Fully vaccinated travellers from the EU and the US will be able to avoid quarantining when they arrive in England, a government source has confirmed. US citizens must have a vaccine card proving their full vaccination to be exempt, while EU citizens need to possess the bloc's "green pass" showing their vaccination status to be exempt from isolation. The announcement came after a COVID Operations meeting on Wednesday which was attended by senior Cabinet ministers. More details will be released later, the source added. Airlines had been putting pressure on the government to exempt fully-vaccinated Americans and EU visitors from quarantine on their arrival to the UK. Advertisement British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Heathrow Airport all claimed a recent trial had demonstrated how international travel could safely be opened up further. They said a 10-day pilot scheme proved that the COVID vaccination status of travellers from amber list countries …
Apple podcasts
Australia: Sydney remains in lockdown amid ‘national COVID vaccine stockpile’
Sydney will remain in lockdown for another month as officials continue to struggle to contain a growing outbreak of the Delta coronavirus variant. It comes as parts of Australia have been forced to go back into lockdown despite the country having three million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine stored, according to reports. Australia has relied to date on two vaccines - the AstraZeneca and Pfizer. However, fears about the AstraZeneca jab's side effects, including an increased risk of blood clots, has slowed the uptake of that inoculation. Live COVID updates from the UK and around the world Advertisement Lockdown in the city of five million will continue until 28 August, after 177 new infections were reported in the latest 24-hour period. More than 2,500 people have been infected in a cluster that began when a limousine driver tested positive in June for the COVID Delta variant. He had been infected by a US aircrew he transported from Sydney …
[Read more...] about Australia: Sydney remains in lockdown amid ‘national COVID vaccine stockpile’
Tokyo Olympics: Team GB win gold in men’s 200m swimming relay as Charlotte Dujardin claims bronze in dressage
Day five brought three more medals for Team GB in Tokyo, with swimmer Tom Dean making history in the pool and Charlotte Dujardin in the dressage. Dean, 21, became the first British male swimmer to claim two golds at the same Olympics in 113 years after he and his teammates won the 200m freestyle relay . The 21-year-old, along with Duncan Scott, 24, James Guy, 25, and Matthew Richards, 18, secured a time of 58.58 seconds - just 0.03 seconds short of a world record. Twenty-four hours earlier, Dean, who has fallen ill with coronavirus twice in the past year, won the men's 200m freestyle - beating his teammate Scott by 0.04 seconds. It was a day for the history books in the dressage as well, with Charlotte Dujardin's bronze in the individual competition making her the most decorated female British Olympian in history. Advertisement She too picked up two medals in two days after winning bronze in the team event with Carl Hester and Charlotte …
Jason Sudeikis reveals the ‘profound’ Foo Fighters song that inspired Ted Lasso season 2
Jason Sudeikis has revealed something that may surprise fans of his hit Apple TV Plus show Ted Lasso, and that’s that the second season was inspired by the Foo Fighters. Fans have been raving about the show, which follows Coach Lasso’s efforts to rally AFC Richmond as they strive to get back into the top tier of English football. Amid the critical acclaim of the series, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Ted Lasso delivered the largest opening weekend ever for Apple TV Plus, the company claimed. According to Apple, when Ted Lasso season two premiered on Friday July 23, over the course of that weekend, Apple TV Plus boosted its number of new viewers by 50%. Now Jason has revealed that the Foo Fighters song My Hero inspired the show. The actor and writer recently spoke to the Blink-182 musician Mark Hoppus on the podcast After School Radio. ‘When [I was] on SNL, I would write a lot of sketches to music… But My Hero was the first time that I heard a …
‘We knew who the crooked coppers were’: Inside the police unit that inspired Line of Duty
On his first day in the job as a uniformed police officer for the Met in 1956, John Simmonds was offered a bribe. Then 19 and a cadet in Stoke Newington, north London, Simmonds was trying to make his first arrest – for a van theft – when the man offered him £20 to let him go. It was more than double his weekly salary, but Simmonds turned it down. “We both ended up in hospital,” says Simmonds, now 82. “He said to me afterwards, ‘You should have taken the 20 quid, it would have been much easier’.” The man was arrested and convicted while Simmonds learnt a valuable lesson: “You get your hands dirty when you’re dealing with dirt.” Simmonds went on to become one of the first detectives in the Met Police’s A10, a unit set up in 1971 by Sir Robert Mark to investigate corrupt officers. The inspiration for the fictional AC-12 in Line of Duty , A10 is also now the subject of its own BBC documentary, Bent Coppers: Crossing the Line of Duty . “John was at the thick of it,” says Todd …
NHS England to be led by woman for first time as Amanda Pritchard takes charge
