Trade 

Express
THE UK has accused a minority Norway party of “undermining” negotiations for securing a post-Brexit trade deal with the country.
Liz Truss and her International Trade team are keen to secure an “ambitious and comprehensive” free trade agreement as they look at building opportunities for a post-Brexit Britain. The EEA nation exported goods worth 181 billion Norwegian crowns (£15.5billion) last year to the UK with oil and gas making up the majority of exports.
Norway wants to continue enjoying zero tariffs on all industrial goods exported to Britain but wants fully free trade in seafood.
However, the Christian Democrats threatened to block any agreed trade deal due to fears many farmers in the country were out of business due to fears of being outcompeted by British counterparts. 

Indian variant 

Telegraph
The Government has been accused of “incompetence” after it appeared to impose local lockdowns on the areas hardest hit by the Indian variant without informing local leaders or residents.
People living in Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside have been told not to travel in and out of the areas, or meet people indoors. The guidance appears to have been updated without any announcement on Friday. 
Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East and shadow international development minister, said she was “gobsmacked” by the move, which she blamed on the Government’s “incompetence”. 
“They’re making such an important announcement and they don’t even have the decency to tell us or tell our constituents,” she added. 
The Prime Minister has repeatedly said there would be no return to a tiered system, however Therese Coffey told Sky News the plans had been trailed by Boris Johnson during a press conference last week, and that it was “good practice to have formally put that guidance on the record”.
She added: “We have been working in close contact with local leaders, so I am surprised to hear people think this has come out of the blue – it hasn’t.” 

ITV News
The government is advising people not to travel in or out of several Indian Covid variant hotspots, unless for essential reasons.
But local leaders and public health directors have said they were unaware of the guidance, Manchester Evening News reports.
According to the government guidance published online, people should “avoid travelling in and out of affected areas unless it is essential, for example for work (if you cannot work from home) or education”.
It also advised people against hugging people they don’t live with, suggesting that people from separate households should “keep two metres apart”.
And people should meet outside rather than inside where possible, the government said.
The eight Indian variant hotspots identified are: Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside.
The guidance published on gov.uk was last updated on Friday, May 21. 

Mirror
The Government is advising against all but essential travel in and out of eight English areas worst affected by the Indian variant.
It covers several areas of the UK where Indian variant is believed to be spreading fastest – Bedford, Blackburn and Darwen, Bolton, Burnley, Kirklees, Leicester, Hounslow, and North Tyneside.
The information was posted in an online update at Gov.uk last week (May 21) but it does not appear to have been accompanied by an official announcement.
This reportedly sparked confusion among local leaders in Bolton who claimed they were not told about the guidance.
It states that journeys to and from areas affected by the Indian variant throughout the UK should be avoided, ‘unless essential’.
Exemptions include work – if you cannot work from home – and education. 

Sun
BRITS have been ordered not to travel in and out of eight Indian variant hotspots after stealth new restrictions were introduced.
Ministers are warning people not to enter or leave areas where the strain is spreading fastest “unless it is essential”.
And those living there are also subject to tighter social distancing requirements, including only meeting up inside and working from home.
But incredibly local leaders and MPs weren’t even told about the changes, which were dumped on the Government website last Friday evening.
There was no public announcement, and they didn’t find out until last night when journalists started to flag the new guidance.
The change in the rules effectively scraps the latest round of unlocking for people in the hotspots. 

Mail
Councils in Indian variant hotspots have called for clarity after the Government published new restrictions but did not consult with the authorities in the affected areas.
People are being urged not to travel into or out of Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside. Those that live in the area are being told to keep 2 metres apart from those they don’t live with and to only meet outdoors where possible.
The latest guidance appeared on the Government website on Friday without any formal announcement or briefing from ministers. A televised press briefing on Wednesday, which focused heavily on the Indian variant, did not reference any specific restrictions on the affected areas.
It comes as Britons are being warned they may be forced to isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with an infected person after June 21 even if they have been fully vaccinated. 

Olympics 

Mail
U.S. health officials and the State Department have warned Americans against travel to Japan because of a surge in coronavirus cases in the country, which is preparing to host the Olympics in just two months.
The twin alerts don´t ban U.S. citizens from visiting the country, but they could have an impact on insurance rates for travelers and may factor into decisions by Olympic athletes whether to compete in the games, which are due to start on July 23.  
‘Travelers should avoid all travel to Japan,’ the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a new COVID-19 update. 
‘Because of the current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travelers may be at risk for getting and spreading COVID-19 variants and should avoid all travel to Japan.’
The State Department’s warning, which followed the CDC alert, was more blunt. ‘Do not travel to Japan due to COVID-19,’ it said in the announcement, which raised the department’s travel alert from Level 3 – Reconsider travel – to Level 4 – Do not travel. The previous alert was issued on April 21.
The United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee said it still anticipates that American athletes will be able to safely compete at the Tokyo Games. 

