the women was shared with Geoff Aberdein, Mr Salmond's chief of staff, "to the best of my knowledge". But Duncan Hamilton, a former SNP MP and junior counsel, said the name of a complainant was given to Mr Aberdein by a senior official shortly after Mr Salmond was informed of the government's investigation into sexual misconduct claims on March 7, 2018.
We watch as businesses and lives are being ruined by Brexit – and yet not a single apology from those who championed the cause
The British ambassador in Beijing has been attacked by Chinese state media after she posted on social media about the watchdog role of an independent press holding governments and organisations to account. Caroline Wilson cited examples where scrutiny from the British press brought positive change, including the Telegraph’s 2009 investigation into MPs’ expense claims that led to parliamentary reform, while a BBC report exposed in 2019 how patients in a nursing home were being abused by staff. She added that when foreign media turn a watchdog eye toward China, it’s a “good faith” effort to ensure people have access to information, and to support those “who have no voice”. But multiple pieces in Chinese state media accused her of not understanding China and claimed foreign media were “launching an ideological propaganda warfare against the Chinese political system.” Ms Wilson, who was appointed ambassador last September, was previously posted to the British embassy in Beijing before serving as consul-general in Hong Kong, and speaks Mandarin. Chinese state media said that Ms Wilson had yet to learn “how unwelcome some Western media outlets are in China.” Foreign journalists face increasing threats, harassment and scrutiny by many parts of the Chinese state. Foreign journalists have been expelled for coverage that Chinese authorities disliked, assaulted while working, and threatened with long-term detention, according to a recent report by the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China. The attacks against Ms Wilson are part of a broader campaign by China that has ramped up against the UK, denouncing British officials via the foreign ministry in Beijing, the embassy in London, and in Chinese state media. The two nations have clashed over espionage concerns and human rights abuses, especially in Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The foreign ministry in Beijing rejected Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab’s speech last week to the UN Human Rights Council, urging members to tackle China’s abuses against the Uighur ethnic minority. A Chinese government spokesperson instead claimed that accounts of human rights violations against Uighurs were “rumours and lies fabricated by anti-China forces.” Then, on Tuesday, the Chinese embassy in London warned the UK was “going further down the wrong path” after Mr Raab issued a statement about 47 Hong Kong politicians and activists being charged this week under a sweeping national security law. “It demonstrates in the starkest way the use of the law to stifle any political dissent, rather than restore security which was the claimed intention of the legislation,” said Mr Raab. Chinese state media have continued to single out the BBC in harsh rebukes after British broadcast regulator Ofcom revoked the license for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN to air programmes in the UK. Ofcom announced earlier this month it would cancel CGTN’s license as the organisation was “ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party,” which violated British broadcasting rules that require outlets to exercise editorial oversight over progammes shown, and bar them from being controlled by political bodies. Beijing responded by banning the BBC in China, though in practice the network was only available as a pay channel in some hotels and homes. Censors block broadcast of BBC stories within China that go against the official propaganda narrative, for instance, reports about human rights violations. The Chinese embassy in London and foreign ministry in Beijing routinely reprimand the Telegraph and other British outlets for coverage of China that the authorities find unfavourable.
A Biden aide puts the campaign strategy as: ‘You put your dumb uncle in the basement’
Is it the end?
Nicola Sturgeon facing calls to resign as witnesses back Alex Salmond's evidence on key meetings Tom Harris | The cynical SNP has shattered any faith in the Scottish constitution Nicola Sturgeon has come out fighting in her long-awaited appearance before the Holyrood inquiry into her government's unlawful investigation of Alex Salmond, amid calls for her to resign. The First Minister apologised for the "serious mistakes" made in the handling of Mr Salmond's alleged sexual harassment claims, but insisted that she was not out to "get" her predecessor. She said there is not "a shred of evidence" to support her former mentor's claim there was a "malicious and concerted" attempt to see him removed from public life and she has consistently denied breaching the ministerial code. Ms Sturgeon is facing calls from the Scottish Conservatives to step down after two witnesses backed up Alex Salmond's claim that she misled parliament about a meeting with her predecessor. The Scottish Government launched an investigation into the former first minister after a number of women came forward with allegations of sexual harassment. But a successful judicial review by Mr Salmond resulted in the investigation being ruled unlawful and "tainted by apparent bias", with a £512,250 payout for legal fees. Mr Salmond was later acquitted of 13 charges following a criminal trial at Edinburgh's High Court. Follow the live updates below.
An explosive went off at a coronavirus testing centre north of Amsterdam before sunrise on Wednesday, shattering windows but causing no injuries in what police called an intentional attack. An explosives team was on site in the town of Bovenkarspel, 55 km (35 miles) north of the capital, to examine the device, police in the province of North Holland said. The metal remains of the explosive, about 10 cm by 10 cm (4 inches by 4 inches) in size, were found in front of the building and "must have been placed" there, police spokesman Menno Hartenberg told Reuters.
After a study called it a Chinese cyber-sabotage attempt, India said outage was caused by ‘human error’
Former White House press secretary branded a ‘serial liar’ by critics
Comment goes further than ‘roadmap’ - which said review will decide, based on progress over next three months
The For the People Act – also known as HR1 – aims to make voting in federal elections easier
A directive from the Catholic church body says the J&J vaccine was produced with abortion-derived cell lines
Britain will extend its huge job-protecting furlough programme by five months until the end of September and expand parallel support for the self-employed, finance minister Rishi Sunak is due to announce in a budget speech on Wednesday. Workers covered by the furlough scheme - currently about one in five private-sector employees - will continue to receive 80% of their salary for hours not worked. "Our COVID support schemes have been a lifeline to millions, protecting jobs and incomes across the UK," Sunak was due to say in his budget speech to parliament, according to excerpts sent to media by the finance ministry.
QAnon followers believe that on 4 March, which was once the inauguration date of US presidents, Donald Trump will become president again
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The United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions targeting a number of senior Russian officials and businesses over the attempted murder and jailing of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
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