England's health service will be led by a woman for the first time in its history after Amanda Pritchard was appointed as the first female chief executive of NHS England. Ms Pritchard, who has worked in the NHS for almost 25 years since studying at Oxford University, will replace the departing Lord Simon Stevens in the health service's top role from next month. As NHS chief executive, Ms Pritchard will be responsible for an annual budget of more than £130bn and oversees a workforce of around 1.5 million people - one of the largest employers in the world. The role of chief executive in the NHS in England was first created in 1985 and it is the first time that a woman has been given the title. Ms Pritchard takes on the top role after serving for two years as the health service's chief operating officer - effectively Sir Simon's deputy. Advertisement Her appointment has been viewed as giving the NHS a continuity of leadership as it recovers from the COVID …
[Read more...] about NHS England to be led by woman for first time as Amanda Pritchard takes charge
Arthur has been cancelled after 25 years on air, US broadcaster PBS announces
Sad news for 90s kids and meme lords - as the cult children's show Arthur will air its final season next year, PBS has announced. Arthur's adventures with DW, Buster, Muffy, Binky and more are coming to an end after 25 years on screen. The show has so far aired 246 episodes since 1994, making it the second longest running animated show in US history - with only The Simpsons ahead of it. Delivering the news, the show's executive producer Carol Greenwald told IGN that the upcoming 25th season of the aardvark-centred show will be its last. She said: "In the winter of 2022, the 25th and final season of Arthur will debut. Arthur will continue to be available on PBS KIDS for years to come. Advertisement "Producers... are continuing to work together on additional Arthur content, sharing the lessons of Arthur and his friends in new ways." She had previously said on an Arthur-based podcast that the show had wrapped two years ago. More from Ents & Arts …
[Read more...] about Arthur has been cancelled after 25 years on air, US broadcaster PBS announces
Heatwaves: UK lives at risk from ‘dangerous perception gap’ – Red Cross climate change warning
The danger from heatwaves is not being matched by the level of public concern, the British Red Cross has said, as it warns of a "dangerous perception gap in the UK when it comes to the public's awareness of the risk of heat". The charity has sounded the alarm in a new report assessing how prepared the UK public is for rising temperatures. There were a record 2,556 excess deaths from heat last summer, and a predicted 7,000 people could die from heat every year by 2050. Yet Britons see the word "heatwave" in a positive light, associating it with good weather, with more than a third (37%) believing that heatwaves will be a problem in the future, not now. The poll of 2,000 people for the report found many in high-risk groups, such as the over-75s, don't perceive themselves to be especially vulnerable. Advertisement The report follows a recent warning from the Climate Change Commitee (CCC) that criticised the government for allowing more than half …
Kanye West and JAY-Z Reunite on DONDA: ‘This Might Be the Return of the Throne’
Kanye West revealed his tenth studio album DONDA during a listening event at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta Advertisement Kanye West is back with new music. The rapper, 44, debuted his tenth studio album DONDA during a listening event — which was livestreamed on Apple Music — at the Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta on Thursday night before its anticipated release. Get push notifications with news, features and more. + Follow Following You'll get the latest updates on this topic in your browser notifications. DONDA , which is named after West's late mother Donda West, who died at 58 in 2007 following plastic surgery complications, was reportedly previewed to close friends in Las Vegas last weekend. It originally had a release date of July 24, 2020. The album features a surprise collaboration with JAY-Z — the rappers' first time on a track together since teaming up for Drake's 2016 hit "Pop Style." The …
[Read more...] about Kanye West and JAY-Z Reunite on DONDA: ‘This Might Be the Return of the Throne’
Fed makes progress towards normalising policy
J erome Powell warned supply disruptions could lead to more persistent high inflation, as the Federal Reserve said the US economy was making progress towards a situation where ultra-loose monetary policy could be eased. The Fed chairman said “bottleneck” effects leading to soaring freight costs risked driving sustained price rises. “As the reopening continues, other constraints could continue to limit how quickly supply can adjust, raising the possibility that inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expect,” he said. As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee unanimously voted to keep interest rates unchanged at a record low of 0.25pc, but ratesetters said “progress” had been made towards the conditions needed to dial back its asset purchases. Most economists expect policy will remain unchanged until early 2022 at the earliest. “The path of the economy continues to depend on the course of the virus,” the FOMC said. “Progress on vaccinations will …
[Read more...] about Fed makes progress towards normalising policy