LONDON: The British government on Monday lifted pandemic restrictions on daily life in England, scrapping all social distancing rules in a step slammed by scientists and opposition parties as a dangerous leap into the unknown.
From midnight (2300 GMT Sunday), nighclubs reopened and other indoor venues were allowed to run at full capacity, while legal mandates covering the wearing of masks and working from home were scrapped.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson — who is self-isolating after his health minister was infected — urged the public to remain prudent and for any laggards to join the two-thirds of UK adults who are now fully vaccinated.
He defended the reopening — dubbed “freedom day” by some media — despite scientists’ grave misgivings after daily infection rates in Britain topped 50,000, behind only Indonesia and Brazil.
“If we don’t do it now, then we’ll be opening up in the autumn, the winter months, when the virus has the advantage of the cold weather,” the prime minister said in a video message.
This week’s start of summer school holidays offered a “precious firebreak,” he said.
“If we don’t do it now, we’ve got to ask ourselves, when will we ever do it? So this is the right moment, but we’ve got to do it cautiously.”
In a bid to demonstrate a bit of caution, vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi told the BBC he would continue to wear a mask in “crowded indoor places.”
But Jonathan Ashworth, the opposition Labour party’s health spokesman, said the government was being “reckless,” echoing experts who say the reopening endangers global health.
“We are against opening up without any precautions in place,” Ashworth told BBC television, attacking in particular the government’s plan on masks.
After the success of the vaccination program — which has now offered at least one dose to every adult in Britain — the government says any risks to hospital care are manageable.
But professor Neil Ferguson from Imperial College London warned that Britain was on course for 100,000 cases a day, as the Delta variant runs out of control.
“The real question is, do we get to double that or even higher?” he told BBC television.
“We could get to 2,000 hospitalizations a day, 200,000 cases a day, but it’s much less certain,” he said.
Medics warned that relaxations could push up case numbers enough to put severe pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) and risk seeding new variants, even though Britain is suffering far fewer deaths than in previous waves.
Senior Conservative MP Jeremy Hunt, a former health secretary, said the government should learn from Israel and the Netherlands, which have been forced to reverse recent relaxations.
“The warning light on the NHS dashboard is not flashing amber, it is flashing red,” he told BBC radio.
Scotland and Wales, whose devolved governments set their own health policy, said they would maintain the mandate on face coverings among other restrictions, despite England’s moves to lift measures.
Fully vaccinated residents returning from so-called “amber list” destinations in Europe no longer have to quarantine — although in a last-minute policy shift, the government has kept the requirement in place for France.
Also staying in place are requirements to self-isolate after a close contact, which have forced millions off work or school in recent weeks, leading to industry warnings of severe economic disruption.
England lifts COVID-19 curbs as scientists warn of surge in cases
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England lifts COVID-19 curbs as scientists warn of surge in cases
- From Sunday midnight, nighclubs reopened and other indoor venues were allowed to run at full capacity
Russia’s nuclear threats ‘irresponsible’: EU’s Borrell
- “It is not the first time that Putin plays the nuclear gamble,” the outgoing foreign policy chief told reporters
- “Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, and so must never be fought,” he said
BRUSSELS: EU top diplomat Josep Borrell accused Russia on Tuesday of issuing “completely irresponsible” nuclear threats, after President Vladimir Putin broadened the scope for Moscow’s use of atomic weapons.
“It is not the first time that Putin plays the nuclear gamble,” the outgoing foreign policy chief told reporters following defense minister talks in Brussels on the 1,000th day of the conflict.
“Russia has subscribed to the principle that a nuclear war cannot be won, and so must never be fought,” he said, warning that “any call for nuclear warfare is an irresponsibility.”
The EU talks — dominated by the need to ramp up support for Ukraine’s fight — came as Kyiv confirmed it had fired US-supplied long-range missiles into Russian territory, in what Russia said marked “a new phase” in the war.
Borrell had pressed member states ahead of time to align with Washington in allowing Ukraine to strike inside Russia using donated missiles — something France appears to be considering.
Addressing reporters afterwards, Borrell gave no indication of a shift on the sensitive issue.
But he said EU states had agreed “by an overwhelming majority” that “the fate of Ukraine will determine the destiny of the European Union.”
“If Putin could be successful in Ukraine, we will pay a very high bill, much more expensive than any kind of military support that we could provide today,” he said.
Borrell said a “big majority” of EU member states had shown “their determination to continue supporting Ukraine” — with Donald Trump’s imminent White House return throwing US support for Kyiv into question.
