EU 

Express
THE Brexit powergrab from the European Union is now well underway, with Deutsche Bank making 100 bankers in London redundant and moving their roles to the continent and Asia as it inflicts wide-ranging changes on its UK corporate bank.
The German banking giant has told a quarter of the division’s 100 employees they can reapply for their jobs but will have to work within the EU and be forced to take a 25 percent pay cut, according to the Financial Times. City of London sources have revealed not all of the 100 roles the firm is moving are directly connected to Brexit because significant costs can be scaled back by moving staff out of the capital and into hubs throughout the bloc. Deutsche Bank actually has a political incentive to hire more staff in Frankfurt and Berlin, according to insiders speaking to the newspaper.
A spokesman for German’s biggest lender insisted the bank remains “strongly committed to the UK”.
But it is the latest worrying sign for the UK as it continues to clash with the EU over access to the bloc’s financial markets following Brexit at the end of last year.
The UK and EU finally an 11th hour trade deal on Christmas Eve following a year of talks, but financial services was largely excluded from these negotiations.
Earlier this month, the boss of the financial regulator warned Brussels its plot to eliminate the City from the single market was in fact hitting the finances of banks throughout Europe. 

Telegraph
Deutsche Bank is making 100 bankers in London redundant and moving their roles to the EU and Asia as it overhauls its UK corporate bank post-Brexit. 
Germany’s biggest lender told a quarter of the division’s 100 workers that they can reapply for their jobs to work within the EU but will be forced to take a 25pc pay cut, the Financial Times reported.
Bankers with EU clients have been told they must move to the bloc after financial services was largely excluded from the Brexit trade deal. The boss of the financial regulator warned Brussels earlier this month that its plot to lock the City out of the single market had backfired and harmed the finances of European banks.
According to City sources, not all of the 100 roles that Deutsche Bank is moving are directly linked to Brexit, as moving staff out of London and and into EU hubs can significantly cut costs. Sources told the Financial Times that the bank has a political incentive to hire more staff in Frankfurt and Berlin.
More than £900bn in bank assets – about 10pc of the entire UK banking system – has moved or is being moved out of the UK as a result of Brexit.   

Northern Ireland 

Guardian
Downing Street has hit back at Ursula von der Leyen’s “disappointing” lack of recognition of the anger in Northern Ireland and of the EU’s duty to ease tensions after the European Commission president blamed Brexit for recent problems.
Following a summit with leaders in Brussels, Von der Leyen reiterated her offer to find “practical solutions” to issues destabilising politics in the region but insisted arrangements in the withdrawal agreement to avoid a border on the island of Ireland must be fully implemented.
“I think it is important to reiterate that the protocol is the only possible solution to ensure peace and stability in Northern Ireland while protecting the integrity of the European Union’s single market,” she told reporters. “If we see problems today we should not forget that they do not come from the protocol but they result from Brexit. That is the reason why the problems are there.
“Now, it’s our common duty with the United Kingdom to do whatever we can to reduce tensions in Northern Ireland and that is why we are exploring practical solutions to help to minimise the disruptions to the everyday life in Northern Ireland.”
Under a protocol in the withdrawal agreement, Northern Ireland in effect stays in the EU’s single market for goods, and a customs border is enforced on goods crossing the Irish sea. But checks on goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne have sparked anger among unionists and loyalists who feel Northern Ireland is being separated from the rest of the UK.
Symbolic issues such as the difficulty of buying British-grown plants and other products in shops in Northern Ireland have offered an excuse for some to engage in violent protest. 

Indian variant 

Mail
Ministers have today completed an humiliating U-turn over travel restrictions on Indian variant hotspots after a mutiny by local leaders.
The Government caused chaos after a change to online guidance told people they could only make ‘essential’ trips to and from Bolton, Blackburn with Darwen, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside. The shift went unnoticed for four days before ministers scrambled to explain why there had been no formal announcement.
No10 tried to contain a growing backlash among local Tory and Labour leaders yesterday by stressing that the guidance was ‘not statutory’.
However, last night the government caved into pressure and changed the wording of the advice, which now merely states that people should ‘minimise travel in and out of affected areas’.    
The Department of Health said it wanted to ‘make it clearer we are not imposing local restrictions’. 
‘Instead, we are providing advice on the additional precautions people can take to protect themselves and others in those areas where the new variant is prevalent,’ a spokesman added. 
‘These are not new regulations but they are some of the ways everyone can help bring the variant under control in their local area.’  

