PARIS: France will ban non-essential travel to and from Britain from the weekend to slow the spread of the omicron Covid-19 variant that is causing record numbers of cases on the other side of the Channel, the government said Thursday.
From midnight Saturday (2300 GMT Friday) there will be a “requirement to have an essential reason to travel to, or come from, the UK, both for the unvaccinated and vaccinated... People cannot travel for touristic or professional reasons,” the government said in a statement.
“Faced with the extremely rapid spread of the omicron variant in the UK, the government has chosen to reinstate the need for an essential reason for travel from and to the UK,” the statement said.
It added that French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK.
“We will put in place a system of controls drastically tighter than the one we have already,” government spokesman Gabriel Attal told BFMTV channel.
Attal said the policy was aimed at “tightening the net” to slow down the arrival of omicron cases in France and give time for the French vaccination booster campaign to make more ground.
“Our strategy is to delay as much as we can the development of omicron in our country and take advantage to push ahead with the booster drive,” he said.
In addition, returning travelers will need a negative test less than 24 hours old, and a blanket quarantine would be enforced on return to France.
“People (coming back) will have to register on an app and will have to self-isolate in a place of their choosing for seven days — controlled by the security forces — but this can be shortened to 48 hours if a negative test is carried out in France,” he said.
Britain on Wednesday recorded a record 78,610 laboratory-confirmed Covid cases, with scientists predicting even higher rates as omicron is believed to spread much faster than the currently dominant Delta variant.
The tight travel restrictions are also being imposed during what analysts see as a breakdown of trust between the British and French governments in the wake of Brexit over a host of issues from migrants to fishing.
French President Emmanuel Macron last week accused UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government of failing to keep its word on Brexit, saying “the problem with the British government is that it does not do what it says.”
France to ban non-essential UK travel over omicron surge
https://arab.news/9bna5
France to ban non-essential UK travel over omicron surge
- French citizens and EU nationals could still return to France from the UK
- Britain on Wednesday recorded a record 78,610 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases
Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara
There were no immediate reports of damage.
Taliban deny arresting or monitoring Afghans after UK data leak
- The Taliban government said Thursday it had not arrested or monitored Afghans involved in a secret British resettlement plan
KABUL: The Taliban government said Thursday it had not arrested or monitored Afghans involved in a secret British resettlement plan after a data breach was revealed this week.
Thousands of Afghans who worked with the UK were brought to Britain with their families in a secret program after a 2022 data breach put their lives at risk, the British government revealed on Tuesday.
The scheme was only revealed after the UK High Court on Tuesday lifted a super-gag order banning any reports of the events.
UK Defense Minister John Healey said the leak was not revealed because of the risk that the Taliban authorities would obtain the data set and the lives of Afghans would be put at risk.
“Nobody has been arrested for their past actions, nobody has been killed and nobody is being monitored for that,” said the Afghan government’s deputy spokesman, Hamdullah Fitrat, in a voice message to reporters on Thursday.
“Reports of investigation and monitoring of a few people whose data has been leaked are false.”
After the Taliban swept back to power in 2021, their Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada announced an amnesty for Afghans who worked for NATO forces or the ousted foreign-backed government during the two-decade conflict.
“We don’t need to use the leaked documents from Britain. Regarding the general amnesty, nobody is investigated or monitored,” Fitrat added.
“The rumors being spread are just to scare these people and create fear and worry among their families, which we deny.”
France court orders release of Lebanese militant after four decades in prison
PARIS: A French appeals court Thursday ordered the release of pro-Palestinian Lebanese militant Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, who has been imprisoned for 40 years for the 1982 killings of two foreign diplomats.
Abdallah, 74, is one of the longest serving prisoners in France, where most convicts serving life sentences are freed after less than 30 years.
He has been up for release for 25 years, but the United States — a civil party to the case — has consistently opposed his leaving prison.
Abdallah was sentenced to life in prison in 1987 for his involvement in the murders of US military attache Charles Robert Ray and Israeli diplomat Yacov Barsimantov.
He has always insisted he is a “fighter” who battled for the rights of Palestinians and not a “criminal.”
The Paris Appeals Court ordered he be freed from a prison in the south of France next week, on Friday, July 25, on the condition that he leave French territory and never return.
Several sources before the hearing said that it was planned for him to be flown to Paris and then to Beirut.
Lebanese authorities have repeatedly said Abdallah should be freed from jail, and had written to the appeals court to say they would organize his return home.
The detainee’s brother, Robert Abdallah, in Lebanon told AFP he was overjoyed.
“We’re delighted. I didn’t expect the French judiciary to make such a decision nor for him to ever be freed, especially after so many failed requests for release,” he said.
“For once, the French authorities have freed themselves from Israeli and US pressures,” he added.
Prosecutors can file an appeal with France’s highest court, the Court of Cassation, but it is not expected to be processed fast enough to halt his release next week.
Abdallah’s lawyer Jean-Louis Chalanset also welcomed the decision.
“It’s both a judicial victory and a political scandal that he was not released earlier,” he said.
In November last year, a French court ordered his release conditional on Abdallah leaving France.
But France’s anti-terror prosecutors, arguing that he had not changed his political views, appealed the decision, which was consequently suspended.
