Alex Morales, Bloomberg News LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 20: Diners eating outdoors at a restaurant near the King s Road on April 20, 2021 in London, England. Non-essential stores made total sales of £1.8bn this weekend, although only 23% of England s 89,953 pubs and restaurants had begun trading by last Thursday. (Photo by Rob Pinney/Getty Images) , Photographer: Rob Pinney/Getty Images Europe
(Bloomberg)
The U.K. is close to being able to ease most Covid-19 restrictions following a successful vaccination program and a drop in infections, Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, suggesting a handful of safeguards will remain by mid-year.
People still need to be careful about social contact, Raab said on Sky Newsâs âSophy Ridge on Sundayâ show. Asked why two fully vaccinated adults from different households still arenât allowed to hug, he said âweâve just got to gauge very carefullyâ how matters
Here is a timeline of the key events since Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was arrested in Iran in 2016.
– April 3 2016: The mother-of-one is detained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at Imam Khomeini airport after a holiday visit to Iran where she introduced her daughter Gabriella to her parents.
– July 12 2016: Richard Ratcliffe, her husband, delivers letters to Downing Street for outgoing prime minister David Cameron and his replacement Theresa May on his wife’s 100th day in custody. He says it is “astonishing” no British minister has publicly criticised Tehran for arresting Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe.
– August 9 2016: New prime minister Mrs May “raised concerns” about Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe during a phone call with president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani.
UK officials have downplayed the prospect of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s imminent release from Iran after state TV suggested Britain would pay a £400 million debt to secure her release.
Richard Ratcliffe, the husband of the British-Iranian charity worker, said the family had not been updated but welcomed the signals from Tehran over the long-running dispute as “a good sign”.
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 UK Government’s position had not changed over the weekend and that Iran had made the claim before without the mother of one being released.