Sun
THE Government has u-turned over travel advice for areas worst hit by the Indian Covid variant after a change in guidance led to confusion.
Yesterday, ministers warned people not to enter or leave areas where the Covid strain is spreading fastest “unless it is essential”.
But advice updated this morning now asks people to “minimise” travel into and out of Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted communication over the advice could have been “clearer”, telling BBC Breakfast: “This is not a new lockdown, this is not law, this is just some advice.
“You can do exactly as you can elsewhere in the country.
“Some additional advice was provided in order to remind people that they happen to be living in areas where the risk of transmission is higher.” 

Telegraph
Ministers have been forced into retreat over “local lockdowns” after councils threatened to defy the rules.
The Government on Tuesday night changed its advice to tackle outbreaks of the Indian variant of Covid within less than 24 hours of a row erupting over the policy, which critics said had descended into “farce”.
The original guidance urged 1.7 million people in eight parts of England to restrict their travel in and out of their area and to socialise outdoors instead of indoors where possible.
Ministers failed to pass on the new advice to local health and council leaders, who then told residents they did not have to follow the guidelines.
The Government said on Tuesday it would “update” the guidance, insisting it was up to individuals whether to follow it.
The majority of the affected areas are controlled by Labour councils, leading to accusations of hypocrisy as local party leaders vowed to defy tougher measures, while the party leadership has urged caution over the return to normality amid concerns over the Indian coronavirus variant. 

BBC News
Ministers have backtracked over travel advice for eight areas worst-hit by the Indian Covid
variant, after a change in guidance led to widespread confusion.
The amended advice asks people to minimise travel into and out of Bolton, Blackburn, Kirklees, Bedford, Burnley, Leicester, Hounslow and North Tyneside.
Earlier advice had asked people to avoid non-essential travel altogether.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps admitted communication over the advice could have been “clearer”.
Mr Shapps said the government would “learn from that”, but added he did not believe the change in advice was “actually all that complicated”.
“This is not a new lockdown, this is not law, this is just some advice,” he told BBC Breakfast, adding the purpose was “to remind people that they happen to be living in areas where the risk of transmission is higher”.
Many people called off plans at short notice after it emerged on Monday that advice specifically for the eight areas had been published the previous week without any government announcement, which included asking people to avoid non-essential travel. 

Vaccine 

Mail
European influencers have been offered thousands of euros by a fake London ad agency with apparent ties to Russia to spread lies about the dangers posed by the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. 
Fazze last week contacted French health and science bloggers and asked them – in poor English – to ‘explain… the death rate among the vaccinated with Pfizer is almost 3x higher than the vaccinated by AstraZeneca’. 
The influencers were told to publish links on YouTube, Instagram or TikTok to articles about a leaked report containing data that supposedly shows how the Covid vaccine is causing hundreds of deaths.
One of the articles, published in Le Monde in January, is about data stolen by Russian hackers from the European Medicines Agency and later published on the Dark Web. It contains no information on death rates. 
The pages on the other two sites – Reddit and the Ethical Hacker – have been deleted.
Fazze claimed to be based at Percy Street, but is not registered on Companies House and on Tuesday closed its website and made its Instagram private. 
Its management come from Moscow and have worked for an agency founded by a Russian entrepreneur, according to LinkedIn. 
The bizarre case is likely to raise fears of Russian and Chinese ‘state-sponsored disinformation’, after an EU study accused the regimes of sowing mistrust in Western vaccines by making ‘unfounded links between shots and deaths in Europe’ and promoting their jabs as superior.    