A verdict was supposed to have been delivered in February, but the Paris appeals court postponed, saying it was unclear whether Abdallah had proof that he had paid compensation to the plaintiffs, something he has consistently refused to do.
The court re-examined the latest request for his release last month.
During the closed-door hearing, Abdallah’s lawyer told the judges that 16,000 euros had been placed on the prisoner’s bank account and were at the disposal of civil parties in the case, including the United States.
Abdallah still enjoys some support from several public figures in France, including left-wing members of parliament and Nobel prize-winning author Annie Ernaux, but has mostly been forgotten by the general public.
US senators approve $9 billion of Elon Musk’s federal cuts
- US Senate approves package of spending cuts proposed by Trump cancelling more than $9 blln in funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting
WASHINGTON: The US Senate approved early Thursday a package of spending cuts proposed by President Donald Trump that would cancel more than $9 billion in funding for foreign aid programs and public broadcasting.
The upper chamber of Congress green-lit the measure in what was seen as the first test of how easily lawmakers could usher into law savings sought by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — in the aftermath of the tech mogul’s acrimonious exit from the government.
Despite the cutbacks’ unpopularity in some sections of both parties, the Republican-led Senate passed the measure with 51 votes for and 48 against in a session that went more than two hours past midnight.
The version of the text passed in June by the House of Representatives sought to eliminate $400 million in funding allocated to health programs, including the PEPFAR global AIDS relief fund created by then-president George W. Bush.
But defunding PEPFAR — which has saved an estimated 26 million lives — was seen as a nonstarter among a handful of moderate Republican senators, and the proposal was dropped.
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham told AFP the bill was consistent with Trump’s promises to cut spending.
“I’ve been a big fan of the foreign aid accounts... I’m a big hawkish guy, but you need foreign aid. You need soft power,” he said.
“But when you start spending money on a bunch of junk, and liberal programs disconnected from the purpose of the aid package, it makes it difficult on a guy like me.”
The bill now goes back to the House for final approval, with lawmakers up against the clock. Congress, which had already allocated the money, has to approve the cuts by Friday or the White House must spend the cash as originally intended.
Legislation to claw back money already approved by Congress — known as a “rescissions package” — is extremely rare, and no such measure has passed in decades.
Around a dozen Republicans had voiced concerns about allowing the White House to dictate spending cuts, placing them in the crosshairs of Trump, who last week threatened to withhold his endorsements from any rebels.
The vote was the first in what Republicans have touted as a potential series of packages codifying the spending cuts made by DOGE.
Musk was tapped by Trump to lead the task force after the tech billionaire spent $290 million helping him get elected. The SpaceX and Tesla boss boasted that he would be able to save $2 trillion in federal spending — but left the White House under a cloud in late May as he feuded with Trump over deficits and spending.
DOGE acknowledges that it has saved taxpayers just $190 billion — and fact checkers even see that claim as dubious, given previous inaccuracies in its accounting.
The rescissions package slashes around $8 billion in foreign aid, with much of that approved for humanitarian organization USAID, one of DOGE’s first targets.
Around $1 billion is to be taken back from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps fund National Public Radio (NPR) and the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), as well as more than 1,500 local radio and television stations.
Conservatives often accuse PBS and NPR of bias, and Trump signed an executive order in May to cease federal funding for both networks. Democrats say cutting the funding will not meaningfully reduce the deficit, but instead dismantle a trusted source of information for millions of Americans.
“It is yet another example of the spirit and ideals of our Constitution being undermined in a terrible way. We are a nation that believes that (Congress) has a real role,” New Jersey Senator Cory Booker told AFP.
“And this is a bunch of my colleagues in thrall of the president, surrendering the powers of us, and the urgency for us to work together and do it in a bipartisan way to improve budgets.”
Who were the two pilots who flew the Air India jet that crashed?
- Veteran captain and young co-pilot named in Air India crash investigation
- Cockpit recording suggests fuel supply was manually cut before Boeing 787 went down
A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicates the captain cut the flow of fuel to the Boeing 787 jet’s engines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Below is a brief profile of the two pilots based on the preliminary investigation report and media reports:
CAPTAIN SUMEET SABHARWAL
The 56-year-old had an airline transport pilot’s license that was valid until May 14, 2026.
He had obtained clearances to fly as pilot-in-command on several aircraft including the Boeing 787 and 777 and the Airbus A310.
He had total flying experience of 15,638 hours, of which 8,596 hours were on a Boeing 787.
Sabharwal had called his family from the airport, assuring them he would ring again after landing in London, according to a Times of India report. A pilot who had briefly interacted with him told Reuters he was a “gentleman.”
FIRST OFFICER CLIVE KUNDER
The 32-year-old had a commercial pilot license that was issued in 2020 and valid until September 26, 2025.
He had obtained clearances to fly Cessna 172 and Piper PA-34 Seneca aircraft as pilot-in-command and as co-pilot on Airbus A320 and Boeing 787 jets.
He had total flying experience of 3,403 hours. Of that, 1,128 hours of experience were as a 787 co-pilot.
Since his school-going days Kunder was passionate about flying, and in 2012, began serving as a pilot, Indian media reported, citing his relatives. He joined Air India in 2017.