“Certainly we are in a different scenario with a different president in the White House, which seems to have ideas about how to end the war,” he said.
Ministers were joined by NATO chief Mark Rutte who warned that Putin must not be allowed to “get his way” in Ukraine and reiterated his call for Europe to “ramp up the defense industry.”
More than two and a half years after Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, now 23 of the 32 NATO members reach the target of spending two percent of gross domestic product on defense — up from just three a decade ago.
But the growing consensus is that Europe will have to do more to make sure it can stand on its own.
Borrell said it was made clear by Rutte that given “the challenges we are facing, this landmark, this mythic figure of two-percent will not be enough, and we need to take more action.”
“Europeans have to do more and quicker in order to increase their defense capacity, not just to support Ukraine, but for our own security,” said the EU top diplomat, who hands over next month to his designated successor Kaja Kallas.
Ukraine hits Russia with US ATACMS missiles for first time on war’s 1,000th day
- Ukraine said it had struck a Russian arms depot around 110 km inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions
- The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used
The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used
KYIV: Ukraine used US ATACMS missiles to strike Russian territory on Tuesday, taking advantage of newly granted permission from the outgoing Biden administration on the war’s 1,000th day.
Russia said its forces shot down five of six of the missiles, which were fired at a military facility in the Bryansk region. Debris of one hit the facility, starting a fire that was swiftly put out and caused no casualties or damage, it said.
Ukraine said it had struck a Russian arms depot around 110 km (70 miles) inside Russia in an attack that caused secondary explosions. The Ukrainian military did not publicly specify what weapons it had used, but a Ukrainian official source and a US official later confirmed it had used ATACMS.
President Joe Biden gave approval just this week for Ukraine to use the ATACMS, the longest-range missiles Washington has supplied, for such attacks inside Russia. Moscow has described their potential use as an escalation that would make Washington a direct combatant in the war and prompt its retaliation.
The attack took place as Ukraine marked 1,000 days of war, with weary troops at the front, Kyiv besieged by airstrikes, a fifth of Ukrainian territory in Moscow’s hands and doubts about the future of Western support as Donald Trump heads back to the White House.
Military experts say using the US missiles to attack positions at such a depth in Russia can help Ukraine defend a pocket of Russian territory it has captured as a bargaining chip, but is not likely to have a decisive impact on the course of the 33-month-old war.
Moscow has said such weapons cannot be used without direct operational support from the United States, and therefore their use would make Washington a direct participant in the war.
On Tuesday, President Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine apparently intended as a warning to Washington. It lowers the threshold under which Russia might use atomic weapons to include responding to attacks that threaten its territorial integrity.
Washington said the update to the nuclear doctrine was
no surprise
and cited “more of the same irresponsible rhetoric from Russia.”
JITTERS IN MARKETS
Reports of the Ukrainian attack caused jitters in markets, with share indexes sliding in Europe and safe haven assets rallying.
Trump has criticized the scale of US aid to Kyiv and said he will end the war quickly, without saying how. Both sides appear to anticipate his return in two months will be accompanied by a push for peace talks, which are not known to have taken place since the war’s early months.
The warring sides have both been escalating in recent weeks in an attempt to secure a stronger position at any negotiations. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says Kyiv must do everything for the war to end diplomatically next year.
“At this stage of the war, it is being decided who will prevail. Whether us over the enemy, or the enemy over us Ukrainians... and Europeans. And everyone in the world who wants to live freely and not be subject to a dictator,” he said in an address to parliament on Tuesday marking 1,000 days of war.
A candle-lit commemoration was planned for later on Tuesday.
Thousands of Ukrainian citizens have died, over six million live as refugees abroad and the population has fallen by a quarter since Putin ordered the invasion by land, sea and air that began Europe’s biggest conflict since World War Two.
Military losses have been huge, although casualty figures remain closely guarded secrets. Public Western estimates based on intelligence reports say hundreds of thousands have been wounded or killed on each side.
“In the frozen trenches of the Donetsk region and in the burning steppes of the Kherson region, under shells, hail, and anti-aircraft guns, we are fighting for the right to live,” Ukraine’s top commander Oleksandr Syrkyi wrote on Telegram.
Tragedy has touched families in every corner of Ukraine, where military funerals are commonplace in cities and far-flung villages, and people are exhausted by sleepless nights of air raid sirens and anguish.