BBC News
The US has issued a travel warning for Japan over the country’s Covid-19 surge, amid heightened scrutiny just weeks before the Tokyo Olympics.
But US Olympic officials have said they are confident their athletes will be able to take part safely in the Games.
Japan already bans most travellers from entering the country.
It long had low numbers of Covid cases but is now seeing a fresh wave of infections pushing the healthcare system in some cities to its limit.
Japan has recorded more than 700,000 infections and 12,000 Covid-19 deaths from the virus.
The US Center for Disease Control (CDC) said “travellers should avoid all travel” to the country, warning that in the “current situation in Japan even fully vaccinated travellers may be at risk for getting and spreading” Covid variants.
Largely due to the global pandemic, the US currently has 151 countries at level four, its highest alert level, including most of Europe where large sports events go ahead under special Covid restrictions. 

EU 

Express
THE value of the EU’s pension pot for its staff soared by almost £15billion in the last year of the UK’s membership, with UK taxpayers on the hook in accordance with the divorce bill negotiated by former Prime Minister Theresa May, a new investigation has indicated.
And experts with Facts4EU have warned Britain is currently committed to making payments to the bloc for more than 40 years – with no fixed amount in terms of how much it will eventually end up paying. Using the European Commission’s accounts for 2019, the pro-Brexit think tank revealed the value of the bloc’s pensions and benefits fund stood at an eye-watering £84.47billion ($98.1billion) by the end of the year.
The figure rose by £14.8billion ($17.19billion) in the course of 12 months – in other words, by 21.4 percent.
The Commission has explained the sharp increase by saying: “The increase is mainly due to the actuarial loss from financial assumptions”.
Meanwhile, Facts4EU’s report pointed out there was no fixed amount contained within Mrs May’s withdrawal agreement in terms of the total amount the UK was liable for. 

Guardian
A statutory body launched to protect EU citizens living in the UK will not hesitate to take the Home Office or other public bodies to court if they are found to be in breach of the Brexit  withdrawal agreement, its new chairman has vowed.
“We are here and we mean business,” said Sir Ashley Fox, the chair of the Independent Monitoring Authority for the Citizens’ Rights Agreements (IMA).
In his first interview since the Guardian’s reports on EU citizens being locked up by border officials, Fox said the IMA needed to hear directly from EU citizens who feel badly treated.
“Our job is to uphold the rights of EU citizens protected under the withdrawal agreement. That’s our job and that’s what we’ll do. I am concerned at the treatment of those EU citizens of the border but I want more information before I say that we’re going to take any further action,” said Fox in an interview with the Guardian.
The IMA was set up in January under the withdrawal agreement to monitor the implementation and application of EU citizens’ rights following Brexit including the delivery of social welfare and other employment rights across various government departments. 

Mail
Recent tensions felt in Northern Ireland are not a result of the protocol introduced after the UK left the EU but rather Brexit itself, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said.
She was speaking following the first day of the EU Council – the first such meeting since the introduction of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement at the beginning of May.
Mrs von der Leyen said: ‘The beginnings are not easy, tensions are being felt around the access, for example, of EU fishing boats, or tensions are without any doubt there around the implementation of the protocol of Northern Ireland.’
A new raft of checks on goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne under the terms of the protocol have sparked anger among unionists and loyalists who feel Northern Ireland is being separated from the rest of the UK.
The measures are intended to protect the EU single market while maintaining an open land border between the North and the Republic in line with the Good Friday peace process.
But critics have warned that its implementation has given rise to renewed sectarian tensions, at the same time as hampering the free flow of goods within the UK. 

Telegraph
Recent tensions felt in Northern Ireland are not a result of the protocol introduced after the UK left the European Union but rather Brexit itself, Ursula von der Leyen said.
The European Commission president was speaking following the first day of the EU Council – the first such meeting since the introduction of the EU-UK trade and cooperation agreement at the beginning of May.
Mrs von der Leyen said: “The beginnings are not easy, tensions are being felt around the access, for example, of EU fishing boats, or tensions are without any doubt there around the implementation of the protocol of Northern Ireland.”
A new raft of checks on goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne under the terms of the protocol have sparked anger among unionists and loyalists who feel Northern Ireland is being separated from the rest of the UK.
While talks are continuing between the EU and the UK Government to solve some of the issues linked to the protocol, both the outgoing DUP leader Arlene Foster and her incoming successor Edwin Poots have insisted it must be scrapped. 

