Johnson apologized on Wednesday for attending a “bring your own booze” party in the garden of the prime minister’s Downing Street office and residence in May 2020.
Vaccinated travelers from the UK will no longer have to prove their trip to France is essential or self-isolate on arrival
Tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne has announced that France is lifting the Covid restrictions on arrivals from the UK that were imposed in December amid fears about the spread of the Omicron variant.
Vaccinated individuals traveling from the UK to France will no longer need to provide a compelling reason to enter the country or self-isolate on arrival. However, a negative Covid test taken 24 hours before leaving Britain will still be required.
The measures had been introduced on December 18, effectively limiting all non-essential travel between the two countries. Non-vaccinated people will nonetheless still be required to prove their trip is essential and isolate for 10 days.
Permitting the entry of visitors from the UK will provide a significant boost to France’s tourism sector during February’s UK school vacation period. Addressing the ruling, Brittany Ferries Chief Executive Christophe Mathieu called it a “great relief” and said he hoped the previous regulations would represent “the last border closure of the Covid crisis.”
The relaxation of restrictions comes despite France itself having registered a record number of new daily infections on Wednesday, with 338,858 new cases having been confirmed, according to the World Health Organization.
Alongside the aforementioned international rules, surging case numbers saw it implement domestic restrictions in January, making working from home compulsory for those who can, limiting public gatherings, and closing nightclubs.
The French parliament is in the process of introducing a Covid pass that would effectively ban unvaccinated individuals from public life. This sparked widespread national protests over the weekend that saw more than 100,000 people come out to oppose the new measures. The bill has been passed by the lower house and must now secure support from the senate before it can formally come into effect.
MUMBAI, India, Jan 12 (IPS) – When COVID-19 hit in early 2020, it affected every aspect of people’s lives. For many from the most marginalised sections of society, it meant loss of employment and lack of access to education, food, and the market, among other things.
The social media platform agreed to a number of conditions in order to resume operations in Nigeria following a seven-month ban
Nigeria has lifted a nationwide ban on Twitter, allowing its 200 million residents to continue using the site after it was shut down for months, with tech officials saying the firm accepted certain conditions to start back up.
President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the ban lifted on Wednesday, the director-general of Nigeria’s National Information Technology Development Agency Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi said, noting the move will take effect on Thursday.
“Our action is a deliberate attempt to recalibrate our relationship with Twitter to achieve the maximum mutual benefits for our nation without jeopardizing the justified interests of the company. Our engagement has been very respectful, cordial, and successful,” the agency head continued.
In exchange for ending the prohibition of the site, Twitter agreed to register itself in Nigeria sometime in the first quarter of this year, as well as to appoint a company representative for the country, follow its tax obligations and conduct itself with a “with a respectful acknowledgement of Nigerian laws and the national culture and history on which such legislation has been built,” Abdullahi said.
Twitter, which earlier called the ban “deeply concerning,” has yet to comment on the purported deal, though an unnamed company spokesperson cited by TechCrunch said it is eager to see service “restored very soon” in Africa’s most populous nation.
The Nigerian government first suspended Twitter’s operations “indefinitely” last June, after the platform removed a post by President Buhari for alleged “abusive” rhetoric toward armed separatist forces active in the country’s southeast. The administration said the site was “undermining Nigeria’s corporate existence” and insisted on the president’s right to express himself on security matters.