In the first year after the invasion, Ukrainian troops pushed Russian forces back from the outskirts of Kyiv and recaptured swathes of territory with surprise military successes against a larger and better-armed foe.
But since then, the enemies have settled into relentless trench warfare that has ground eastern Ukrainian cities to dust. Russian forces still occupy a fifth of Ukraine and for the past year they have steadily gained ground.
Kyiv now hopes to gain leverage from a sliver of territory in Russia’s Kursk region it captured after launching its first major cross-border assault in August. It says Russia has deployed 50,000 troops there to try to take it back.
In a move decried in the West as an escalation, Russia has now deployed 11,000 North Korean troops, some of whom Kyiv says have clashed with Ukrainian forces in Kursk. Zelensky said Pyongyang could send 100,000 soldiers.
Russia for its part continues to advance village by village in eastern Ukraine, claiming to have captured another settlement on Tuesday.
With winter setting in, Moscow on Sunday renewed its aerial assault on Ukraine’s struggling power system, firing 120 missiles and 90 drones in the biggest barrage since August.
Publicly there has been no narrowing of the gulf in the enemies’ negotiating positions. Kyiv has long demanded full Russian withdrawal from all occupied territory, and security guarantees from the West comparable to membership in NATO’s mutual defense treaty to prevent future Russian attacks.
The Kremlin says Ukraine must drop all ambitions to join NATO and withdraw all troops from provinces Russia claims to have annexed since its invasion.
Donald Trump expected to consider recognizing Somaliland independence, former UK defense minister says
- Gavin Williamson has reportedly been lobbying Trump’s team for recognition of former British protectorate
LONDON: Donald Trump is expected to consider recognizing Somaliland as an independent country once he assumes office, according to the former UK defense secretary, it was reported on Tuesday.
Gavin Williamson, who served as Britain’s defense minister from 2017 to 2019, has reportedly been lobbying Trump’s team for the recognition of the former British protectorate.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but its status remains unrecognized by every country except Ethiopia, and it remains contentious, with Somalia claiming the territory.
Williamson, a vocal advocate for Somaliland’s recognition, has expressed optimism about progress once Trump assumes office in January, and noted that Trump’s opposition to Biden’s policies in Somalia might play a role in influencing the decision, The Independent reported.
“They should agree to it, though when he assumes office it will probably all take a little longer than we hope, but had really good meetings with his policy leads so fingers crossed,” Williamson said.
“One of Trump’s last orders as president was to withdraw troops from Somalia but then Biden countermanded that order. There is nothing that Trump hates more than someone overruling him so I used that to push the argument,” he said.
Sources in Washington told The Independent that the US State Department had “warmed up” to supporting Somaliland’s claim in the days following Trump’s victory.
Somaliland opposition leader, Abdirahman Cirro, defeated incumbent president, Muse Bihi Abdi, in an election last week, setting up a handover of power as the region continues its push for global recognition.
“I am sure this will be up for review after the inauguration. Similarly, a smooth election in Somaliland will, in addition to its other achievements, undoubtedly strengthen its case in an overall policy review,” said Peter Pham, a senior adviser in Trump’s first administration and a former US special envoy to the Sahel region.
The Trump administration previously considered recognition during his first term, and a move to do so now would increase pressure on the UK and other nations to follow suit, according to reports.
A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office source said: “It would be wrong to speculate on any policy decisions that the incoming administration of President-elect Trump may make.”
The source added: “The UK, alongside others in the international community, does not recognize Somaliland’s unilateral declaration of independence. It is for authorities in Mogadishu and Hargeisa to resolve Somaliland’s status through dialogue and broad consultation.”
Biggest Saudi business forum opens in Poland amid growing ties with Central Europe
- 80 Saudi and 300 Polish companies take part in the Saudi-Polish Business Forum in Warsaw
- After Warsaw, the Saudi delegation will hold the Saudi-Slovak Business Forum in Bratislava
WARSAW: Hundreds of business leaders from Saudi Arabia and Poland gathered in Warsaw on Tuesday for the largest-ever Saudi-Polish Business Forum, highlighting the growing economic ties between the Kingdom and Central and Eastern Europe.
The forum was organized by the Federation of Saudi Chambers and the Polish Chamber of Commerce under the patronage of the Polish Ministry of Economic Development and Technology.
A Saudi delegation of more than 80 business leaders led by Hassan Al-Huwaizi, chairman of the federation, arrived in Warsaw on Monday to attend the forum and meet the top Polish leadership, including Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski, and ministers of several key resorts.