BBC News
There is no alternative to the “full and correct implementation” of the Northern Ireland Protocol the European Commission president has said.
Ursula von der Leyen was speaking at a meeting of EU leaders.
Earlier this month the UK’s Brexit minister said it was hard to see how the current operation of the protocol was sustainable.
Technical talks aimed at simplifying the operation of the protocol are continuing.
The protocol is the part of the Brexit deal which creates a trade border in the Irish Sea in order to prevent a hardening of the Irish land border.
It keeps Northern Ireland in the EU single market for goods and means EU customs rules are enforced at its ports.
It was agreed by the United Kingdom and European Union in October 2019 and was subject to further negotiation and agreement in 2020.
However in recent weeks the UK government’s rhetoric against the protocol has hardened. 

Development 

Times
Nearly 400,000 homes will be built on greenfield sites in the south of England over the next five years, according to a new analysis of planning policy.
Huge parts of the countryside could be paved over by councils to meet revised housebuilding targets, the data suggests.
Cornwall alone would have to build more than 11,000 homes on rural land and areas such as Buckinghamshire and Central Bedfordshire will each have to create at least 10,000 plots.
Less development will be needed in the north of England, with half as many new homes per head of population in “red wall” constituencies as in the rest of the country, The Times has found.

Aircraft ‘hijack’ 

Express
EU leaders have backed plans to punish Belarus for forcing a Ryanair flight to land in order to arrest a political activist.
At a special Brussels summit, they ordered eurocrats to prepare the groundwork for punitive sanctions, including banning the eastern European nation’s national airline from the bloc’s airport. The White House and UK Government joined the international commendation of the “state-sponsored” hijacking of the Ryanair flight and detention of Roman Protsevich, a leading opposition activist. In a statement issued after talks on the subject, the EU announced plans to order its airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace.
The rogue state’s national carrier, Belavia, is also going to be barred from landing at airports across EU airports.
Similar measures were announced by Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab in response to the incident.
EU leaders said: “The European Council strongly condemns the forced landing of a Ryanair flight in Minsk, Belarus, on May 23, 2021 endangering aviation safety, and the detention by Belarusian authorities of journalist Raman Pratasevich and Sofia Sapega.”
The European Commission was ordered to “adopt further targeted economic sanctions” against Belarus. 

Telegraph
EU leaders agreed to cut air links with Belarus on Monday, as leader Alexander Lukashenko’s regime paraded a dissident journalist arrested after his flight was forced to land in Minsk.
Strongman Lukashenko sparked international outrage by dispatching a fighter jet Sunday to intercept a Ryanair flight from Athens to Vilnius carrying wanted reporter Roman Protasevich, 26, and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega.
European leaders meeting in Brussels hit back by agreeing to ban Belarusian airlines from the bloc’s airspace and urged EU-based carriers not to fly over its airspace, while US president overnight sharply condemned Belarus.
The bloc also said it would adopt further “targeted economic sanctions” against the Belarusian authorities to add to the 88 regime figures and seven companies already on a blacklist over a crackdown on opposition.
The move came as Belarusian state television broadcast a 30-second video of Protasevich, who had been living between Lithuania and Poland, confirming that he was in prison in Minsk and “confessing” to charges of organising mass unrest.
The footage showed Protasevich – who could face 15 years in jail – with dark markings visible on his forehead, saying he was being treated “according to the law”. 

Breitbart
Several countries in Europe have condemned the government of Belarus for diverting a Ryanair flight in its airspace to arrest a dissident journalist on board.
The flight, which departed Athens for the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Sunday, was diverted while in Belarusian airspace by a fighter jet and forced to land in Minsk, in what Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary called a “state-sponsored hijacking”, a term also used by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“It was clear that the intent of the Belarusian authorities was to remove a journalist and his travelling companion. We believe some KGB agents were offloaded from the aircraft as well,” O’Leary told POLITICO, who identified the dissident journalist as Roman Protasevich.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, from whose country the flight departed, condemned the Belarussian government on Monday.
“European leaders must agree at the [EU] summit that there will be clear and severe consequences that will leave no room for Belarus to question our unity and determination,” Mitsotakis said.
“The forced landing of a passenger plane with the aim of illegally detaining a political opponent and a journalist is absolutely reprehensible and constitutes an unacceptable offensive action that cannot be tolerated,” he added.
The British government has also criticised the move, with Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab condemning Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko, saying: “This outlandish action by Lukashenko will have serious implications.” 

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