Independent
A PR agency with alleged links to Russia has offered “considerable” amounts of money to European influencers if they discredit the Pfizer vaccine on their social media channels, it has emerged.
Leo Grasset, a French YouTuber with 1.1 million subscribers, was among those approached to take part in the smear campaign.
Someone reportedly working for an advertising agency called Fazze offered him a lucrative deal to post content criticising the Pfizer vaccine.
In particular, he was asked to promote the false claim that “the mortality rate of the Pfizer vaccine is 3 times greater than the AstraZeneca” in a 45- to 60- second video.
This is similar to the groundless rhetoric touted by Russia that mRNA vaccines such as Pfizer’s are not as safe as viral vector vaccines like AstraZeneca’s or its own Sputnik V jab.
German podcaster and YouTuber Mirko Drotschman, who has a total of 1.5 million subscribers, also posted a similar email he had received about “an information campaign”.
They both stood to make a lot of money, as a French trainee doctor with only tens of thousands of followers told the broadcaster BFMTV that he was promised £1,730 (€2000) if he made a 30-second video on the same subject.
Talking of the propaganda attempts, French health minister Olivier Veran said: “It’s pathetic, it’s dangerous, it’s irresponsible and it doesn’t work.”
Fazze, the name of the PR agency involved in the propaganda campaign, gave a fake London address on its website, before this was later deleted. However, the firm’s LinkedIn page suggests that its bosses come from Russia. 

Antibodies 

Mail
People with mild cases of COVID-19 still have an antibody response nearly one year after clearing the infection, a new study suggests.
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis said that reports early on in the pandemic claiming that coronavirus antibodies wane quickly were misleading.
Their findings revealed that immune cells in bone marrow are still making antibodies even after levels in the blood decline.
Results showed that patients had neutralizing antibodies seven to 11 months later – and the team suggests they may even have protection for life.  
‘Last fall, there were reports that antibodies wane quickly after infection..and mainstream media interpreted that to mean that immunity was not long-lived,’ said senior author Dr Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor of pathology and immunology, medicine and molecular microbiology at Washington University, in a news release.
‘But that’s a misinterpretation of the data. It’s normal for antibody levels to go down after acute infection, but they don’t go down to zero; they plateau.  
‘Here, we found antibody-producing cells in people 11 months after first symptoms. These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people’s lives. That’s strong evidence for long-lasting immunity.’
Upon infection, short-lived immune cells are generated quickly to secrete an early wave of protective antibodies. 
As the immune cells die out, antibody levels decline. 

Dogs 

Times
Dog thieves and owners who abandon their pets when they return to the office after the pandemic could face tougher sentences under plans being considered by the government.
Dognapping, which soared during lockdown, could be prosecuted under animal welfare laws instead of the Theft Act 1968. Ministers believe this will ensure that the emotional attachment between owners and their pets is considered in more cases.
Boris Johnson, who owns a white Jack Russell cross called Dilyn, has said that dog theft can “cause huge pain and grief to the victims”.
There are fears that the return to normality will lead to a sharp rise in the number of abandoned pets. Evidence from America bears this out. 

Commonwealth servicemen 

Telegraph
Commonwealth servicemen and women may be able to settle in Britain without paying immigration fees under Home Office plans.
Service personnel from non-UK nations could be offered indefinite leave to remain in the UK for free under a new public consultation launched on Wednesday by Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Home Secretary Priti Patel.
The MoD and Home Office are proposing to waive the costs of applications, saving each person £2,389 in fees.
If the proposal is approved, non-UK service personnel from across the armed forces will be able to apply for indefinite leave to remain, subject to eligibility criteria, after serving at least 12 years – the length of time all service personnel initially sign up to serve.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said: “We owe those who showed us loyal service, our loyalty in return.
“It is right that we recognise their contribution by not only smoothing the pathway to residency and citizenship, but also by lifting the financial cost of doing so after 12 years of service.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “I am immensely proud that brave servicemen and women from around the world want to continue to call the UK their home after their service. 

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