They represented various branches of the Saudi economy, bringing bilateral trade exchanges beyond the sector of energy, which has traditionally dominated the ties.
“What makes this forum different is that it has many businesspeople from all economic sectors,” Saudi Ambassador Saad Al-Saleh told Arab News.
“This is actually a new thing. We believe that there are many opportunities in Poland and in Saudi Arabia, and visits like this and the forum are going to help discover these opportunities.”
The ambassador said the forum was also a part of efforts to increase relations not only with Poland — the largest economy in Central and Eastern Europe — but also the whole region.
“Everyone, when they knew about the forum, wanted to participate … from the Saudi side and from the Polish side. That shows the importance of this forum, and it will also transfer what is happening here to the rest of European countries,” he said, adding that after the Warsaw event, the Saudi delegation will travel to neighboring Slovakia for the Saudi-Slovak Business Forum in Bratislava.
The Saudi-Polish Business Council was established in August this year to boost investment between the two countries under the Kingdom’s broader strategy to deepen economic ties with Europe.
Andrzej Szumowski, the council’s chairman and vice president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce, told Arab News that it was “impossible to overestimate” the importance of the Warsaw event.
“It is an extremely crucial step in building economic relations, and it marks the beginning of full-scale relations between our two countries — social, cultural, intellectual, scientific — but everything starts with business,” he said.
“The exchange between our countries, the trade balance, is far from satisfactory. There’s about $7 billion in exports from Saudi Arabia to Poland, and $900 million in Polish exports to Saudi Arabia. I am deeply convinced that today’s meeting, which has exceeded my expectations in terms of interest from Polish companies, shows how much appeal the Saudi market has, and how much Polish companies are looking forward to the potential for exchange.”
More than 300 Polish companies are participating in the business forum, with many more expressing interest, Szumowski said, but the organizers had to limit the number due to space constraints.
The key sectors of the Saudi economy that Polish businesses are currently focusing on include construction, new technologies, agriculture, tourism, education, and manufacturing.
Polish-Saudi business relations were established in the 1990s, but bilateral ties have grown significantly in recent years, with Saudi Arabia emerging as Poland’s key strategic energy partner, supplying half of its crude oil needs.
“We are trying to develop these relations also in other sectors and for the trade to be more balanced,” said Krzysztof Plominski, vice chair of the business council and former ambassador to the Kingdom.
“Both countries are in the process of getting to know each other and building institutional solutions. A very important step was the launch of direct flights to Riyadh by Polish Airlines.”
Poland’s national flag carrier opened the Riyadh route in June, operating nonstop flights three times a week, which also contributed to growing interest in Saudi Arabia from the Polish side and vice versa.
“The current delegation organized by the Federation of Saudi Chambers comes in response to this new demand and in line with the expectations of the highest authorities of both countries,” Plominski said.
“It provides an opportunity for the business community to discuss the current situation and future plans.”
Brazilian police arrest 5 officers over alleged coup plot and plans to kill President Lula, others
- The coup plotters also planned to kill Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes
- Brazilian media said the five arrested included four military and one police officer
SAO PAULO: Brazilian police arrested five officers accused over a coup plot that included plans to overthrow the government following the 2022 elections and kill President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, authorities said.
According to the investigation, the coup plotters also planned to kill Vice President Geraldo Alckmin and Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes. Brazilian media said the five arrested included four military and one police officer.
The police said that five arrest warrants have been carried out, as well as three search and seizure warrants along with other measures, including seizing the suspects' passports and preventing them from contacting others.
Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who authorized the arrests, said a police investigation revealed the coup plot involved military personnel trained in the Army’s Special Forces and a retired high-ranking official.
“The objective was to prevent the inauguration of the legitimately elected government and undermine the free exercise of democracy and the authority of Brazil’s judiciary,” de Moraes said in the order.
“These actions, peaking between November and December 2022, were part of a broader plan to carry out a coup d’état,” he added.
The developments Tuesday followed statements by two top Brazilian military leaders who declared to police earlier this year that former President Jair Bolsonaro presented them a plan for him to remain in power after the 2022 election, which he lost.
However, both refused and warned him they would arrest him if he tried it, according to judicial documents released in March.
The statements by the two added to term add to Bolsonaro's legal woes as prosecutors seek to find links between the far-right leader and the Jan. 8, 2023 riots that trashed government buildings in the capital Brasilia one week after Lula’s inauguration.
