Hong Kong Test Record; U.S. to Start WTO Talks: Virus Update Bloomberg 1 hr ago
(Bloomberg)
Talks starting this week between the U.S. and the World Trade Organization over expanding access to vaccines will focus on how to get them “widely distributed, more widely licensed, more widely shared,” according to White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain. U.S. cases dropped to 45,236, the fewest on a Saturday since late September.
India’s deepening Covid-19 crisis cost Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a key election, as the ruling BJP party conceded West Bengal’s state poll. Modi had been widely criticized for continuing to hold mass rallies in the state in as infections rose.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab will hold face-to-face talks on trade, Iran and China with Joe Biden’s secretary of state ahead of discussions between G7 foreign ministers in the UK.
Antony Blinken will be in London for talks on Monday as the US and Britain forge a fresh relationship following the departure of Donald Trump from the White House.
The withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and a post-Brexit trade deal are likely to feature, as is Iran, where the nuclear deal is a key issue and so too are citizens being detained there, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
The first in-person meeting of G7 foreign ministers will then begin on Tuesday, with allies including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the EU attending.
BRITISH officials have downplayed the prospect of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imminent release from Iran after state TV suggested today that Britain would pay a £400 million debt to secure her release.
The Foreign Office said “legal discussions are ongoing” over the debt despite the claim made on Iranian state TV, which cited an anonymous official.
It was said that the British government’s position had not changed over the weekend and that Iran had made the claim before without the mother-of-one being released.
The British-Iranian charity worker’s husband, Richard Ratcliffe, said the family had not been updated but welcomed the signals from Tehran over the long-running dispute as “a good sign.”
3 May 2021
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said there is a “good chance” that social distancing will end next month, as England is set to come out of restrictions on June 21st.
Prime Minister Johnson would not, however, fully commit to the end of the one-metre rule because it would be “dependent on the data” and “we can’t say it categorically yet”.
“I think we’ve got a good chance, a good chance, of being able to dispense with one-metre plus,” he told media during a campaign tour in Hartlepool on Monday, according to Sky News.
“That’s what it feels like to me right now,” he added.
Social distancing to be scrapped in pubs and restaurants from June 21
The Government ran a pilot concert in Liverpool where 5,000 closely-packed fans could sing and dance together
Social distancing rules will be scrapped in England’s pubs, restaurants and cinemas from June 21, it has been claimed.
Social distancing rules will be scrapped in England’s pubs, restaurants and cinemas from June 21, it has been claimed.
Venues will be able to operate at full capacity once England enters Step Four of the lockdown roadmap, The Times reported.
But masks, screens and one-way systems appear likely to stay to mitigate the risks, despite the government s aim to end all legal restrictions at that point. That could mean cinema and theatre-goers keeping masks on during shows.