Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Britain to discuss tighter travel restrictions -BBC

BRITISH ministers will discuss further tightening travel restrictions on Monday(25), the BBC reported on Saturday(23), adding that people arriving in the country could be required to quarantine in hotels.

Prime minister Boris Johnson told a news conference on Friday(22) that the UK may need to implement further measures to protect its borders from new variants of Covid-19.


Britain's current restrictions ban most international travel while new rules introduced earlier in January require a negative coronavirus test before departure for most people arriving, as well as a period of quarantine.

The government is considering making it mandatory for travellers to spend that 10-day quarantine period in a hotel for which they would have to pay, as a way to enforce the quarantine rules, the BBC said.

Amid growing worries about new Covid-19 variants, critics of Britain's current quarantine policy say it is not sufficiently enforced.

Stricter border rules would be a fresh blow for the aviation and travel sectors, already under great financial strain from close to a year of Covid-19 restrictions and minimal revenues.

In England, the 10-day quarantine requirement can be reduced if the traveller has a negative Covid-19 test after five days, while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all have slightly different rules.

More For You

modi-japan

Modi is on a two-day visit to Japan from August 29 to 30. (Photo: X/@narendramodi)

X/@narendramodi

India, Japan to expand partnership; Modi to meet Xi, Putin next

Highlights:

  • Modi says India and Japan will work together to “shape the Asian Century”
  • Japan to announce $68 billion investment in India over 10 years
  • Modi to attend SCO summit in China, meet Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin
  • India and Japan to deepen cooperation in trade, technology and security

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Thursday said India and Japan will work together to “shape the Asian Century,” as he began a two-nation visit that will also take him to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit.

Keep ReadingShow less
London migrant hotel protest
People demonstrate near the Bell Hotel on July 20, 2025 in Epping, England. (Photo: Getty Images)
Getty Images

Government moves to overturn hotel migrant housing ban

Highlights:

  • Government appeals against injunction blocking asylum housing at Bell Hotel in Epping
  • More than 32,000 asylum seekers currently housed in UK hotels
  • Labour pledges to end hotel use for asylum seekers before 2029 election

THE UK government on Thursday asked the Court of Appeal to lift a ban on housing asylum seekers at a hotel that has faced protests, warning the order could set "a precedent".

Keep ReadingShow less
Sri Lanka's former presidents condemn Wickremesinghe’s imprisonment

Ranil Wickremesinghe with his wife Maithree

Sri Lanka's former presidents condemn Wickremesinghe’s imprisonment

THREE former presidents of Sri Lanka expressed solidarity with jailed ex-leader Ranil Wickremesinghe last Sunday (24) and condemned his incarceration as a “calculated assault” on democracy.

The former political rivals of Wickremesinghe, who was president between July 2022 and September 2024, said the charges against him were frivolous and politically motivated.

Keep ReadingShow less
Labour MPs Jeevun Sandher and Louise Jones marry in multicultural wedding

Louise Jones and Jeevun Sandher (Photo: Facebook)

Labour MPs Jeevun Sandher and Louise Jones marry in multicultural wedding

TWO of Labour’s newest MPs, Jeevun Sandher and Louise Jones, have announced their marriage after a week-long celebration that combined Sikh and Christian traditions.

Sandher, elected last year as MP for Loughborough, and Jones, MP for North East Derbyshire, tied the knot earlier this month in ceremonies that reflected their different cultural backgrounds. The couple shared photographs on social media, calling the occasion a celebration of “two heritages” as they began their life together.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK sees sharp increase in sex crime convictions of Indian nationals

Figures show a 257 per cent rise in convictions of Indian nationals for sexual offences between 2021 and 2024 (Photo:iStock)

UK sees sharp increase in sex crime convictions of Indian nationals

INDIAN nationals have recorded the sharpest increase in convictions for sexual offences among foreign nationals in the UK, according to an analysis of official government data.

Figures from the UK Ministry of Justice, based on the Police National Computer and assessed by the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), show a 257 per cent rise in convictions of Indian nationals for sexual offences between 2021 and 2024. The number of cases rose from 28 in 2021 to 100 last year — an increase of 72 cases.

Keep ReadingShow less